Android 5.0 Q3 Arrival Might Be Bad for Development

[Guest]

Not too early. Google want a new reference phone out there this autumn, so JB will need to be released. So if your handset get ICS this summer, maybe 3 months later JB will be officially launched and summer 2013 you will have that OS on your phone. Or maybe you can update to JB in january if the manufacturer/carrier get a shorter release cycle.

And its likely the next OS will be on older handsets earlier then ICS. ICS was a "first", a major update so all the developers had to adjust their development leading to a long release cycle. With JB, the same developers have fresh experience, and most likely will be able to get the new os out faster.

I dont see any reason to wait with JB just to use older software for more then 3 months before the next update. Its not like it cost any money...

 

[guanyu210379]

All softwares in the world needs time to stabilize themselves.
HC, ICS and now JB...within only about 2 years...I dunno how I should keep up with this in order reach a good stable maturity level for all of my softwares.

In my hand...I still has only the 2.3.7 on my hand but not even 3.0...but...WHATS...now, we begin already to start with 5.0?!

Of course, it is also depending on how big is the differences between OS versions.

 

[heffeque]

Meanwhile Apple's new iOS releases are spread to most of it's portable hardware simultaneously.

Just sayin'.

 

[jgutz2006]

Too early? I couldnt care a less for development teams, Produce a product and update it and consumers will come to it and get the reputation that you never get the upgrades promised, you switch to another company. Its all about keeping me, the consumer happy so if Google pushes out another upgrade that is worthy of a full 1 point increase in the version, i'll take it!

 

[g00fysmiley]

This is the reason I'm still with my Palm pre (yes i know its old but hey works fine) been waiting to upgrade my phone. the asus padfone looks interesting and so do a few others. but when all is said and done I might still wait for the next nexus because I want upgrades to the OS as they are released, not when a phoen carrier decides I should have them. The one attractive thing about buying an iphone would be imediate updates (though I still wouldn't buy an apple product). I like that google keeps making new versiont of the OS but they need to add in agreements for manifacturers and for carriers wanting to use thier phones to push updates in a timely fasion if a phone has the hardware to handle it

 

[cknobman]

Yet another reason to dump Android next upgrade and go Windows Phone.

 

[maximus81]

If you think about it people using 2.x.x are only 1 version behind since version 3 is tablet only. version 4 ICS blended version 2 and 3 on to phones. I hate Apple but one thing they do right is software updates. Everyone gets them while we have phones that can't handle or have issues with ICS. its not the developers problem its the manufactures and carriers that's the issue.

 

[classzero]

Because of the lack of updates from carriers, I will be ditching my 2.3.3 android for a windows 8 phone. Just waiting for release.

 

[dragonsqrrl]

The really sad part is that my Droid 3, and 8 month old phone, will not receive the update to ICS. I guess a phone that runs the same SOC as the Droid 4 and Droid Razr was somehow deemed obsolete. This is just a warning to all those thinking about investing in an Android smartphone. This is a current gen OMAP 4430 phone that will not receive an update to ICS.

I know you should never buy a phone expecting an update, but when an 8 month old piece of hardware can't receive an update to the latest version of an OS, I think somethings seriously wrong. The current state of the Android ecosystem is broken, divided, and absolutely ridiculous for the consumer. I seriously think Google should take more control from the carriers in regards to updates, like Microsoft and Apple. A large number of Android users are getting screwed here and we're readily taking it.

I imagine the transition to 5.0 will be very similar if not worse. I'm certain there will be many ICS phones left in the dust just months after launch. All I can say is if I continue to see this pattern from Android carriers and Google, I will not be getting another Android phone during my next upgrade cycle.

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

There is no android 5.0. Google has not announced android 5.0. Google has not stated that there will be a 5.0. Google has stated that the next OS release won't be out until late winter to next year. Google has confirmed that the next OS will be called jelly bean.

If you recall the transition from Froyo to Gingerbread people swore up and down that it was android 2.2 to 3.0 but as you know that is not the case.

Please stop the horrible rumor spreading without any sources or evidence. More than likely as history has shown it will simply be either android 4.1 or android 2.4. Google has not ended support for 2.x of android.

Thanks and please start using common sense and logic.

 

[descendency]

New Android releases are a lot faster than people think.

1.0 was commissioned in September 2008 (HTC Dream/G1)

1.1 was released in February 2009 (only for G1)
1.5 was released in April 2009.
1.6 was released in September 2009
2.0 was released in October 2009.

3 major API revisions in one year (1.1, 1.5/1.6, 2.0) ...

2.1 (with the Nexus One) released in January of 2010.
2.2 released in May of 2010.
2.3 released in December of 2010 (Nexus S)

Notice, 2.5 major releases in one year (2.1 is debatable as a 'major release')

3.0 (Honeycomb) was released in February of 2011.
4.0 was released in October of 2011.

Two major API releases, again.

Android 4.0 was a major UI revamp as well as unification of the platform. It was bound to take more time than other releases. Granted, Google may be smart to see the benefit of yearly releases instead of break neck speed. Android's best year, by far, was 2011 where fragmentation talk all but died. Even Google has said they don't want to go back to that.

So, "Android releases come out in the winter with the new hardware" is wrong.

(The point is that everyone saying that Google won't release two versions of Android in 1 year, because they didn't in the past, is blatantly wrong)

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

@descendency: It doesn't make any difference. There's nothing from google saying that there will ever be a 5.0. For all you know Jelly Bean could be version 10.0 or something as simple as 4.1 or even 2.4. Could even be 3.3.

There's no source. it's just rumor spreading to make Google look bad. Politicians do this. Don't be a politician.

 

[epdm2be]

[citation][nom]unionoob[/nom]Depends, if you got Samsung then better don't, 2.3.3 has some problems bith battery life.. I hope they will release an patch to fix that.[/citation]

You mean "even MORE problems with battery life than usuall..."
Told you... Samsung are a pain in the a...!

 

[descendency]

[citation][nom]xxsk8er101xx[/nom]@descendency: It doesn't make any difference. There's nothing from google saying that there will ever be a 5.0. For all you know Jelly Bean could be version 10.0 or something as simple as 4.1 or even 2.4. Could even be 3.3.There's no source. it's just rumor spreading to make Google look bad. Politicians do this. Don't be a politician.[/citation]
There will be an update and Jellybean is the name. Both of those are confirmed by Google. I don't care what the version number is.

 

[__-_-_-__]

android is not good for development. it's very closed. sure much more open then most major mobile OS but still very closed. Drivers are closed. Everything is closed. It's really bad for development.

 

[killabanks]

google please make the operating system separate from hardware drivers and force hardware manufactures to release updated drivers learn from windows and how it crippled apple before...

 

[hetneo]

[citation][nom]descendency[/nom]New Android releases are on par with what people think.

1.0 was commissioned in September 2008 (HTC Dream/G1)

2.0 was released in October 2009.

3.0 (Honeycomb) was released in February of 2011.

4.0 was released in October of 2011.

Two major API releases in 2011, one for tablets and another that unified phone and tablet architecture because fragmentation is very bad for development which was seen on example of 2.x.x versions.

Android's best year, by far, was 2011 where fragmentation talk all but died. Even Google has said they don't want to go back to that. This is just weird[/citation]

There I fixed that for you