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Comment by gcb0 | Hacker News Reader

all my bugs from android 2.3 (still heavily used in the us and out) up to android 4.2 were closed as obsolete.

several are somewhat fixed on 5.0 (most by removing the feature) but nothing about support even nexus devices from 2.5 years ago.

3 were security ones confirmed by a few comments.

I've been getting obsolete emails on my low profile bugs since November all the way to Dec 25...

Google just gave up. i think nobody there care about users after yahoo stole JBQueru. they now focus exclusively on profit and easy/fun work (i.e. full focus on new versions because maintaining old, stable software is the job of interns)

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Echoes of Jamie Zawinski "Cascade of Attention-Deficit Teenagers" software development model? (http://www.jwz.org/doc/cadt.html)

Not quite the same thing, but Google and company sure look to believe they have better things to do....

For me it seems that Google is trying to apply their web methodology (frequent small changes) to the mobile world, and running head first into the issue of not controlling the deployments (OEMs and carriers do).

But thanks for the CADT link, seems to sum up the line between old school nix and the more recent something-X attitudes.

In my experience, google has _never_ had good customer support/relations, unless you're currently paying google for the product.

heh. you must have some inside contacts of you get good support being a paying customer even...

Your post reminds me of how silly the way our society protects certain categories is.

"Attention-Deficit Teenegers" could be viewed as offensive to some, as it uses a medical diagnosis as a pejorative. Perhaps the author could argue that they are referring to typical teenage behavior, and not ADD, but that would to me be a completely ridiculous and artificial distinction.

So either we can't make fun of stereotypical teenage behavior (which is a slippery slope since about a lot of HN posts make fun of, or are directly hostile to, people in their early 20's) or have to admit that some medical categories are also things we can joke about.

Your post is a bit silly in that you're talking about bourgeois truth, when revolutionary truth is what governs the part of "society" you're referring to. Important person makes bad ethnic or medical condition jokes? No problem, he's advancing the causes of the "revolution". Desire to trash an adversary, or just revel in your SJW power to damage or destroy at a whim? Take something innocent like this and make a felony jaywalking case of it.

Thanks for getting it. Interesting how there are not replies other than downvotes, even though my post wasn't phrased in an inflammatory way.

The last device sold by Google that now runs an Android release of 4.2 or earlier was (afaik) the Nexus S - which was released in 2010. I think it's reasonable to stop support for a particular device after something like 4 years.

Yes, there are other 3rd party manufacturers that sold devices based on such outdated versions up until recently. But why should it be Google's task to provide updates for these devices? That sounds like something that the manufacturers are supposed to do.

I have a Galaxy Nexus (2011) that's stuck on 4.2. I wouldn't mind receiving bug-fix releases.

Small correction, the GNex was updated through 4.3.

The poster may have had the Verizon model; it never got 4.3. They just abandoned it at 4.2.

And that may be one reason for Google going full steam with Project Ara. Limit the carrier meddling to a replaceable mobile radio module.

Not every part of the world changes at the same pace. There are places where a device running Android 4.2 are the best one on the market.

That being said, its extremely frustrating to see this happening.

> There are places where a device running Android 4.2 are the best one on the market.

Where? With the possible exception of China [1], after the Moto G and Android One, I'd expect that you could get a KitKat (or better) entry-level device pretty much anywhere.

[1] where there are entry-level KitKat devices, I'm just not sure of their quality since some major entry-level manufactureres (e.g. Xiaomi) are still on 4.2, not to mention that I wouldn't expect Google to go out of their way to support Chinese devices since they don't come with and generally can't use most Google services.

Almost all Xiaomi, OnePlus, Gionee, Oppo phones are running KitKat.

Xiaomi is running 4.3 on their cheapest device which would be the last device to get KitKat this month. Almost all their devices are running KitKat for a long time and they had released an unofficial testing ROM for 5.0 a week after the code was pushed. Xiaomi phones do come with Google services. Their flagship devices are expected a 5.0 early 2015. I would say they move faster than most brands.

I went from iPhone to their $100 model and find almost nothing that I could do before that I now cannot. Even in terms of performance and polish. Actually I can do slightly more thanks to Android Wear, but Xiaomi has less to do with that.

Where people don't have the opportunity to look up online to see what are their options are, but good students come out of those situations nonetheless.

Most them are on 3G network and reception of a wifi network is an accident.

ah, the great San Francisco tunnel vision strikes again...

That depends on whether you see Google's role in the Android ecosystem as primarily an OS vendor or as a hardware vendor. In the latter view, your position certainly seems plausible.

However, if one sees Google as an OS vendor, then, considering that 60% of Android phones are running 4.2 or older (according to https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html), supporting somewhat older phones would seem to be desirable.

They do support them as much as they are able to through play services.

The fact remains is that many of those phones are unlikely to receive updates through 5.0.. How are you supposed to support them if the hardware vendors are unwilling to update them?

As an OS vendor, it is still in their interests to drive android forward and minimize effort wasted on antique versions. They have Windows XP as an instructive example of the risks of allowing themselves to continue supporting an OS too long

I believe the Google TV platform uses 4.2.2 or earlier (i.e. 3.2) Those devices are still on the market, and it may technically be the manufacturers' responsibility to upgrade, but none of them have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_TV#Second_Generation

> I think it's reasonable to stop support for a particular device after something like 4 years.

Right, because 4 year old electronics might just as well go into the landfill and if someone is dumb enough to use them still we don't care if they have a security liability in their pocket.

Of course you need to support your devices longer than 4 years. You need to support them as long as their design life, and if your design life is only 4 years then you're not aware of the trickle-down effect of hardware once bought.

I started seeing obsolete emails early this month for a bug I've been tracking:

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=8839

It's extremely frustrating to have an issue thread full of agreeing constructive comments from users marked obsolete with no comment from the developers, when the issue is still annoying many users. It definitely gives the impression that Google gave up or does not care about users.

If the maintainers of the official alarm app don't like this feature, can't you just use a custom app? Or is it something fundamental to the notification system?

This isn't a bug, it's a feature for indication that an user has an alarm set, so it minimizes the possibility of going off at unexpected time, the user wasn't aware of. Imagine if having mobile connection indicator wouldn't be shown because someone would say it wastes space, resulting in possible charges.

Hiding things from users isn't exactly good UX.

Why would Android 2.3 be heavily used, even in embedded systems, and if it is, why isn't it the OEMs' problem?

Memory usage, just as possible reason.

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