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Android Software Thread - Tasty Desserts, Tastier Apps
- Thread starter ThatObviousUser
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Jamesfrom818
Banned
Epix said:
Its the default news and weather widget. You can have weather, news or weather + news.
ok thinking of upgrading from my iPhone 2G to either Evo 4G or Nexus One.
I'm on Tmob so Nexus One sounds a good upgrade while staying with my carrier, but I do like Sprint's Everything Data and pair it with Evo. (hawaii is 4G)
wats the difference between Nexus and Evo's battery and speed (processor/memory)?
I'm on Tmob so Nexus One sounds a good upgrade while staying with my carrier, but I do like Sprint's Everything Data and pair it with Evo. (hawaii is 4G)
wats the difference between Nexus and Evo's battery and speed (processor/memory)?
OriginalThinking
Member
GoldenEye 007 said:
Legacy, not Fragmentation. The answer to the issue? No custom skins, no Sense, no Rachel UI, no Touchwiz, No Motoblur. Just pure 100% vanilla Android. But the genius of Android is that is open source and free to mod. If Google starts setting out stricter conditions in order to use the Android Marketplace and name by insisting on stock Android then it defeats the point of everything Android stands for and thus is no better or worse than iOS.
Jamesfrom818
Banned
Epix said:
Oh...you have Sense. Its default for stock Android.
GoldenEye 007
Member
I'm not meaning to say that vanilla Android should be required at all. If a manufacturer wants to use Sense, that's fine. They would just have to make sure they are ready to update their users within 2 months of official release - instead of the massive question marks present now. These present question marks have to make application developers crazy in the head and I really don't think that is sustainable at all.OriginalThinking said:
Legacy my ass. Google just pulling out a bullshit word to cover a problem. Nobody wants to be left using 1.5 when 2.2 is out, it's as simple as that. Android stands for openness but you can remain just as open and have a strict guideline to maintain a cohesive platform without having distraught consumers who will look for an alternative, I know a variety of people who've had the wrong perception to what Android is about and have left it.OriginalThinking said:
They look at their 1.5 devices while I flaunt my 2.1 phone and they don't appreciate that. They want to be in an environment where everyone seems to be on the same playing feel. While the hardware changes rapidly, Google and others can use the software to give consumers a perception that their device is not being left behind and maintain a happy user base.
Jamesfrom818
Banned
Zozz said:
Andrex said:
Hell yeah.
You did see this, right?
jonnybryce
Member
Zozz said:
But the majority of phones that are screwed over are what?
1. Mega old, G1. Devices eventually die.
2. Super cheap, like the Devour or Cliq Dext. You know what you're getting into when you get these cheap free phones with terrible specs.
The Magic is being updated, the Hero was updated, pretty much everyone is getting or is updated. The phones that manufacturers make as budget phones and slap Android onto because it's cheap and gives it some nice features aren't going to get upgraded timely, if ever, and it's no ones problem.
Seriously, if you buy a Cliq XT and then bitch about needing 2.2, the problem is the person. This isn't a real problem.
Blindfutur3
Member
Battersea Power Station said:
upStream. It's priced, although it'l certainly not a lot, but it's the best out there.
Jamesfrom818
Banned
Davidion said:
Its up to the service providers to make the upgrades available to their customers and T-Mobile is showing that they're willing to do so. Just don't expect them to update phones that don't have the hardware to support the software. After finding out that the HTC Scorpion will be running on a dual core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon, I'm not even sure if my Nexus One will be able to handle the next update after Gingerbread.
See I'm not concerned about myself, I can root my phone and install whatever I want. I know that to get the best and fastest OS version it will be with the Nexus. What I care about is that there should be a stricter code implemented that companies have to place these updates out for their phones, I don't care about skins or what not. We need to get rid of this shitty system we've built where phones are just one shot things. Android has a market from low end to high end. Those at the low end will receive the wrong impression about this device, it's not their fault and it shouldn't be because they like phone A to phone B or they can't afford one from another.
GoldenEye 007
Member
The T-Mobile news is nice, but I did a quick Google search and the MyTouch 3G launched summer of last year.Jamesfrom818 said:
In my opinion, for application development and health, and marketing alone, that is in no way sustainable. I feel with the current setup, by and large, Android development will be playing second fiddle to iOS development.
The growth of Android is very nice, but when there are 30 devices out there running Android and only 8 are running the latest OS with no telling when the rest will get it, I could not imagine a developer seeing the relevance of the sales of Android devices in general in order to justify putting fourth the best effort in development.
And I type this as a Nexus One owner. I'm not affected by such lags in OS updates at all. And of course those numbers are completely out of my ass and theoretical.
But all I was suggesting was the possibility of more strict deadlines for rolling out OS updates. Obviously T-Mobile has shown the MyTouch can run 2.2 albeit probably with some reduced features - the core code is all that matters in my opinion. Unspecified time frames for upgrading is unacceptable. A strict deadline benefits all and still allows the customization and openness Android was built on.
Jamesfrom818 said:
Except the bulk of the phones out there are capable of 2.1 upgrades. I'd love to see some actual proof from people that demonstrates that the current phones on the market other than maybe the G1 can't handle 2.1 somehow. Much of the discontent regarding lack of android device updates has to do with manufacturer delays and lack of/poor implementation from the manufacturer's end, which is most certainly a problem with the OS environment.
That, and T-mobile is only upgrading their branded phone, the mytouch. The service providers have nothing to do with upgrading phones, the manufacturers do.
OriginalThinking
Member
Patriots7 said:
No they don't. You don't seem to understand what open source means. The very moment you start to dictate terms to companies who want to use the OS, then you are no longer open. Google already have minimum specifications for use of the Android trademark and market and as far as I'm concerned that's enough. If you want phones running vanilla Android vote with your wallet, buy a Nexus One or Droid and show the manufacturers why first updates to the latest Android OS are important to you.
http://i.engadget.com/2010/05/22/entelligence-is-android-fragmented-or-is-this-the-new-rate-of-i/
http://www.androidcentral.com/androids-andy-rubin-its-legacy-not-fragmentation
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/05/on-android-compatibility.html
Here's some quick reading.
GoldenEye 007
Member
Yeah... in all honesty I don't see how adding a time frame turns upside down the open-source nature of Android. I don't think anyone is saying that Google should only push stock Android or anything, I'm just saying there needs to be a more clearly defined time frame for when manufacturers push OS updates to users.OriginalThinking said:
Everyone keeps Sense and TouchWiz and whatever, there is simple more urgency placed on upgrading these devices.
If your device meets the minimum hardware criteria for a particular OS upgrade, you have X amount of months to update your users. If that extra criteria really is infringing on open-source, then I think I'm ok with that at the benefit of the solidarity of the Android OS and application development as a whole.
OriginalThinking
Member
GoldenEye 007 said:
Because it makes zero sense for hardware vendors and would slow down the rate of innovation. Google got this far, this quick because it doesn't burden companies with overbearing rules on the OS or developers posting apps on the marketplace.
Google suddenly springs 2.3 on the world early. Suddenly all vendors are given 2 months to upgrade their OS - The IT and Tech teams of that company need to stop work on that new phone and upgrade the potentially tens of old Android devices running 2.1? Read what the Entelligence article has to say about Windows mobile and why that doesn't work. Plus that was a licensed OS, not free, not open source not Android.
Like I said Android is all about choice. Don't want to be stuck waiting for HTC to upgrade the Incredible? You don't have to. Buy a Nexus One. Buy a Motorola Droid. Wait for the Nexus Two. But if you want the customised features of Sense don't be pissed at Google when HTC aren't as quick to update. Google believe in market forces dictating smartphone development. Consumers will vote for innovation, change and choice. If what's important to you is quick OS upgrades, it's up to you the consumer to show that to the hardware companies, not Google.
VanMardigan
has calmed down a bit.
I think that once google slows down the updates, it'll stabilize the situation. With apple, you basically have 2 years of meaningful updates, and once Google slows down a bit to one update a year, manufacturers have time to adjust and plan for two updates to each phone. That matches the upgrade cycle for consumers. But there will always be the cheaper android phones that won't get the updates.
GoldenEye 007
Member
Like I said, I'm a N1 user. None of this affects me. I'm just poking around for this particular issue.OriginalThinking said:
With a time frame, yeah a manufacturer or carrier would need to invest more in Android developers. And if Android is poised to be as massive as it can, manufacturers and carriers having "Android Development Divisions" of their companies isn't such an illogical thing. Also, Google would need to keep those same people in the loop so nobody is surprised when an OS update is shipped - given the open nature of the OS, that shouldn't be a problem. That's why I said 2 months after official release plus whatever time these people have to spend with the OS in the pre-alpha, alpha, and beta stages. And if devices don't have the specs to run a new update, then simple. It isn't worried about -- that type of thing is nothing new in this industry.
But again I focus on application developers and the fact they have to be a little frustrated with the fact they can't just develop for, say, Android 5, but must keep in mind 3.5, 3.6, 4.2, etc. Even if a 4.2 and Nexus Three and Droid FUCKYEAH would hold 60-70% or whatever of the overall Android market.
Edit: But VanMardigan does bring up a good point. Hopefully OS updates subside and manufacturers can bank on a more stable upgrade cycle going forward.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
GoldenEye 007 said:
What you fail to realize is all Android versions are backwards compatible. 1.6 apps will run perfectly fine on 1.6, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, and beyond. Other than a couple of the newer APIs, it's easy to hit the widest variety of hardware by just making your app 1.6.
Android 1.5 is a problem because it lacks resolution support for anything other than HVGA, it's kinda like the IE6/7 of the Android world. When that dies off things will be a lot better.
Besides that, I do think you underestimate the efforts being made to upgrade handsets. For almost every manufacturer and carrier, this is an almost entirely new process.
OriginalThinking
Member
I'm going to give one more example. I'll give an example of an established Smartphone, one which would do it the way some here would prefer. It's called the iPhone. iPhone users are pretty used to the idea of having one major software update per year. Now yes, there may be minor updates from time to time, but the major updates, the major revisions are yearly. iPhone buyers know where they stand. New iPhone, new OS versions annually.
Now lets take one of he worst culprits of Android updating, the HTC Hero, released first in Europe in July 2009, on Android 1.5. Now, about 1 year later it's finally about to receive an update to 2.1. It's not a gimped version of 2.1 either, with the exception of live wallpapers it's the real deal. So even in pretty much one of the worst case scenarios you got a major OS revision within a year, which matches the iPhone cycle. Now of course, it's not a like for like comparison. iPhone users have only known the details of OS4 for a month or two (but they knew it was coming a year ago). Whereas Android 1.6, 2.0 and 2.1 have come within that same time for HTC Hero owners who have seen handsets running these newer versions of Android. The 3GS will not be getting all the features of OS4, whereas Hero owners are getting all the features of 2.1. So who got the raw deal?
It's simply that the pace of Android development has been so fast, hardware companies have struggled to keep up - But if Android hadn't developed as fast the iPhone would still clearly have the best mobileOS, The Droid wouldn't have happened in America yet, the mindshare wouldn't be there and we'd have Windows7 blowing Android out of the water before it had really even got started. That's where we find ourselves today. Besides all of this Google have pretty much confirmed that development will now slow down to likely Bi-Annual updates from 2011 and with it the fragmentation argument should once and for all disappear.
Now lets take one of he worst culprits of Android updating, the HTC Hero, released first in Europe in July 2009, on Android 1.5. Now, about 1 year later it's finally about to receive an update to 2.1. It's not a gimped version of 2.1 either, with the exception of live wallpapers it's the real deal. So even in pretty much one of the worst case scenarios you got a major OS revision within a year, which matches the iPhone cycle. Now of course, it's not a like for like comparison. iPhone users have only known the details of OS4 for a month or two (but they knew it was coming a year ago). Whereas Android 1.6, 2.0 and 2.1 have come within that same time for HTC Hero owners who have seen handsets running these newer versions of Android. The 3GS will not be getting all the features of OS4, whereas Hero owners are getting all the features of 2.1. So who got the raw deal?
It's simply that the pace of Android development has been so fast, hardware companies have struggled to keep up - But if Android hadn't developed as fast the iPhone would still clearly have the best mobileOS, The Droid wouldn't have happened in America yet, the mindshare wouldn't be there and we'd have Windows7 blowing Android out of the water before it had really even got started. That's where we find ourselves today. Besides all of this Google have pretty much confirmed that development will now slow down to likely Bi-Annual updates from 2011 and with it the fragmentation argument should once and for all disappear.
GoldenEye 007
Member
Haha, that is why I cautioned my first post on this issue with that fact I don't fully know how things operate. However, as someone that will always be on the latest OS, I'd want app development that does not cater to the lowest common denominator in 1.5/1.6 or whatever.Andrex said:
Why should users on advanced phones have to download apps held back due to a fragmentation issue that nobody knows how to solve? Are developers always going to want to make two versions of apps or not have to balance putting their best effort forward while balancing reaching the most amount of users? Is that going to be enough for them to say screw it, I'm just going to stick to iPhone development or make iPhone development my main priority with Android being the distant second in line? I have no doubt things will get better, but it is just a concern I have for now.
And that's good about the carriers. As I mentioned, as Android grows, I'm sure there will be much more investment into development on that end.
OriginalThinking
Member
GoldenEye 007 said:
It's fairly simple. The vast majority of apps will run on API's from 1.6 upwards. So you won't need to be 'held back' at all if you are running 2.1, 2.2 etc. There are some apps that will make make use of API's in 2.1 (such as the official Twitter app) and in this case the developer has a choice - either release only for 2.1 and above (50% of Android phones in circulation today with that number growing as G1 owners upgrade from their 2 year contracts and G2 Touch users receiving 2.1 upgrades) or make a second version stripping out the API's from 2.1. Neither are particularly difficult. You are overblowing the issue in the same way Engadget and Gizmodo like to, when none of this has stopped Android from becoming a runaway success story. It would make a great story if Android were to suddenly implode from 'fragmentation' but it's not going to happen.
jonnybryce
Member
bigswords said:
Have you tried using that front cam?
GoldenEye 007
Member
Yeah, I'm sure things will get better going forward. More investment and less frequent OS updates... And I didn't mean to come off as overly dramatic. I don't even really read Engadget or Gizmodo!OriginalThinking said:
OriginalThinking
Member
GoldenEye 007 said:
There's no need to apologise to me, I enjoy the debate and you came across as rational and level headed. Case in point, iPhone developers are about to be faced with the same issue. There will be API's that will not work on os4 on the 3gs but will will on the iPhone4. Do they, like Android only develop for 4 using these new API's (such as the gyroscope)? Or make multiple versions to cater for 3gs owners? etc etc. Or an app with greyed out functionality to remind 3gs owners that they can't use all the features of the app they purchased? All the same issues affect iPhone users/developers, though perhaps to a lesser extent. I'm sure we'll see the same on Windows Mobile 7.
GoldenEye 007
Member
Yeah, as a user, I felt it when I had my iPhone 3G. Hell, it even came from Apple itself when iOS 3.0 was launched and 3G users were left out of some of the features of the new OS. As mentioned, the only difference between that and Android is the frequency of that type of transition.OriginalThinking said:
Once per year versus 1.6->2.1->2.2->Gingerbread in about (what will be) a year and a half if the projected dates of the Gingerbread release holds up. But that issue should be solved in time.
Good news everybody!
Google Maps Navigation for Android now works outside the US or UK as the free turn-by-turn navigation system has been switched on for users in Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium (update: and Portugal).
Google Maps Navigation for Android now works outside the US or UK as the free turn-by-turn navigation system has been switched on for users in Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium (update: and Portugal).
Fulleffect
Member
Anyone using google voice for their sole source of texting? app used to update pretty quick but it seems like it's never updating anymore, even when im manually clicking refresh it's just taking so long for things to come in :/
Fulleffect said:
Yeah, something is up at the server end of the app. Last week I received a voicemail notification like...10 hours late. Really weird. I don't think there is anything wrong with the app, but more with the push service at Google's end.
Yes, the new Swype beta is great! I had to uninstall the previous one because of the mayor bugs (specially the one when you re-booted the device). But this one seems like a keeper. Just need to re acclimate myself on how to use it.
close to the edge
Member
Fuck yeah. Thanks for the update.SimleuqiR said:
gcubed said:
I'm in the real Beta. But the last beta had a bug when device was rebooted. It was many months ago and I got tire of it and uninstalled it. But the latest version is great, even when typing the old fashion way (which was a big issue for me before). Now it has the best of both worlds.
Does anyone have a decent online radio which works properly with Digitally Imported?
I've bought Droidlive looong time ago (now called Xiia) and while it's snazzy and all that it's always dropping my connection.
Now I'm using AOR (A online radio) which is marginally better.
Any suggestions please?
I've bought Droidlive looong time ago (now called Xiia) and while it's snazzy and all that it's always dropping my connection.
Now I'm using AOR (A online radio) which is marginally better.
Any suggestions please?
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