Wheres gingerbread on these new smartphones?

[shabby]

Tons of phones were announced at ces but they're all running froyo and they'll all ship with froyo too, which by the time that most of these phones will ship will be almost a year old. I don't get it, why no gingerbread lovin from the start?

 

[Adramalech]

More than likely these units were in development before Gingerbread was released so the updates will come out after the phones are released. That is the only reason I can think of...

 

[vshah]

^ pretty much that...it's not as simple as slapping a new version of windows on this year's pcs

 

[Bateluer]

^ pretty much that...it's not as simple as slapping a new version of windows on this year's pcs

Would be if they were running stock Android instead of the vomit that they all use.

 

[vshah]

Would be if they were running stock Android instead of the vomit that they all use.

to some extent yes, but they'd still have to write drivers for various hardware modules. even if the cpu is the same, drivers are still needed for wifi/bt/camera/hardware keys etc.

it still amazes me that the community can whip up new versions for older phones in a matter of weeks. you'd think multi million dollar companies would be able to manage it faster than that.

 

[YoungGun21]

to some extent yes, but they'd still have to write drivers for various hardware modules. even if the cpu is the same, drivers are still needed for wifi/bt/camera/hardware keys etc.

it still amazes me that the community can whip up new versions for older phones in a matter of weeks. you'd think multi million dollar companies would be able to manage it faster than that.

Obviously it could be done if the community does it.

 

[yh125d]

it still amazes me that the community can whip up new versions for older phones in a matter of weeks. you'd think multi million dollar companies would be able to manage it faster than that.

Ever hear the saying how if you want the government to do something efficiently, get them to contract it out to the private sector? Similar logic applies to huge company -> end user techie

 

[gsaldivar]

community can whip up new versions for older phones in a matter of weeks. you'd think multi million dollar companies would be able to manage it faster than that.

Carriers and manufacturers are quite capable of upgrading phones to the latest software in a timely fashion, but it's not always in their best interest to do so.

 

[zerocool84]

to some extent yes, but they'd still have to write drivers for various hardware modules. even if the cpu is the same, drivers are still needed for wifi/bt/camera/hardware keys etc.

it still amazes me that the community can whip up new versions for older phones in a matter of weeks. you'd think multi million dollar companies would be able to manage it faster than that.

Because the ROMs you get from guys off the net still have tons of bugs in them. That's just the way it is. A company can't release a build with a ton of bugs or no GPS working or no Bluetooth working or whatever doesn't work with them. The ROMs you download always have tons of bugs with them and we can accept that cus they are not official but if a company like HTC or Motorola released Gingerbread with many of the bugs the ROMs right now have, we'd go crazy and say never to buy their phones again. QA is one of the longest processes in any program development.

 

[slightlyhuman]

jaw dropping.

glad i'm still on att.

 

[Wingznut]

Because the ROMs you get from guys off the net still have tons of bugs in them. That's just the way it is. A company can't release a build with a ton of bugs or no GPS working or no Bluetooth working or whatever doesn't work with them. The ROMs you download always have tons of bugs with them and we can accept that cus they are not official but if a company like HTC or Motorola released Gingerbread with many of the bugs the ROMs right now have, we'd go crazy and say never to buy their phones again. QA is one of the longest processes in any program development.

Exactly.

 

[Raduque]

Would be if they were running stock Android instead of the vomit that they all use.

YOU may not like it, but the average person we want to buy these en mass does like it. Stock Android is very boring, even Gingerbread. My mom has a G2 - which is about as stock as you're going to get from a carrier-branded device - and is constantly asking me why her various screens (contacts, dialer, settings, etc) aren't as pretty as my Vibrant's.

In short, to sell devices, the OS needs to look nice and appeal to the average comsumer. Stock Android doesn't.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

YOU may not like it, but the average person we want to buy these en mass does like it. Stock Android is very boring, even Gingerbread. My mom has a G2 - which is about as stock as you're going to get from a carrier-branded device - and is constantly asking me why her various screens (contacts, dialer, settings, etc) aren't as pretty as my Vibrant's.

In short, to sell devices, the OS needs to look nice and appeal to the average comsumer. Stock Android doesn't.

Well he has a point. Certain addons to Android really cripple the ability to upgrade to a new version.

On the other hand, you are correct in that stock Android is boring as hell. The problem is Google really just slapped together the bare minimum for a lot of things. I mean we talked about copy and paste and how Apple lacked it forever, but when they finally introduced it, it was a full package. Today, I can't copy and paste in Twitter on Android. I don't know if 2.3 changes things, but it still doesn't seem 100% complete from watching my cousin play with her Nexus S.

 

[vshah]

Because the ROMs you get from guys off the net still have tons of bugs in them. That's just the way it is. A company can't release a build with a ton of bugs or no GPS working or no Bluetooth working or whatever doesn't work with them. The ROMs you download always have tons of bugs with them and we can accept that cus they are not official but if a company like HTC or Motorola released Gingerbread with many of the bugs the ROMs right now have, we'd go crazy and say never to buy their phones again. QA is one of the longest processes in any program development.

i agree, and I actually like the way the android ecosystem has evolved with the community taking the lead on new releases. i'm trying to think of an android phone that has received more than one major update, and I can't...makes sense that they don't want to spend money on old phones when they could drive users to new ones.

 

[GhettoFob]

Because the ROMs you get from guys off the net still have tons of bugs in them. That's just the way it is. A company can't release a build with a ton of bugs or no GPS working or no Bluetooth working or whatever doesn't work with them. The ROMs you download always have tons of bugs with them and we can accept that cus they are not official but if a company like HTC or Motorola released Gingerbread with many of the bugs the ROMs right now have, we'd go crazy and say never to buy their phones again. QA is one of the longest processes in any program development.

My Vibrant's GPS originally didn't work, I received an OTA update a few months back which got it somewhat working (maybe 50% of the time). Last week, I finally gave up waiting for Froyo, rooted my phone and installed a custom rom. Now my GPS locks on within a few seconds and after applying a lag fix, my Vibrant feels like a brand new phone.

This may be an extreme example, but when thing's aren't working, you would think Samsung/T-Mobile would be more aggressive in getting an update out there....

 

[zerocool84]

My Vibrant's GPS originally didn't work, I received an OTA update a few months back which got it somewhat working (maybe 50% of the time). Last week, I finally gave up waiting for Froyo, rooted my phone and installed a custom rom. Now my GPS locks on within a few seconds and after applying a lag fix, my Vibrant feels like a brand new phone.

This may be an extreme example, but when thing's aren't working, you would think Samsung/T-Mobile would be more aggressive in getting an update out there....

One of the many reasons why I will never get a Samsung phone again.

 

[GhettoFob]

One of the many reasons why I will never get a Samsung phone again.

Yep, learned my lesson...:thumbsdown:

 

[_Aurel_]

Carriers have to support the devices, and have to fight back returns/angry insults and threats from customers if they screw up an update. All the guys like Cyanogen have to do is stick a notice and call it a day. Sorry but pretty flawed comparison there.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

One of the many reasons why I will never get a Samsung phone again.

Does the regular Galaxy S phone that the rest of the world uses have this issue too? Or are we just confined to the US Galaxy S phones? I never saw Engadget say anything about the worldwide Galaxy S phones. Kinda sucks because this sounds like an easy fix if that's the case.