Google Nexus S, Motorola Xoom Won't Receive Android 4.2

[zakislam]

The older tablet and smartphone will remain on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Google Nexus S, Motorola Xoom Won't Receive Android 4.2 : Read more

 

[kinggraves]

Remember back when Google said they would stop fragmenting Android with leaving various devices on various builds all the time? I wonder when that's going to start.

"Sorry, your device is more than 6 months old. Enjoy your inferior product. Life day, renew renew!"

 

[Kami3k]

[citation][nom]kinggraves[/nom]Remember back when Google said they would stop fragmenting Android with leaving various devices on various builds all the time? I wonder when that's going to start."Sorry, your device is more than 6 months old. Enjoy your inferior product. Life day, renew renew!"[/citation]

This is the only case that can be blamed on google, all others are lazy manufacturers.

 

[flaxx]

...and the iPhone 3GS, a product older than the Nexus One, is on iOS 6.01 (the very latest version of iOS). This is my number one gripe with Android: fragmentation and planned (or neglected) obsolescence.

 

[cutebeans]

The Nexus S is already 2 years ffs! It was lucky that it even recieved JB.

 

[guru_urug]

[citation][nom]flaxx[/nom]...and the iPhone 3GS, a product older than the Nexus One, is on iOS 6.01 (the very latest version of iOS). This is my number one gripe with Android: fragmentation and planned (or neglected) obsolescence.[/citation]

I believe when iOS devices are updated, the older models dont get all the features of the new OS. The same is not true for Android.
Im sure the good guys at xda will get 4.2 to these two devices. Anyway the jump from 4.1 to 4.2 is not as huge as the jump from 4.0 to 4.1. I'd be happy with 4.1 if I owned the nexus s

 

[house70]

[citation][nom]guru_urug[/nom]I believe when iOS devices are updated, the older models dont get all the features of the new OS. The same is not true for Android.Im sure the good guys at xda will get 4.2 to these two devices. Anyway the jump from 4.1 to 4.2 is not as huge as the jump from 4.0 to 4.1. I'd be happy with 4.1 if I owned the nexus s[/citation]
This.
I have an old Nexus S laying around that I have updated to JB and I am impressed with how smooth it runs. I prefer Google to keep it honest in terms of what OS version the phone REALLY runs on it instead of just changing the build.prop to show the latest and give me the "latest crippled" version instead.
I could change the build.prop myself if I wanted to, and boast I run Android 10.3 on it, but that doesn't make it so.
[citation][nom]flaxx[/nom]...and the iPhone 3GS, a product older than the Nexus One, is on iOS 6.01 (the very latest version of iOS). [/citation]
If you believe that the older iPhones run the full-fledged iOS 6.01, I have a bridge to sell to you.
Apple just slaps a new shinny label on that thing and claims it's the same as the iPhone's 5.
To be honest, you don't want the older devices to be able to run the latest version of OS, because that means the OS has not really evolved at all (which, unfortunately, is the case for iOS - case in point, the clunky pseudo-multitasking).
OTOH, you could argue it doesn't matter, because the iPhone hasn't really changed that much either. It's basically ONE device that ONE manufacturer has to manage.
About fragmentation: guess what? It doesn't matter.
Imagine this: a world where HTC was the ONLY Android OEM, and they have their HTC ONE series as the only phones available (OneV, OneS, OneX). Fragmentation would not exist for Android, because all these phones would run the same version, which is whatever HTC decides to dish out for it's customers. To me, fragmentation=options, and I prefer the options we have now vs. a world in which everyone is forced to use the same thing.
Plenty of people still run WinXP, plenty have Vista and plenty have Win7 on their PCs. If you take into account the few different flavors of each of these iterations (Home, Professional, Basic, Ultimate, 32bit, 64bit etc) you could say Windows is even more fragmented than Android. So what? To each his/her own. Everyone should run whatever version their hardware supports and they're comfortable with. Or, have you even considered how fragmented the auto industry is? I mean, all engines run on oil-derivatives (gasoline, diesel), but cars are so different from one another, I can't stand this fragmentation anymore, dammit, please, everyone should make only one make/model, and the only way to tell them apart should be the body paint.
Last but not least, Android offers the option of rolling back the botched updates, if needed; it's called nandroid. Same for Windows; it's called a OS DVD (or flash drive), not to mention the System Restore. Good luck trying that with iOS. Once Apple has decided to mess it up for you, you're stuck with that. Plenty of people I know that wish they never downgraded to iOS 6, but they're SOL, because Apple does not make iOS code available to developers, you can't get a system dump, you can't get anything like that.
Bottom line: if you're so upset that your phone doesn't show the latest JB version, pull an "Apple" on it and change the build.prop to show whatever you want it to show in the "about phone" section. It doesn't matter anyways, as long as your phone runs as intended you shouldn't change anything else, unless you're really into that sort of thing (flashing ROMs left and right). But then, you're deep in geek territory and you already know what I've been talking about here.

 

[madooo12]

ok, it's better than most companies, but seriously, 8 years old computers can run windows 8, so I think a device should get updated till it's like 4 years old, that's fair, even if mobiles are usually replaced faster (because they're your everywhere, everything, everywhen devices), many people don't usually but the device once it is released, heck some people buy older gen devices

 

[amdwilliam1985]

"Plenty of people I know that wish they never downgraded to iOS 6"

Same here, my friends who has iphone 4 and 4S are weeping now. What do you get in iOS 6? lag of death, battery of death, broken map and etc...
What do you get in return? passport? and of course the bragging right that you're running(or should I say crawling) with the latest and "greatest" iOS.
2 words for you, haha.
time to upgrade to iphone 5, and remember to save up for that iphone 5S coming soon

 

[amdwilliam1985]

The other day, I saw a friend with a Nexus S running Jelly Bean 4.1.2, I think it's enough for him already. The single core phone should go and rest in peace, at least it has Jelly Bean, much better than majority of phones out there.

 

[Guest]

When Google dropped support for the Nexus One they stated that their Nexus devices would be supported with official updates for less than two years (I think it was either 20 or 22 months). This falls right in line with that (iirc, the Nexus S was released December of 2010). Google fulfilled their support obligations (sure, I wish it was longer, but the owners received more updates than anybody else using a non-Nexus device). I highly doubt the hardware on the Nexus S was the deciding factor.

 

[frankbough]

Android 4.2 is enough of a change to break a load of apps. So one version of Jelly Bean breaks apps that run on another version of Jelly Bean. Not too clever.

 

[livebriand]

[citation][nom]cutebeans[/nom]The Nexus S is already 2 years ffs! It was lucky that it even recieved JB.[/citation]
To be honest, in this case, I think it might've been that they just didn't want to support 3 phones at once, and they figured it was time to retire the S. The thing is, even with 4.1, it's still more up to date than many flagship phones out there today, and I doubt 4.1 will be loosing support anytime soon...

 

[livebriand]

[citation][nom]frankbough[/nom]Android 4.2 is enough of a change to break a load of apps. So one version of Jelly Bean breaks apps that run on another version of Jelly Bean. Not too clever.[/citation]
I upgraded my Galaxy Nexus to 4.2 a few weeks ago, and all my apps run just as well as before. I'm also liking the new swype-style keyboard, Photo Sphere, the quick settings menu, etc.