Android for all and the new Nexus 5 • Hacker News Board

Re: Android for all and the new Nexus 5

#231

Post by jinushaun » Fri, Nov 01, 2013, 8:30 PM UTC

kuschku wrote: post #119

stesch wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have iOS 7.0.3 on my iPhone 4S. Released a month before the Galaxy Nexus.

Have you gotten all the features, the iPhone 5S got? Do you have the nice blurred Control Center background? Android's Problem is fragmentation, and it wouldn't help at all to just backport some functions to older devices, because then developers coulnd't be sure about tthe availability of any API.

It's not about user-facing features. It's about the API and OS bug fixes. I upgraded my iPhone 4S from iOS 5 to iOS 7 not because I wanted iOS 7, but because I was unable to download new apps. Everyone in the App Store was already targeting exclusively iOS 6 and I didn't want to get further left behind. In the iOS world, developers target the latest and greatest API, taking advantage of new features and bug fixes. That's a good thing (tm) for users.

Contrast that with Android, where developers are still targeting Gingerbread and are unable to take advantage of any of the bug fixes in ICS, JB or KK.

Re: Android for all and the new Nexus 5

#232

Post by MAGZine » Fri, Nov 01, 2013, 9:49 PM UTC

jinushaun wrote: post #229

MAGZine wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because every Android device running an certain version of an OS all have exactly the same functionality for the most part. iOS might have everyone on the same version, but features are pruned for older hardware. As if getting through one software revision wasn't difficult enough through manufacturers and carriers to a magnitude of devices... users who are determined can still get the latest version of android on wha…

It's not about user-facing features. It's about the damn API version! Fragmentation is a problem for users AND developers. With the news about the Galaxy Nexus, Google is basically telling developers to keep targeting old version of Android and avoid the latest APIs. As far as I'm concerned, the Android Support Library is the one true API.

Android API version isn't as big of a deal anymore, since they've been moving to offload everything onto apps which are updatable separate of the OS.

Re: Android for all and the new Nexus 5

#233

Post by tomkarlo » Fri, Nov 01, 2013, 9:53 PM UTC

Akujin wrote: post #117

Still no qwerty slider. No thanks. If I wanted to waste half my screen on a keyboard I'd buy an iPhone.

Don't hold your breath on that one. Does any major manufacturer have a flagship slider keyboard any more?

Re: Android for all and the new Nexus 5

#234

Post by kelnos » Sun, Nov 03, 2013, 10:47 AM UTC

alimbada wrote: post #219

kelnos wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... which has been Google's stated policy for quite some time now, so I'm not sure why you feel the need to be sarcastic about it.

Just because it's a stated policy doesn't make it a justified policy or even a good policy. To reiterate what's already been said in other comments here... iPhone 4S, iOS7, etc. etc.

I'm not making a value judgement on the policy. But claiming that Google is contradicting reality is silly given that stated policy.

Re: Android for all and the new Nexus 5

#235

Post by sblawrie » Thu, Nov 07, 2013, 3:34 PM UTC

Akujin wrote: post #117

Still no qwerty slider. No thanks. If I wanted to waste half my screen on a keyboard I'd buy an iPhone.

The beauty of the iPhone is that the keyboard goes away when you don't need it. That's why qwerty sliders are obsolete - they're there whether or not you want them.