Molly Wood, CNET columnist on the state of Android, says it's a mess. Fragmented among a multitude of devices that are running a multitude of Android OS versions. Updates are slow to arrive and on no consistent schedule among devices and carriers. Because of this, for example, the Android Netflix app is only now appearing and only on a few devices--plus there was a Netflix trojan that arrived too.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-2...is-is-your-last-chance/?tag=TOCcarouselMain.0
Perhaps there's something to this walled garden approach, after all.
In sum, life with Android has been an uncertain, buggy, frustrating mess.
There are times when I truly doubt Google's commitment to the whole enterprise, despite its burgeoning market share. The proposed Motorola Mobility acquisition throws even more questions into the mix: will other hardware partners abandon Android in favor of a more trustworthy bedfellow? If so, I'm unquestionably out: Motorola hardware fails fast and hard, although it's not quite as awful as the crapware-laden Samsung Fascinate Verizon foisted on me--the only phone I did root, just to escape having Bing as my default search.
Perhaps Ice Cream Sandwich will be all that we hope: the peacemaker, the great uniter, the forger of a New Deal between handset makers and Google. The Galaxy Nexus could prove to be the perfect phone, with a fully integrated suite of amazing Google services working in harmony and delivering on the promise that Google made back in 2007. But let's be clear: it will have to be exactly that.
As I said, the iPhone 4S gave Android an unexpected break: before that announcement, fully 42 percent were prepared to switch to an iPhone. Those numbers may be lower in the wake of the lack of 4G, the still-small screen, and the fact that Vlingo does a lot of what Siri promises. But the break is likely to be short unless Google can put some serious muscle behind bringing the platform up to prime time. Me, personally, I'm still keeping the credit card ready for the iPhone 5, just in case.
There are times when I truly doubt Google's commitment to the whole enterprise, despite its burgeoning market share. The proposed Motorola Mobility acquisition throws even more questions into the mix: will other hardware partners abandon Android in favor of a more trustworthy bedfellow? If so, I'm unquestionably out: Motorola hardware fails fast and hard, although it's not quite as awful as the crapware-laden Samsung Fascinate Verizon foisted on me--the only phone I did root, just to escape having Bing as my default search.
Perhaps Ice Cream Sandwich will be all that we hope: the peacemaker, the great uniter, the forger of a New Deal between handset makers and Google. The Galaxy Nexus could prove to be the perfect phone, with a fully integrated suite of amazing Google services working in harmony and delivering on the promise that Google made back in 2007. But let's be clear: it will have to be exactly that.
As I said, the iPhone 4S gave Android an unexpected break: before that announcement, fully 42 percent were prepared to switch to an iPhone. Those numbers may be lower in the wake of the lack of 4G, the still-small screen, and the fact that Vlingo does a lot of what Siri promises. But the break is likely to be short unless Google can put some serious muscle behind bringing the platform up to prime time. Me, personally, I'm still keeping the credit card ready for the iPhone 5, just in case.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-2...is-is-your-last-chance/?tag=TOCcarouselMain.0
Perhaps there's something to this walled garden approach, after all.
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