Most people don't keep their smartphones past two years anyway.

Besides, this article is fairly stupid - Apple's whole business plan revolves around planned obsolescence. They don't intend for you to keep a product for the long term, they expect you to ditch it in favor of their newest shiny bauble.

1. How can he claim the iPhone 4 and 3GS have been updated to the latest version when Siri, the big deal for the 4S, has been deliberately withheld from those earlier phones even though we know for a fact it will run on them?

2. Do most users care? If my phone runs all the apps and does the stuff I want why should I care it has the very latest OS? I'm typing this on a Windows XP PC that does everything I want and need, so why is my phone any different?

3. The "fragmentation" of the Android market is a good thing. There are far more manufacturers and models giving people far more choice. A by-product of that is that you cannot just force out an update and expect it to work with every make and model out there. The choice and range is still a plus in my book and the OS upgrade problem is the price you pay.

Babwa Wawa: One of the major benefits of qualifying older phones with newer iOS is that you can have your new iOS versions slow your old-ass hardware down to a crawl.

iOS 4 basically slowed my phone to the point where I ditched it for an ass-old blackberry that works.

Pretty much this. Yeah, they still push updates for my iPhone 3 -- but the hardware can't handle it. They do it on purpose to stimulate people to upgrade to a newer iPhone.

Just waiting to get a look at a Galaxy Nexus Prime before I ditch iPhones for good.

FTA: "Along similar lines, a very small but perhaps telling point: the price of every single Android phone I looked at ended with 99 cents - something Apple has never done (the iPhone is $199, not $199.99). It's almost like a warning sign: you're buying a platform that will nickel-and-dime you with ads and undeletable bloatware, and it starts with those 99 cents. And that damn rebate form they're hoping you don't send in."

Jeeze, talk about scraping the barrel. This is down to the retailer. Best Buy, for example, list the iPhone 4S at $199.99 with contract.

Since when is the quality and value of a phone determined by how often it is updated?

Histidine: Since when is the quality and value of a phone determined by how often it is updated?

If you don't mind freeballing it with unpatched security vulnerabilities, then I guess it doesn't matter.

(For the rest of us, it actually does matter.)

I wonder why he doesn't mention that Apple only give a one year guarantee on the actual phone while HTC, for example, give a two year guarantee?

This is stupid. Apple is bad because everybody tells me it is.

That's a whole bunch of stupid.

I wonder if he posted that from his iPad.

Fine fine subby. iPhones are overpriced crap with, what should be, industry standard upgrade support.

In a shocking turn of events, all high level smart phones are now $200 with a two-year contract or several hundred dollars without the contract.

It'll be top end for 2-5 months before something else comes along with a slightly bigger/better screen, faster processor, better camera, one/two new doohickeys.

After about 2/3 years, you'll want a new one.

This is the same for every smart phone out there.

My problem isn't with feature upgrades, but rather with bugfix upgrades. If my phone came with Android 2.1, I really want to see my carrier releasing fixes once a quarter for the normal lifetime (3-5 years) of the phone. The idea of having Android 2.1.16 shouldn't be super crazy. In fact, I rooted my Galaxy S and installed Froyo specifically because of bugs I was encountering with Eclair. The new features were nice, but having existing apps work like they should was even better.


unyon: For most people, this is the functional equivalent of knowing how to rebuild an engine as a prerequisite to owning a car.

A major reason behind that is because you have to gain super-user access to the phone. Rooting my Galaxy S was a major PITA. Applying the Froyo update was relatively easy.

It could be made very easy, but the powers that be really don't want you messing with the OS on your phone. They'd rather you buy a new phone... along with the 2 year contract that comes with it.

Flint Ironstag: I wonder why he doesn't mention that Apple only give a one year guarantee on the actual phone while HTC, for example, give a two year guarantee?

Because the article was about Software updates?

As a Nexus One owner, and app developer, I was pretty pissed to hear that I won't be getting 4.0. Maybe Cyanogen will solve this?

I go out of my way to make my app run on 1.6, just because of issues like this.

You know... I have an issue with their chart... They seem to think the iPhone and iPhone 3g continued being updated post iOS3. The problem is, the new iOS stuff cherry picked features that would actually show up if you don't have the latest phone. As soon as you take that into account, being on "the latest OS" is pretty meaningless without having most of the features. Unless you jailbreak to get them, you're not better off than a guy stuck on Android 1.6 just because your OS number went you.

Also, as many others said, even allowing for jailbreaking the iPhone, Android has way more options for whole phone makeovers and updates. My Incredible can run the latest Android 2.3.4 Sense 3.5 ROMs ported from the Evo 3D, Droid Incredible 2, Incredible HD, Desire and other phones. Or you can just get the latest 2.3.7 of Sense 1.0 or any of a dozen AOSP based ROMs like CM7 or MIUI. It doesn't take the equivalent of a mechanic to do it, it takes a one click root, downloading a file, opening an App and picking that file.

I still think Google needs to devise a way to determine the minimum specs for the newest version and push out OS updates themselves. If Ubuntu can do it with all the flavors of computer hardware out there in the wild, Google should be able to do it too.

Doctor Jan Itor: As a Nexus One owner, and app developer, I was pretty pissed to hear that I won't be getting 4.0. Maybe Cyanogen will solve this?

I go out of my way to make my app run on 1.6, just because of issues like this.

As soon as AOSP source drops, CM9 versions will be built of ICS.

Flint Ironstag: I wonder why he doesn't mention that Apple only give a one year guarantee on the actual phone while HTC, for example, give a two year guarantee?

Maybe because nobody keeps their iPhone longer than 11 months?

Fun Fact: If you're not examining this from the Average Consumer User viewpoint, you're doing it wrong.

Also, if you're a platform zealot, you're a moron. That means pro or against. You anti-apple farkers are the most annoying people - wayyyy more annoying than the Apple Fanboys you rage against. You've easily eclipsed them, so I hope you feel good about that.

Wow that was a garbled wall of text.

I get what he is going for but how does this invalidate the android system?

I buy android because it allows me to fark with it. I have run various roms on it. I had mobileAP and tethering since my first android. I have software that records all of my phone conversations (helpful when dealing with banks etc). I have GPS ghosting, overclocking, memwipe, root access, selective permissions, game/app hacks, etc. An Iphone would drive me nuts, as does the MacOS.

My girlfriend has an iphone and loves it because its easy to use and everything is handed to her. She has a macbook and it serves her well.

I don't understand the Iphone/android rivalry. Buy what you like and enjoy what you like. What is so hard about that?
Iphones and Androids are not equal. They are not meant to be. They are fighting for the same market share but from two different fronts. Speed vs power, easy vs details, rounded edges vs square, etc
Different strokes for different folks.


\galaxy with axura

Quantumbunny: Doctor Jan Itor: As a Nexus One owner, and app developer, I was pretty pissed to hear that I won't be getting 4.0. Maybe Cyanogen will solve this?

I go out of my way to make my app run on 1.6, just because of issues like this.

As soon as AOSP source drops, CM9 versions will be built of ICS.

That's probably what's going to inspire me to finally root & rom my phone, because I really doubt my Droid 2 is going to see an official ICS update.

LesserEvil: I think it's because they cherry-picked the Android phones they used in the comparison, and ignored the fact that these days, you can get decent Android phones for pretty much nothing on the standard contract deal.

Please point out one Android phone that was kept up to date with the latest version of the OS.

8007312: redpanda2: I still think Google needs to devise a way to determine the minimum specs for the newest version and push out OS updates themselves. If Ubuntu can do it with all the flavors of computer hardware out there in the wild, Google should be able to do it too.

While I agree, they can't/won't because your carrier/manufacturer puts other stuff on there that needs to be packaged into the update. So the carrier wants access first so that they can tweak it to how they want it.

I really wish OS customizations were handled kind of like plugins in firefox updates. You get a warning that says you can update to the newest version, but plug-ins will break, and then the user can decide whether to update or not until the plugins are up to date.

unyon: cameroncrazy1984: My old phone was an HTC Droid Eris. They stopped support at 1.2. Do you think I stopped at 1.2? Hell no, I didn't. I had cyanogenmod 7 with gingerbread on the thing up until I replaced it a few weeks ago.

I think you've made the point of FTA. For most people, this is the functional equivalent of knowing how to rebuild an engine as a prerequisite to owning a car.

I have no idea why people accept that situation. Windows has trained people that all computing experiences are fraught with frustration, and you'll just have to live with that. It's like technological stockholm syndrome.

PCs have trained people to understand that if something is wrong with your computer, that you farked up. And you either pay someone to fix it, pr learn to do it yourself.

Apple has taught people that if something is wrong with your computer, you are farking wrong. Your computer is fine and YOU are the one that is broken. Fix yourself and come back to the land of white plastic when you are once again pure.

(I may be crazy, but I'd gladly trade the convenience of having things spoon fed to me for the freedom of being able to lift the spoon myself if I so choose)

see also: hulu feels that tablets are not computers and therefore must be licensed differently. My tablet has the software and the hardware to do it, but another entity decided that the logo on my equipment wasn't the correct one.

redpanda2: I still think Google needs to devise a way to determine the minimum specs for the newest version and push out OS updates themselves.

There are a couple of routes they could go. They could come down on the carriers and update the terms for Android, requiring them to release a new major version x months after a release, for up to y years after a phone's introduction. Or they could operate their own team that releases generic aftermarket editions that you could upgrade to.

The problem with the second option is that it would undercut the carriers. You might end up with some compromise where a generic aftermarket edition would only be available after a subscriber's contract is up.

The problem with the first option is that carriers are carriers, not software houses. And they don't want to pay somebody else to do the job for them. So they drag their feet. The fact that they have a bad habit of bricking phones because their upgrade attempts suck doesn't help any.