Android Ice Cream Sandwich Announced

[meStevo]

I know several regional carriers that locked out tethering options with the upgrade to 2.2. There were other options locked out as well, but I am not sure of an exact list, I just remember it from my own experience.

That has little/nothing to do with fragmentation...

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[meStevo]

And exactly how is there a fragmentation problem with Apple? They are shipping 3GS for free WITH iOS5.

And look at any iOS device and they pretty much look the same and run pretty much the same.

Go grab four or five leading Android handsets from different carriers/manufacturers and they all have huge differences in the skins on them -- and I am NOT talking about the small minority of rooted/custom rom users. Yeah, the basics of Android are the same, but the Launcher apps and notification bars demonstrate huge differences. Add Ice cream sandwich to the mix and we will now have three operating systems (froyo, gingerbread, AND ice cream sandwich) running on different devices.

AND its not a "this is why Android wins" argument, as I am sure Apple feels like it is losing the war, after having sold what, 4+million devices last weekend? -- its a problem that Android has as a result of the open source nature of the OS. Not saying that is bad, but for the average end user it can be VERY confusing.

I am talking about apps being built for 3GS, 4, 4S, iPad and iPad 2. Whenever i mention that the 4S is just another 4 in the other thread 5 people jump on me about how the internals are all different. Well... isn't that the definition of fragmentation? Rather than kill off the 3GS, Apple embraced it as the lowest cost option... so developers get to keep designing their apps with that as the lowest common denominator. If someone wants to leverage the internals of the 4S and provide a new experience... it's limited to the 4S. Sure there aren't 4 flavors of the 4S, but that doesn't mean there's no fragmentation on the platform.

By no means am I saying Android doesn't have a problem, but Apple is not without fragmentation of it's own... and I said it would be interesting to see their numbers. I think some of the other examples are really overstated (notifications, launchers) but I don't know enough about that stuff to back up my objections. All those things should be leveraging basic hooks and services in the OS, which should be extended upon by skins and enhancements. Again, I'm not a developer, and I am not saying that's a problem, I think the variety of different internals is a bigger problem than dealing with Sense and whatnot. Those skins just contribute to fragmentation because they may require resources to adapt releases/maintain, and I work for a big enough company to know that resources aren't always standing by for some other company to give them work.

In the tethering example... now that I'm not typing from my cell... it has nothing to do with fragmentation because it's a core OS feature, and apps seek a connection to the web (Wifi/3G/etc) rather than 'ok, lets interact with tethering' and those that do the latter are things like apps that require root access and/or replace that functionality anyways.

 

[John Kotches]

And exactly how is there a fragmentation problem with Apple? They are shipping 3GS for free WITH iOS5.

And look at any iOS device and they pretty much look the same and run pretty much the same.

i would be interested to see numbers from apple's app store or from web browsing usage on the breakdown of ios usage in the field.

probably much harder to do from web browsing usage then the app store though.

Go grab four or five leading Android handsets from different carriers/manufacturers and they all have huge differences in the skins on them-- and I am NOT talking about the small minority of rooted/custom rom users.

probably for the same reason that hp, lenovo, dell et al put their layer of bloatware on pcs. to distinguish from similar items in the market.

this is the wide open world of unix (really linux) under the covers. having an open platform, or at least much more open than apple is, comes with a price.

since the basics work on all phones about the same it isn't that difficult to transfer knowledge from x 2 y unless your working on them at the customization level.

I don't think the lack of conformity is anywhere near as big an issue as it's made out to be. since android leads the world market, and maybe the u s market, I'd have to say that the market agrees.

Yeah, the basics of Android are the same, but the Launcher apps and notification bars demonstrate huge differences. Add Ice cream sandwich to the mix and we will now have three operating systems (froyo, gingerbread, AND ice cream sandwich) running on different devices.

And only one of them runs at a time on a phone. maybe once tegra3/kal-el hits we can spawn virtual phones with multiple os versions.

having used multiple revs (eclair, froyo, gingerbread) it isn't that big a deal to switch between them.

AND its not a "this is why Android wins" argument, as I am sure Apple feels like it is losing the war, after having sold what, 4+million devices last weekend?

for both android and ios net new activations is critical. replacing a 4 / 3gs / 3 or a hero with a galaxy s doesn't change market share.

4 million units is impressive and apple is great at building hype for their fans.

-- its a problem that Android has as a result of the open source nature of the OS. Not saying that is bad, but for the average end user it can be VERY confusing.

again I'll say in my experience the differences in usability between the mobile versions and their skins is no big deal.



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[rockymtnhigh]

Other than the distinction between iPhone and iPad apps (and those which are universal in their code meaning they will run full screen on iPad and as an iPhone app as well), how many apps can you point to that will only run on iOS5? Maybe I am missing something, BUT it seems to me all iPhones have been running on iOS4.x for awhile. I don't see that as fragmentation.

Different internals in a phone is NOT fragmentation; fragmentation has to do with software. There is a little fragmentation for apps that won't run on first two generation iPods, but that is very minor.

 

[Ronnie-]

That has little/nothing to do with fragmentation...

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IMO it does. When the software is different (or limited in some way) across a model line, it is fragmented, at least for the basis of this discussion, in the way I use it.

 

[Neutron]

I just did a graduate marketing paper last month about the iPhone and one of my key arguments was offering a phone to the lower income bracket which is what the 3GS does. Kind of funny now that I think about it.

Android has fragmentation due to the fact that there are so many models out there and they all have different versions of Android. Apple sells iPhones and iPads now that all come with iOS 5.0. That's where I see the fragmentation argument.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Why is this thread turning into an Android vs. iPhone argument? It's supposed to be a discussion about Ice Cream Sandwich.

Relax Isaac. All is cool. This is SatGuys, we go off topic - in tangential ways all the time. Since no one has Ice Cream yet, its just a conversation. And in good fun

 

[John Kotches]

Why is this thread turning into an Android vs. iPhone argument? It's supposed to be a discussion about Ice Cream Sandwich.

Because that's the only argument we can have on this topic... Thought that was obvious

 

[John Kotches]

I just did a graduate marketing paper last month about the iPhone and one of my key arguments was offering a phone to the lower income bracket which is what the 3GS does. Kind of funny now that I think about it.

Android has fragmentation due to the fact that there are so many models out there and they all have different versions of Android. Apple sells iPhones and iPads now that all come with iOS 5.0. That's where I see the fragmentation argument.

Okay, but it isn't slowing adoption. So while the argument can be successfully made that there is fragmentation there is no grounds to indicate that fragmentation is affecting adoption. The argument can still be made, but it's not a winning one.

I find it funny too, that 25ish years later Apple has become that which they railed against in their younger days.

 

[isaacmorseMI]

Relax Isaac. All is cool. This is SatGuys, we go off topic - in tangential ways all the time. Since no one has Ice Cream yet, its just a conversation. And in good fun

Yeah I know. Honestly it's one of the best parts of the site, the fun conversations. Anyway I am pretty much 99% sure my next phone is going to be the Galaxy Nexus. Looks like an awesome phone.

 

[John Kotches]

Yeah I know. Honestly it's one of the best parts of the site, the fun conversations. Anyway I am pretty much 99% sure my next phone is going to be the Galaxy Nexus. Looks like an awesome phone.

Physically, I like the appearance of the Droid RAZR. Don't know about the phone itself though.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Physically, I like the appearance of the Droid RAZR. Don't know about the phone itself though.

It's a great name that's for sure. My first flip phone

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[isaacmorseMI]

Physically, I like the appearance of the Droid RAZR. Don't know about the phone itself though.

That one looks awesome too, I'm just not to sure about MOTOBLUR and Ice Cream Sandwich looks sweet.

 

[meStevo]

Yeah I know. Honestly it's one of the best parts of the site, the fun conversations. Anyway I am pretty much 99% sure my next phone is going to be the Galaxy Nexus. Looks like an awesome phone.

It would take a pretty damning review to get me to hold off for the NEXT phone announcement. Only thing that makes me hesitant is the 5mp camera, but the iPhone 4 made due with one for this long and took some great pictures. The camera software looks pretty amazing too. Time lapse VIDEO photography on a cell phone, really? Galaxy Nexus will be replacing my Droid 1.

 

[isaacmorseMI]

It would take a pretty damning review to get me to hold off for the NEXT phone announcement. Only thing that makes me hesitant is the 5mp camera, but the iPhone 4 made due with one for this long and took some great pictures. The camera software looks pretty amazing too. Time lapse VIDEO photography on a cell phone, really? Galaxy Nexus will be replacing my Droid 1.

I wish it was 8mp also, but Ice Cream Sandwich should probably make up for that.

 

[Ronnie-]

That one looks awesome too, I'm just not to sure about MOTOBLUR and Ice Cream Sandwich looks sweet.

I honestly didnt mind Blur for as much bad press as it got to begin with. Had the original Droid not been bare, I doubt it would have been an issue with later ones.

 

[Ronnie-]

Nexus looks like a good one for sure, and I liked the name of the Razr. Motorola makes top knotch hardware. My biggest gripe with the Nexus would be samsungs over use of cheap plastics. It makes the phone thin and light, but it makes it feel lower end (from a pure feel perspective) to me.

 

[cybok0]

Nexus looks like a good one for sure, and I liked the name of the Razr. Motorola makes top knotch hardware. My biggest gripe with the Nexus would be samsungs over use of cheap plastics. It makes the phone thin and light, but it makes it feel lower end (from a pure feel perspective) to me.

I don't know, I really like my galaxy.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Nexus looks like a good one for sure, and I liked the name of the Razr. Motorola makes top knotch hardware. My biggest gripe with the Nexus would be samsungs over use of cheap plastics. It makes the phone thin and light, but it makes it feel lower end (from a pure feel perspective) to me.

Oh god, the phone whore is getting the itch...

 

[cybok0]

Oh god, the phone whore is getting the itch...

Here is his new phone it's on redneck ios.