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Comment by StavrosK | Hacker News Reader

And after a year, no more updates. I'm really frustrated that my TF201 isn't going to be updated to 4.2, the multiple users feature is a Godsend.

I don't understand why more manufacturers don't run stock Android, does it not help them upgrade more easily?

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The manufacturers are all fighting to differentiate themselves from other manufacturers, to get sales, and justify more than razor thin margins. Often retail stores and their staff want the same - something exclusive. If you don't get into stores, you don't sell large quantities anyway, so the stores' wants are as important as the end users'.

Sure, but a tablet that gets updates more than a year later is a damn sight more exclusive than anything else out there, save the Nexus line :/

Aren't all Windows 8 installations pretty much identical?

And after a year, no more updates.

You'll be pleased to know that the computer in question runs Windows 8, so upgrades are guaranteed to come from Microsoft.

Only bug fixes "upgrades". Not like he will get Windows 9 for free.

At least you can always pay to upgrade to stock Windows 9, regardless of what the hardware manufacturer thinks about it... I think many Android users stuck on older versions of the OS would prefer that model.

In general I'm wondering: if phones are more like PCs, why can't I build one of my own yet with the specs I need?

same reason as with laptops: they are small and integrated. you cannot "plug in" different hardware. manufacturing uniquely for you is too expensive.

But atleast with most laptops we can upgrade/replace the RAM, hard drive and the battery. I am starting to hate the new trend where phones are going: no easy access to the inside, batteries are glued on making it impossible to be replaced, no sd slots and finally the gimmick of upselling the higher spec'd version.

Except for when you decide to use it as a tablet, it would be Android 4.1 at that point.

You should be happy, once I set up multiple users on my nexus 7, I never saw it again :)

Haha, I don't use it that much, I'd rather my parents used it, but I don't want them to see every email/text/chat I get!

I got a Nexus 7 yesterday and I've already noticed this phenomenon :\

>And after a year, no more updates.

Although some will pay $1300 for this product just for the 18-inch 1080p Android tablet, whether it achieves the goals of the manufacturer (Asus) or not probably depends mostly on the customers who spend almost all of their time interacting with the "Windows 8 layer" and who use the Android layer only for the (to quote the OP) "remote desktop solution that lets you basically login to the PC base station over a remote network so you can interact with software on the desktop PC while using the tablet."

And of course the Windows 8 layer will get frequent updates.

Yeah, I'm more griping about the lack of updates on my Android tablet, rather than this one in particular, though...

Many Android RDP apps already exist. You can remotely log into your PC from your Nexus and do things, if you have your network configured to do so.

I wonder how operational this base station will be without the monitor-tablet attached -- could you RDP from other devices, not just the tablet? Maybe Asus just wrote their own RDP app?

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