So one year after ICS came out and about three months after ICS' successor came out, there's finally 21% of the devices running a now outdated version of Android?<p>And we are celebrating that?<p>Google really needs to find a solution to get these devices updated independently from the manufacturers which are only interested in selling new devices.<p>It's very frustrating for developers to see more and more features being added to the platform that are out of reach for years or require a lot of work to implement in a backwards compatible way (which then also isn't worth the effort because nobody is running the newer versions)
I'm only buying nexus devices from now on unless a manufacturer gives a guarantee on update delay and life of phone (or at least establishes a good track record)<p>As much as I love my Samsung devices, really got burned by those updates
I'm an Android advocate, but I'm also a glass-half-empty-you're-going-to-die-of-thirst kinda guy at times. For example at times like this, when I read that 21% have ICS, I want to shit all over Google's Android team for not having the sense to know this was going to be a problem. I mean ICS is still a release behind state of the art. I know Google has business PhDs, can't they lend them to the Android team for a bit. "Root and load your own rom" is not an acceptable answer for the user who has to be explained both what a rom is and what rooting is.
I'm also an Android-lover, but this sample is all kinds of skewed -<p>"based on the number of Android devices that have accessed Google Play within a 14-day period ending on the data collection date " (September 4, 2012)<p>14-day period? That's a pretty decent way of making sure that the people who have had their phones for a long time (like this guy here with the Droid X) are underrepresented.
I'm actually quite amazed by the adoption rate of iOS. Before iOS 5.0, it was very very hard for users to upgrade their OS. Android on the other hand is supposed to be easier to upgrade.<p>There was some statistics last year that shows only 50% of iOS users sync their iOS devices regularly, which means those people went out of their way to go and get the OS update. I still can't believe this fact.<p>Now that iOS does update over the air, of course more iOS users will update quicker. Especially when the update comes straight from Apple, but the fact that iOS users upgrade their OS very quickly before 5.0 still impressed me.
I'm jealous of all the non-verizon Jelly Bean Galaxy Nexuses out there. I had the first official ICS phone in the USA but Verizon has really hindered its potential.