Only 1.2 Percent Are Using Android Marshmallow on Their Devices
techlog360.com
techlog360.com
The other factor at play is that people are using larger, more functional handsets than ever, with larger batteries that are going to take longer to wear out (albeit, increasingly non-replaceable batteries). Screens are more scratch-proof and cases are preventing breakage. A 5 inch phablet from a year and a half ago is still pretty functional today and has replaced people's 9.7" iPads for many day-to-day uses. People are not replacing their devices at the same pace as in 2011.
Plus, it's going to be months before OEM's get around to updating their huge installed base. I wouldn't hold my breath.
And even that won't help in general (I was bitten by HTC, LG and Samsung in the past. Basically every Android vendor is crap and the GP calls out Google for being only slightly better).
Okay, the Pentium 3 is not 3 years old, it's more like 20 (soonish). I'd bet that there are quite a lot of machines out there that are >= 3 years old, running Windows 10. Or more appropriately, running a recent Linux distribution.
Sure, at some point the hardware capabilities become a problem. But I just don't see that for a random operating system (Android in this case), after 2-3 years.
The real problem seems the infrastructure - every vendor claims that it is a hellish effort to move all their useless crap and customizations, all their closed source blobs and magic fluff to a new AOSP base. And _there_ lies the core problem. If vendors would stop messing with random UI changes to 'be different', if manufacturers wouldn't hide their drivers, only THEN would your hardware argument come into play.
If I technically _could_ upgrade my late HTC Hero to Android M I might find the performance lacking - although again: I fail to see why the basic operating system wouldn't work just fine, playing games or trying do watch HD videos on a tiny display notwithstanding.
I don't get why I should need to throw away a perfectly functional screen, battery, CPU, RAM, camera, etc. because I'd like an improved permissions system.
Apple pushes their OS to all devices, even if it bricks them. After iOS9 upgrade my iPhone 4s is practically unusable :)
In the end the consumers have very little choice in this matter. I can't go back to iOS8 (and the bloody phone was bugging me every single day to upgrade, so finally I did). Android users have not much say in this regard either.
The usual fun stuff involves turning off with 30% battery left and Google Maps burning through whole battery in MINUTES.
There was a class action lawsuit about it, so I'm not the only one! If you iPhone still works, count yourself lucky!
You can get a 3rd part battery installed for 50 bucks.
Nonetheless, it's four months later, and I'm still waiting for Verizon to allow me the privilege.
I stopped updating most of my softwares on my phone because it was making my phone too slow, even by deactivating notifications/background processes I did not care too much about.
I like Android M, it fixes many of the regressions that were in Android L.
Not high end, not first party. Maybe some Google hangover though.
<offtopic:rant>Gosh, I'd wish there'd be a wiki full of packet dumps and protocol analysis, showing what modern software really is. So when a topic "$software is spying on users" happens one link can show what's exactly is sent (sure, there'll be a lot "some identifier, meaning's unknown" stuff there, but still), and, possibly, refutes popular myths too.</offtopic:rant>
iPhone 6S has display size comparable to Xperia Z5 Compact, yet the Xperia is a much smaller phone. iPhone is sized similarly to the original Nexus 5, yet the Nexus has much bigger display.
Though the 6s and Z5 Compact actually have very similar ratios of screen coverage: 65.6% on the 6s[1] vs 68.9% on the Z5C[2], according to GSMArena.
> Though the 6s and Z5 Compact actually have very similar ratios of screen coverage: 65.6% on the 6s[1] vs 68.9% on the Z5C[2], according to GSMArena.
The 11 mm difference in length is subjectively huge. It's best to have both in the hands, at once.
I'd say: - Find a nice robust framework. I'm using the built-in NativeApplication and I regret it. I think SDL might be a good bet. Lots of people like Unity (but it seems very heavyweight to me for small games). - For a portable game, C or C++ is your best bet right now. (Or Unity's C#.) - Pick a nice baseline API level and stick to it. You can actually go right back to API 8 (Android 2.2!) and you get OpenGL ES 2.0, which is an important milestone for games. I'd like to update my games to ES 3 at some point, but that only works from Android 4.3 onwards (fewer than 50% of users) so I'm holding out for now. - Avoid using Java if you can help it! Seriously. - Avoid using the file system if you can help it. The APIs are very bad and the hardware is often bad too, many manufacturers seem to cut corners here. - Figure out a good crash reporting / feedback system. I haven't actually found a good one for native apps, I'd love advice on that! HockeyApp is great on the Java side. - Figure out a good testing system. I ended up just buying lots of old phones and tablets on eBay and Amazon. Getting a good mix of screen sizes and CPU types is key (there are quite a few x86 tablets out there, it turns out).
I haven't even looked at Android TV yet. :)
In Play you currently have to split your app into "expansion files" if it's above the maximum APK size, upload each file in full, and then it takes hours to actually push the update out to users.
The real headline should be this: Android has 1.2% of users using a brand new OS that Apple would never ever release until >50% of users could be using it.
It's not that other users and phones are behind. It's that Android itself is so far ahead.
Kind of bad when you're running a stock factory image on a Nexus device (Nexus 5) and your battery can't last a day at the office with next to ZERO usage.
1. http://9to5google.com/2015/08/24/android-m-triples-battery-l...
I'm glad the Nexus product line has given up on the 'budget' end of things. Battery life and camera quality in the 6, 6p, and 5x are much better. They cost a bit more, but its more than worth it.
Must remember to write an article on this strange phenomenon.
To me, the real story is that if you cover off Kitkat and Lollipop, you've got 70% of the Android market. Add Jellybean to the mix and you've basically got the entire userbase covered.
For a platform known for fragmentation, that's not nearly as bad as I was expecting.
Or who don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a new phone every year. My phone (S3) is 3 years old and works fine. Why should I need to buy a new one?
When security should be a concern in this ecosystem, vacri tells users to root their phone and presumably either load some amatuer dev's ROM or port and compile their own.
I just don't see any of that being helpful for the average user.
That is not a fair summary of what they said.
This is the bulk of what I was referring to in the comment. The first line is a blatant attack against anyone who is not willing to part with their phone. By even telling users that is what they should do with their Android phone, the author is supporting this viscous cycle.
Thanks for clarifying, it clearly went right over my head!