Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Google need to take control of Android updates away from the Mobile Operators

I've had an Android phone for a few months now. I love it, it does everything I need and more, but the next phone I get won't be running Android, it'll be running iOS. This makes me sad (as in unhappy!) and here's why.

My Android phone is a fantastic cutting edge piece of technology, but it's already falling behind the times.

Why?

Because Google rely on the mobile operators to release bastardised versions of Android updates instead of doing it themselves. My phone operator hasn't released any update for my phone, and it doesn't look like they are likely to. It's currently running Android 2.1; 2.2 has been out a while and 2.3 is due soon. No sign of it for me (and many others).

Not a real problem you might think, I've got all the apps I need. The problem is that apps are now being released and updated that are only for v2.2 and soon I imagine v2.3.

I read about a new enhancement (the one I've just read about is Google Docs editing on mobiles) but I can't use it because I have v2.1. This is very frustrating and devalues the great job Google have done with Android.

Google need to take back control of Android and manage the release of updates like Apple do, so everyone gets the updates at once, instead of this silly trickle down approach that relies on operators to 1) care and 2) be on the ball and release the updates quickly. Neither seems to be the case and I suspect its not going to change.

This may be down to my operator, but I can't see the situation improving, it'll just get worst. So for me, and probably many others, Android will be a thing of the past when my phone contract comes up for renewal.

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