Scrapyd18

Hi I'm new to this forum and pretty new to the whole android game. i just picked up an Asus Transformer Prime recently and despite all the hoopla I love this thing! With the recent update to ICS 4.0.3 it has been flawless. Well getting to my question, how often does android update the operating system? Are updates specific to devices? Example: next upgrade 4.1 or 4.0.4???

El Presidente

Welcome to AF!

Generally, Google will update the Android version and release it to pure Google devices (At moment, that's the Nexus handsets), they'll then pass the code to manufacturers (Asus/Samsung/HTC/LG etc) so they can tweak it for each of their specific devices, adding their own GUI/apps etc. If the device is network branded (really only relevant for phones), they'll be allowed to tweak the software further and add their own apps.

The Android version will stay the same (as it uses the same base), but the manufacturers will give it their own software version when tweaking to their own needs. So whilst Android 2.3.5 on a HTC device, might look completely different to Android 2.3.5 on a Samsung device, the core OS is still the same.

Does that all make sense?

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Last edited by El Presidente; January 13th, 2012 at 09:48 PM.

Scrapyd18

Yes very much thank u...

jerofld

To build on what EP said, but answer your time question: Major OS revisions happen annually, on average. I think it's somewhere between 8-12 months. Smaller updates happen more frequently. But, like EP said, those updates are only that frequent with Google devices (the Nexus line). Manufacturers determine if they take Google's update and incorporate them to their devices.

It gets more complicated with phones, because they have the additional middleman of a carrier, but I think that can draw a pretty good picture. On average, though, you can expect to see a minor update maybe once every 3 months. Every 6-8 months, you may see a minor OS build update. And once a year, you may see a major OS update to the next dessert type OS (currently ICS). For as long as your manufacturer chooses to update the device. Expect the life cycle of your device to be 18 months.

Scrapyd18

Got ya... Thanks