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Comment by ericz | Hacker News Reader

The improved feature set and performance of 2.2 is great and all but let's not forget Android's real problem: most of the Android handsets on the market won't see 2.2 until way after release. The segmentation of the operating system among different devices really inhibits much of its potential.

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I still can't help feeling that the initial underpowered Android devices also did a lot of damage; I read so many reports of slow/jerky/unresponsive UI, and now have heard complaints from friends who bought recent (up to and including the HTC Incredible) Android phones about basic stuff like the phone app having performance issues, that the whole brand's a bit tainted at this point.

What Android needs, more than anything else, is a year or so of rock-solid performance from the popular devices, or else that bad reputation's really going to stick.

You hit the nail on the head. I bought the HTC Hero 6 months ago and it is really, really laggy at times. I wish I'd bought an iPhone. To insult to insury, HTC has been delaying updating it to 2.1 for months now, all whilst claiming that the update is 'ready in February/March/April/...'.

Yes, Apple behaves like a paranoid control freak, but they get stuff done.

From what I've heard, the 2.1 update for Hero is not HTC's fault, but Sprint's.

That said, HTC cranks out more Android phones than god, so I can imagine they'd potentially drop the ball on supporting old phones to get new ones to market, if it is indeed them with the holdup.

BTW, May 21st is the latest "release day" now.

I'm on T-Mobile Germany; is T-Mobile also dragging its heels?

True, but there are plenty of people yet to get an Android phone. These people will probably end up with a newer model that has all of these bells and whistles. I'm not really sure that Android has reached a 'critical mass' yet. Sure it's starting to out-pace the iPhone, but it still has huge potential for growth in the market. That these improvements are coming now, means that it will only help Android to grow (as the new handsets will come with v2.2 and all of the improvements).

That said, it would be nice if the carrier-branded Android handsets bothered to update more regularly...

Who pushes updates? The carrier, handset maker, or Google? Or do hey all have to agree?

The handset maker verifies that the update works with their models and customizations, and they makes the new files available to the MNO (Mobile Network Operator). The MNO then decide if/when the OTA push happens.

maybe there's no data avail, but I wonder what the median update lag is from the time Google pushes out an OS update.

I've been on T mobile for a year and my G1 is still running Android 1.6. I can't complain, because the phone is weak sauce and at least everything needed for turn by turn navigation is supported.

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