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Comment by tbrock | Hacker News Reader

I don't even see the latest version of android (kitkat) in the data.

It bothers me a lot that nexus devices I purchased this year will be long forgotten months from now when Apple is prepping an iOS 7.1 beta for the iPhone 4 as we speak.

I know that google's model is to update core functionality through applications rather than via whole operating system updates but it's annoying that google doesn't strong arm the abusive carriers/vendors into allowing updates to the underlying OS in a timely fashion.

It gives the impression that an android device is what it is at the time it is purchased but an Apple device may evolve. I consider it extremely odd considering how Google has proven to themselves over an over that that upgrading people's common denominator platform is a great strategy (Chrome).

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"long forgotten" as in still receiving very regular updates to key functionality, but just not in the way that you would (for no obviously expressed reason) prefer?

I've been seeing this expressed since the days of eclair, it was kind of audaciously false then, and its only got less true since.

Now we're at the stage were you can claim your phone will soon be "long forgotten" in one paragraph, admit that Google provides updates for core functionality via the app store in the next, then claim your device can't "evolve" in the one following that.

If you want to complain about OS updates, that's fine. But claiming devices are frozen in time when they leave the store is insane. The very definition of a smartphone is that you can install and update apps on it. The ecosystem around Android has been growing faster than anything Google could achieve alone.

When I read this I realize that Apple has set the landscape in your mind and thus you compare Android to it and Android comes up short. Which is ok because Google themselves initially feel into the same trap! Google's approach is to update core apps on a super frequent basis. That's really the functionality that matters. The underlying OS requires less frequent updates now that it/they are more mature. So pining for an OS update is probably putting your energy in the wrong location. Apple made OS updates relevant for the first time in years with iOS7 but I suspect iOS8 will be a relative sleeper and probably 9 too. It's the core set of apps that really still can impact how productive your phone is much more so than the OS these days.

I am currently with android 4.4 on oldish HTC Desire HD. It is amazing what lifespan the devices have when they are unlocked and unbound. I dream for the day when mobile devices will ship without os and it will be for the user to choose.

It will never happen, if one looks at the history behind common OS for mobile devices.

Carriers and handset manufactures have too many interests into product differentiation.

Google doesn't update the OS for other manufacturers... Look at it this way - if I fork the rails repo it is up to me to pull/merge the latest changes, nobody will be pushing updates to my fork.

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