I would actually put it as one more reason google and its OEMs suck. Android should have been bought by some dedicated company, not an ad giant and its hardware pushing OEMs.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Chart of iOS vs Android OS Support
- Thread starter ppilone
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Google buying MoPho is encouraging. You would think in time all mophos will be supported longer and receive updates more quickly.
Samsung sucks donkey dicks when it comes to supporting their phones.
HTC unlocking the bootloader and releasing sdk is the best idea imo. That way the developers are able to port over newer software versions to older hardware and HTC can focus on current devices.
Samsung sucks donkey dicks when it comes to supporting their phones.
HTC unlocking the bootloader and releasing sdk is the best idea imo. That way the developers are able to port over newer software versions to older hardware and HTC can focus on current devices.
I think you're missing the forest for the trees here. The point isn't so much whether every feature in iOS was available to the older devices, nor is it that the updates were flawless. The point is that Apple continues to provide updates and support for devices for up to three years, especially those that are still for sale. As someone else pointed out, this includes security and bug fixes.
The chart makes it pretty clear that HTC is the only manufacture that even cares about releasing devices with the latest and greatest OS, and is the only one willing to stand behind their devices for a decent amount of time (even after they're no longer for sale). The others consistently prove that they couldn't care less.
The difference is that:
Android was a mostly complete OS and phone early on... so its recent updates are more concerned with smoothness, battery, looks.
IOS started with smoothness, battery, looks... and has had to add basic functionality. 2.x = added ability to run apps. 3.x = MMS, video. 4.x = multitasking and folders, 5.0 = notification shade and some widgets.
Eventually their upgrade curves will cross and we'll end up with basically the same capabilities all around.
and that's why I switched (plus I was waiting for Iphone to mature itself)
ex-Android user for 2 years.
ex-Android user for 2 years.
Unbiased article -
The Update Battle: Innovation vs legacy support
The first comment pretty much nailed on what most cell phone users are like. Most of them don't even know what firmware they are on or even care or have time to upgrade because the phone at its current state works for them.
The Update Battle: Innovation vs legacy support
The first comment pretty much nailed on what most cell phone users are like. Most of them don't even know what firmware they are on or even care or have time to upgrade because the phone at its current state works for them.
You're wrong there, period. The 3G was turned into a turd with 4.x. I have personal experience with it with 2 devices, and the article that someone linked to me to prove that 4.1 fixed the issues was full of comments complaining that it still didn't work. My 3G's are on 4.2.1 I believe, and are FAR from flawless.
So not only did the 3G not get multitasking and wallpaper support (I don't know what else was involved in the upgrade outside of support for the iP4's new hardware), it was also greatly hampered in the performance aspect.
Which is the point; Why upgrade the handsets software if it's going to make the USER EXPERIENCE awful? I see the forest just fine. I think you just disagree with me. My personal experience trumps your opinion. I'm sure it's possible not every single 3G was adversely affected, but plenty were. Less than 2 years of usable updates; I don't care what this chart says. That being said, it's still better than support for most Android handsets....so why even care?
The latest OS I had on my SGS2 was 2.3.3 with an old ass build KE7 or something I didn't really learn about it... The only way I could get the latest update was through Odin and no official support from Samsung. 
glad you guys got the Android pull down notification bar with your new IOS
Hmm. I actually like the alert style more. To be honest the new notification centre looks ugly and i would like them to re-implement in a different way. The android copied approach doesn't look good at all. I would rather have them put a two finger side swipe gesture to open a notifications page instead.