Slashdot Mirror
Google Can't Ignore the Android Update Problem Any Longer
An anonymous reader writes: An editorial at Tom's Hardware makes the case that Google's Android fragmentation problem has gotten too big to ignore any longer. Android 5.0 Lollipop and its successor 5.1 have seen very low adoption rates — 9.0% and 0.7% respectively. Almost 40% of users are still on KitKat. 6% lag far behind on Gingerbread and Froyo. The article points out that even Microsoft is now making efforts to both streamline Windows upgrades and adapt Android (and iOS) apps to run on Windows.
If Google doesn't adapt, "it risks having users (slowly but surely) switch to more secure platforms that do give them updates in a timely manner. And if users want those platforms, OEMs will have no choice but to switch to them too, leaving Google with less and less Android adoption." The author also says OEMs and carriers can no longer be trusted to handle operating system updates, because they've proven themselves quite incapable of doing so in a reasonable manner.
If Google doesn't adapt, "it risks having users (slowly but surely) switch to more secure platforms that do give them updates in a timely manner. And if users want those platforms, OEMs will have no choice but to switch to them too, leaving Google with less and less Android adoption." The author also says OEMs and carriers can no longer be trusted to handle operating system updates, because they've proven themselves quite incapable of doing so in a reasonable manner.
I used a Galaxy S3 with 4.3 for about 2 years and was quite happy with it for the most part.
I picked up a used Galaxy Note II from someone at a very very reasonable price, it shipped with 4.3 and I updated it to the very latest build of 4.4 available for that model.
It ran well, was surprisingly snappy for basically the same phone (plus 1GB more memory) and then all my god damn fucking tools went haywire because of some dipshits policy change on MicroSD card usage. EVEN WITH ROOT AND SD CARD FIXES, the functionality of data stored on the SDcard is reduced. This is causing me major headaches as an advanced user.
I've got Titanium Backup doing a scripted full backup at 2am (if charging) and then I've got a great app called FolderSync doing an SMB via Wifi upload of the ENTIRE /phone/ and ENTIRE /sdcard/ to my NAS. It ensures I have a complete backup of the phone, in full. This all went tits up with 4.4 though.
Google have turned into Apple, enforcing shitty policies at their own whim. Combine that with the ghastly adoption of "material design" (all looks flat, colourless, no shades, no borders and offten no text labels) plus killing off old useful services, seriously - fuck them.