Tommy Setiawan

understatementblog:

The announcement that Nexus One users won’t be getting upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich led some to justifiably question Google’s support of their devices. I look at it a little differently: Nexus One owners are lucky. I’ve been researching the history of OS updates on Android phones…

I was referred to this post by a friend when asking about choosing between iPhone 4S and Galazy Nexus Prime.

Yes, the fragmentation IS a problem with androids. Early android releases were a mess, and Cellphones manufacturers (being new into this smartphone game) make devices wishing they dont have to care about software updates. Unfortunately, the changes and updates happening in the mobile space, especially for an OS this early in its life, is really really fast. Thus, new phones without updates get outdated really quick. Fundamentally, I compare the situation with companies making computers with windows. they make the device, Microsoft’s being responsible for updates and upgrades. This is not happening yet with Android, and I think this is what Google should do with their mobile OS to reduce the fragmentation.
Mobile phone manufacturers should:
1.let google update and upgrade phones directly.
2.stop tinkering too much inside the android internal OS, keep it skin deep.
i’d think minor version updates are easy. for major version, maybe google can create install package, that checks for phone’s requirement and give a phone the ‘go’ flag to do a major android upgrade. now this is no trivial matter, google will need to store all possible hardware and drivers available (which im pretty sure they can do), make sure they test well. manufacturers must stop tweaking the internal of the OS to make sure an upgrade will not fail certain functions, say.. coordinate the features with google. At this point, I trust Google to do a better job at 

Obviously, Apple has the easier task here. they’re doing the conventional software cycle, updating their own hardware with their own software.
Google, Android, and the manufacturers have a long way to go to be in the right flow of updates/upgrades. And maybe the answer is to let the software company really handle the software, learn from Microsoft.

Also, I wish he puts in which android versions he considers majors, I can see phones getting stuck at 2.1.x, 2.2.x, 2.3.x (i assume this is what he means), newer phones might get one 2.x upgrade. everybody knows 3.0 is tablet update only. Just be smart at buying your android devices. at this point you should know about the 4.0. :)