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Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

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Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#21

Post by dannyr »

This comes with the territory of having an open-source OS.

I don't like what Dell is doing but they are damaging their own brand more than they are damaging Android.

But before we get too hung up on having the latest version of Android running on our phones, let us put things in perspective.

I do care a lot about having the latest version of Android. But I'm like you guys, we're plugged in to the tech scene. We love our apps, the coolest and latest UI, etc.

But for the rest of the country, a survey of my friends suggest that most of them do not care.

My roommate just bought a Palm Pre. There are very few apps in the market. But guess what, my roommate is very happy with his phone. He said it's the best phone he's ever had.

I was happy with my Android phone even when my G1 was on 1.5. I'm glad that I upgraded to a Nexus One and I'm now on 2.2 but I never felt that 1.5 was a piece of crap.

My observation with the tech community is that we think we are mainstream. We're not. I don't know many fellow geeks that play Farmville but you know what, it's got 100+ million users.

So before we start raising hell about having different versions of Android out there, we should consider that maybe the mainstream users do not really care.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#22

Post by tvon »

dannyr wrote: post #21

This comes with the territory of having an open-source OS. I don't like what Dell is doing but they are damaging their own brand more than they are damaging Android. But before we get too hung up on having the latest version of Android running on our phones, let us put things in perspective. I do care a lot about having the latest version of Android. But I'm like you guys, we're plugged in to the tech scene. We love…

> So before we start raising hell about having different versions of Android out there, we should consider that maybe the mainstream users do not really care.

The problem is that it exacerbates the fragmentation situation for developers, or at least that's how I read it.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#23

Post by jsz0 »

draebek wrote: post #12

Are there many new applications that require the use of Android 2.x? It seems to me that could be a serious problem for "Android": consumer buys new Dell phone running "Android," finds they can't run half the cool apps their friends' EVOs can because they've got some old version of Android, consumer now hates Android.

Most of Google's own first party apps require at least 1.6 -- these devices can't even run Google Navigation for example.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#24

Post by jsz0 »

dannyr wrote: post #21

This comes with the territory of having an open-source OS. I don't like what Dell is doing but they are damaging their own brand more than they are damaging Android. But before we get too hung up on having the latest version of Android running on our phones, let us put things in perspective. I do care a lot about having the latest version of Android. But I'm like you guys, we're plugged in to the tech scene. We love…

If they were shipping 1.6 or 2.0 I might agree but 1.5 has a ton of compatibility problems these days. You can't even run Google Navigation on it. That's something the average user might notice.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#25

Post by SoftwareMaven »

eli wrote: post #9
raganwald wrote: post #5

I was going to write that Android needs a Dictator that lays down the law with minions and partners alike, especially to enforce a "No Devices That Suck" policy. But honestly, does Google care? If Dell wants to ship a device that sucks, let HTC prove this is a terrible idea by eating Dell's lunch. If Android 2.2 is better than Android 1.5, let customers vote for 2.2 with their wallets. Of course, there is always the…

Telling people what hardware they can and cannot use to run your code isn't very Open.

You aren't telling them where they can or cannot run the code. You are telling them where they can or cannot brand the product. The Android brand is not open source.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#26

Post by acon »

Sure, selling devices with outdated versions of Android is bad, but to me it is worse that they don't release updates for existing phones in a timely manner. If I buy a phone I want it to feel fun at least until the contract runs out, which means 18-24 months. If my friends gets new phones running better software, my fun is reduced and my next phone is more likely to be an iPhone, where I know I'll get timely updates.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#27

Post by brianm »

sprout wrote: post #20
SandB0x wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Just as raganwald suggests on his last line - people will be stung by their experience and simply buy an iPhone next time. Crap like this damages the whole Android brand. Nobody wants to hear "Oh, well you bought this specific instance X of Android on phone Y. That particular one is no good, but it's your fault because you didn't spend a week reading detailed product reviews on Ars Technica before buying you…

People aren't stupid. They can distinguish between Froyo and Cupcake. It's even got a clear analogue in the XP/Vista/7 debacle. Or for those who lived through it, Cupcake is the Windows 3.11 to Froyo's Windows XP, or something like that. People do in fact get that there are different versions of software. If you're aiming at people who don't... they aren't going to know an iPhone from a Nexus One anyway.

Side by side, yes, they will see they are different. They won't know why though. Most people will never realize they are running a particular version, and few will even realize it is Android (vs whatever phone they have in their hand).

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#29

Post by bmelton »

raganwald wrote: post #5

I was going to write that Android needs a Dictator that lays down the law with minions and partners alike, especially to enforce a "No Devices That Suck" policy. But honestly, does Google care? If Dell wants to ship a device that sucks, let HTC prove this is a terrible idea by eating Dell's lunch. If Android 2.2 is better than Android 1.5, let customers vote for 2.2 with their wallets. Of course, there is always the…

As I understand, I don't think Google particularly cares if someone replaces their device with an iPhone -- the last I heard from Google on the subject was (paraphrasing) 'any phone with mobile web and applications is good for us', the premise being that any device capable of visiting Google's web services was all that they wanted out of consumers, so that we could keep consuming their services and being served their ads.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#30

Post by msluyter »

raganwald wrote: post #5

I was going to write that Android needs a Dictator that lays down the law with minions and partners alike, especially to enforce a "No Devices That Suck" policy. But honestly, does Google care? If Dell wants to ship a device that sucks, let HTC prove this is a terrible idea by eating Dell's lunch. If Android 2.2 is better than Android 1.5, let customers vote for 2.2 with their wallets. Of course, there is always the…

I thought there was already a dictator like that, named Steve Jobs. ;)
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