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Android Rules Smartphones, But Which Version?
Nerval's Lobster writes "Google Android's dominance of the smartphone space has been reinforced by a new IDC study that places its market-share at 68.3 percent, well ahead of iOS at 18.8 percent. But which version of Android is most preferred by users? A new set of graphs on the Android Developers Website offers the answer to that question: 'Gingerbread,' or Android versions 2.3 through 2.3.7, dominates with 50.8 percent of the Android pie. 'Ice Cream Sandwich,' or versions 4.0.3 through 4.0.4, is second with 27.5 percent, with the latest 'Jelly Bean' build at 6.7 percent. As demonstrated by that graph on the Android Developers Website, there are a lot of devices running a lot of different versions of Android out there in the ecosystem, all with different capabilities. In turn, that could make it difficult for Google to deliver 'the latest and greatest' to any customer that wants it, and potentially irritates those customers who buy a smartphone (particularly a high-end one) expecting regular upgrades."
Here's how Slashdot readers using Android break down: 31.0% Jelly Bean, 31.5% Ice Cream Sandwich, 0.7% Honeycomb, 22.8% Gingerbread, 4.3% Froyo, 1.1% Eclair, 0.05% Donut, 0.02% Cupcake, 8.5% unknown. Looks like you folks are ahead of the curve. iOS breaks down like this: 67% iOS 6, 28.6% iOS 5, 3.2% iOS 4, 0.5% iOS 3, 0.7% unknown. (These numbers include more than just phones, of course.) Overall, our iOS traffic (8.74%) is higher than our Android traffic (6.75%). Windows Phone and BlackBerry both clock in at about 0.2%.
"But which version of Android is most preferred by users?"
I don't think it's about which version users prefer but rather what version they are stuck with.
That should read "which Android version is the one their device will run or has been allowed to upgrade to." It's not like anyone with an android phone running Froyo can arbitrarily decide to upgrade to Jelly Bean.
I know I'm not the only one but is this just age? Is there a real problem with the "code word" naming schemes?
And stay off my snow.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Which version of Android is most preferred by users?
How would anyone know? The decision is made by the service provider, not the user.
Brace yourselves for the flame blitz.
Don't buy a phone expecting regular updates from a carrier that won't?
I'll upgrade to 4.x if CM9 or CM10 every deliver a stable build for my Defy. Stuck on CM7.2 for now
Android 68.3 percent, well ahead of iOS at 18.8
So there are over 3 times as many Android phones as iPhones, yet internet usage by Android is *lower*?
Something is fishy here.
Yada yada, "preference" is the wrong word here. Anyway...
I know there are many articles saying that iOS has more overall web usage, but I'm still surprised to see that it's even the case with a demographic like Slashdot. Of course, it doesn't mean there are more iOS Slashdot users, but it's still interesting.
If you can't convince them, convict them.
Suck it, Android!
(No offense to any Soong types still out there; I still love you).
No, no problem using words instead of numbers. Numbers are boring. Also, you can get it wrong - windows 3,95,98,2000,7. Lol!
So they just went ahead and changed "Windows 8" to "Windows Lol!"? Sounds about right ...
My work here is dung.
Focusing on which version is just a distraction from what really matters. What really matters is the first three words of the headline. Android Rules Smartphones.
It rules for the same reason that when you look in the parking lot you see no two cars alike. They all have different versions of equipment, or different model years. Nobody cares. What does matter is that, like Android phones, they come in every size, shape, color, style, feature combination and price that one could want.
Openness. It appears that it may always win in the long run.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Why couldn't they license IOS after they saw Android approaching. If with higher profit margins for apple, if the smartphone war copies the pc war, their market share will eventually dwindle to a point where they struggle to stay afloat.
As with so many things, Slashdot users are not typical of the wider world. According to android.com, the marketshare for Android versions 3 and up isn't at 40% yet...
http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html
#DeleteChrome
The version that's right for you! My phone runs Gingerbread, it's 2 years old and runs like it was new. Why should the consumer worry which version as long as it works?
So there are over 3 times as many Android phones as iPhones, yet internet usage by Android is *lower*?
I own an Android device myself. But the only thing on it that's usable at all is Maps.
There are tons of super-cheap Android devices sold that don't have great touch screens and thus people don't use them much except for the basics like email and maps and texting.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Low end android devices have pretty much replaced the class of device known as "Feature" phones.
While this is a good thing (Replacing a morass of completely incompatible devices with zero user control with semi-compatible devices with a lot of user control) it's disingenuous to compare cheap free-with-the-plan andriod devices (or cheap Chinese knockoff/ultra-low-end devices) with even the cheapest baseline iphone.
When you get an iphone you don't have to worry about it. It's going to work. You're going to be able to do all the cool things you see on TV, and that your friends to. It's going to work with all of your services and you've got millions easy to get of cheap-to-free apps available on the app store. - It's this non-listable and hard to quantify quality that matters quite a bit to your average user. Apple's good at marketing this, and they communicate it with their flashy ads and their brand instead of throwing a list of features at you. While it may not speak to you, it speaks to a lot of people that have money to spend on a smart phone.
The good, high-end andriod devices are absolutely a good competitor and the latest crop (Post ICS) are absolutely worth the asking price.. But don't pretend these are outselling the iphone. They aren't.
which becomes useless if you don't upgrade. Android OS versions each have their unique abilities and are all worthy in-themselves. I can still use an Android 2.2 device to its full extent, same can't be said about Apple products.
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
Most users don't even know what version they are using. Most apps run on any version.
When did this become a big deal? I bought a computer with MS-DOS, and then with win 3.1, 95, 98, ME, XP, vista, and 7. Once or twice I upgraded, but usually I just replaced the hardware. Phones are replaced even more often than computers. Buy the one with the OS you want, or root it and install yourself. My car is not a 2013 model, but it still drives me from one place to another.
It rules for the same reason that when you look in the parking lot you see no two cars alike. They all have different versions of equipment, or different model years. Nobody cares....they come in every size, shape, color, style, feature combination and price that one could want. Openness. It appears that it may always win in the long run.
What is "open" about cars at all? I can't generally use parts between them, often not even within the same model line between years.
About as close as a car gets to being "open" is that I can buy a floor-mat that fits badly in ALMOST any car.
Cars are "open" in the same way that Android and iOS and WP8 and every other Smart phone are "open" already. I can buy a tank of gas anywhere and use it in my car (well, not Diesel....). I can also use a number of carriers from any smart phone (well, not any smart phone, some are carrier locked). I can browse the web anywhere, well, except for web sites that use Flash or SIlverlight because those plugins don't exist anymore on most mobile smartphones.
I guess they are alike in that I can use the same cleaning products for any car, and can find cleaning products that also work for any smart phone?
In the end your analogy just seems really bad, even considering it's based on cars which are foolproof in the analogy department.
But perhaps it's just you trying to claim something the opposite of what is being demonstrated; cars after all are a prime example of how proprietary and closed wins over the hearts and minds of consumers.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Proof that shills are real? With the number of pro windows phone posts in ms threads, I expected the windows numbers to be much higher than that. I'm going to mod hell for this post.
Have been running different versions of Android on my average phone; Galaxy S which I got for free from a friend. It would of course be stuck with a sluggish 2.3.6 if I used samsungs offical releases; with the explanation from them that it is not capable of running 4+. They just lie, it works much better and more stable with CM7 and 9 and I am planning to upgrade to the 10 stable now... I mean the old galaxy s looks so up to date GUI-wise (vanilla android 4+) and the smoothness of GUI motion that casual people believe this is current gen. That people buy the new Samsung stuff and argue against apple is beyond me. Samsung just rip you off by stopping updating the phones after maybe less than a year. Smart users like slashdotters of course can hack and tweak, but the casual person do get this. and just create e-waste by design. If it was cars, an iPhone would be maybe a BMW / Audi with a good service deal, and Samsung a top model Daewoo or Hyundai, with no service. And all the the androids out there (50%) does not accelerate any development of real good apps either, people does not want more keyboards, useless widgets... and I guess many users that is stuck on 2.3 variants, is looking on their friends Iphone and would buy that as their next phone. It is really hard to argue for android for the casual user. The only good Android out there is vanlilla, either in CM variants or Nexus, but that is again for advanced users. *CM = Cyanogenmod.org
Is there any super huge awesome features in the newest versions that cannot be done _at all_, or at least cannot be effectively emulated in software?
I'm getting a tablet just now to look in to developing on and for them soon.
If it comes down to it, most likely I may have to have multiple versions installed at once so I can dev for most and take advantage of those features that some people do have in newer versions.
Also, speedwise, how good are the browsers in terms of HTML5?
I know how to optimize the hell out of working with HTML5 graphics, but the browser in the end defines the limits and they could be heavily gimped to save power.
I read that Android freezes threads in a rather neat way that may or may not have consequences for such things.
I guess I will find out when I receive that wonderful present from myself.
Why couldn't they license IOS after they saw Android approaching.
Why would they? Even now, they are second in sales only to Samsung, and even then they are ahead of Samsung in U.S smartphone sales....
So you would want them to throw away the success they have had and start to emulate Google who makes nothing on Android but lets device makers gain all the profit. Why does that make any sense for Apple?
As things stand Apple is much better off where they are, building systems that lots of people like to buy, and letting Google work with the other approach. It leaves plenty of room for both in the market.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You can get to the desktop Slashdot just fine in mobile browsers. I forget how as I switched long ago but look for a link that says "full version".
I really doubt that accounts for any difference at all.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" was the newest phone OS for a long time, because it was followed by Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" which was only for tablets. A whole bunch of phones shipped with Gingerbread.
After a long time Google released Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" and then, after a much shorter time, Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean". ICS was a big enough change that the phone companies were a bit slow to roll it out, with many phones shipping with Gingerbread and a promise that ICS would be provided as an update. Early adopters made an effort to get new phones, but most people kept on using their existing phones (which after all still worked).
Thus I would expect Gingerbread to still be a large chunk of the Android phones in current use, with ICS or Jelly Bean as an ever-growing segment. I've seen articles claiming that the large amount of Gingerbread still in use is a "problem" or a "failure" but I don't see it that way.
At this point, new phones no longer come with Gingerbread so over time the old phones will be replaced with ICS or Jelly Bean.
I don't think we can learn anything useful about the merits or weaknesses of Android 2.x versus Android 4.x by looking at market share. It's almost purely related to what was available and when. Early adopters always want the newest, other users mostly just buy a new phone when they need one and take whatever system the phone is running.
But I will say that there is no way the Galaxy SIII would be as popular as it is if it were saddled with Gingerbread.
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
when I look in the parking lot, I notice that most people are not driving the very latest model car!
Wouldn't you rather expect them to if they could have the newest model with only a five-minute download?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Perhaps this is telling in how little support is given to phones after they are sold. Mine runs Gingerbread (2.3.3). It is 2 years old, yet was released 2 years, 4 months ago. No updates were provided past 2.3. Sure, I can install CM on it or another flavor, but most consumers will not do that. I expect the numbers to reach Froyo levels in 2013 as users start swapping carrier-subsidized phones for ICS or JB. One thing Apple does get right...phones get new versions of the OS long into the future. The Android handset manufacturers don't bother. Each phone has 1, maybe 2 OS updates and you are done...while sitting on a 2 year contract. This chart proves that that most phones are on the 2+ year upgrade cycle.
It's also well documented that only 2.3457678% of all statistics are made up on the spot, and the remaining statistics come from authoritative irrefutable sources.
Well, unlike IOS versions which becomes useless if you don't upgrade.
That is totally false. Lots of people wait a long time before upgrading. Almost all iOS developers support iOS 5.1, most of them even support back to 4.1.
And even if you never upgraded you could just keep using the device and the apps you had installed as long as you wanted. It would simply be the case that over time you'd be able to use fewer new applications and some updates to apps you had.
iOS users don't upgrade because they NEED to. They upgrade because Apple made it easy to do so and developers make interesting apps based on capabilities of app updates.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Many Android phones are also prepaid phones. People on tight budgets use less data.
And yet, most mobile users consume data primarily on WiFi where the budget does not matter...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
> Version spread, and Kindle Fire, says nope.
I've had a couple different generations of Android phone. All my apps worked across all. I am under the impression that Kindle Fire runs Android apps. It certainly uses the Amazon App store -- which I can and have used to get apps for my Samsung Android phone. So I'll stick with my point: Android phones are more alike than they are different.
(If I am wrong about Kindle Fire running Android apps, I would appreciate being corrected on that point.)
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
If Google would have made it so that OS upgrade directly came from them and not the scumbag carrier, most phones would be running v4.0 or better.
Instead if the carrier thinks it will benefit them (the carrier, not their custmers), then they will crapify the OS and impose it on their captive customers. Most times they wont do this because the new OS is what will sell a new phone.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
I wonder whether the windows phone population consists of just me refreshing Slashdot every 5 minutes
People on tech forums always complain about how fragmented Android is. "ZoMg iM sTuCk On TiArAmAsU!!!!!111 WhEn WiLl i GeT wHiTe ChOcOlAtE MoChA??? WAAAAHHHHHhhh!!!!!1111 $MY_CARRIER iS tEh SuXoRz!!!"
In my experience, it's more version number bragging contests than anything else. The only apps that don't run on every version of Android I've used since 2.2 (now a three year old release that counts for less than 3% of devices combined with all of those below it) are LBE Privacy Guard (doesn't run on Jelly Bean but runs on anything else; XDA-Devs has a translation of the Chinese variant that works fine), 4EXT Recovery (which is more hardware specific than OS specific since it's actually a recovery environment), and a few power widgets since ICS and up don't allow widgets to directly toggle GPS and the baseband. Everything else, from Amazon daily free apps (usually games) to Netflix, to media players, to Root Explorer...it all works flawlessly on every Android device I've owned.
Yes, Jellybean gives us Google Now and pseudo-Swype. Yes, ICS gave us a somewhat different UI (I prefer the vertically scrolling app drawer myself...and yes I know about the third party launcher apps; that's not the point) and MTP instead of USB Mass Storage (another change I somewhat-understand but can't stand). If your hardware supports NFC, ICS can also utilize that, although its utility is still in the "because I can" / "the iPhone doesn't have it" stage. Beyond those changes, I have to Wikipedia the rest.
Really, the bigger differences tend to follow the OEMs. I personally really like HTC Sense, though I know plenty of people (especially here) disagree with me. Touchwiz doesn't completely suck like Motoblur does, and the bone-stock nexus/cyanogen UI seems a bit too minimalist for me. For end users, the differences in those skins is going to be a bigger change than between different android versions, especially since, once again, they all run the same apps.
Everyone complains about how fragmented Android is, but literally every OS that's ever had more than one version will have that. Windows? XP/Vista/7/8, to say nothing about the asymptotic number of 2000/9x users clinging to their 15 year old desktops that still work perfectly and refuse to die. No one complains that Windows is fragmented. OSX? Tiger/Leopard/Snow Leopard/Lion/Mountain Lion all exist, all happily running Final Cut Pro, Logic, Photoshop, and iLife. Linux? There's an extensive SVG-formatted family tree of flavors over on Wiki, all doing something. iOS? Perhaps the closest to a unified platform, but there are still plenty of 3GS devices and older-gen iPod Touch units running iOS 5.x (including every first-gen iPad), 4.x, and likely still a handful on 3.x.
No matter what you compare Android to, you'll be comparing it to something with plenty of fragmentation of its own. Fragmentation has never stopped a computing platform from adoption, and just because there is a version of $WHATEVER_OS newer than yours doesn't instantly prevent all the existing applications from running unless the OS maker royally messes with stuff or involves a completely different flavor of hardware or something equally drastic. So why is it that Androidland always has their knickers in a twist over the fact that their hardware isn't running THE LATEST version? If it was really that big of a deal, most phones have fairly simple rooting instructions over at xda-devs or sdx-devs.
Mobile OS updates were RARE before the iPhone; I remember my HTC Dash getting exactly one (official) update. Desktop Windows never gave free updates, and neither did OSX - that was always something the Linux community prided itself on, but the Linux community isn't attempting to perpetuate a business model.
I'll conclude with posing the question again: Why does Android get the 'fragmented' label as a derogatory stigma and a 'problem' in need of 'solving', when literally every operating system ever can also wear that badge just as well and no one cares?
You try getting a Verizon signal from in hell. Then we'll see who's laughing.
I looked up the ZIP code for Hell, went to Verizon's coverage map, typed in ZIP code 48169, and I discovered that yes, Verizon has 3G coverage in Hell.
> Wouldn't you rather expect them to if they could have the newest model with only a five-minute download?
The answer, at a place like Slashdot, seems like it has an obvious answer.
But in reality (not Slashdot), the obvious answer is the opposite.
No.
Most people, your mom, the school cheerleader, a doctor, the car dealer, etc, will NOT have the latest phone OS even if it were a five minute download. And the reality is that in some cases it is more trouble than a five minute download. So I support the original poster's position (which I sarcastically replied to). In the real world, most people are not going to upgrade even if they can and it is easy. Most people Just. Don't. Care.
I know that seems like a crime, and someone should pass a law, but the world is imperfect.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
They upgrade because Apple ASKS YOU ONCE and then doesn't care if you proceed without upgrading.
It's funny how Slashdot geeks would hold back commenting on any other topic where they had no knowledge, but with Apple many are genius-level administrators even though they don't use the product or have not for years.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I've had a couple different generations of Android phone. All my apps worked across all.
The point is to a developer every device should not have to look like a 1975 Honda Civic, which is the case if it's really true that even newer apps work on those older devices. It really limits the kind and quality of applications you are getting.
Perhaps the car analogy is better than I thought. Android users are driving gas cars, iOS users are hybrid or electric car drivers...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
To answer your question, the Kindle Fire can run Android apps.
It gets a rough time and limited content from the Play Store because it doesn't have some 'normal' features that many app manifests ask for, but don't need. However, most .apks can be sideloaded and run quite happily.
Apple's tight corporate control enforces that sameness
You have an iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, iPad mini... However.
The thing is that with any computer device, the TRUE measure of variety is what you can do with it, not superficial appearance. My iPhone is totally different from my friends, because of the applications I install and use.
Anyone can make a car, and we get variety because of it....
Anyone can make an APP. And we get variety because of it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Most people, your mom, the school cheerleader, a doctor, the car dealer, etc, will NOT have the latest phone OS even if it were a five minute download.
They do on iOS.
You don't get to 60% adoption in a month without LOTS of moms, doctors, cheerleaders, or criminals applying software updates. And it's hard to imagine why they would not when it's as simple as pressing a button when Apple lets you know an update is available.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Then perhaps it drives jandrese crazy that the ARM SOCs haven't been standardized to the point where a single binary distribution of AOSP can be installed on several brands of device the way one Xubuntu CD can be installed on most PCs. Instead, Team Douche and other AOSP distributors have to customize it for each device just to get it booting, and I've read it's difficult to extract the needed drivers from some devices' system images.
And yet, most mobile users consume data primarily on WiFi where the budget does not matter...
The data budget is bigger on Wi-Fi, but it still matters. For example, if you can't get fiber, cable, or DSL where you live, then you're stuck with the 10 GB per month cap of satellite.
I'm typing this in on a 2.3x device, AKA Juju Bees Sticking Your Teeth Together.
Google doesn't even have Chrome for it.
By the way, Slashdot, you suck on this browser as long text entry fields here cannot be scrolled down very far. It's you, other web sites are fine.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
That page counts only Android devices that access Google Play Store. It does not count Kindle devices, which run 2.3 (Kindle Fire) or 4.0 (KF HD) and use Amazon Appstore. Nor does it count eighth generation Archos tablets, which run 2.2 and use AppsLib. Before the Galaxy Player came out a year ago, the Archos 43 Internet Tablet was the closest thing Android had to an iPod touch counterpart.
Kindle Fire runs Android 2.3 or Android 4.0 depending on revision. It can run Android apps from Amazon Appstore and Android apps from unknown sources. It cannot run Android apps that are exclusive to Google Play Store. And because it doesn't use Google Play Store, it is not counted in the statistics in the article.
So you would want [Apple] to throw away the success they have had [being the only manufacturer of devices that run iOS] and start to emulate Google who makes nothing on Android but lets device makers gain all the profit. Why does that make any sense for Apple?
Google bought Motorola Mobility, which makes Android phones. How does this change your argument?
I'm running train on your asshole.
APK
Try visiting Server Name Indication Test on your Gingerbread phone and see how much it works.
Was there a survey I missed or has the poster missed the difference between
...
"Slashdot readers using Android"
and
"Slashdot readers using Android to read Slashdot
I look at Slashdot on my computer, NOT my Android 2.3 phone.
Low end android devices have pretty much replaced the class of device known as "Feature" phones.
Not at all carriers. Virgin Mobile USA, for example, requires Android phones to use a $35 per month "Beyond Talk" plan, not a $15 per three months "payLo" plan.
Android users are driving gas cars, iOS users are hybrid or electric car drivers...
When Trey Parker and Matt Stone created their stereotypical San Francisco residents for the Southpark episode Smug Alert! you are most definitely the sort of person they based the stereotype on.
FWIW i am an iOS user and i drive a V8 AMG, not a hybrid or electric.
I have a Samsung Galaxy SIII and it came with Android 4.0.4, or some such thing, and I did a check for updates, and a system update was available, I was pleased as punch that it is now running 4.1.1, which I understand is Jellybean. The interface has changed somewhat, for example, pressing and holding the home key now presents a list of running apps, with three buttons at the bottom of the screen, whereas before there were only two, Remove Applications, and App Manager, or some such. The middle button is now a Google-search hotkey, which I don't care for, but the clearing of dead apps from memory is now a quicker, more efficient process in terms of number of button clicks.
The onscreen keyboard has changed too, the special characters are now directly accessible from the keyboard whereas before you had to punch the 123/SYM button.
I don't know if this was something Sprint did, or something Samsung did, but I'm happy now, there were a lot of little tiny changes, and it's been fun working to spot them.
You wouldn't download a car....
I bought an Android tablet years ago with no phone contract - wifi only. I assumed I'd get updates from Google but no, I am supposed to get it from "my carrier". So, I've never been able to upgrade it and I just used it less and less. So I'll never buy Android again unless I'm confident I'll get free updates from Google. I already know 100% for sure that Apple will support their software so I'm looking at the new iPod Touch.
Overall, our iOS traffic (8.74%) is higher than our Android traffic (6.75%). Windows Phone and BlackBerry both clock in at about 0.2%.
One reason contributing to Blackberry's low numbers on /. might be that the mobile site tells the Blackberry user that his browser is incompatible, and the links don't work if the user acknowledges this and tries to use the site anyway. (Or, at least, that was my experience the two or three times I tried using the site.) Blackberry's browser is, of course, another hindrance, as any site that isn't heavily pared to accomodate small screens and slow download speeds is excruciating on a Blackberry, which is what drove me to buy an Android tablet.
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
So... 68.3% of smartphones run some version of Android, while 18.8% run iOS. So Android phones outnumber iPhones at a ratio of 3.6. Cool.
But on the other hand, web traffic from handheld devices (in mainstream sites, not niche sites like Slashdot) stays pretty much stable at around 67% for iOS and 33% Android. So it would seem like iOS users browse 7.2 times as much as Android users (note this includes tablets).
Do iPad owners browse at such a pace as to skew the results by so much?
Note I'm not saying either of the studies is flawed. I'm just pointing out an apparent contradiction that I find rather puzzling.
Your comparison would be relevant if you were looking at iOS update adoption vs. Nexus line update adoption.
My point is that people would upgrade cars if it were as easy as pressing a button. It's a pretty far cry to claim there's anything wrong with that statement (though someone tried).
Anything else is apples-to-oranges and you know it, but are too intellectually dishonest to admit it.
Oh no! INTELLECTUALLY DISHONEST!
You're right, I was dishonest. I tried to keep it hidden, but the Android update process totally sucks for real people. I'll try not to keep that under wraps any longer, if anyone talks about Android in any context I will be sure in fact to bring up the point you are so angry that I have concealed.
For Android users who care about system updates
Apples and Oranges, obviously, since people would car very much about updating to a new car. Looks like someone else needs to look deep within that mirror of intellectual honesty even if they don't like what they see.
I'll let you have the lost response because *I* have healed my own intellectual dishonesty.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It rules for the same reason that when you look in the parking lot you see no two cars alike. They all have different versions of equipment, or different model years. Nobody cares....they come in every size, shape, color, style, feature combination and price that one could want. Openness. It appears that it may always win in the long run.
What is "open" about cars at all? I can't generally use parts between them, often not even within the same model line between years.
I have NGK spark plugs in my Honda.
I can choose between Firelli, Toyo or Khumo tyres. Hell, if I really wanted to I could take the K20 engine out and replace it with a 357 Chevy... not that it would work very well but I can. I'm not forced to use Honda oil, Honda petrol, Honda tyres, Honda Brake pads, Honda clutches, Honda seats, I can use any brand I can get.
Hell, next week I'm putting in an Apexi intake... Sure as shit not a Honda approved part but she's going in.
But perhaps it's just you trying to claim something the opposite of what is being demonstrated
Nope, the GP is right. You simply didn't understand, I suspect you don't know much about cars (not a flaw in itself, except when pretending to be an expert on cars). "openness" is very important to car buyers for maintenance reasons. If something breaks on a Honda Civic, you know you can take it to any mechanic who'll be able to source a part for you today, whether it be genuine Honda or aftermarket.
In other words, would you buy a car that has the bonnet (hood for the Yanks) welded shut that required a special key from the manufacturer just to open?
If Apple designed a car, in order to change a tyre you'd need to remove the drive train.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Proof that shills are real? With the number of pro windows phone posts in ms threads, I expected the windows numbers to be much higher than that. I'm going to mod hell for this post.
Well the easiest way to get a typical /. user frothing at the mouth and unable to contain his/her desperate need to decry anything pro-Microsoft as 'shill!' is to just post that you like Windows Phone, because of course nobody could possibly have a different opinion. It's even better if it's objective praise because then you'll find they get even more furious at their own inability to refute it, this degenerates into even more posts of 'M$ SHILL!' peppered with expletives and you just know there's a red-faced sweaty nerd beating at their keyboard furiously :P losers.
"those customers who buy a smartphone (particularly a high-end one) expecting regular upgrades. "
Want regular upgrades? Buy a Nexus.
If you expect regular upgrades for a phone that either the OEM or your cellphone carrier has glazed in a layer of shite, you are naive.
But older Nexi don't get upgraded. My Nexus One is still on Gingerbread, but my Galaxy Nexus is on Jelly Bean 4.2.1.
The problem is that even though the test works in Opera, which I assume uses its own SSL stack, it doesn't work on the browser bundled with these Android 2.2 and 2.3 devices. So the operator of a web site targeting these devices has to either A. use insecure communication, B. pay for its own IPv4 address, or C. somehow express to users that they're supposed to come in with Opera and not the bundled browser.
A flip-down keypad or slide-out keyboard is often one of the things that someone has to give up when switching from a feature phone to an Android phone to run an encrypted messaging application. Touch screens, such as those on phones and tablets running various versions of Android, do not offer the tactile feedback needed for blind dialing or efficient typing. Yes, I'm using the dual meaning of "touch" to drive hits, but no, I was unaware that puns were a symbol of retardation.
FWIW i am an iOS user and i drive a V8 AMG, not a hybrid or electric.
I have nothing against gas cars (I love them myself and don't think much of hybrids or electric cars), I am just noting that developing for iOS you get to use frameworks developed quite recently by Apple. With Android you really have to stick to using frameworks from 2.3 in order to be able to run on most devices.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
While nothing specific about the post might be overrated, but in general overrated on unmoderated comment is not really a contradiction. For a hypothetical non-AC post which is by default at score 1; some moderator might genuinely feel that 1 is too much of a score for the low-quality post. Hence overrated might make sense.
Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
If the owner of the website decides to support Android 2.2 browsers, great. If not, download Opera for free.
The trouble is that especially for a hobby site that might only be paying $120 per year or less for hosting, it's a bit more expensive per year to offer an HTTPS connection to users of Android Browser on Android 2, Internet Explorer on Windows XP, and Safari on Windows XP. Though shared hosts such as WebFaction have started to support SNI, most shared hosts that I've seen charge about $60 to $70 per year more for the dedicated IPv4 address needed to support HTTPS on the browsers included with Windows XP and Android 2. The best way I can think of is to make the login page available through both HTTP and HTTPS, redirect to HTTPS on the login page if the user agent appears to support SNI (Chrome, Firefox, Opera, recent Safari on Mac/iOS, IE on Vista/7/8), and present "Switch to Firefox or Opera, or continue insecurely" on the login page if the user was not redirected.
Not only browser, Android 2.2 owners can (and many do) override default applications
I'm aware that they can. I'd just like to see statistics that they do. StatCounter implies that 63% of Android users still require a dedicated IPv4 address for each SSL certificate:
In addition, I'm under the impression that a lot of Android 2 devices tend to have ARMv6 CPUs, which Firefox doesn't yet support.
Though the "browser" makes sense as a "Google Play" application, I think, similar to Google Maps. Easier to test independently on various Android versions as it is a separate "product".
That's what Google has started doing in the 4.x series with the "Chrome" package, but Chrome doesn't run on Android versions prior to 4.x. I've decided to just recommend Opera and Firefox on both Windows XP and Android 2.x platforms.