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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.
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.
It's well documented that iOS users tend to use their phones a lot more than Android users. Same thing in tablet space.
I read the internet for the articles.
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.
Or that people who did not have to pay for iDevices had enough money left to buy computers :)
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
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.