Upcoming Software Changes - Official

[spiz]

Take this for what it's worth since you're hearing it from me, and not an official link. I understand I could be completely making this up, but I only come here to hopefully give you, my fellow BH2 owners out there something to look forward to.

While in TMobile today, I was chatting with the manager who helped me decide on the BH2. It just so happened that his Samsung rep had just left and gave him some good news.

Originally, I thought he had told me the BH2 would be going from 1.5 to 2.x, however, the BH2 has two upcoming changes.

First, we will be getting a minor change to fix the battery issues. The battery indicator will be more accurate, and they will be adjusting some software issues to increase the battery life. Great news. This should be very soon since the reps recently got the email.

Second, and no later than two months away, we will be getting 1.6. Not 2.0 or 2.1. 1.6 is apparently the most stable Android software out there at the moment, which is why 2.1 is still a ways out. Don't expect to ever see 2.0 on your BH2 because 2.0 is terrible software and Tmobile has no intentions of pushing that on their phones. 2.1 will most likely come after 1.6.

This is according to a Samsung rep who received an email from his superiors. Take it for what it's worth, but I am looking forward to the BH2 future. Now BH2 owners will have the best Android phone with stable software. Can't wait!

 

[shawn1224]

I don't believe it. I've heard so many different stories of what superiors have told reps who have told managers who have told supervisors who have told vendors who have told .... well you get the point.

 

[SoulCreator]

Second, and no later than two months away, we will be getting 1.6. Not 2.0 or 2.1. 1.6 is apparently the most stable Android software out there at the moment, which is why 2.1 is still a ways out. Don't expect to ever see 2.0 on your BH2 because 2.0 is terrible software and Tmobile has no intentions of pushing that on their phones. 2.1 will most likely come after 1.6.

Huh? If T-Mobile thought 2.1 was terrible software and didn't want the their phones to have the software then why would they release the Nexus One with 2.1 on it?

Also this is the first I've heard anyone call 2.1 "terrible software", all of the reviews I've heard about it has been saying that it's a step up from previous android versions.

If what your saying is true and tmobile intends to upgrade us to outdated software, rather than work out some of the kinks with 2.1 then I seriously need to rethink who gets to be my phone provider.

 

[spiz]

Huh? If T-Mobile thought 2.1 was terrible software and didn't want the their phones to have the software then why would they release the Nexus One with 2.1 on it?

Also this is the first I've heard anyone call 2.1 "terrible software", all of the reviews I've heard about it has been saying that it's a step up from previous android versions.

If what your saying is true and tmobile intends to upgrade us to outdated software, rather than work out some of the kinks with 2.1 then I seriously need to rethink who gets to be my phone provider.

Re-read my post. They aren't pushing 2.0 because it's terrible. Not 2.1. Plus, the Nexus One is Google exclusively. Hence why TMobile stores don't carry it. So their software isn't determined by the decisions of the carriers. 2.1 will likely come after 1.6, rather than 2.0. 2.0 is the reason so many Moto Droids are having software issues.

 

[spiz]

If what your saying is true and tmobile intends to upgrade us to outdated software, rather than work out some of the kinks with 2.1 then I seriously need to rethink who gets to be my phone provider.

Also, it's not that TMobile is updating us to outdated software. They're updating us to stable software. Just because there are new versions of Android software, doesn't mean every carrier will switch over right away. I'd rather run on 1.6 stable than 2.0 unstable.

I'm proud of TMobile for not jumping ship to 2.0 so fast like the Droid did. They're doing us a favor. Plus, what do you think 2.0 has that 1.6 doesn't? Like I said, 2.1 will likely come after 1.6, assuming it's stable.

Don't forget, with 1.6 comes Google Navigation. If I can get a stable phone with improved battery life and Google Nav, I will be a happy camper.

 

[paul89]

Huh? If T-Mobile thought 2.1 was terrible software and didn't want the their phones to have the software then why would they release the Nexus One with 2.1 on it?

Also this is the first I've heard anyone call 2.1 "terrible software", all of the reviews I've heard about it has been saying that it's a step up from previous android versions.

If what your saying is true and tmobile intends to upgrade us to outdated software, rather than work out some of the kinks with 2.1 then I seriously need to rethink who gets to be my phone provider.

not 2.1 rere 2.0 haha

 

[=KLRS=ZERO]

in 2 months we'll have a custom rom thats 10x faster than stock and with 2.1

 

[chadmd23]

FYI, the only difference between 2.0.1 & 2.1 is the activation of "live wallpapers". There are no significant changes. Plus Tmo has very little input into updates, and from my Blackberry experience, they are often the first carrier worldwide to pass updates to the customer.

We all know there is a minor update somewhere in the pipeline, its posted on the Samsung website.

I'm calling BS on this report of 1.6, but that is my opinion.

 

[SoulCreator]

Re-read my post. They aren't pushing 2.0 because it's terrible. Not 2.1. Plus, the Nexus One is Google exclusively. Hence why TMobile stores don't carry it. So their software isn't determined by the decisions of the carriers. 2.1 will likely come after 1.6, rather than 2.0. 2.0 is the reason so many Moto Droids are having software issues.

Ah my bad I should have paid closer attention and noted you were referring to 2.0 rather than 2.1...

But I think you've got a few things confused though... Motorola/Verizon has exclusive rights to 2.0 as it was released with their droid device, which is likely the reason why we won't be seeing 2.0 on a tmobile device anytime soon. It's worth noting that the Verizon Droid is a *highly* popular device and I can honestly say that I haven't read any reviews stating that the software is "terrible" (...Although I could be wrong about that as I have yet to use a Droid.)

Now the Nexis One does not have exclusive rights to the 2.1 software, as google has released the source code and several phones are scheduled to upgraded to 2.1 in the near future.

Don't get me wrong I would rather receive a upgrade to 1.6 than no upgrades at all, but at this point I really don't understand why they would spend the time, energy and money to have incremental upgrades when they could go straight to 2.1.

 

[spiz]

Cool, good to know SoulCreator. Didn't know Motorola/Verizon had exclusive rights to 2.0. I didn't read reviews stating that the 2.0 version was terrible, just that there are a lot of software problems. The "terrible" wording was my own rendition.

I'd be fine with them going to 2.1 instead of 1.6, I'm just going off what another rep said. To me, and like you said, 1.6 is better than 1.5 and I'd be okay with it. TMobile just seems to be picky about launching software versions, which is why they're always behind. I see it as them doing us a favor, waiting until everything is stable.

But you're right, it would make more sense going to 2.1 if they're putting in the effort. As long as I can get some more battery life and Google Nav out of it, I'm happy!

 

[yatimameiji]

Not answering whether or not I think its true, I have to say it sounds believable. Android 1.6 is the most used version with 2.x offering just more eye candy and thus require more power from the device. So it makes sense to me to update to 1.6 while the 2.x line matures, which as a sysadmin is totally reasonable when it comes to server software.

Either way, the hackers and crackers are working away and any update released will just provide more stuff for them to reverse engineer and make higher quality mods.

 

[howardmoon]

Android has been entirely open source since 2008, so no one can have exclusive rights to it. They may add an app or tweak of their own, but that doesn't mean they own the whole revision.

 

[yatimameiji]

Android has been entirely open source since 2008, so no one can have exclusive rights to it. They may add an app or tweak of their own, but that doesn't mean they own the whole revision.

No, but then Android is developed by Google, so they could have simply made an arrangement to get first dibs on the next release(2.0) and wait to release 2.0 to everyone else. All open source means is that they release the source code when they want to(including a delayed release), and yes Google does have rights to it. They simply made the choice to give the rights up to everyone else under the GPL license. They would be within their rights to change the license(though within the bounds of the GPL) to something else if they so choose.

But then I'm no lawyer and I"m just going off of my own logical thinking. I am a math major after all.

 

[SoulCreator]

Android has been entirely open source since 2008, so no one can have exclusive rights to it. They may add an app or tweak of their own, but that doesn't mean they own the whole revision.

I should clarify; it has been suspected that 2.0 was the exclusive rights of motorola/verizon because the software had been out for months and no other phone had been officially upgraded to the 2.0 software. ...And then 2.1 is released and almost immediately it is announced that a whole slew of phones are scheduled to be upgraded in the near future.

As I understand it the android platform isn't 100% open source... it's merely *mostly* open source.

Sources:Google's Android platform: not so open after all
Google to Android Developers

 

[howardmoon]

"On 5 November 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of several companies (currently 65) which include Texas Instruments, Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile was unveiled with the goal to develop open standards for mobile devices.[7] Along with the formation of the Open Handset Alliance, the OHA also unveiled their first product, Android, a mobile device platform built on the Linux kernel version 2.6."

Android (operating system) - Wikipedia

 

[psychoace]

"On 5 November 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of several companies (currently 65) which include Texas Instruments, Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile was unveiled with the goal to develop open standards for mobile devices.[7] Along with the formation of the Open Handset Alliance, the OHA also unveiled their first product, Android, a mobile device platform built on the Linux kernel version 2.6."

Android (operating system) - Wikipedia

The OS is open source but the apps aren't. So Market/Google Maps/Gtalk/etc are not open sourced but the rest of the OS is.

 

[howardmoon]

The OS is open source but the apps aren't. So Market/Google Maps/Gtalk/etc are not open sourced but the rest of the OS is.

I'm not contesting that, and didn't think it was the topic.

 

[SoulCreator]

"On 5 November 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of several companies (currently 65) which include Texas Instruments, Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile was unveiled with the goal to develop open standards for mobile devices.[7] Along with the formation of the Open Handset Alliance, the OHA also unveiled their first product, Android, a mobile device platform built on the Linux kernel version 2.6."

Android (operating system) - Wikipedia

As I understand it a lot has changed since November 5th, 2007 and since then android shifted from a 100% open source model.

Source:
Google changes direction with Android Open Source Project – Android and Me

Excerpts:

"A lot has changed between the release of Android 1.0 to 2.0. This is evident in recent changes that were made to the project roles page."

"From what I can tell, Android is not a community project in the sense that most other open source projects operate. Android (as I see it) is totally controlled and managed by Google."


"Parts of Android are open and others are not. A few pieces like the kernel are licensed under the GPL and made available when product ships. For example, Google just released the kernel for Droid (android-omap-2.6.29-eclair). Other parts of the Android framework are under the Apache License and can remain closed as long as Google likes.

This is the reason why the popular CyanogenMod has not been updated to Android 2.0. Google has yet to release the full source code for Eclair and there is no time frame for doing so."


"Android is developed behind closed doors, but anyone can still make contributions. The Verizon Droid was actually the first phone to receive a significant number of open source contributions from the community. However, Google has not released the full source code so it is hard to tell what those contributions were

Google and select members of the OHA decide the roadmap for Android, but it will no longer be made public. The reason for this is because of commercial deadlines. Google does not want to publish a roadmap of features and then be criticized for failing to deliver when they have a product deadline to meet."

​

 

[howardmoon]

Nice link/post. I guess I was trying to shift some blame away from Google, but it looks like it's right where it needs to be.

 

[NowVoyager]

1.6, now there's a reason to keep waiting!!! .

Gotta get to Craigslist. eBay. While there is still *some* dignity left.

New apps aren't even going to support 1.6. - buzz.google.com for example only supports 2.0 and above.

Good old Samsux. Never again.

 

[paul89]

1.6, now there's a reason to keep waiting!!! .

Gotta get to Craigslist. eBay. While there is still *some* dignity left.

New apps aren't even going to support 1.6. - buzz.google.com for example only supports 2.0 and above.

Good old Samsux. Never again.

i am able to access buzz, it shows up at the bottom or middle should I saw of the google homepage, and I clicked on it, not all features work tho, so I guess your right, I am getting sick of waiting, we still dont even have flash player yet and that was suppose to be out in Oct.

 

[SoulCreator]

The good news is that if we get upgraded to 1.6 with any luck that should make the path to installing custom roms a lot easier.

 

[Jacqda]

First, we will be getting a minor change to fix the battery issues. The battery indicator will be more accurate, and they will be adjusting some software issues to increase the battery life. Great news. This should be very soon since the reps recently got the email.

Great. Now I'm wondering if they're going to delete the batterystats.bin file or replace it with something equally as buggy.

Do I wait or delete it myself...hmmm.

 

[several]

Wow. This thread is like misinformation central.

First off, T-Mobile does not choose which version of Android goes on hardware maker's phones. T-mobile doesn't decide on or develop the updates, they just deliver the updaes OTA after the hardware maker gives the updates to T-Mobile for distrbuting them. Just about the only thing T-Mobile has any say over is the timing of the OTAs and how many phones get them per OTA batch.

Next up, Motorola/Verizon does not have exclusivity over Android 2.x. The assertion that only Motorola/Verizon devices are running 2.x is laughable. Let me google that for you

Thirdly, the assertion that Android 2.0 is terrible is absurd. Just about the only people you'll hear making that claim are Apple/iPhone fanboys.

Clearly neither samsung or T-mobile have any qualms with Android 2.x because it's coming to the Samsung Galaxy Spica in Q2: Samsung Galaxy Portal AKA The Former Galaxy Spica Available For T-Mobile UK | Android Central and the Samsung M100S will have 2.1: Samsung M100S Gets a Hands-On Video | Android Central

T-Mobile sales and CS reps have a solid history of being either misquoted, misinformed or just plain making sh*t up when it comes to updates for Android on devices on their network.

Remember when the G1 finally got Cupcake? T-Mobile reps said a lot of things leading up to it, but in the end, none of them knew a damned thing until the OTA was actually already showing up on phones. Expect the same with the Behold II. The way to know for sure when/if it will get updates and what will be in the update is when those updates actually start showing up on Behold IIs.

 

[2FR35H]

Okay I do believe it is my turn to jump in on your guys' quarrel...

First off it wouldn't actually be too far fetched to say motorola does have exclusivity with 2.0 just look out there how many phone with 2.0 are there? Is it just the droid?

I definitely would love a step up the android ladder but all these months and only 1.6? that ridiculous we bh2 owners should get an auto bump to 2.1 even if its not stable... All the good apps reign on 2.1... 1.5 is behind sooo much.. not even apps to sd I mean what version lets us utilize sd card memory for apps as in like saving it to the card and launching it from the card so that we could have hundreds of apps on it without deleting.