×

Warning

JUser: :_load: Unable to load user with ID: 78

Published in Mobiles

Android could be killed off by suppliers

by on20 January 2011
android_froyo_logo

Customer service you are joking
While Android is one of the best things to hit the mobile phone industry it could be killed off thanks to some bad behaviour on the part of the mobile phone makers.

Everyone in the industry is moaning about the operating system fragmenting because phone makers are not upgrading the versions of the operating system. Some of phones are running on versions of Android which are early versions which were best left forgotten.

While HTC appears to be ahead of the game at getting new updates to uses, some outfits, particularly Motorola are developing a jolly bad name for themselves. You could upgrade yourself but he problem is getting your paws on unlocked boot loaders. Motorola's upcoming phones have locked bootloaders.

But the blogsphere got its knickers in a twist when someone asked a Motorola employee about custom roms and was told “If you want to do? custom roms, then buy elsewhere, we'll continue with our strategy that is working thanks.” That answer alone would be good enough to get many people buying their Android somewhere else.

However it looks to us like Google is going to need to put its foot down fast before the suppliers start killing off its operating system. The last thing people want is to get an Android phone and find it can't do something that has been advertised because some phone maker could not be bothered upgrading.

Part of the problem is the cost. Mobile phone makers appear to be waging a campaign to get the Telcos to front up for the upgrades. This is expensive and the telcos don't really want to. However the manufacturers don't either because they have already sold the phone and don't want to spend money on expensive upgrades.

Another part of the problem is Google shunting out upgrades to Android too often. While it would be a good idea to release a more tablet friendly version, it would be a good idea to sit back a bit and wait for the Android market to establish itself before releasing another smart-phone version. Otherwise the Android boom could be throttled by the people who are supposed to support it.


Rate this item
(17 votes)

Read more about: