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Google says Nexus One too old for Android 4.0

electronista.com

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Re: Google says Nexus One too old for Android 4.0

#11

Post by ChuckMcM »

I've always wondered about this, especially in embedded devices. Amongst the many mistakes Microsoft made with Vista, first and foremost was allowing the bloat to get so bad that it wouldn't run at all on machines that ran XP quite happily. Later Windows 7 could actually run on those old XP machines with many, if not most, of the features that Vista bragged about.

So here we have Google, arguably a company which can hire all of the worlds best engineers, why are they succumbing to the code first and ask questions later philosophy that gave Microsoft such heartburn?

Andy, I know you read HN, tell the team that their bonus depends on Android 4.0 being runnable on a Nexus 1. It isn't about supporting the platform with the least market share of any Android phone, its about instilling in the team a philosphy that taking the time to run great on hardware of that capability pays huge dividends in the phone world.

Many engineers today were brought up in a world where the next PC will be 1.5 - 2x the 'size' of the current PC so bloat is fine, schedule is king. This is a bad philosophy in the embedded space. That 1.5 - 2x the 'size' phone means you can't cut your phone costs, you can't grow your market, you are stuck waiting only the latest / greatest chips which are always in short supply to ship volume. Help those engineers break the habit, I know they can they are smart folks. Challenge them, as Ben Horowitz would say use your lead bullets on this one.

Re: Google says Nexus One too old for Android 4.0

#12

Post by jhack »

jkincaid wrote: post #3

It's feasible that Cyanogenmod will release a compatible version though, isn't it?

Considering the hacker community got the SDK version ported to the Nexus One[1], I think it's entirely feasible once proper source code gets released.

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUkxwT-fdI4

Re: Google says Nexus One too old for Android 4.0

#13

Post by untog »

jkincaid wrote: post #3

It's feasible that Cyanogenmod will release a compatible version though, isn't it?

I'm sure. There are hacked versions of Gingerbread out there for the original Droid, even though it was officially deemed too underpowered for it. Given the number of hacker types that own a Nexus One, I'm sure it'll be on the way.

Re: Google says Nexus One too old for Android 4.0

#15

Post by beej71 »

chugger wrote: post #7
quandrum wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this different than Apple's iOS5 compatibility list? Well, besides how much easier it will be for third parties to add ICS to Nexus One.

iOS 5 runs smoothly on a 3GS, a phone older than the Nexus One.

But the last official update for the 3G turned it into a dog. I don't think any company is blameless, here, but I'm far more disappointed to see Google doing it. Linux still runs on a 386, last time I checked.

Re: Google says Nexus One too old for Android 4.0

#17

Post by mechnik »

jkincaid wrote: post #3

It's feasible that Cyanogenmod will release a compatible version though, isn't it?

I hope Cyanogenmod or someone else will release one. Cyanogenmod version of 2.3 for N1 and other phones, came out as 'nightly' release ages before the official Google release. Does anyone know what are the hardware limitations to adapting ICS?

Re: Google says Nexus One too old for Android 4.0

#18

Post by untog »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #11

I've always wondered about this, especially in embedded devices. Amongst the many mistakes Microsoft made with Vista, first and foremost was allowing the bloat to get so bad that it wouldn't run at all on machines that ran XP quite happily. Later Windows 7 could actually run on those old XP machines with many, if not most, of the features that Vista bragged about. So here we have Google, arguably a company which can…

taking the time to run great on hardware of that capability pays huge dividends in the phone world.

It really won't though, that's the problem.

The Nexus One is nearly two years old. It's somewhat of an anomaly because it'll have a higher than average number of off-contract purchases, but in general once a person's contact has run for two years they get a new phone.

Two year old phones just aren't that important. Speaking as an N1 owner, I'd love for them to be. But they aren't.

Re: Google says Nexus One too old for Android 4.0

#20

Post by chugger »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #11

I've always wondered about this, especially in embedded devices. Amongst the many mistakes Microsoft made with Vista, first and foremost was allowing the bloat to get so bad that it wouldn't run at all on machines that ran XP quite happily. Later Windows 7 could actually run on those old XP machines with many, if not most, of the features that Vista bragged about. So here we have Google, arguably a company which can…

Android is not a real-time OS and is not designed for embedded devices. the kernel is not real time and java has severe latency problems caused by asynchronous garbage collection. A workaround is to allow the garbage collector to run on a separate core (one of ICS's main feature), but Nexus One's cpu is single core. I guess Google did not have the foresight to design Android to disable garbage collection. as I mentioned before, automatic garbage collection is disabled in iOS/Obj C primarily because of performance issues/battery life.
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