Tag: SPHPBLOG

Android’s future lies past it. At least for me, although I was fond of this rather cool phone OS for some years now; but Android suxx big time in 2011 and this is mostly because of Google gone evil:

• Updates. They just don’t happen.
  It’s not that Google halted development, it’s more the contrary. In Android, your $500 phone of last May today is just shit. Your famous vendor, be it HTC, Motorola, to name the worst offenders, or even Google itself, just does not provide you an update to the current version of the OS in a timely manner.
  It’s the same shitty kind of software non-support those of us old enough recevive back in the early 2000’s from Microsoft and their ever changing PocketPC/Windows Mobile venture. (Which basically proves that Google has not learned from the past – and went evil after all.)
  What’ I’m talking about? Well, where’s Android 2.2 for the Vodafone HTC Magic “with Google”? Where’s Android 2.3+ for the Motorola Milestone? Just not there — and it will never come. Videochat? Requires ridiculosuly 2.3+ or 3.x; although quite some devices have the cpu power and some even the second cam, it’s just not there.
• Honeycomb. The microsoftisation of Android.
  Honestly. Where’s the fucking source code to Android 3.x, Google? Beliving on »not be evil« in the sigh of Google close-sourcing the Android code is, well, a no-go.
  To me, the Android tablet market is currently stabbed to death by Googles move to make Honeycomb/Android 3.x a closed software thing. That approach will fail on two fronts: first, at least the GPL-derived portions will be freed after some time (and some US lawyers getting a bit richer), and second, the spirit of Android as the free smartphone OS has now been killed by Googles bold move to keep Android 3.x to itself. You’re still not that big, Google. Close, but not there yet …
• USB host mode. Old news for the majority of Tablets.
  Actually, and that’s one of the thingy I once liked so much on Android, USB host mode is not difficult. And as I pointed out for my POV Mobii Tegra2, which per default had the USB port in host mode, quite a lot of USB standard peripherals already »just work« – in 2.2 already, no technical need for a closed-source 3.1 really.
• Google neglecting it’s supportive user base
  … is basically the former point, »Updates. They just don’t happen.« combined with the strive to bump the version number to unseen heigths.
  I’m pissed by Google using the Xoom as it’s 3.0 premier product, which still has the MicroSD slot disfunctional – I will not spend some 500 bucks on a hardware that does not deliver. And Motorola as the vendor is known for not delivering concurrent updates, as any Motorola Milestone owner knows by heart. See two suckers combine to deliver a sucking product …
  I do think Android 3.0 »Honeycomb« could be nice, but since Google is closed-sourcing it, you have to pay a quite high »Honeycomb-fee« to buy a Honeycomb tablet – which, given the Android way of not delivering updates, will be an outdated-by-software junk hardware in 4-8 months.
  Google did not use the time to clean up the no-updates mess it keeps causing, thus the time any Android device nowadays is usable (in terms of getting OS updates and the latest software runs on it) is 6-8 months at the latest. Can you spell »foobar’d«?

I quite liked the Android idea, back than as it was a cool Open Source project; but Google sits on the Android 3 stuff like Microsoft on protocol descriptions, so basically, Android’s high time now lies in the past.
It was nice while it lasted, but with Android being not Open Source anymore and Nokia kicking Maemo/Meego, my next phone most likely will be WinPoo7-based. At least it’s a capable hardware, something you can’t say from any given Android device …