Are Companies Cheating in the name Android as Open Source?

This has been bugging me from couple of years since Android started stabilizing in the smart Phone Market. I would like to share and know your views regarding the same.

Android is open source platform and is distributed with Apache 2.0 License (Kernel is on GPLv2). Anyone or any company is free to modify the Android source code and build it for their liking. but that's all where we go.

AFAIR I have been using Android from 2008, currently own three devices running on Android and also my dad uses an Andorid phone. So I am used to Andorid.

But what is my problem ?

Updates and Fixes. the experience isn't just smooth enough, somethings doesn't work and there is plain old lag(remember my 15/20K lag free phone thread? :lol:

). Companies just don't bother so much on releasing updates. By the time a current release gets pushed to the customers Google would already have showcased the next version.

Only the Nexus series of devices gets proper and immediate updates(at least for next 3 yrs). Others just have to wait for the company to make a official release or wait for community developers to release a new ROM.

you could say I can go for community developed ROM, but there are certain issues related to that.
1. Voids my warranty.
2. Its not guarantee that the ROM are 100% without issues or all the features work. I respect all the developers and I know about their dedication towards the community and there is no doubt about that.

coming back to companies. They are here primarily for business. Companies use latest version of Android to promote their new devices, keeping other waiting for updates. Google built Android as a platform to sell ads period.

What can be done now?

Google should update their agreement with various vendors to release two version of Android. One which gives pure AOSP experience another with their loaded crapware.

I barely touched this topic in this first post. There is a lot to debate.

so whats your views??

^^ Well, i agree with the updates releasing part.

Companies are here to earn money. Once we buy the phone, they got their money, so they don't care about us afterwards.

Even flagship phones are not getting much regular updates. So i don't think even if we start a petition or post in their FB, it doesn't make any big difference. They will simply ignore us.

Galaxy SIII probably just got Android 4.1.2 officially. But what needs to be done is this

Google should update their agreement
with various vendors to release two
version of Android. One which gives
pure AOSP experience another with
their loaded crapware.

not everyone wants or even has technical expertise to unlock bootloader just to install better ROM. Sure there are very good guides around but still people dont want to be in slightest of chances to brick their phone.

Google should stop releasing new version of android for a while [Remember May 2013 Google IO Android 5.0] and concentrate on increasing the market share of its recent android version. OEM should start using stock android.

If OEM really wanted to show they have the best android among its competitors, then a software mod like the Samsung's Premium suite can be released. [Trust me Premium suite from Sammy is awesome].

And I don't see much difference between 4.1 and 4.2 so Google should take of Android 4.1 devices for upgrade to 4.2.

Lastly Google should release multiple Nexus devices [please don't include LG they are slow with stocks]

yep, agree
was gonna start a thread on similar lines, saying smartphones are a scam. you never have the entire device in your hands at any point in the product life cycle.
except for nokia's touch and type phones and outdated berries, there are barely any options for above rs. 5000, where build quality is not compromised in favor of specs... consumers are being robbed of good devices because of android
every update just introduces new bugs, slows down the device even further

Android looks so good one paper but the manufacturers had to go into a frenzy and spoil it with custom skins (sometimes uglier than the stock one...touch wiz ahem...)

Luckily the newly released Nexus 4, totally blows the competition and with Motorola under Googles caring arm, I think the future of Android look really good

Agree..What companies can do is.
Let all phones come with 98% pure android + 2% their features by features I Don't mean UI.Let there be a choice of UI via theme chooser Touchwiz or Pure android.
Pure android is really better,But some features that come with Customized Ui are good

R

Don't think so.

You just can't keep updating the software if the hardware isn't good enough to support the latest releases.

Example:
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
CPU: Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9
OS: Android OS, v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), upgradeable to 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)

HTC Wildfire S
CPU: 600 MHz ARM 11
OS: Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread), upgradable to v2.3.5 (Gingerbread)

Get the point ?

Android is a closed platform. Every manufacturer tries its best to lock it down. Linux is proper FOSS. Android is not.

Customers deserve regular updates. A delay of one month is acceptable, but nothing beyond that.

Reloaded said:
Don't think so.

You just can't keep updating the software if the hardware isn't good enough to support the latest releases.

Example:
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
CPU: Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9
OS: Android OS, v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), upgradeable to 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)

HTC Wildfire S
CPU: 600 MHz ARM 11
OS: Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread), upgradable to v2.3.5 (Gingerbread)

Get the point ?

Nope not exactly. it so happens that Google keeps introducing new versions and keep upping the hardware requirement rather than fixing its software. This is the second time this is happening in computer/technology industry.. remember the initial days of Windows XP and Vista? people had to upgrade to better hardware just to run their operating system. That pushed the hardware segment i.e., Intel and AMD had to come up with powerful enough processor. Same thing is happening with Android also, but the issue is with Android itself and not the hardware. Current gen hardware powerful enough to do most of the things. its android which is not optimized. i'm not asking for multi windowed apps i'm asking just give me stable experience for the hardware.

Google did attempt (unsuccessfully though) something similar last year when it announced Open Hardware Alliance (or something like that). They said all vendors participating in that programme will offer phone updates for 18 months from the date of release. Whatever happened to that, maybe none of the vendors agreed to that

It is sad, but as OP mentioned, at the end of the day they are running a business and would want people to upgrade every year by providing newer updates/features along with hardware refresh.

you cannot test any software for 4000 + (and counting) unique devices
it's much worse here actually, the way pc software is designed, you can expect the performance to scale with the application, in mobile phones though, the application is locked to a performance bracket, so it is mostly either bloat or under-performance

Krow said:
Android is a closed platform.

Exactly. Android is not Open source. Ubuntu, Tizen and Jolla are the real open source platform. So any one of these [mostly Ubuntu] will emerge on top.

EDIT:
this is one of the reason why i have hate on android these days

*www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/androidstats-january42013.jpg
:facepalm:

Source

^didn't get that, what is wrong with the OS distribution? is the adoption rate too low or are there too many devices still operational with ancient versions?
each new version brings in an extensive list of new features, and one or two bugs squashed, still 8 versions in 3 years not surprised the chart looks like that ... so what's with honeycomb, most people who had honeycomb where able to upgrade to ICS while the rest are stuck with gingerbread or worse ?
it's scary how fast an android gets dated

I'm not complaining the growth of Android but the instant growth. When Honeycomb was released for tablets [tablet friendly only] oem working on upgrade their device firmware but all of a sudden ics launched before Honeycomb reaches the tablets. So again they start building firmware for ICS. Who is to blame for all this chaos, Google.
Still ~47% of devices running GB, but then Google releases a new OS Android Version 5.0 this May [Google IO]. By then this chart looks even worse

Here google is to blame, but not completely. Instead of releasing new versions frequently, they can fix the bugs and make it butter smooth for medium range devices. So it will run in high end devices too.

furious_gamer said:
Here google is to blame, but not completely. Instead of releasing new versions frequently, they can fix the bugs and make it butter smooth for medium range devices. So it will run in high end devices too.

Try any JB device with a quad core processor. I'm sure you'll not make the same comment again. If you have an outdated device and expect experience similar to the latest device with dual/quad core processors with GPU, then that is asking too much.

I don't see any reason why Google should stop releasing new versions. With each new version the UE has improved, existing bugs have been sorted out, and new features added.

I agree that the updates by OEMs take some time compared to stock Google updates. But that is expected. OEMs have a hell lot of customization added in to the stock version, and upgrading to new version takes time. With this comes a whole new round of testing, and this is like testing a new device from scratch.

Regarding the comment about the OEMs releasing two versions: one with stock Android and the other with customized software: If OEMs ship with vanilla Android, then what is the difference between different devices apart from the hardware? The thing to understand is that software is the key difference.

I'm not sure how many of you agree, but Google has been always been ahead of Apple and there have been better Android devices than Apple devices always. Just see the timeline of Apple releases and you get the picture. There is always an Android device with better specs and doesn't block your UE.

no one is asking google to stop releasing new versions
google or the OEMs should provide bug fixes for the versions we have already paid for

superior hardware is no guarantee of an update *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/technolog...ion-sony-no-jb-updates-xu-sola-miro-tipo.html

HTC Wildfire, barely two years old, no bug free version of the OS, not likely that there will be one, and it's stuck on Froyo... is this not cheating considering the price of the device?

Anorion said:
no one is asking google to stop releasing new versions
google or the OEMs should provide bug fixes for the versions we have already paid for

superior hardware is no guarantee of an update *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/technolog...ion-sony-no-jb-updates-xu-sola-miro-tipo.html

HTC Wildfire, barely two years old, no bug free version of the OS, not likely that there will be one, and it's stuck on Froyo... is this not cheating considering the price of the device?

When OEMs release a device, they plan for one or two upgrades for the device. The price people pay for the device includes the projected cost for the future upgrade too. However certain top-end models are exception here. They might get more updates depending on the sales figures.

I don't see any reason how this can be a reason for complaint. How many upgrades Apple has provided so far? At least with Android there are a bunch of enthusiasts who keep working on custom ROMs.

I owned a HTC Wildfire before and I realize your pain. How much do you think the profit per Wildfire sale would be for HTC? For such budget models, you cannot expect too many upgrades. I understand the frustration here, but that is how it is. OEMs are here for making loads of $$$. They'll release updates only if the device is selling really well. Most of the concentration would be on new devices and not on old outdated models.

@webgenius.. the issue i'm complaining is about stability and UE. companies don't give a fix for stability, all that they do is update to the latest version on the new devices.

sigh quoting a gizmodo story

Using the Nexus 4 with Android 4.2.1 is a pure pleasure when it comes to performance. I don't exactly know what Google has done with "Project Butter" in Jelly Bean, but the result is astonishing. In the past, Android felt laggy, sometimes even slow and responses to gestures didn't feel half as immediate as on iOS.

RCuber said:
@webgenius.. the issue i'm complaining is about stability and UE. companies don't give a fix for stability, all that they do is update to the latest version on the new devices.

Completely agree .
Most of the hardware manufactures care about selling as many devices as possible and get maximum profit. They don't give a damn about what happens to the device after some time.
THis is really annoying , since not everyone can afford replacing the droids every once in a while.

I don't think its a problem with Google providing updates frequently , in one way thats positive IMO. Problem is with the lazy-a** manufacturers who don't wanna spend on providing maintaince and support for longer duration.

Can't cite a better example than MoTorola itself .They clearly refused any updates for Tegra 2 devices , though they initially promised it.
Instead , they are offering some CashBack/100$ to the users who want to buy their new devices.Another marketing strategy , who knows if they abandon their existing devices from any updates in future just like what they did earlier.

Hatts off to those developers at XDA & other communities, who spend their lives to provide us better smartphone experience.
However , I have seen many cases where the Hardware manufacturers (deliberately) didn't released the necessary drivers and libraries. This will hamper the development and fixes for existing devices and the customer will be forced to buy a new device.

RCuber said:
Nope not exactly. it so happens that Google keeps introducing new versions and keep upping the hardware requirement rather than fixing its software. This is the second time this is happening in computer/technology industry.. remember the initial days of Windows XP and Vista? people had to upgrade to better hardware just to run their operating system. That pushed the hardware segment i.e., Intel and AMD had to come up with powerful enough processor. Same thing is happening with Android also, but the issue is with Android itself and not the hardware. Current gen hardware powerful enough to do most of the things. its android which is not optimized. i'm not asking for multi windowed apps i'm asking just give me stable experience for the hardware.

The major reason behind this is the variety of android devices.

RCuber said:
@webgenius.. the issue i'm complaining is about stability and UE. companies don't give a fix for stability, all that they do is update to the latest version on the new devices.

That is expected. You can always expect a patch/update where the device security is at stake here. Even the old devices will get these kind of patches/updates.
No OEM will spend several thousands of dollars again on improving UE of an old device. Even if they do, what is in it for them? Greater percentage of Droid users will be happy with a new updated device than an old device with new updates. See in any developed country, and you'll realize this trend.

More number of updates = less profit for OEM

Regarding smoothness, Google never looked into this aspect. They were trying to load android to the brim with features. ICS was the first time Google decided to improve the "looks" Now with JB and Project Butter they are having a look at smoothness and performance.

A closed OS like WP8 is super smooth because it is highly optimized for ARM and ARM only

Such optimization is not possible in Android unless they make strict hardware guidelines like MS

Regarding updates, I think Google releases the updates way too fast. Not all OEM's have the resources to keep pace with Google. Apart from Nexus, Galaxy and Note series have been getting timely updates.

Yep. The scope of google's undertaking is massive here and that should be appreciated, but oems should provide a unique experience

Anorion said:
Yep. The scope of google's undertaking is massive here and that should be appreciated, but oems should provide a unique experience

+1

Premium phones lost its tag once the next one's released.

Anorion said:
sigh quoting a gizmodo story

read this story, went straight to XDA, grabbed a Cyanogen mod Android 4.2 for S2. Boom i hate to go back to stock rom.

floating touch is smooth as air, skip to 00:27

the noob in the video didnt use it properly in the end, but it is very accurate, called "glove mode"

G

Its not cheating.Lets talk abstractly about electronics.Manufacturers can design devices to last long
but that causes loss of revenue in terms of services.So they are designed to be smooth for only few time.

In business its called Planned obsolescence.

Everything is designed to be dumped.These smart phones are one example of such bad designs evil to earth and humanity.