google needs to get it's Android sh*t together

Pliablemoose

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
25,195
0
56
OS 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, and 2.1 + 3 or more custom UI's

It's becoming a confusing mash of OS's. Who in their right mind is willing to write apps for 4 different versions of an OS?
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,080
136
Google has its Android shit together.
The people writing apps need to get their shit together. Given that 99% of them arent getting paid, thats not likely to happen anytime soon.

Are you good at anything? Would you spend 8 hours a day doing it for free? Would you prefer spending 20 bucks per app instead of 0?
 

Deeko

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
30,213
12
81
A) What do you propose Google do about it? Other than, 'getting their Android shit together'
B) In the pre-app store days, there were tens of thousands of Windows Mobile apps, for DRASTICALLY different platforms. In case you've forgotten.
 

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
36,041
472
126
In case you haven't noticed, this is what happens when a Mobile OS gets licensed out. Different companies use different versions of it. Google has nothing to do with what version each company uses on their phones. Sure it'd be great for all of them to ship with the latest version but that's in a perfect world.
 

Cdubneeddeal

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2003
7,473
3
81
You see this all the time. Just look at many of the FF addons. FF releases an update then many of the addons don't work then need to be updated.
 

deputc26

Senior member
Nov 7, 2008
548
1
76
Typing this from a droid that has replaced everyh other mobile gadget I own it sure seems to me like they have there shit together, if not, then this is the sweetest "not together" shit I've ever experienced.
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,739
452
126
Typing this from a droid that has replaced everyh other mobile gadget I own it sure seems to me like they have there shit together, if not, then this is the sweetest "not together" shit I've ever experienced.

The thought of using a phone as a main mp3 player makes me cry.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
In case you haven't noticed, this is what happens when a Mobile OS gets licensed out. Different companies use different versions of it. Google has nothing to do with what version each company uses on their phones. Sure it'd be great for all of them to ship with the latest version but that's in a perfect world.

not to forget that this is an Open OS. There is no license fee, and manufacturers are free to dig into the guts of the OS and do some fancy shit.
If it's branded a "Google phone", like the G1, and the Moto Droid (and I think one or two others), then Google worked directly with the manufacturer/carrier and the OS experience is what Google wanted. But otherwise, it's a free for all.
It'd be nice if Google was a little selective and said "these hardware configurations are required if choosing to use the Android platform", so that developers have common ground to help make developing apps for multiple phones just work, versus crashing on some phones and other phones running perfect. But ultimately, for us techies, it's going to be communities based around specific phones, compiling apps geared toward those specific phones. And this is basically how it is already, and the Droid is getting a massive developer following as the user base is just expanding massively. Which is awesome, that means I have a phone that will get a lot of detailed attention from developers. :D

This is similar to what WinMo communities were like. Everything was geared toward specific phones and their hardware, so getting apps that were made for other phones was just a gamble as to whether it worked or not.
 

Demo24

Diamond Member
Aug 5, 2004
8,356
9
81
It seems to me like they are pushing out releases faster than any manufacturer can put them on the phone. I didn't think 2.0 was even going to be official until next year, but then it turned up on the droid. Now theres talk of 2.1, when there's only 1 2.0 phone on the market. Kind of ridiculous really. I like that they are keeping this going forward, but damn at least get some phones out first!
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
It seems to me like they are pushing out releases faster than any manufacturer can put them on the phone. I didn't think 2.0 was even going to be official until next year, but then it turned up on the droid. Now theres talk of 2.1, when there's only 1 2.0 phone on the market. Kind of ridiculous really. I like that they are keeping this going forward, but damn at least get some phones out first!

You want Google to slow down the updates?
Google isn't playing the waiting game for devices. They are in charge of the OS, and that is all they care about in the end. They will keep updating the OS as they see fit, which means as they find major issues they will issue updates. It is up to the manufacturers to support the phone and provide an update.

IMHO, thumbs up to Google for being so snappy with the development of Android. They keep improving the OS and functionality, and have done so in short time.
Since it's open, and since it's Google, technically Android 1.0 should have been referred to as "Beta". Everything before 2.0 was that way, and 2.0 is still short of what Google really wants Android to be. I'm looking forward to 2.1, hopefully I can get it on my phone shortly after it's released. Not sure if it'll be pushed to the phone from Google itself, or if it has to go through Motorola and/or Verizon first. There's a "System Update" option in the Settings, so maybe those are for the updates like 2.0.1 or something, as 1.6 wouldn't show up as an Update for phones using 1.5.
 

Demo24

Diamond Member
Aug 5, 2004
8,356
9
81
Not necessarily, just perhaps find a way to get these updates out to the phones easier.
 

Deeko

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
30,213
12
81
The apps aren't forward/backward compatible?

They are - but there are changes in the system that screw things up. For example - I think it was 1.5 that added auto-rotation with the accelerometer. A lot of apps broke because of this. Similarly, the pre-Droid phones were 480x320, so most devs didn't care to check other resolutions (even though the SDK allows it), so a lot of apps were initially screwy on the Droid.
 

abaez

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2000
7,155
1
81
not to forget that this is an Open OS. There is no license fee, and manufacturers are free to dig into the guts of the OS and do some fancy shit.
If it's branded a "Google phone", like the G1, and the Moto Droid (and I think one or two others), then Google worked directly with the manufacturer/carrier and the OS experience is what Google wanted. But otherwise, it's a free for all.
It'd be nice if Google was a little selective and said "these hardware configurations are required if choosing to use the Android platform", so that developers have common ground to help make developing apps for multiple phones just work, versus crashing on some phones and other phones running perfect. But ultimately, for us techies, it's going to be communities based around specific phones, compiling apps geared toward those specific phones. And this is basically how it is already, and the Droid is getting a massive developer following as the user base is just expanding massively. Which is awesome, that means I have a phone that will get a lot of detailed attention from developers. :D

This is similar to what WinMo communities were like. Everything was geared toward specific phones and their hardware, so getting apps that were made for other phones was just a gamble as to whether it worked or not.

They do have this. There are certain requirements for all phones (certain buttons and stuff like that).
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
They do have this. There are certain requirements for all phones (certain buttons and stuff like that).

a little more strict. These specific processors, these physical phone features, etc.

I mean hell, a very very small issue popped up. LED Flashlight apps. It was built into some HTC phone, had an LED Flash for the camera, and it had easy access to using the LED Flash as a flashlight.
This feature was challenging to bring to the Moto Droid, it took quite a few individuals working together to develop an app, multiple people taking stabs at it at the same time, sharing input and whatnot, over two weeks I think to finally figure out how to make it happen.

But I am being more specific of that - what CPUs, what GPUs, what various chips behave like and how do apps handle them.
Hell, Android doesn't even let the user choose to install entire apps to the MicroSD card, the apps install only to the phone. Now, a lot of the apps make use of the SD card for a good portion of their data storage, but this may just become an issue at some point.