a cautious take on fragmentation and the recently proposed solution for it

[anotherfandroid]

the following is eric sherman's view on this issue and i am wondering if u agree with it.




According to Engadget, Google will break out many standard Android applications and components and make them optional and available by download. There are some solid benefits to such an approach, because Google

 

[IOWA]

the following is eric sherman's view on this issue and i am wondering if u agree with it.




According to Engadget, Google will break out many standard Android applications and components and make them optional and available by download. There are some solid benefits to such an approach, because Google

 

[SSinisterSS]

this is why a google cell phone company aka G mobile would be great.

fast 3/4G, unlimited everything, updates instantly right from google so you arent left with a middle man (motorola, samsung, htc) and a nice selection of android phones.

 

[srothkin]

As a Droid owner, I would like the ability to download apps/components that have been updated by Google without having to wait for Motorola/Verizon to decide to roll it out to me. As long as the updates are device-independent (not requiring vendor porting to each phone) making them unlikely to cause problems, why should I be at the mercy of Motorola/Verizon?

For example, 2.1 has been long rumored to expand the number of home screens beyond 3. But the 2.1 rolled out to the Droid doesn't have this. I really want that feature, but without having to load and configure a replacement home which may be less stable and/or slow down my phone (Panda Home started doing after the 2.01 update) and which may not have its settings backed up.

For another example, I'm still waiting for a fix to the Gmail issue where subsequent messages in an email chain are displayed truncated. This seems like something that Google should be able to easily fix in a Gmail application update that doesn't require a full OS update.

 

[QrafTee]

Can we say biased? Most android devices on the market are being upgraded to android 2.1, so 1.5 and 1.6 will be gone. The milestone is getting 2.1 already. So where is the problem?

The problem is some phones (although planned to be upgraded) may not possess the specs compared to what is coming out in the near future. So developers will be forced to (well not like... physically) develop for the lowest common denominator and the newer devices may lose out--why have such a powerful device, but not use it for all its worth?

 

[IOWA]

The problem is some phones (although planned to be upgraded) may not possess the specs compared to what is coming out in the near future. So developers will be forced to (well not like... physically) develop for the lowest common denominator and the newer devices may lose out--why have such a powerful device, but not use it for all its worth?

Yeah but this happens with everything in electronics. If they kept developing for old devices, we wouldn't see anything new.

 

[saltorio]

Can we say biased? Most android devices on the market are being upgraded to android 2.1, so 1.5 and 1.6 will be gone. The milestone is getting 2.1 already. So where is the problem?

Yeah. From what I've read, most manufacturers have pledged to upgrade their devices to 2.1 this year.

Besides, nothing can be done to address Android fragmentation without changes to the way the OS is built and distributed. That means OS updates. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it goes with software. Hard if not impossible to avoid really.

As for QrafTee's comment, I disagree. Developers will develop for whatever feature set they're focusing on. If the hardware doesn't meet the features, it won't work. Same as most other computer/OS setups. Just because Vista can run on a crap system doesn't mean devs develop their software to run on such systems. Why would it be different here?

 

[QrafTee]

Yeah. From what I've read, most manufacturers have pledged to upgrade their devices to 2.1 this year.

Besides, nothing can be done to address Android fragmentation without changes to the way the OS is built and distributed. That means OS updates. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it goes with software. Hard if not impossible to avoid really.

As for QrafTee's comment, I disagree. Developers will develop for whatever feature set they're focusing on. If the hardware doesn't meet the features, it won't work. Same as most other computer/OS setups. Just because Vista can run on a crap system doesn't mean devs develop their software to run on such systems. Why would it be different here?

It doesn't make sense for a developer to knowingly put a wall over a nice percentage of their potential customers.

I haven't checked out the Android Market very closely, but how many Android apps only work for the higher end devices?

 

[Snow_Fox]

Odds are people will attempt to port everything to weaker devices as well.

lets face it.. the weaker devices are all a lot of people are going to be able to afford. For example motorola backflip is free from radioshack online atm.

My girlfriend ended up getting the backflip for that reason. She worked out a deal with her parents for the 30$ a month data package..

However, they would have *never* considered shelling out 500$ for a nexus one.. they just can't afford it.

Also for what its worth.. I HATE that people are pointing this out about android.. Has no one ever looked back at iphone and said "well with all these different versions coming out, how long until I can't get updates because I'm on an older version?"

Lets face it.. with every piece of non upgradeable hardware we face that problem. Even the nexus one has a 1ghz snapdragon processor according to moore's law will be obsolete in two years.

Now sure some of you out there say "well yeah but, two years if the average life of a phone" which is true.. but, what about all the people who buy a nexus one a year after it comes out? thats 500$ gone if they had just waited a year.. But, a year is a sizeable part of life too..

 

[IOWA]

Odds are people will attempt to port everything to weaker devices as well.

lets face it.. the weaker devices are all a lot of people are going to be able to afford. For example motorola backflip is free from radioshack online atm.

My girlfriend ended up getting the backflip for that reason. She worked out a deal with her parents for the 30$ a month data package..

However, they would have *never* considered shelling out 500$ for a nexus one.. they just can't afford it.

Also for what its worth.. I HATE that people are pointing this out about android.. Has no one ever looked back at iphone and said "well with all these different versions coming out, how long until I can't get updates because I'm on an older version?"

Lets face it.. with every piece of non upgradeable hardware we face that problem. Even the nexus one has a 1ghz snapdragon processor according to moore's law will be obsolete in two years.

Now sure some of you out there say "well yeah but, two years if the average life of a phone" which is true.. but, what about all the people who buy a nexus one a year after it comes out? thats 500$ gone if they had just waited a year.. But, a year is a sizeable part of life too..

Very well said. And you got your first thanks for it. Why do people think when they buy something it should last forever?