The Unacceptable Planned Obsolescence of the Android
June 5, 2015
The op ed on Tom’s Hardware titled Google Can’t Ignore The Android Update Problem Any Longer inspects the release process for Androids, particularly the Android 5.0 Lollipop and the 5.1 iteration. The problem Google faces with its major upgrade per year schedule is that while the Lollipop garners 9.7 percent of the market, it might be several years before the majority of android users catch up to this version, by which time Google might be releasing Android 8.0 (Snickers? M&M?) The article explains the issues with transitioning,
“Because Android is open source and because so many (essentially) OEM-tweaked “forks” of it exist, a “clean” upgrade path is almost impossible. To have a clean standardized update system would mean all the OEMs would have to agree to abide strictly by Google’s guidelines for what they can and cannot modify on the platform.
However, as soon as Google tries to do something like that, the OEMs usually cry foul that Google is making Android more proprietary.”
Obviously Google does not want to lose the business of those OEMs, either. But the article argues that this is unlikely due to Android and iOS cornering the market. The final point is the weakness in the update system due to users desiring more secure platforms, meaning Android adoption will only lessen.
Chelsea Kerwin, June 5, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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One Response to “The Unacceptable Planned Obsolescence of the Android”
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This article is bullshít.
YOU SHOULD NEVER UPDATE
The update is the planned obsolescence. The operating system updates always ruin the phone, ruin the phone’s usability. The reason why the manufacturers/operators want to enforce software updates is that the update will destroy the usability of the phone, therefore people are enforced to buy a new phone.
Most people are weak minded, because they want operating system updates. This is because the marketing washed out theri brains, so they think that update = good. And then, when they update their phone, they start crying and complaining because they have to realize that the Android update completely ruined their phone, apps, compatibility, performance, etc.
I HATE when someone want to force those crap updates on me.
I always DISABLE ALL kind of automatic update. People who have common sense do the same.
Of course, I buy only factory unlocked phones. (This is what you, americans are not able to do, but I, european am able to do. (Because in USA, the stores sell only locked phones.))