Android Orphans: Visualizing a Sad History of Support

[rdowns]

Yikes, this is much worse than I had thought.

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 and Nexus One users have fared much, much better than most Android buyers.

I went back and found every Android phone shipped in the United States1 up through the middle of last year. I then tracked down every update that was released for each device - be it a major OS upgrade or a minor support patch - as well as prices and release & discontinuation dates. I compared these dates & versions to the currently shipping version of Android at the time. The resulting picture isn’t pretty - well, not for Android users:

Other than the original G1 and MyTouch, virtually all of the millions of phones represented by this chart are still under contract today. If you thought that entitled you to some support, think again:

7 of the 18 Android phones never ran a current version of the OS.
12 of 18 only ran a current version of the OS for a matter of weeks or less.
10 of 18 were at least two major versions behind well within their two year contract period.
11 of 18 stopped getting any support updates less than a year after release.
13 of 18 stopped getting any support updates before they even stopped selling the device or very shortly thereafter.
15 of 18 don’t run Gingerbread, which shipped in December 2010.
In a few weeks, when Ice Cream Sandwich comes out, every device on here will be another major version behind.
At least 16 of 18 will almost certainly never get Ice Cream Sandwich.
Also worth noting that each bar in the chart starts from the first day of release - so it only gets worse for people who bought their phone late in its sales period.

Why Is This So Bad?...

 

[BoxerGT2.5]

OMG they can't update to having folders????? Wait, they already had folders. How about notifications? Cut and paste? See this would mean something if it wasn't a little known fact that apple lags behind the rest in their implementation of even the most menial things.

 

[dave420]

OMG they can't update to having folders????? Wait, they already had folders. How about notifications? Cut and paste? See this would mean something if it wasn't a little known fact that apple lags behind the rest in their implementation of even the most menial things.

Are you saying the new Android versions don't introduce any new features?

 

[lateralus1082]

they got the iphone's wrong. THey need to change it around.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Are you saying the new Android versions don't introduce any new features?

not really. Most of it is under the hood.

Tell me what new features came from Android 2.2 to 2.3? Please supply a list.

 

[BoxerGT2.5]

Are you saying the new Android versions don't introduce any new features?

Like what? Multitasking? Been going on long before apple. See I think this whole, ZOMG they don't update like apple is really a meaningless crutch for iOS users and people in general who must, in their own minds, have the latest. If not their world may come crashing down. I have gingerbread 2.3.4, if there is something new out there, what does it add to my phone. I could careless that it's 2.3.5 or whatnot, the difference isn't likely to make any impact on my phone or my use. In fact 2.3.5 addresses BT issues with certain phones, I don't have any issues with BT. So what is the latest and greatest gonna give me besides a warm fuzzy feeling inside?

 

[maflynn]

This topic is being discussed here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1264606/