• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Android devices get outdated very soon.

htcdesire_3

Newbie
Nov 9, 2010
18
0
It's really good that Android is progressing at very fast rate...its updates are launched now almost in every quarter...but it somehow seems also depressing to me because at this fast rate, Android devices become outdated very soon...for e.g. I bought my Desire this May on a two year contract. Right now it's on 2.2...2.3 is about to be launched and definitely Desire owners will have to wait longer for 2.3 and by the time HTC releases 2.3 for Desire, I am pretty much sure that 3.0 will already have been launched (and it's more than probable that Desire will never see 3.0 because companies never offer support for so long and for old products) and by the time my contracts ends...my Desire will look like a 'stone with capability to display texts'...and this story will go on and on... ANDROID DEVICES WILL JUST GET OUTDATED SOONER THAN EVER.

But this is not the case with other OSs. Their customers have a sense of equality. They all have same thing.

No doubt, Android offers far rich features than any other OS but this 'being outdated pretty soon' doesn't seem nice to me.

What do you think?
 
But this is not the case with other OSs. Their customers have a sense of equality. They all have same thing.

No doubt, Android offers far rich features than any other OS but this 'being outdated pretty soon' doesn't seem nice to me.

What do you think?

As someone who came from an iPhone 3G that was less than a year old, and that Apple then chose to prevent from being able to use all of the latest, greatest, and most useful features in iOS4, I have to laugh at this just a little bit... :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: ckochinsky125
Upvote 0
not only laugh, but if your phone STILL gets updates.. how is it "outdated"? Sounds like you didnt think this through before posting. That, and you should NEVER EVER buy a car.. because those are outdated in a year... oh, and you shouldnt ever buy a tv, those get outdated fast to... oh, and you shouldnt buy a computer, because those get outdated in 2-4 years as well... oh, and you... see what I mean?? Didnt think this through did ya?
 
  • Like
Reactions: ckochinsky125
Upvote 0
I don't really care if new things come out that are better. Seriously?

Faster tech progress for phones is good no matter how you look at it (privacy and security issues aside).

Maybe you should stick to iphone if you want a homogenic experience accross the whole user base. I really don't see the problem at all, and it doesn't bother me one bit. In fact, it makes me excited to think that "by the time my contracts ends...my Desire will look like a 'stone with capability to display texts'...and this story will go on and on...", I see this as a positive thing, not a bad thing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ckochinsky125
Upvote 0
think theres is a different point to this
google said with froyo they were going to slow down the fragmentation of android as they started to realise that hw was not keeping up with the software releases and for a while they were pushing 2.1 while their main base was still 1.5 as people just brought out new handsets instead of updating current ones.

i dont think this post is bad at all. google are a bit out of order for how they handle whole base code saga
 
Upvote 0
Yeah I agree that the distribution of the updates is annoying, heck, I rooted my phone simply because I didn't want to wait for my provider to update us to 2.2.

But I really don't think I'd prefer timely worldwide 'simultaneous' updates over at the cost of Google slowing down R&D just so phone manufacturers can play catch up. Unfortunately, I don't think we can have best of both worlds.
 
Upvote 0
all fair points.

i presume the OP bought the Desire after doing some research but, at the end of the day, you buy a phone for what it can offer now and you can't really plan for 12 months into the future.

of course new things will come along (like htcsense.com and 3.0) that we'd like to have but it's never guaranteed.

you pays your money and you takes you choice.
 
Upvote 0
not only laugh, but if your phone STILL gets updates.. how is it "outdated"? Sounds like you didnt think this through before posting. That, and you should NEVER EVER buy a car.. because those are outdated in a year... oh, and you shouldnt ever buy a tv, those get outdated fast to... oh, and you shouldnt buy a computer, because those get outdated in 2-4 years as well... oh, and you... see what I mean?? Didnt think this through did ya?

No. You got it totally wrong. It was about 'OS', not hardware (though I mentioned software versions and updates so many times in my post but you overlooked them).
 
Upvote 0
Technology does move too fast and to be fair at least with Apple you know your new phone will last a year.

That's not the case with all other handset makers who are continually announcing and releasing new hardware. I'd prefer them to slow down, but they won't because they worry about losing the competitive edge to their rivals.

It's almost like the consumer doesn't matter; they just want to have the best tech on the shelves and gain some oneupmanship.

Still, I reckon by the time I upgrade (next year) Android 3 will be stable and feature rich and the handsets should be amazing
 
Upvote 0
In some ways, I see the point the OP is making. However, this is the same for most phone makes and models. It is only Apple who release one phone a year, there are few others that do the same (big players, anyway).

I got my Desire in August. Rumours of a Desire HD were rife, but I went for the Desire, because I thought it would be a long time till the HD was out... not long after (and after my cool off/wave period) the HD was officially announced and was out. But due to the Desire being such a good handset, it doesn't feel out of date.

I think with any of these new phones, tieing you in for 2 years is clever by the provider. It allows you to spread the cost, but ties you in for 24 months. In that time, your phone will still be performing well, but will certainly be "out of date".

I have an 18month contract personally, so I will encounter similar problems myself. To stay "future proof" the only way, is to get a 12 month contract, and take the hit up front for the handset. Or, go sim only, and buy the phone sim free. The contract is what causes the problem for yourself and I, but that is the choice we made.
 
Upvote 0
I for one appreciate the speed at which technology develops. This one-up-manship stimulates the markets and provokes manufacturers into pushing themselves that little bit further.

The problem is the consumer always wants the latest tech and perhaps its society that drives us to be like that.

The thing is, if we can remain content throughout the lifecycle of the device we currently own, when we upgrade, the differnce in tech is huuuge, giving us a more exciting experience of these new devices.

I also believe the longevity of these devices for us would be longer than if we upgraded every time there was a new device.
 
Upvote 0
I'm not to fond of the look of the new Nexus. It looks a bit plastic to me....in the same way the Galaxy S did when I looked at one.
I agree that it's annoying having to wait (or possbibly not even getting) new updates or versions of things. I would love to have the new HTC Sense on my desire but I need to remember that the Sense already on it is pretty sweet.
As mentioned above though, rooting may enable people to get these things on their existing devices.
I don't think the desire is outdated at all yet. The hardware spec is still very much at the sharper end of the market.
 
Upvote 0
I'd Kill to have a desire Z if it had the same CPU as the Desire. I love physical QWERTY keyboards. One thing I really miss from my Blackberry.

That said though, 800Mhz.... Grrrr

I know what you're saying about the keypad on the Z. The only thing I REALLY miss about my BB is the battery life. It was great getting 3 days out of a device even with it sync'ing pretty much everything continuously.
 
Upvote 0
i think its good cause it keep the market and developers on their toes, unlike where we used to have nokia keep it for 5 years then maybe upgrade that was cause nothing changed in those years bar a colour screen, now though as they are changing and developing by have new updates ECT it keeps the trade going by wanting the new thing and by doing that it means one company dont get alot of people getting a phone and then keeping it for years...
 
Upvote 0
This was one of the factors in my choosing the Desire rather than a different android - I figured that it was the best bet of the then current crop for long-term community software support (except possibly the Nexus One, but that was more expensive and I preferred physical buttons).

Anyway, it's not obsolete as long as it does what I want it to.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones