We all love getting new updates on Android, especially if it comes with the latest dessert-flavored version. I think it goes without saying that as techies, we probably know what's in store for our phone before an update has ever been approved by our carrier. I myself played around with some of the Gingerbread leaked RUU's (leaked, official patches that haven't been released to the public yet) for my Thunderbolt at least a month before the official one ever got pushed out. For me, I'm comfortable managing most aspects of my phone, and I can self-troubleshoot most of the issues I run into. I also can adapt to any changes that may come to my phone, whether it's a new interface or a new feature that my phone got with the latest update.
When a OEM decides to limit what kind of updates our devices get, I can understand why techies like us would get upset at them, even if at times it would probably be for the best. From an OEM and a Carrier's perspective, updates are costly, and they are risky to customer's phones. A bad update can totally brick a customer's phone, leaving them unable to use it. While I'm sure that a vast majority of updates probably go well for customer's, it is difficult to account for all the changes to a customer's phone, or what kind of apps they use and how the update would affect that. Sometimes some old legacy software that is designed to work for an older Android device suddenly malfunctions. Other times applications that come pre-installed (like mail, contacts, dialer, etc..) have to be re-written to work correctly with the latest version of Android. It's generally an unwritten rule that the only way to really have a clean update and to avoid any software failures with Android is to do a factory reset. Apple basically forced customers to do this by limiting updates in the past to using computer and having the customer back up their applications and data to that. With Android, outside of the core apps, the regular customer might not have that luxury.
There's also another reason why OEM's may not decide to push updates out and that's simply because the interface for a product would change too drastically for the customer and they would end up having to 're-learn' how to use their device. I can speak from my own experience when Motorola updated their Droid 2's and Droid X's to Gingerbread, I had streams of customers come in and numerous calls from customers to complain about how their phone changed over night. It's easy for techies like us to adapt, but for the average customer it can be a complete headache because it's an inconvenience for them learn everything over for no reason whatsoever. Their priorities and reasons for using their phone are totally different then ours. It would make more sense for an OEM to save radical changes for newer phones, so the customer has a good experience with their current product, and will want to continue buying more from the same company in the future.
I think that, going forward, I hope OEM's can strike a middle ground between the power users and the casual users. I think Google's position of having a developer phone available for all major networks (the Nexus Galaxy) is a great first step, and I'm sure techies like us will flock to that device so that we can always be first with updates and to be allowed to tinker without having to worry about locked boot loaders and such. There is definitely a clear market for this device, just like there is with the Droid RAZR. I don't think it's as much of an issue that Motorola locks that device down because they are not marketing it to techies as much as joe-consumer and business users. For them, stability and security is key. At least now we're finally getting devices that will make both sides happy.
When a OEM decides to limit what kind of updates our devices get, I can understand why techies like us would get upset at them, even if at times it would probably be for the best. From an OEM and a Carrier's perspective, updates are costly, and they are risky to customer's phones. A bad update can totally brick a customer's phone, leaving them unable to use it. While I'm sure that a vast majority of updates probably go well for customer's, it is difficult to account for all the changes to a customer's phone, or what kind of apps they use and how the update would affect that. Sometimes some old legacy software that is designed to work for an older Android device suddenly malfunctions. Other times applications that come pre-installed (like mail, contacts, dialer, etc..) have to be re-written to work correctly with the latest version of Android. It's generally an unwritten rule that the only way to really have a clean update and to avoid any software failures with Android is to do a factory reset. Apple basically forced customers to do this by limiting updates in the past to using computer and having the customer back up their applications and data to that. With Android, outside of the core apps, the regular customer might not have that luxury.
There's also another reason why OEM's may not decide to push updates out and that's simply because the interface for a product would change too drastically for the customer and they would end up having to 're-learn' how to use their device. I can speak from my own experience when Motorola updated their Droid 2's and Droid X's to Gingerbread, I had streams of customers come in and numerous calls from customers to complain about how their phone changed over night. It's easy for techies like us to adapt, but for the average customer it can be a complete headache because it's an inconvenience for them learn everything over for no reason whatsoever. Their priorities and reasons for using their phone are totally different then ours. It would make more sense for an OEM to save radical changes for newer phones, so the customer has a good experience with their current product, and will want to continue buying more from the same company in the future.
I think that, going forward, I hope OEM's can strike a middle ground between the power users and the casual users. I think Google's position of having a developer phone available for all major networks (the Nexus Galaxy) is a great first step, and I'm sure techies like us will flock to that device so that we can always be first with updates and to be allowed to tinker without having to worry about locked boot loaders and such. There is definitely a clear market for this device, just like there is with the Droid RAZR. I don't think it's as much of an issue that Motorola locks that device down because they are not marketing it to techies as much as joe-consumer and business users. For them, stability and security is key. At least now we're finally getting devices that will make both sides happy.
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