Google working with partners on Android fragmentation issue

By on May 10, 2011 at 4:47 PM
mobile May 10, 2011

During Google I/O today, the company announced that it’s working with its partners – including AT&T, HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless — on getting new Android updates to users faster and on curtailing Android fragmentation. As part of the same effort, if your hardware supports it, Google and its partners will guarantee that your phone gets the latest Android iteration for at least 18 months after the device hits the market. That should mean that end users won’t have to sit around for months, or years, to find out that the hottest version of Android will never be available for their devices. Google hasn’t clarified if this begins now with Android 2.3 (we doubt it), or if it starts with Ice Cream Sandwich. For now, Google just admits that it’s a “logistic problem,” and it’s unclear how long it will take for Google’s partners to actually get the updates out the door. It sounds like Google has its head in the right place but it doesn’t seem like the company has fleshed out how it can deliver on these promises yet. We just hope that it won’t involve too many compromises.

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38 Comments

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  • john

    1.5 years before I find out, not acceptable.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JNKVTT7PJMXPYP2GVCIERBQQCU Andrew

      I don’t think that’s what they are saying. I believe they are saying that from the date your phone is released you will get the most recent updates for at least 18 months after release. Meaning that if you buy a newly released phone now and 3 major OS versions come out within 18 months, you should get all of them. Because right now, phones have been out for almost a year and still are on Froyo. Now that’s unacceptable.

      • john

        misread, thanks.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GP2WYAHXS6CRUREISWBGPUSUGE Michael

    Ah thats the joy of rooting one’s phone.

    Put any OS on any Android phone. As long a dev supports it. BTW the new Sense 3.0 is really nice. Love having it on my HTC Glacier.

    Oh wait. T-Mobile and HTC haven’t even released it yet,….. WTF?!?!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GP2WYAHXS6CRUREISWBGPUSUGE Michael

    posting in place of NORM.

    DROID FTMFW blah blah blah blah blah blah DROID FTMFW blah blah blah blah blah blah DROID FTMFW blah blah blah blah blah blah DROID FTMFW blah blah blah blah blah blah DROID FTMFW blah blah blah blah blah blah Crapple <
    DROID

  • Anonymous

    See the thing is I never actually associated the fragmentation issue with the OS. I associate it with the bazillion hardware platforms Android is on with NO enforcement of minimum requirements. That in association with no information in the market on if this application is compatible with your phone hardware is just a mess, plain and simple. I don’t care if there are 2 or 3 different versions of the OS running around… If I buy an application that my phone doesn’t support because the GPU in my phone doesn’t support it or runs it very poorly then there is a problem. That information should be readily available to me BEFORE I purchase an application. Either there should be minimum hardware specs enforced to ensure compatibility or there should should be a feature in the market application that knows what model of phone it’s being run on and puts a little check or X next to applications or in their details page that lets you know whether this application is compatible with your hardware or not. You should also have the ability to filter applications by what’s only compatible with your phone. I don’t understand why this hasn’t been done and wasn’t planned for from the beginning…

    • Steve Hillshire

      Unlike other platforms, you do have 15 minutes to remove and not be charged for a game that your GPU can’t handle. Like a PC, if you buy something cheap, don’t expect it to run the latest and greatest. If you buy high end, then it better last a couple of years at least.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JNKVTT7PJMXPYP2GVCIERBQQCU Andrew

    Everything with Google is beta. It’s unfinished and needs a lot of work but it does get a lot better in time. That with almost all their products. And of course other companies released stuff that needs work but no one does it like Google.

    • Anonymous

      Or take the apple route : Just dumb down everything and give a false sense of being stable.

      iphone : the smartphone with training wheels.

    • Anonymous

      in other words, Google’s Beta is everyone else’s RTM…

    • Anonymous

      Even their announcements are beta now. In the Q&A they said they were still working out how they would enforce this one.

    • Anonymous

      And that is why I absolutely hate BLUR, Wiz and all the other bloated add ons put into/onto android. Because they are also betas. Betas on top of betas………….

  • Ricky Jr.

    get rid of bloatware. updates would b quick.

  • Scott

    I’ll stick to the Nexus line until I actually see this happening.

    • http://twitter.com/TittieBaby ⊥iÏ€i∃ Β∀βγ

      i see myself going back to the nexus line, but its hard to buy a phone when i get them free

    • Rob

      It’s probably a good idea just to stick with the nexus line in general.

    • Anonymous

      Gawd. I wanted a Nexus a year ago but damn Sprint skipped over the Nexus one. I’m already on Sprint and im not going to a worse carrier than mine. Sorry Google but the hardware specs sucked on the S. Looking foward to the LG Nexus at the end of the year.

  • http://twitter.com/ghctim mitch g

    Just give me GB on 6 month old Droid 2 global! Please! Come on Verizon and Moto!

  • Anonymous

    If they can get the OEMs and the service providers all on the same page that would be nice. I’m not holding my breath though…

  • Kelvin

    When was Gingerbread officiallly announced? Will Ice Ceeam ever reach me? Stop talking and start delivering.

  • Bringit

    I thought fragmentation was just a myth started by Apple users? And I thought Android was OPEN? The truth is in fact painful.

    • Anonymous

      You got hardware fragmention too. It’s just not apparent as Android and it’s users don’t throw away their old phones everytime Jobs poops one out. Not every single app in the AppStore today can be played on the 1st iPhone or pre 3GS too. This also goes for the latestest iOS build with all the advertised features.

      Lets see how well Apple does when Jobs leaves the company again…

      • Anonymous

        Yeah let’s bring up apps that won’t work on 3 and 4 year old phones. Lol.

      • Bringit

        word.

      • Steve Hillshire

        Not yet genius. 2 and 3 year old phones.

      • Anonymous

        Getting technical? Original iPhone June 2007, iPhone 3G June/July 2008 so 3 years 10-11 months and 2 years 10-11 I think most people would agree it’s closer to my 3 and 4 year estimate.

      • Anonymous

        Ya, that’s all they have, OLD Iphones!!! On the other hand you buy a NEW Android phone, doesn’t even have the latest OS on it, and your lucky to even see a new update on it!!! Who buys a new Iphone every year? Every other year as you might as well if you get your phone for FREE or at a big discount! That would be just like ANDROID users also!! I’m sure there’s a few on both sides getting a new phone every year. Apple has control of the OS. Microsoft has control of it’s OS, it’s about time that Google also gains control of the OS which it now looks like they are going to do! It’s still only 18 months, but that’s 18 month more then before!

      • Anonymous

        It’s gonna be a problem for all those suckers who buy that $50 iPhone 3GS thanks to AT&T plus that contract. Let’s see them use the most high end app a year from now. Sorry but I admired Apple saying screw you AT&T we’ll release phones on our terms. The “Motorola ROKR” is Verizon telling Apple how to make a phone for example. Flooding the market with 3GS is gonna make Apple look bad.

    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR6HpRLyzMY Walter Sobchak

      Maybe you were just playing dumb….
      I like the way you masked declarative statements as though they were interrogative, like you don’t know what you think.

      I think the question mark is my favorite way to troll?

      • Anonymous

        Ur a (_)_)///////D

      • Bringit

        Great to know Walter, just great. It’s like having a shadow with me at all times. Weird but also comforting?

    • Anonymous

      So true, LMAO!

  • Anonymous

    I dont see why they cant separate the device mfg’rs crapware (touchwiz/blur/etc) into its own “side” layer while leaving the core OS all the same (obviously except for the hardware drivers) then be free to update the core os all the time. This is Google, what are these smart people doing?

  • phone head

    smh so my already outdated thunderbolt more then likely will not see ice cream huh? Really watching windows 7 more and more.

    • Anonymous

      So your solution is to move to a platform that gets updates even *less* often? Odd decision making process.

  • Anonymous

    This was one major reason why I went with iPhone 4. At least I will see updates in my phones lifetime!

  • http://profiles.google.com/yanranicm85 John McInarnay

    I’m coming Apple, just give me til next April and I’m all yours!

  • http://profiles.google.com/mordikar.nykae Justin Hart

    maybe if google wouldn’t release things like ice cream sandwich before anyone is even launching phones with gingerbread, they wouldn’t have so much fragmentation….

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