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Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

developer.android.com

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Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#81

Post by drivebyacct2 »

taligent wrote: post #46
cookiecaper wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW you can get ICS on that phone, just not officially. If you aren't going to buy a Nexus, you have to accept the fate of sparse official/OTA updates if you're lucky enough to get any at all. This is the fault of carriers and the ignorant masses that prop them up. An alternative exists if you're interested; buy Nexus line.

I've never understood this ridiculous "it's the carriers" argument. Apple doesn't have a problem with releasing timely updates. So how come the Android OEMs can't ?

Have you read any of the posts up to the point in the thread? They don't want to. They have no incentive to. The carriers regularly drag their feet on updates, even after the manufacturers released them. Apple had the great thought to tell Verizon to, kindly, shove off, and they handle them by themselves. They manage the hardware, and every layer of the OS. That's not true of any Android phone, and the current situation is a result of that reality.

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#82

Post by natrius »

javajosh wrote: post #67

Let me offer a solution: It's time for Google to offer a Google+ Certification for Android. These certified devices would have two important characteristics: 1. They are guaranteed to run the latest version of Android for 5 years. 2. They are guaranteed to have a clean version of Android, without any carrier or device maker modifications. No doubt the marketing people can come up with other things to add to the list,…

Google announced their solution to this problem at the last Google I/O: the Android Update Alliance. It was basically a commitment by manufacturers to update phones for 18 months following their release.

This is how it has panned out so far: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2397729,00.asp

tl;dr: As of December 2011, only Sony had lived up to its pledge. HTC came close.

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#83

Post by spiralpolitik »

javajosh wrote: post #79
timdorr wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is great. The only thing I have a gripe with is: > They are guaranteed to run the latest version of Android for 5 years. 5 years is too long. The HTC Dream, the first Android phone, was released less than 4 years ago. It only has a 528Mhz processor and 192MB of RAM. I don't want to know what the ICS or JB experience would be on that device... Keep in mind the iPhone only turned 5 this year (the App Store turns 4…

Yes, you're probably right. 3 years is more reasonable. For some reason I thought Apple was supporting 5 year-old devices, but they are not. And they are the ones setting the standard, here.

2 years from the point that the phone model was last sold would be reasonable.

Or to put it another way you should expect to receive software updates for the phone for the duration that you are still under contract.

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#84

Post by objclxt »

wmf wrote: post #38
dangrossman wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explain why a free software update for a year-old phone would even be on their radar of choices? The only time carriers have provided free Android updates was when a brand new phone was being released around the time of a major Android update, and competing against other brand new phones that already have the update, putting their product at a disadvantage among comparison shoppers. What's the incentive to give you a…

Apple gives free updates. An update would be profitable if they charged for it.

Apple used to charge for iOS updates, for somewhat spurious 'accounting' reasons. iPod users had to pay $5 or something (iPhone users still got it for free). They don't any more.

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#85

Post by jsz0 »

glogla wrote: post #56
jsz0 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only by installing alpha/beta quality software from an untrusted source. Not an acceptable solution for most. You're right though about buying a Nexus. That's the only way you will have any chance of getting software updates. If it's not available on your country/carrier, and updates are important to you, do not buy an Android phone.

Not really. First of all, free/open source software is not really "alpha/beta quality software from untrusted source" and suggesting it is, is pretty much trolling. Second, Google is not the only one manufacturer (in the borad sense) that keeps it's phones up-to-date, for example Sony recently released 4.0 upgrade for it's 2011 models. Third, I know it tends to be pretty common in the US, but if you are buying subsid…

CM9 is only at the release candidate stage for ICS so by their own definition it's beta / un-stable. For my device it's not even officially supported so I rely on random zip files I find in forums for updates. Pretty sketchy stuff.

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#86

Post by dllthomas »

technomancy wrote: post #55
jshen wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you think that is a good situation for Android users? Want the new OS, buy a new phone without a subsidy. That is one hell of a tag line for Android

That's what you get for trusting your carrier. Luckily you can get Android devices that you have control over yourself.

> Luckily you can get Android devices that you have control over yourself.

Forgive me for asking something that some googling could answer, but... is there a good such device (sans rooting) that has a keyboard?

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#87

Post by ryanhuff »

tadfisher wrote: post #77
jshen wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you think that is a good situation for Android users? Want the new OS, buy a new phone without a subsidy. That is one hell of a tag line for Android

Want Siri? Buy the iPhone 4S without a subsidy. Sure worked for Apple...

You know perfectly well that Apple handles this issue much better than the Android stakeholders. And I am an Android user.

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#88

Post by wcoenen »

taligent wrote: post #42
mtgx wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's exactly like saying that. Windows has several years between each version and each version still has like 30-40% each, so it's quite fragmented, too.

It is fragmented. But not in the developer sense. Microsoft has always been quite good in backporting their developer libraries. So even you did have users on XP you could simply bundle these with your app e.g. .Net, DirectX. Google may have to look at doing something similar for 2.3 users in particular.

> [Windows] is fragmented. But not in the developer sense.

We develop windows applications and have to support XP and up. We certainly notice fragmentation "in the developer sense".

To give some examples, we can't use true filesystem transactions[1] or the ribbon UI[2]. These aren't available as "backported developer libraries". Sometimes we run into bugs[3] which were never fixed in earlier versions.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transactional_NTFS

[2] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd37...

[3] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/617253/is-anyone-successf...

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#89

Post by javajosh »

WrkInProgress wrote: post #75
javajosh wrote: post #67

Let me offer a solution: It's time for Google to offer a Google+ Certification for Android. These certified devices would have two important characteristics: 1. They are guaranteed to run the latest version of Android for 5 years. 2. They are guaranteed to have a clean version of Android, without any carrier or device maker modifications. No doubt the marketing people can come up with other things to add to the list,…

Aren't you essentially describing the Nexus line of devices, minus the the tad unrealistic 5 years of software updates ?

Actually, no. My Nexus One was less than two years old when Google announced that it would not receive an ICS (Android 3) update.

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#90

Post by mcantelon »

nilliams wrote: post #57
smithian wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an iPad 1, iPad 2, original Droid, Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, and Kindle Fire owner, I have no idea what you are talking about. Our iOS devices have hiccups just as much as any of our Android devices do, and sometimes more.

Have you used the Galaxy Tab 2? That's what I'm referring to, and it's really poor in a straight comparison to an iPad 2. Perhaps I've been unlucky and picked the worst of the bunch. Above poster suggests the ASUS tabs are considerably better and it's Samsung at fault here and I'm inclined to take him/her at his/her word. Edit: That said the difference is so vast, that combined with these announcement details I'm als…

>Edit: That said the difference is so vast, that combined with these announcement details I'm also inclined to believe no to-date Android tab is as smooth as iOS prior to this release

Yeah, iOS has been smoother for awhile. Android improved a lot in recent generations (to the point where Android was "smooth enough" rather than blatantly irritating), however. I've only used Honeycomb, not ICS, so not sure how much or if that release improved response. Hopefully this "Project Butter" will make them more or less equivalent in smoothness.

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