[geekpeter]

No Ice Cream Sandwich for Samsung's Galaxy S and first Galaxy Tab - latimes.com

kinda bad (for our android bretheren) that our touchpad is getting service from the android people from the CM7 devs etc yet some of the newer samsung devices are being left in the cold.

Just another reason to like the touchpad if your an android guru, but in comparison, i find it rather pleasing that a lot fo webOS devices have had updates of late bringing them all up to date kernel wise, seeign the older phones etc get the bump up was unexpected but good, yet here we see a newer set of devices (in android land) being denied something they were told they would definatly be able to get.

Im continually amazed sometimes at some of the good and bad stories i read both here and elsewhere.

[geekpeter]

its a path well come accross eventually, but still before all that happens at least webOS has some form of unification and cross hardware standard to start from before we enter the opensource path that android currently walks.

Hopefully we wont split and run too far from other webOS users.

[k4ever]

You really can't blame them. Samsung, like all other Android device manufacturers, make their money off of the sale of the hardware. They make nothing on OS updates or app sales. This is just their way of getting folks to buy their new hardware. Hardly nothing new in this business.

[Sonic]

Samsung devices are getting a massive boost from the dev community far more than the TP is, ive been running ICS on my Galaxy S since it was released, and prior to that running custom roms for the last 12 months or so

Apple do it, so why not Samsung. Apple support almost all of their phones with the latest OS, much like Microsoft do, they just remove features from the devices that don't have the hardware to do it

[k4ever]

Samsung devices are getting a massive boost from the dev community far more than the TP is, ive been running ICS on my Galaxy S since it was released, and prior to that running custom roms for the last 12 months or so

Apple do it, so why not Samsung. Apple support almost all of their phones with the latest OS, much like Microsoft do, they just remove features from the devices that don't have the hardware to do it

You just listed two companies that profit from software. Samsung does not profit from software. They are a hardware company. They need to give people an incentive to buy new hardware so they can make a profit. Unfortunately the incentive is a loss of software support.


---Sent from my HP TouchPad using Communities (a great webOS app!)

[Spyke]

No Ice Cream Sandwich for Samsung's Galaxy S and first Galaxy Tab - latimes.com

kinda bad (for our android bretheren) that our touchpad is getting service from the android people from the CM7 devs etc yet some of the newer samsung devices are being left in the cold.

I think CM9 is being worked on for the Galaxy S:

CyanogenMod 9 (CM9) for Galaxy S [How To]

As a Galaxy S user myself, I didn't actually expect an upgrade to ICS, so I'm not sure why you say we were 'definitely expecting' one. The phone was released 18 months ago now, and runs very sweetly with Gingerbread.

Anyway, as you say, it's a good example of manufacturer/carrier bloatware holding back an upgrade, but even without Touchwiz it sounds like the original Galaxy S hardware is only just good enough for ICS. I think I'll be happy enough sticking with Gingerbread for the remaining life of the phone. Then on my upgrade I'll be looking to get some Duarte goodness into my phone life to match my tablet!

Spyke

[johnnygewitter]

You just listed two companies that profit from software. Samsung does not profit from software. They are a hardware company. They need to give people an incentive to buy new hardware so they can make a profit. Unfortunately the incentive is a loss of software support.

Apple is most definitely a hardware company, that makes the most profit with hardware sales, just have a look at one of their earnings calls, where they report quarterly results. And BTW, because this is a little pet peeve of mine, they also do not lock people into the iTunes ecosystem to make money from the 30% cut in app sales or their share in other content sales. They make a little bit of profit with that, but the by a large margin the most profit comes from hardware sales. The numbers are very clear on this and I don't understand people who argue that Apple just sells shiny gadgets to make money with the iTunes store afterwards - it's the other way around, the content and ecosystem is the incentive to buy the hardware... Sorry for the little rant!

Anyway, I guess Apple want customers to think "if I buy Apple I can be sure that I get updates for the next 2 years", whereas Sammy just says, who cares, we have 1000 devices on the market anyway, they should just buy a new one if they want new features.

[k4ever]

Apple is most definitely a hardware company, that makes the most profit with hardware sales, just have a look at one of their earnings calls, where they report quarterly results. And BTW, because this is a little pet peeve of mine, they also do not lock people into the iTunes ecosystem to make money from the 30% cut in app sales or their share in other content sales. They make a little bit of profit with that, but the by a large margin the most profit comes from hardware sales. The numbers are very clear on this and I don't understand people who argue that Apple just sells shiny gadgets to make money with the iTunes store afterwards - it's the other way around, the content and ecosystem is the incentive to buy the hardware... Sorry for the little rant!

Anyway, I guess Apple want customers to think "if I buy Apple I can be sure that I get updates for the next 2 years", whereas Sammy just says, who cares, we have 1000 devices on the market anyway, they should just buy a new one if they want new features.

Apple is both a hardware and software company. They real you in with beautiful hardware. Then make sure the software is easy to use and complements the hardware. They give the hardware value by keeping the software constantly updated. They also try to get you to buy new hardware by adding real, tangible features to the hardware that convinces you to upgrade.

Even though they make the bulk of their money off of the hardware, they make a sizeable amount of money off of the software to warrant upgrading it periodically. They are a perfectly balanced company making sizeable profits from both sectors of their business. Others are trying to emulate them. This is way Microsoft bought Nokia, Google bought Motorola (it wasn't all for the patents, and HP bought Palm (and then screwed it up).

Samsung is not Apple. They need you to buy new hardware.


---Sent from my HP TouchPad using Communities (a great webOS app!)

[johnnygewitter]

I don't disagree with what you wrote, but I still think Apple is primarily a hardware company. For example, in Q3 2011 over 90% of the revenue came from hardware, and I guess it doesn't look very different for Q4 or any other quarter.
Again I agree with you that they make impressive, beautiful software to complement the hardware, but they just do not make their money with software and/or the iTunes store.
They keep their customers happy with updates because they want them to be loyal, which I think most of them are. Samsung just has a different culture as it seems. I for one would be pi**ed if my 6 month old Samsung Android phone wouldn't get any updates anymore. Good for the users that CM, Miui and so on exist.

[k4ever]

I don't disagree with what you wrote, but I still think Apple is primarily a hardware company. For example, in Q3 2011 over 90% of the revenue came from hardware, and I guess it doesn't look very different for Q4 or any other quarter.
Again I agree with you that they make impressive, beautiful software to complement the hardware, but they just do not make their money with software and/or the iTunes store.
They keep their customers happy with updates because they want them to be loyal, which I think most of them are. Samsung just has a different culture as it seems. I for one would be pi**ed if my 6 month old Samsung Android phone wouldn't get any updates anymore. Good for the users that CM, Miui and so on exist.

It's not just Samsung that does this. All Android phone makers drop support for their year old devices when they have new hardware available. This is the reason why I find it hard to go Android for long term support. The only saving grace is custom ROMs like Cyanogenmod.

I had hoped that HP would be more like Apple when it came to hardware support.


---Sent from my HP TouchPad using Communities (a great webOS app!)

[Spyke]

Samsung just has a different culture as it seems. I for one would be pi**ed if my 6 month old Samsung Android phone wouldn't get any updates anymore.

But this isn't what's happening. The Samsung Galaxy S2 is being updated to ICS. It's the 18 month-old original Galaxy S that is not getting the official upgrade.

Spyke

[johnnygewitter]

But this isn't what's happening. The Samsung Galaxy S2 is being updated to ICS. It's the 18 month-old original Galaxy S that is not getting the official upgrade.

Spyke

You're correct, the Galaxy S is older. If it was the Apple iGalaxy it would get the most up to date software though. BTW, other phones with more or less the same hardware got ICS, so Samsung's excuse is really cheap.
The Galaxy Tab doesn't get ICS officially though and it's roughly 6 months old.

[Spyke]

You're correct, the Galaxy S is older. If it was the Apple iGalaxy it would get the most up to date software though. BTW, other phones with more or less the same hardware got ICS, so Samsung's excuse is really cheap.

Yes, you'll note I agreed above that this was a good example of manufacturer bloatware holding back an upgrade, as it's Touchwiz that's the issue here, not ICS.

The Galaxy Tab doesn't get ICS officially though and it's roughly 6 months old.

Again, it's the original Galaxy Tab that's excluded (released November 2010), not the more recent versions.

Spyke

[johnnygewitter]

Again, it's the original Galaxy Tab that's excluded (released November 2010), not the more recent versions.

Spyke

Huh, oh you're right. Somehow I was under the impression the Tab 10.1 doesn't get it. Must have been the holiday shopping / familiy visists / too much unhealthy food stress
My apologies!

[Spyke]

And the rumour mill is churning... the original Galaxy S and Tab might get ICS after all!

Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab Might Get Ice Cream Sandwich After All | PCWorld

Spyke

[jrstinkfish]

I'm willing to wager that most Galaxy Tab and S owners don't even know what ICS is. And if they do, they are probably tech savvy enough to root and install it on their phones once the guys over at XDA get it up and running (I know the Tab has an Alpha release being worked on currently).

Fragmentation isn't an issue for most Android phone owners because they don't even know what it is

[k4ever]

I'm willing to wager that most Galaxy Tab and S owners don't even know what ICS is. And if they do, they are probably tech savvy enough to root and install it on their phones once the guys over at XDA get it up and running (I know the Tab has an Alpha release being worked on currently).

Fragmentation isn't an issue for most Android phone owners because they don't even know what it is

They will know pretty quickly when their friends start showing them their new phones and tablets with the improved UI and face recognition feature. I would see you statement is true going from 2.1 to 2.2 to 2.3, but 4.0 is such a leap forward in features and design that it will be hard to not notice it.


---Sent from my HP TouchPad using Communities (a great webOS app!)

[jrstinkfish]

I'm sure they'll notice that their friends new phone is better than their older phone. But that's not the fragmentation bugaboo that tech sites are wringing their hands over. Fragmentation implies that it's a problem, but I'm saying that most people understand that their old phone can't do everything a newer phone can. As long as they can run apps from the Market (and they can), your typical Android user won't really care. Not every Android user is a tech nerd. My fiance loves her Android phone, has no clue what ICS is and probably doesn't care to know. Can she play Words with Friends and Angry Birds on it, use Google Maps and Nav, etc? Yes? Well, she's happy with her phone then.

Fragmentation is an overblown issue pushed by tech sites to create some sort of downside to Android's explosive growth -- the common Android user doesn't really care.

[Suntan]

Fragmentation is an overblown issue pushed by tech sites to create some sort of downside to Android's explosive growth -- the common Android user doesn't really care.

Yup.

Fragmentation is a useful bugaboo for tech bloggers to fill in their webpages with... ...until they get a chance to fawn all over all the great new devices that will be shwon at CES. Then they will talk endlessly about how cool those look and pontificate about when they will be released... ...to keep nerds cycling through thier sites' ads.

It is also useful to use as a stick in a web forum. Often without even knowing the specifics of the situation (as this thread shows.)

Otherwise, it isn't really that big of a deal in the real world. ...At least, not to some 3.7 million people over the Christmas weekend.

Right now the only smartphone I own that I know has been completely fragemented from the most up to date version... ...is my webOS phone. Not only that, but even those 18 month old android phones on older versions of the OS, they can still get pretty much any of the apps on the market today. Whereas webOS was pretty much encrouraging app developers to start developing their apps to the new system, which wouldn't work on my then 7 month old phone, the day they announced the upgrades.

Quite honestly, webOS folk would benefit from webOS copying "android's fragmentation" model, compared to what has happened in the past. This is of course, based on the assumption that new hardware or new revisions of webOS even occur to allow for the chance of further fragmentation.

-Suntan

[dominiquelang]

As long as Samsung is upfront about it, I'm okay. It's one thing to choose to get a product running on an older platform, and another to get a new product expecting the latest OS (and not getting that).