http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/ Engadget Comments for Exclusive: Android Froyo to take a serious shot at stemming platform fragmentation http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 11:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/I think it's a slightly bigger deal than you make it out to be, it leaves developers with problems and customers feeling like they've been left in the cold when the next big thing comes along and their phone can't keep up software-wise. This wouldn't be such a big deal were it not for the constant updates that Androids less fragmented competitors receive (Palm Pre, iPhone etc.) It's not that it's necessarily a huge problem now, but fragmentation is the sort of thing that can cause problems in the long-run.

Anyway, I see this as a double-edge sword as one of the complaints aimed at Android at the moment is the interface inconsistency between apps, and I worry that this could serve to aggravate that. On the other hand, it does mean that individual apps can be updated more frequently rather than having to update the core OS.]]>Mar 29th 2010 11:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
The hardware can't be helped, but on the software side, Apple showed that the OS could be free of the whims of carriers.

I myself have been on the fence about an entry level phone I've been eyeing because it still has 1.5 with vague back and forth between the carrier and manufacturer about if, when and how it will get an upgrade.

If money grubbers like Apple can get it, why can't the PhD brain trust at Google have had that sorted from day one?]]>Mar 29th 2010 11:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 11:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
"Anyway, I see this as a double-edge sword as one of the complaints aimed at Android at the moment is the interface inconsistency between apps, and I worry that this could serve to aggravate that."

Hit the nail on the head there!]]>Mar 29th 2010 11:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 11:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
Point is, his phone works and it works great. ]]>Mar 29th 2010 11:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/The fragmentation issue is overstated a lot here. It essentially affects games and applications which are using new (not present in a previous version) api features.

Currently there are issues with different hardware setups which need to be sorted out at the OS level as well but that's not something developers should be worrying about (I say should though because bugs are forcing workarounds at the moment). Eventually as android matures it should become an OS like windows where different hardware is abstracted away through the API and devs only have to worry about catering for different resolutions, like developing for the myriad of PCs running windows out there, or even PCs in general with Java (though java had similar problems earlier, not so much now, where java apps did very different things on *nix to windows to OSX).]]>Mar 29th 2010 11:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/keepin it smart and simple]]>Mar 29th 2010 11:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Actually, that's call Windows Phone 7. Microsoft require all the phones to meet a certain requirements and OEM cannot modify the software for this reason.]]>Mar 29th 2010 11:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
Everythings relative. This isn't about whether or not the phone will continue to carry out it's functions. It's about whether or not phone a will have greater long term longevity than phone b. If I was on the fence I definately wouldn't choose an android phone which may or may not be completely obsolete in a year while an iPhone will still be running the most recent version of the os and will have access to all the new apps which reqire that os version. ]]>Mar 29th 2010 12:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 12:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
Thus, it wouldn't necessarily be incumbent upon Sprint to perform a whole battery of tests, just incremental testing on the core.

Seems like a good approach.]]>Mar 29th 2010 12:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
No that's the opposite of what it should become. There shouldn't be a hardware limitation. If the hardware manufacturer comes out with new hardware then they should just be able to provide the drivers necessary for it to work with the current OS just like it is with computers right now.]]>Mar 29th 2010 12:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
You have to understand what's happened is in the last year Google has released the equivalent to Windows 3.1, 98, XP, and 7. Wouldn't you be a little upset if you bought the latest computer less then a year ago and were stuck with Windows 3.1 (the best at the time) and now theirs windows 7 available and there's not enough difference in hardware to prevent you from running it but you can't because the device manufacturer will not come out with the update to let you? The answer is that it shouldn't be the device manufacturer that's having to come out with the update. The OS should be compatible with the use of drivers with a much wider range of hardware. ]]>Mar 29th 2010 12:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 1:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
Let me get this right: You predicted that a fragmented OS was eventually going to iron itself out back into a singular entity? Is that your 'told you so' moment?

Gee, how did you ever come to that prediction? Maybe after a year of reading blogs and commentary criticizing the fragmented world of Android?

But if it makes you feel better... thanks Invader, for coming to a conclusion that pretty much everyone else knew was coming as well. You'll have to keep patting your own back though, I'm not gonna.]]>Mar 29th 2010 1:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
They need to start reducing how fragmented both the hardware and the software is. Getting the software up to the latest version across the board would be wonderful. At least I can then use the latest URI's and similar to accomplish things more efficiently.]]>Mar 29th 2010 1:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
Fragmentation. I don't buy it either. Oh, and "...that leads to paralysis at the sales counter." Link to the data? Seein' how Android sales are accelerating, that doesn't hold much water. The average Joe/Jane doesn't care about 1.6 vs. 2.0, and any techie worth his beans doesn't need to wait for an over-the-air update.]]>Mar 29th 2010 1:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 1:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Obsolete? do you mean that it will no longer function, make calls, do all the things it did when bought? Is the original iPhone obsolete?
I'm going to have to come down on the mountain/molehill side here. This is how technology works: new developments occur. Got a non-intel mac anyone? Lots of fun, right?
Besides, with android there's the opportunity to go elsewhere for system updates/upgrades.]]>Mar 29th 2010 2:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
Same here, I ended up just rooting the phone and installing a 2.1 rom from xda forum....its very nice. Still has one or 2 little bugs (i.e. visual voicemail not working) but other then that the google navigation is cool and the HTC widgets all got an update with added features. ]]>Mar 29th 2010 2:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/I think that regardless of how outdated the hardware on the Mobile device is the OS should backwards support that same device for a while much like how PC OS's do; my example is Windows XP this OS has been out for a very long time, over that time it had to go though several Service packs and hardware compatibility to meet the demands of the average people just to keep the average people still using XP.

]]>Mar 29th 2010 2:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 2:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 3:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
not to mention the real issue is apps and the market is censored by phone accessing it. If the dev makes the app available for download on every phone that is his or her own fault if they know their product has compatibility issues. ]]>Mar 29th 2010 7:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://bit.ly/froyo-android-viewed]]>Mar 29th 2010 11:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 30th 2010 7:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
No, actually, I predicted that fragmentation is just a result of the old open source model of release fast and release early and people were getting way to worried about fragmentation, as if Android was going to get to version 17.3 by the end of next year.

If you read between the lines, this article is not about Google "fixing" the fragmentation issue (something I believe is very hard to actually 'fix' without breaking compatibility, which eventually to more fragmentation). Rather this article is about the fact that the fragmentation is coming to an end: "Google may be nearing the end of its breakneck development pace on Android's core".

I should've guessed nobody would understand this. I guess that's why nobody listens to Engadget commenters.]]>Apr 5th 2010 8:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
Notice both platforms finally got performing OpenGL ES access and API after SnapDragon while all the MSM72xx machines are still basically hosed. This is another reason why the OS was rev'd to 2.x and not really backwards compatible. There's still residue meaning GPU usage is not pervasive, and FPU usage is still missing.

Only mobile OS X, and possibly webOS, is a full-feature OS that uses all the hardware to the hilt.]]>Apr 10th 2010 3:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/ That's why fragmentation is so hurting Android market now too. I don't what kind of Kool-Aid Google drunk when they promised that Java based API will solve all compatibility issues and make OS completely hardware independent. As result we have a zoo of partially compatible phones, faulty hardware, slow software because of poor implementation of Java VM and so on.
Apple knows what it's doing. Right, modern mobile CPU's have 100's of MHz under belt, but they're still limited in performance. That's why it's important to optimize API and OS to death and squeeze every cycle and byte from available resources. That's why apps written in C/Obj-C are still much faster than counterparts written in crippled Java implementation where developers are limited in terms of optimization and have to deal with VM overhead. That's why Google started porting API's to native code. ]]>Apr 11th 2010 5:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/cant wait to get my incredible that looks as edible as the incredible edible egg :)]]>Mar 29th 2010 11:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 12:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 12:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 11:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 2:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 11:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
...when a 60 year old toothless illiterate tribal who has never seen a real phone (leave alone a PC) knows about how to use the the cellphone (happened in case of Nokia).]]>Mar 29th 2010 11:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 11:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
Yeah, finally people are starting to know the Droid like they know the iPhone due to Verizons great marketing strategy. I personally would rather have a N1 but w/e. I like the Droid simply because it was well marketed and now has the Android name out there. ]]>Mar 29th 2010 1:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 11:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 11:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
The application launcher should be an app too so devices can get the drawer or the Nexus One style launcher too.]]>Mar 29th 2010 11:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 11:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
Time to sell the N900 & SE Aino (NEVER buy one) and go Android.]]>Mar 29th 2010 11:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 12:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 12:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/no wonder Apple is suing HTC since they are afraid of more people defecting over to Android.]]>Mar 29th 2010 1:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
I'm waiting a few paychecks to get my Nexus one, i'm tired of my iPhone 2G. ]]>Mar 29th 2010 2:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/Mar 29th 2010 2:45PM