

Google IO : Android Announcements  - amnigos
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/android-momentum-mobile-and-more-at.html

======
Maascamp
"To start, we're jointly announcing that new devices from participating
partners..." (Verizon, HTC, Samsung, Sprint, Sony Ericsson, LG, T-Mobile,
Vodafone, Motorola and AT&T) "...will receive the latest Android platform
upgrades for 18 months after the device is first released, as long as the
hardware allows."

That to me is the most significant of all the announcements listed.

~~~
joshes
It is still a tad vague to me. "As long as the hardware allows" seems like it
provides some wiggle room for carriers to squirm out of any responsibilities
to honor this.

Additionally, it only says that the devices will receive the latest upgrades
for 18 months after the device is first released, which is problematic in many
regards. If you get a phone the day it releases and are forced into a two year
contract (which you almost certainly will be if you are going with a carrier),
then for the final six months, or 25%, of that contract period, the carrier is
not required to allow for you to receive Android upgrades. That instantly
devalues your device. And what if you get a new device, but not until six
months after its release? Well, then your carrier is only required to permit
the upgrades for the first year; the last year is back to same old, same old.

And it says nothing about how timely the upgrades are. As it currently reads,
all it guarantees is that for a year and a half after the device is _released_
, carriers must _eventually_ allow your device to upgrade to the latest
version of Android. It is not a long enough time to cover an entire contract
period and it has a little clause that is open to interpretation by all
parties involved.

Edit: I'm writing this from the perspective of an American consumer. I do not
know anything about the way that carriers and their mobile contracts work
elsewhere.

~~~
bad_user
Phone makers are slow to release upgrades because it takes resources to test
and modify new Android releases (many of them are modifying the UI for a
differentiated experience).

I don't see any reason why the likes of Samsung, Motorola, HTC would go
through the trouble of releasing an update just for a couple of customers,
ignoring the rest.

~~~
shareme
Its simple when the OEM gets approved by a Mobile Operator at least for the
USA ones the MOs are negotiating an update fee that they pay OEMs for that
very purpose..

So its probably set up as 3 Major version updates as Google/OHA members want
that kept at every 6 months..hence the 18 month time limit..

------
kenjackson
So what all is Ice Cream Sandwich about? It's simply bringing Honeycomb to the
phone? It seems like a long time to move working code to a smaller form factor
(and with QHD, similar resolutions).

~~~
orangecat
All indications are that Honeycomb was a rush job in an ill-advised attempt to
beat the iPad 2 to market. There's probably a large amount of refactoring
needed to support phones, and of course there will be new functionality as
well.

~~~
glhaynes
I wonder how it'll work with regard to the "phones have the four hardware
buttons, tablets don't" thing.

Also: in the Apple world, many apps look/work very differently between their
iPhone and iPad versions. Can anybody say anything about what guidance is
given as far as when an Android app should "switch"? In other words: suppose I
make an app that runs great on my 3.5" phone, then I make a more tablety
version of the app that runs great on my 10" tablet... which version should
run on a 5" or 7" screen?

~~~
nuclear_eclipse
Ideally, you should be using the various SDK options for handling various
screen sizes and densities so that you don't have to care about what the
actual size is. The SDK can handle a lot of the ambiguity for you.

[http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support...](http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html)

[http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals/fragm...](http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals/fragments.html)

[http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/providin...](http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/providing-
resources.html#AlternativeResources)

