ANDROID IS FUCKING WANK

[Joe]

Find a model that looks nice, read the spec sheet and make sure it has the latest OS. Read some online reviews, maybe join a forum and see what the owners like about it. Perhaps pick up a magazine and do a little research, compare it to the alternatives.

It's easy really, just like buying a PC.

[DCUK7]

I vote we merge this with the other Android is wank thread. :p

Seriously though, if you want to buy an Android tablet, make sure its a Nexus device. I am not a fan of Android tablets whatsoever but I have no problem recommending the Nexus 7 to anyone looking for a cheap Android tablet (of which I've done twice in the past week). For the price, the specs are excellent and anyone who would buy an iPad mini over a Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HD clearly has money to piss away.

[Savara]

...but being the guy who once hot-swapped a DVD drive,

I'd forgotten that particular incident.

[Mr.Clark]

I don't even think I'd want a Nexus 4, 7 or 10, because when the 5, 8 and 11 come out, yet more iterations of Android dilute the current trough and I could have a useless slab within in days capable of nothing with no support, regardless

The Nexus devices get the newest OS. Only the original Nexus 1 has stopped getting updated in the same way the original iPhone has because it's just too old to run the new OS.
The now very old Nexus S (Nexus 2 if you like) is on Jelly Bean and should get the same 4.2 version that the Nexus 4, 7 and 10 run.

Lifetime of a Nexus device is 18 months. The Nexus S won't get 4.2, but it's quite long in the tooth anyway. It was slightly underpowered when it came out (single core 1GHz, 512MB RAM of which 128MB was reserved for the graphics), so it probably would give a poor experience for 4.2 anyway. I think the Nexus 4 should last fucking years, even if the OS becomes unsupported. Quad core, fucktons of RAM and I saw a thing that claimed it had an LTE chip in, so a software mod should (might) give it 4G at some point.

That said, Apple's lifecycle is about the same. They bring out a new version once a year and an S version once a year offset by six months. So does the 3S (or is it 3G S? That's just as confusing to me) get the whatever OS that is current? What about the original 4?

[Tinlad]

That said, Apple's lifecycle is about the same. They bring out a new version once a year and an S version once a year offset by six months. So does the 3S (or is it 3G S? That's just as confusing to me) get the whatever OS that is current? What about the original 4?

Not quite - the 'S' versions have all been one year after the previous non-'S' version, i.e.:

2007 - iPhone
2008 - 3G
2009 - 3GS
2010 - 4
2011 - 4S
2012 - 5

The current version of iOS is compatible with the 3GS and newer; so the lifecycle is about 4 years based on that metric.

[RB]

Compatible but dog slow and missing some features.

[Ekona]

Any worse than running current Android on 4 year old handsets?

[FamousDave]

Ah remember the days you bought something from a shop and that just what it was until you replaced it.

We've all got so greedy we want more things, for free, 18 months after we bought the item.

[DCUK7]

Greedy is being harsh. Mobile phones cost up twice as much as they used to. I remember when I bought my Sony Ericsson S700 for £299.99 and it was the dogs bits. 1.3mp camera, expandable storage, 320x240 resolution, fastest J2ME implementation all in a sexy swivel design. At the time it was amazing and received software updates for at least 12 months after release.

Compare that to today's handsets, some of which retail for nearly £500 (and more in the case of some iPhone models). I don't think it's unreasonable to expect longer support for these devices, especially when there is no technical reason for doing so (for example, the iPhone 4S is still blazingly fast on iOS 6 and should be for a while yet).

As an aside, I still have that S700 now. <3

[Ward]

Greedy is harsh.

Aside from paying out £500+, we're overcharged considerably for data, voice and texts. We have every byte ruthlessly scrutinised for marketable data, many features locked behind additional payment plans, overpriced accessories, locked down media services, slow speeds, slow rollouts of upgrades, etc, etc.

And all the big players pay hardly any tax in this country.

So I argue we're not getting enough. I want free texts period. I want 2Gb data per month good throughout the EU and significantly reduced rates outside. I want locked phones to be unlocked automatically when their contracted periods expire and penalties for any provider who refuses to remove a lock. I personally want a text relay service for the deaf, paid for entirely by the industry and charging the same rates as a voice call. The US and Aussies have this, whereas we have type talk which requires you buy a £250+ electronic typewriter style device which is tied to a land line. It's pure shite.

[RB]

Any worse than running current Android on 4 year old handsets?

Android isn't 4 yet but every release has improved speed by huge amounts. The Nexus S runs Jelly Bean faster than it did Gingerbread that it was born with.

The Nexus S won't get 4.2, but it's quite long in the tooth anyway.

The S runs 4.2 as well as it does 4.1.2 odd that Google have chosen not to support it further. Same for the xoom.

[Matius]

Current smartphones have the same capability as other computers (PC or Mac) in terms of software and hardware. Ok so its more difficult to upgrade the hardware on a phone than it is on a PC (ease of upgrading Mac's is for a separate topic), but if the software is pretty much the same then why do we not get the same support?

Google, Apple and Microsoft all have plenty of experience in software development - use the same development and support models as you have for other computing devices. This might sound crazy - but I want Patch Tuesday for phones!

[Captain Sisko]

Any worse than running current Android on 4 year old handsets?

Before my sister went on holiday to Australia I rooted and installed Jelly Bean (CyanogenMod) on her old Galaxy S
It does chug a little but generally runs pretty good

I have a Galaxy S2 thats rooted and running a KitKat ROM - This seems to run brilliantly, I'd prob say better than the orig Samsung JB ROM it was running.

With Android there are loads of devices about and running different versions of the software.
On my Optimus 4x I am still running stock JB but running a different Kernel.

[kingweed]

Nice random bump.

[Captain Sisko]

Thought I'd make a return

It's not the OS itself which is wank, its sometimes the manufacturers

Look at 2 of the biggestplayers on the planet

LG - The Optimus 2x was left untouched at Gingerbread leaving users to root and install custom ROMs long before an official ICS release came out
And the Optimus 4x - Currently at JB, the Hardware should run KitKat with ease if it gets it.

Now look at Samsung - Galaxy S2 - Froyo, Gingerbread, ICS, and Jelly Bean those were all official updates, the orig Galaxy S stopped at Gingerbread
S3 - ICS, Jelly Bean

The reason must be software development. Manufacturers and operators want to customise/test the ROMs