
To fix Android updates, hit OEMs where it hurts - shawndumas
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/05/op-ed-hey-google-want-to-fix-android-updates-hit-oems-where-it-hurts/
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mfjordvald
So I was a founding employee at OnePlus, I've since left but I've seen both
how Cyanogen worked and the efforts that went into building the Android team
at OnePlus after the relationship with Cyanogen soured. And really, it seems
the author is a bit naive about how many Android OEMs actually work.

Though I don't know about any revenue sharing, assuming it's there and that
Google would take it away, would it incentivise faster updates? Definitely.
Would it actually produce faster updates? Very much doubt it.

At least for OnePlus it wasn't a lack of willingness, prioritisation, or
ability. Both the Cyanogen team and the Paranoid Android team, which got hired
later on, are highly skilled and have a lot of experience.

Most of the time was spent integrating drivers from external providers such as
Qualcomm and JDI. A lot of the time we were simply waiting for working drivers
for the hardware we were using and other times we were waiting on bug fixes.

For the biggest OEMs such as Samsung this might actually help them prioritise
as they have a more customised OS and as such might spend more time there.
Though I'd wager a guess that the reason they cannot move faster is also due
to waiting on 3rd party companies not affected by this ad-sharing penalty and
that they have a hard time hiring qualified people who know the android system
well enough to move things faster.

~~~
fauigerzigerk
Why does the Nexus line not have these driver issues?

~~~
benologist
nVidia are also keeping up with their Shield hardware.

~~~
mfjordvald
nVidia are using their own hardware so therefore they write their own drivers.
Most OEMs outsource to Qualcomm or MediaTek.

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gtirloni
The point is deep within the article and it's this:

 _We 've heard reports that Google shares ad revenue with its partners—if a
customer buys a Verizon Samsung phone, performs a Google search, and clicks on
an ad, Verizon and Samsung get a portion of that ad revenue. So, penalize
partners by reducing or eliminating that revenue sharing if they don't push
out updates. If an OEM exceeds the curve and stays up to date, increase the
amount of revenue sharing._

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drivingmenuts
And that friends is why I went back to iOS. Once again I tried android and
discovered that it was about two versions or more behind on the device I
purchased.

~~~
dave2000
And the fact that Android is way more popular than iOs shows that most people
simply don't know or care what version of Android they have because it makes
almost no difference to how the apps they use work. If you care then you
should have spent a few minutes research and bought a Nexus or a device from a
manufacturer who is more prompt with updates.

~~~
zepto
The fact Android is way more popular than iOS can be used to support any
conjecture about user preferences.

The ASP of Android devices is far lower than that of iOS devices.

Android is popular because it appeals to price sensitive consumers who are by
far the majority. IOS sells mostly to people who are not primarily price
sensitive.

That's it.

~~~
dave2000
I don't know what ASP is and attempts to explain away how Android is far more
popular than iOs are neither interesting nor relevant to this discussion (how
did Apple get a massive head start if most consumers are price concious?); the
fact is, if people were upset about Android updates it would result in people
not using Android (which is manifestly not the case) and it would be addressed
by Google (which it is not doing).

~~~
blackoil
If the people are upset with their Ford, they'll buy BMW! Nope, doesn't make
any sense!

~~~
dave2000
No, but it you change BMW to another make of car that doesn't have the same
level of stigma it makes perfect sense.

~~~
zepto
How about Mercedes, or Porsche?

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petepete
Why can't they push updates independently of the carrier?

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LoSboccacc
Because adware subsidies and service lockin are a big part of carrier profit.
Those require os level modifications but carriers don't want to maintain them

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x1798DE
I recently had a nagware popup telling me that my phone has already downloaded
the 1.1 GB update, with only one option when clicked: "Restart and install";
once a day after midnight, it seems, the notification goes from a background
notification to a foreground notification, and it's not until I enter this
"restart and install" screen and hit the back button that the notification
gets a "Later / Install" option to turn it back into a background
notification.

I don't know _why_ LG is pulling this Microsoft Windows 10 nonsense on me, but
I certainly wouldn't want to do anything to increase their incentive to do so,
so I'd be pretty disappointed with any incentives for OEMs based on "actual
adoption" rather than "availability of update".

~~~
dave2000
Not sure what os your phone is running but most people actually want phone
updates as soon as possible. The reason people don't like Microsoft's Windows
10 upgrade tactics is that they do things like treat clicking the x to close
the window as "yes, I'd love to have Windows 10", and the reason they don't
want windows 10 is because of the risk it'll stop stuff from working. In all
my experience of Android (and a little iOs) I've never heard of an update
break anything.

~~~
skybrian
It might perform poorly though. Recent Android OS versions run poorly on older
Nexus devices. (In particular the first gen Nexus 7.) Perhaps you didn't see
it because you don't run hardware that old?

~~~
dave2000
The most recent Nexus 10 update I got didn't cause any problems. I think it's
Apple upgrades which slow phones down.

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bitL
I wish OS upgrades were actually upgrades and not often downgrades. For
example, KitKat handled SD card as a 1st class storage, allowing to reinstall
apps on an SD card; Lollipop deletes an app from SD card, installs it on the
main storage and forces you to manually move it to SD card after each update.
I now have >100 pending updates as I am no longer willing to waste time on
moving all apps to my 200GB SD card. Now Marshmallow has some silly approach
obsoleting internal eMMC with an SD card, of course non-negotiably encrypted
with the intent that nobody can extract music, video etc. that might be
copyrighted.

Next, Windows Phone 8.1 first removed the option to store HERE Maps on an SD
card and 10 removed the app completely, which was about the only appeal to buy
a WP device for me before HERE Maps were available on iOS & Android (and the
new default map app is an annoying adware).

I am one of those aesthetically unhappy people with flat interfaces - all
major OSes shove ugly flatness down my throat. This is a major deal for
somebody that has 100% perfect color vision and does professional photography
- it's simply unbearable to look at phones these days. The only recluse on
Android for me was to install Chinese ULauncher, making Android look like OS X
Mavericks, but that phones home way too many things. Not even getting started
on Windows 10 nagware which forced me to disable updates completely.

Frankly, I hope Jolla survives (are they backed by HMD now?) and allows me to
customize every aspect of my phone instead of accepting more and more
restrictions "for my own good". Linux Mint + Sailfish could be a dream combo.

~~~
digi_owl
Kitkat (aka 4.4), first class storage?! Far from it.

Since maybe 3.1 Google had clamped down on honest to deity SD access, by
changing up the permissions so that the card could only be read by non-system
apps.

Samsung and other OEMs routinely changed things back to the old behavior until
4.4 shipped, and Google seems to have arm twisted them into no longer doing
so.

