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Google Releases Jelly Bean Updates For the Nexus S

Posted by timothy on from the imperfectly-fragmented dept.

dell623 writes "Google has begun updating the Google Nexus S, which was released in December 2010 to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The update comes with all the new features of JB, including Google Now. The update makes the almost two year old phone smooth and in many ways superior to newer, more expensive Android devices that are unlikely to even be updated to Android 4.0. The update is impressive, but also exposes the problems of Android fragmentation and the failure of other Android device manufacturers to develop better software than Google, or issue timely updates."

15 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. For the last F*CKING time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's NOT fragmentation, idiots.

    Do you call the issues with not being able to run apps intended for an iPhone 3/4 on an iPhone "fragmentation"?

    Do you call not being able to run Windows 7/8 on a PII machine because of lack of resources "fragmentation"?

    If you answered "no" to either or both of those questions, it's NOT friggin "fragmentation".

    1. Re:For the last F*CKING time... by BanHammor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Manufacturers are assholes. Buy from someone who is definitely not.

    2. Re:For the last F*CKING time... by rtaylor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How is offering a software update with backward compatible APIs to an 18 month old phone increasing fragmentation?

      The issue is that not enough manufacturers offer the upgrades.

      --
      Rod Taylor
    3. Re:For the last F*CKING time... by greg1104 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, the fact that iPhone developers have to worry about whether their app is running on an older or a "retina display" iPhone is fragmentation.

      Windows developers needing to test applications in Windows XP, Vista, and 7 is fragmentation. Ditto for worrying about 32 vs 64. bit variations.

      Thanks for the examples of other fragmentation issues in computing. Wait, were those supposed to disprove this is the right word to use here? That's a pretty terrible fail then. Fragmentation is a word we're using now for when application developers have extensive QA issues around multiple, not quite compatible software platforms on a single hardware platform. It's appropriate here, and for the other examples you give too.

    4. Re:For the last F*CKING time... by ceoyoyo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Read for comprehension. The summary says "exposes the problems of Android fragmentation." That is, Google being able to update their two year old phone with no problems demonstrates what a crappy job many other manufacturers are doing, the variability of update support, and presumably the variability of installed hardware to allow those updates. In shorter form, Google being able to update their two year old phone and many other manufacturers not begin able to update their two month old phones exposes fragmentation in the Android installed base.

    5. Re:For the last F*CKING time... by greg1104 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most development platforms suffer from some degree of fragmentation. Even Apple's desktop platform, which is happier than most to just leave behind older versions of the software, took a while to shake off cruft leftover from the PowerPC days (which was itself shaking off cruft from the 68K days).

      That doesn't mean you can't rate platforms on the degree of fragmention though. And here Android loses, badly, to just about everything else. There are 4 major versions of the Android software still in heavy use, with Jelly Bean adding a fifth one. Each of those major releases has multiple vendor customizations and some disparity in major application design issues like screen sizes and input methods. It's a QA nightmare.

      The situation is no better for Windows, but variation in desktop capabilities doesn't seem to hamstring application developers too badly anymore. How long has it been since you found a desktop app that couldn't deal with the screen being resized or with the type of mouse changing? Those things used to be serious fragmentation issues too; nowadays that's faded into something application designers can safely ignore most of the time when developing on Windows. It looks like Windows 8 might alter things badly enough to bring the display issues back into the limelight again, at which point I expect class of "Windows fragmentation" to increase.

      The iPhone has kept the variations along these two major axes (screen/inputs) low enough to keep fragmentation from being a drag on the platform. Apple has also done a decent job of keeping the software platform moving forward for older devices. Android has done neither of those things, which is why it deservedly gets beat with the "fragmentation" hammer so often. 80% of the Android market is running 2.2 or 2.3 stil by Google's own figures, so software from 2010. Any iPhone user will tell you the idea of still running the software version from 1.5 years ago would be crazy. Platform statistics easily show how fast iPhone users update; the update times on that platform is weeks for most users, not months or years.

    6. Re:For the last F*CKING time... by Sancho · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That doesn't mean you can't rate platforms on the degree of fragmention though.

      Absolutely. The problem is that people like John Gruber talk about Android fragmentation like iOS isn't fragmented. It is. As you correctly point out, Android has a fragmentation problem that iOS doesn't have.

      How long has it been since you found a desktop app that couldn't deal with the screen being resized or with the type of mouse changing?

      I still run into applications which assume a minimum screen size, and which are outright unusable when run on something smaller. And applications which don't work well if the resolution changes (somewhat analogous to rotating a phone.) I think that mostly, though, that's a solved problem. Unfortunately, it's solved by adding on frameworks and other abstractions which tend to use up more CPU and RAM. This has the obvious side effects of running hotter, needing more resources, and using more battery (in the case of laptops.) Time will tell whether or not the mobile analogues will be solved in the same way.

      The iPhone has kept the variations along these two major axes (screen/inputs)

      What input differences exist between iOS implementations?

      Apple has also done a decent job of keeping the software platform moving forward for older devices.

      I'd say they do better than decent. Their third phone, released over three years ago, will be getting their latest OS shortly. Some of the Apple features will be missing, but the developer features (the APIs) are all there, which reduces the magnitude of iOS fragmentation significantly.

      The problem with Android is in the marketing and the carriers. Marketing, in that "Android Phone" is a meaningless term--you know nothing about the phone from those two words, but a staggering number of people (online, offline, reviewers, marketers) want to equate the term to "iPhone." Carriers, in that they want to act as gatekeepers for updates, and the manufacturers making Android phones don't have enough individual influence to override them quite like Apple does.

    7. Re:For the last F*CKING time... by xs650 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Except what's being described in the article IS fragmentation. But keep telling yourself it's normal to get updates randomly, if at all.

      Yes there is fragmentation, but it's not an Android problem, it's a douchebag carrier and phone manufacturer business plan.

      The reason for the fragmentation is that the phone manufacturers and carriers don't want old phones updated. That would cut into sales of newer shinier phones.

      Google is doing the right thing for the consumer by supporting older hardware that has the horsepower to run new versions of Android and the competition from Google will cause some of the phone manufacturers and carriers to offer better upgrade support.

  2. Screwed over by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    also exposes the problems of Android fragmentation and the failure of other Android device manufacturers to develop better software than Google, or issue timely updates

    What a bunch of crap. The problem is that "other Android device manufactures" don't roll out the same software as Google to their customers. Why? Because of what some GM head honcho started in the 1920: planned obsolence. They want you to buy a new handset instead of updating the old one. Simple as that: consumer being screwed over once the money has left the wallet.

  3. Wasn't that the whole idea? by CaptainLard · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "the failure of other Android device manufacturers to develop better software than Google"

    Isn't that the way its supposed to work? Google maintains android and device manufacturers manufacture devices. All the problems seem to happen when this is ignored.

    1. Re:Wasn't that the whole idea? by Darkness404 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Exactly. There hasn't been a single UI that has really been better than stock Android. It makes it an absolute pain to figure any settings out for someone else unless you have the exact same phone.

      And the pre-loaded crap? Get rid of it.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  4. Re:Verizon is missing from the roll out list by catchblue22 · · Score: 3

    Yep. Bought an unsubsidized Nexus S. Never locked. Gets updates. Relatively inexpensive. Why would anyone buy one of these other crappy phones that don't run even Android 4.0. And I can actually see my root filesystem, unlike an iPhone.

    --
    This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
  5. I think this is good for google and bad for OEMS by pmathew · · Score: 3, Interesting

    For me i have had enough with non-nexus android phones as i have lost patience with android updates . My next device is definitely going to be a nexus with clean android . Most of my friends say the same thing . Soon the nexus brand image will be like the i* brand and customers will be reluctant to buy anything else due to lack of complete package which includes long term support and upgrades . The way mobile landscape is changing the OEMS may not see what hit them.

  6. Re:How many manufacturers will offer the upgrades? by afgam28 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Google is in the process of releasing Jelly bean but cyanogenmod haven't even finished their ice cream sandwich release. I'm not sure I'd consider cyanogenmod an equivalent option...

  7. The 'fragmentation problem' solves itself by fredprado · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If not delivering updates in a timely fashion is really a great problem for the customers they will mgrate for Goggle phones and the other sellers will take a hit and start to update more frequently to avoid losing their market share.

    If it is not a problem for most customers then there is no problem at all.