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Comment by thescrewdriver | Hacker News Reader

That doesn't help for 99.9% of Android devices out there (including mine) which aren't Nexus phones, and will only receive 1 or 2 updates, usually within 12 months of purchase and nothing after. The only way to stay current for Joe public is to buy a new phone every year. Lack of long-term updates (along with getting everything google shoved down my throat by default) are the primary reason's I'm actively considering alternatives to my current preference for buying Android phones.

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True, but it embarrasses the phone operators. This isn't new - Google has used the Nexus line to push various features that manufacturers have then picked up.

It's not just the operators. If an Android phone is more than 12 months old manufacturers simply stop providing updates, and even if they did they'd have to wait for the operators to add their crapware. It's a problem with the Android ecosystem as a whole, which doesn't seem to affect (the overpriced) iPhone from what I can see.

I'm not sure what Apple has to do with the poor software support by Android manufacturers.

I want also point out that cost is really not the issue with Android support. As an example, Samsung which has large share of the smartphone market does a very poor job of keeping their phones updated.

Apple demonstrates that it's possible to keep devices up to date, an example which the Android manufacturers could emulate.

This is simply incorrect.

The OEMs have to pay developers to implement AOSP on their devices. They reassigning the developers to new devices after a Handset has shipped. Those developers are always working on the next revenue source.

Assigning developers to implement patches on devices that have long since launched does not generate new revenue and it takes them away from developing devices that will generate new revenue.

> That doesn't help for 99.9% of Android devices out there (including mine) which aren't Nexus phones

Right, it differentiates Nexus phones from non-Nexus phones and provides a reason to prefer the former (of course, there is no barrier to other phone vendors seeking to negate this advantage by duplicating the process.)

Or just buy an iPhone at this point?

I don't jest. I owned the first Android phone from T-Mobile. I owned every Nexus phone after that up to the Nexus 5. I was tired of being the "abused spouse" who thought Google would change and one day release a product that would actually work properly for longer than a few months.

Purchased an iPhone 5s, haven't looked back. The cost of current Nexus phones are on parity with iPhones (or close enough) that cost is no longer the deciding factor. Why do people continue to put faith in a product that continually fails to deliver?

Google: I want to love your Nexus line and Android. But you're going to have to start treating customers like customers, and not just a necessary evil.

Nexus 5 Android 5.1 Data Connection Issue: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/o-UyGEC...

Nexus 5 Android 4.2.2 Data Connection Issue: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=63524

Broken Bluetooth Audio Android 4.2.x: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=39633&q=d...

Improper Handling Of Mobile Radio Causes Battery To Drain Quickly: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=165558&q=...

All currently open (2767) Nexus issues: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/list?can=2&q=nexus&...

I had more problems with the iPhones I had before I switched to Android than I've had with Android; the product that fails to deliver for you isn't necessarily the product that fails to deliver for everyone else.

If you want to share a list of open bugs effecting the iPhone that are breaking critical features, I'm open to a debate.

I didn't give up on Android until I had collectively spent thousands of dollars on Nexus phones and continually had problems with each model at some point in time.

Because Apple has a public list of open bugs, isn't?

I'm not sure why you are being down voted. I followed a similar path. I loved the Nexus 5 because it hit a sweet spot for price/performance. The Nexus 6 basically said look elsewhere and I ended up back on the iPhone after owning multiple Android phones.

I can't bring myself to use iPhone because of the walled garden. Sorry, but I shouldn't have to pay $99 and own a licensed mac computer running OSX just to develop an app and test it on my phone. Android has a couple editors now that let you develop an app directly on your device. The Apple DRM isn't even that hard to break, which is such a shame because the only people being hurt by it are legitimate customers and people looking to get into development for it.

Yes, you can jailbreak your iPhone and install unsigned code. You can even set up a compiler toolchain to build your iOS apps, but you shouldn't have to do all of that just to build an app for your phone.

You won't need to have a developers license to run code on your own phone sans jailbreak in iOS9.

You still need a 2K OSX dongle to even use the tool chain though.

This doesn't alleviate the walled garden concern entirely, but I've been kind of held up in my desire to try iOS development because I always felt the $99 ADC subscription was a silly requirement just to test an app on my own device. I've learned that with the next release of OS X and iOS, developers will be able to test their apps on their own devices using only an Apple ID; no ADC subscription required.

This is not an argument in support of Apple's approach. I just wanted to share what I'd learned about similar concerns.

Or, you know, you could ACTUALLY read the article:

> The first update is being pushed out today, and the company said that other Android handset manufacturers are planning to follow suit and provide monthly updates to carriers.

Says right in the article that LG and Samsung are on board for monthly security patches as well. What's your little percentage rating at now?

Nexus 4 is receiving updates, it is just about 3 years old now.

Other than the obvious brand association issues that's not really Google's problem. IIRC this is part of the reason why Google changed their licensing agreement to prevent forked SDKs. If you want to ensure you receive timely updates either complain to your phone manufacturer or buy a Nexus phone.

I'm not suggesting that it's Google's fault (well other than forcing OEMs to shove Google stuff down my throat). It's a general complaint about the android ecosystem as a whole. Even Windows 98 got more regular security updates than most android phones.

Fortunately, AOL didn't act as a gatekeeper to operating system patches.

This is not necessary true in the long term though. The presence of that regular updates may have the vendors create a process to release them to their customers in a reasonably timely manner.

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