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Comment by damian2000 | Hacker News Reader

damian2000

If you want an update just root it download the update. People who are wanting the latest greatest incremental release are usually a bit techie anyway, so its not that hard is it?

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There are at lot of phones where there are not a stable ics rom even half a year after google released it.

So it's not just hard, but impossible.

I'm pretty techie and I can't do it for my Galaxy Tab GT-P1000. At least 10 minuets of searching Google has failed to show me how.

Fair enough - I thought the ability was widely available - seems not. I've only owned one android device - a method of rooting it came out about a month after it was released (a Huawai 7" tablet)

This is true techy people have this option, but google needs to think ourside this market. Android needs to move beyond the 18-20 year old college or college bound male demographic if it's going to grow. It needs to simple enough for your grandma run it. Your phone should update with the latest features as soon as they are available not a year down the line. It's like playing roulette when buying a phone trying to find out which OEM will update there OS on time and which will not.

Android needs to move beyond the 18-20 year old college or college bound male demographic if it's going to grow.

Around half of all smartphones sold today run Android. I don't think there are that many 18 year olds.

Your phone should update with the latest features as soon as they are available not a year down the line.

Yes, it should. But most users don't really care, as long as it makes calls and can get on Facebook and run Angry Birds. Apple/MS fanboys are correct that Android geeks aren't representative. But neither are they.

It's like playing roulette when buying a phone trying to find out which OEM will update there OS on time and which will not.

GSM Nexus.

People don't relize that when you marker things to people like face to unlock for android that when people buy the phone that's what they want the app market is proof they want more than just angry bird they want the apps their friends are using. It would make me angry if I wasn't a techy and a bought a new with a OS not know a app could play a game on my brand new phone because it wasn't updated.

I consider myself to be a moderate 'techy' but rooting is not fun at all and rooted device is not fully functional. I own a HTC MyTouch. I recently rooted my device and upgraded to ICS. Camera didn't work nor did wifi calling. Finally someone else came up with another ROM (http://www.zipsnet.mobi/). Camera worked but wifi didn't and microphone was almost useless. He updated the ROM and now everything works except the microphone (the receiver on the other side complains that he/she can barely hear). I agree with you that your phone should update as soon as they are available.

If your aiming your phone at grandma you probably want to update it as little as possible.

Very non technical users freak out if they switch something on one day and it's all different.

It's probably the 18-20 demographic who cares about having the latest versions.

I think it should auto update. My mom who has a iphone likes it because she plugs into her computer and she can get all the new stuff she sees on TV. Older people don't understand tech, but they still understand commercial that are marketed to them. People who are techies want to the features market to the lock face to unlock. It's crazy to market features to people and not give them the features for 8 months.

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