[Q] General Android Question - General Questions and Answers

I'm fairly new to Android and am curious, why is it only tablets that get Honeycomb? Is there something that different with it? I know some tablets run Gingerbread and ICS is meant to sort of fuse something between tablets and phones, why isn't that firmware available to phones? Or are there phones out there running Honeycomb which I don't know about? Sorry to be a "noob" but I'm curious.
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It's designed specifically for tablets. The resolution and layout is for a tablet not phone screen.

smknutson said:
It's designed specifically for tablets. The resolution and layout is for a tablet not phone screen.
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If they keep releasing phones like the Galaxy Note or bigger they might as well give it Honeycomb.

Firstly, Google intentionally built Gingerbread for phones while keep Honeycomb for tablets as the two have many differences.
Secondly, Google never release Honeycomb source codes (generic one).
Thirdly, since ICS is blending/mixing the 2 (phone/tablet - GB/HC), we phone focus on ICS and ignoring HC.

Hmm, why is this here rather than a tablet Q&A forum?

AntwanL said:
I'm fairly new to Android and am curious, why is it only tablets that get Honeycomb? Is there something that different with it? I know some tablets run Gingerbread and ICS is meant to sort of fuse something between tablets and phones, why isn't that firmware available to phones? Or are there phones out there running Honeycomb which I don't know about? Sorry to be a "noob" but I'm curious.
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Click to collapse
When Honeycomb was released, there weren't many powerful phones at the time that could handle all the new features it implemented, and the Gingerbread UI wasn't very appealing for the tablet interface.
Honeycomb offered more direct implementation with the hardware, such as video coding, audio routing, and 3D enhancement, whereas the phones at the time couldn't handle such features. When more powerful phones came out, Google decided it was time they combine Honeycomb and Gingerbread, and that's how Ice Cream Sandwich came about. It has all the implemented features of Honeycomb plus a UI suitable for both phones and tablets.
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Red5 said:
Hmm, why is this here rather than a tablet Q&A forum?
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I don't have a tablet and don't follow any of their threads and was curious. Sorry.
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Honeycomb had a lot of tablet-specific hacks that made it unsuitable to phones. That's the claimed reason Google withheld HC source - they didn't want anyone shoehorning it into phones.
ICS is the merger of Gingerbread and Honeycomb into a unified build that supports tablets and phones.

That is because Android 3.x (Honeycomb) was designed only for tablets. That is what Android Ice Cream is for. In ICS, it combined the UI ideas from Honeycomb with the size of a normal phone.

Red5 said:
Hmm, why is this here rather than a tablet Q&A forum?
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Click to collapse
And the thread title is useless, as well.

Related

Honeycomb

I am intrigued by the release, ok pre release of the sdk by google. I'm not too familiar with it and am wondering if an os designed for a tablet would be desirable for our phone? Is 3.0 purely designed for tablets? Have any devs expressed interest in porting it to mt4g?
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Gingerbread is Android 2.3. It is already available for our phone, in a variety of custom ROMs. See the Android Development subforum: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=796
I could have sworn your thread was titled "Gingerbread"..... Never mind.
I meant honeycomb, I corrected the post
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I've been reading a lot of back and forth on this. I'm of the mind that 3.0 Honeycomb will be for phones as well as tablets. I'm pretty confident, since both Rubin and Duarte have said just that. As far as I've seen, only the promo video from CES suggests that 3.0 is tablet only, and what it really says is, "Made entirely for tablets." That could easily mean that it's the first Android OS built from start to finish with tablet support in mind. Nothing I've seen from the Preview SDK suggests that it wouldn't work on phones. The top and bottom touchpoint bars could work on a phone. Duarte said that a manufacturer could still use real buttons with Honeycomb, so phones like the MT4G are not excluded there. Pretty much the only thing that wouldn't work on phones is some of the 3.0 tablet-friendly widgets.
its not tablet only. i saw an interview with the ui developer for android he said honeycomb is for eveything.
It's been confirmed as well with Engadget. http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/28/android-3-0-honeycomb-emulator-has-traces-of-smartphone-support/

[Q] Transformer to get Ice Cream Sandwich by years end?

I just ordered the eee pad from newegg...got the UPS tracking number today. Anyway...I would assume it would be fairly easy to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich when it comes out, hopefully by ASUS pushing it out, or by rooting and putting the ROM on yourself. Probably getting ahead of myself here, since 3.1 isn't even here yet, but I just don't want a tablet that has outdated software in 4 months.
Now, need to sell my OG iPad. Craigslist I guess, ebay fees have gotten outrageous.
murusmaximus said:
I just ordered the eee pad from newegg...got the UPS tracking number today. Anyway...I would assume it would be fairly easy to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich when it comes out, hopefully by ASUS pushing it out, or by rooting and putting the ROM on yourself. Probably getting ahead of myself here, since 3.1 isn't even here yet, but I just don't want a tablet that has outdated software in 4 months.
Now, need to sell my OG iPad. Craigslist I guess, ebay fees have gotten outrageous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sold my ipad on eBay but that's only because my city isn't big enough so no one would buy it. Is "ice cream sandwich" referring to 3.1? If so, Asus already made an official announcement that the TF will get it in June
Sent from my TF Decepticon
Ice Cream Sandwich is the version after Honeycomb, so it will actually come after 3.1. It is supposed to get rid of the "fragmentation" issue with android and make it easier for developers. Shoot, I wonder if I get the HTC Evo 3D, if I will be able to get Ice Cream Sandwich on that down the road. It's supposed to work on both phones and tablets.
b1ackplague said:
I sold my ipad on eBay but that's only because my city isn't big enough so no one would buy it. Is "ice cream sandwich" referring to 3.1? If so, Asus already made an official announcement that the TF will get it in June
Sent from my TF Decepticon
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Click to collapse
3.1 got released what a week ago? Hold your horses kid.
Anyways Asus announced that they were working on 3.1 the day after 3.1 got released, they said expect it within a month.
So I really doubt icecream sandwhich will take 4 months.
I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but I was just more curious if ASUS was proactive on pushing updates out. Sounds like they are. I just don't want to have to purchase a new tablet in say 6-7 months if they decide not to upgrade this model.
seshmaru said:
3.1 got released what a week ago? Hold your horses kid.
Anyways Asus announced that they were working on 3.1 the day after 3.1 got released, they said expect it within a month.
So I really doubt icecream sandwhich will take 4 months.
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If I'm not mistaken isn't icecream sandwich the phone verion of honeycomb?
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Tone503773 said:
If I'm not mistaken isn't icecream sandwich the phone verion of honeycomb?
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No, Ice Cream Sandwich is the unification of tablet-Android and traditional phone-Android. It's meant to be used by both.
Tone503773 said:
If I'm not mistaken isn't icecream sandwich the phone verion of honeycomb?
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yea, this is my understanding as well. and it's version is 2.4 (after gingerbread, 2.3)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/216558/android_24_ice_cream_details_drip.html
it is meant to bring some honeycomb goodness into the phone version. so for the TF to get ice cream sandwich would be a downgrade.
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finalhit said:
yea, this is my understanding as well. and it's version is 2.4 (after gingerbread, 2.3)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/216558/android_24_ice_cream_details_drip.html
it is meant to bring some honeycomb goodness into the phone version. so for the TF to get ice cream sandwich would be a downgrade.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
2.4 if it exists willvstill be gingerbread. Ice cream sandwich will most likely be 4.0 and will run on phones, tablets and google tv.
Ice Cream Sandwich, unlike Honeycomb, will be open source. So we'll definitely see it on the TF one way or another.
okay so most of you guys don't know what your talking about let me explain.
Phones: Gingerbread 2.3
GoogleTV: Custom Froyo 2.2
Tablets: Honeycomb 3.0.1/3.1.
3.1 is a honeycomb update that adds a few features and improvements.
Gingerbread 2.3 is the last version of the phone only android.
Ice Cream Sandwich, which will most likely be 4.0 but at least something greater than 3.1 combines Phones, GoogleTV, and Tablets all into one OS.
With Ice Cream Sandwich, all devices will be running the same version of android.
It will come out this holiday first and according to google most current gen devices will get it. There is no reason why the transformer won't get ICS this holiday.
neok44 said:
okay so most of you guys don't know what your talking about let me explain.
Phones: Gingerbread 2.3
GoogleTV: Custom Froyo 2.2
Tablets: Honeycomb 3.0.1/3.1.
3.1 is a honeycomb update that adds a few features and improvements.
Gingerbread 2.3 is the last version of the phone only android.
Ice Cream Sandwich, which will most likely be 4.0 but at least something greater than 3.1 combines Phones, GoogleTV, and Tablets all into one OS.
With Ice Cream Sandwich, all devices will be running the same version of android.
It will come out this holiday first and according to google most current gen devices will get it. There is no reason why the transformer won't get ICS this holiday.
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Thank you. I was beginning to lose faith in this thread. I don't think I have read so much misinformation in all of XDA. You beat me to the punch.
neok44 said:
okay so most of you guys don't know what your talking about let me explain.
Phones: Gingerbread 2.3
GoogleTV: Custom Froyo 2.2
Tablets: Honeycomb 3.0.1/3.1.
3.1 is a honeycomb update that adds a few features and improvements.
Gingerbread 2.3 is the last version of the phone only android.
Ice Cream Sandwich, which will most likely be 4.0 but at least something greater than 3.1 combines Phones, GoogleTV, and Tablets all into one OS.
With Ice Cream Sandwich, all devices will be running the same version of android.
It will come out this holiday first and according to google most current gen devices will get it. There is no reason why the transformer won't get ICS this holiday.
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I did some research and I guess I didn't know what I was talking about, but my thing was if it was going to be on a phone wouldn't it have a phone interface. Why would you want a phone interface on your tablet? I think they are going to accomplish this by having different interfaces on different LCD densities as shown here:
http://phandroid.com/2011/05/20/set...y-above-160-get-a-taste-of-gingerbread-video/
I am in no way an Android/coding expert but this is the only way that makes sense.
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Tone503773 said:
I did some research and I guess I didn't know what I was talking about, but my thing was if it was going to be on a phone wouldn't it have a phone interface. Why would you want a phone interface on your tablet? I think they are going to accomplish this by having different interfaces on different LCD densities as shown here:
http://phandroid.com/2011/05/20/set...y-above-160-get-a-taste-of-gingerbread-video/
I am in no way an Android/coding expert but this is the only way that makes sense.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
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Click to collapse
With ICS the honeycomb UI is being redesigned for the phones.
On tablets ICS will probably look identical to honeycomb just like eclair through gingerbread didn't change much other than images.
But on phones, it'll be a complete redesign of the android UI taking the honeycomb holographic UI and bringing it over to phones.
Tone503773 said:
I did some research and I guess I didn't know what I was talking about, but my thing was if it was going to be on a phone wouldn't it have a phone interface.
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Click to collapse
Two things to consider here:
1. The Launcher - this can be different across different devices if Google wish, because this is essentially just an application.
2. Fragment support - probably the biggest single addition to Honeycomb is the addition of fragments. Effectively this introduces a single consistent API for multi-paned applications (think Honeycombs Gmail etc). Essentially, an application can decide what fragments a particular device can display and adjust its UI accordingly, so there's no need for a tablet and phone version of a particular application.
Ice Cream Sandwich is effectively the unification of Honeycomb and Gingerbread effectively, and will allow the same OS to serve up a different UI and experience between different classes of device.
Regards,
Dave
This will presumably put android on a similar basis as Apple's IOS which is used on iphones and ipads
steftymo said:
This will presumably put android on a similar basis as Apple's IOS which is used on iphones and ipads
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Not exactly! If anything, it puts it ahead of iOS because it should allow for tablet apps to run on a phone, and vice versa.
Regards,
Dave
foxmeister said:
Ice Cream Sandwich is effectively the unification of Honeycomb and Gingerbread effectively, and will allow the same OS to serve up a different UI and experience between different classes of device.
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Click to collapse
True, and you can see now on honeycomb that if you change the LCD density (to show a more dense screen such as a phone) the Gingerbread Interface because default on a reboot.
the biggest thing i've seen and this is what makes it better then the ios is the fact that games that are ment for a phone will properly scale for tablets where as games that are on the iphone that aren't ment for the ipad look grainy at the very least so this will give a lot more freedom when coming to cross platforming
Dead thread stay dead!

Honeycomb is pretty awesome!!

DJ_Steve is the man! Got that Honeycomb 3.1 running on my streak thanks to him and Hellzya! This really makes the device much sexier. The density issue is small for me since I don't have a problem reading small print, but it doesn't work for my dad at all.. luckily most web browsers support a zoom feature as that is the primary reason we have the tab. I have no questions... I'm a noob yes... but only to these boards. Not to rooting or anything like that. I love android... hell even jailbroke a few ipods. I'm just not a programmer or anything like that. If I were I wouldn't hesitate to offer help for all this beautiful android hacking.
keith.valdez said:
DJ_Steve is the man! Got that Honeycomb 3.1 running on my streak thanks to him and Hellzya! This really makes the device much sexier. The density issue is small for me since I don't have a problem reading small print, but it doesn't work for my dad at all.. luckily most web browsers support a zoom feature as that is the primary reason we have the tab. I have no questions... I'm a noob yes... but only to these boards. Not to rooting or anything like that. I love android... hell even jailbroke a few ipods. I'm just not a programmer or anything like that. If I were I wouldn't hesitate to offer help for all this beautiful android hacking.
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Click to collapse
I have a HoneycomB theme running on my HD2 and love it. It's actually a Gingerbread/CM7 ROM and CM7 is pure excellence. Android and CM7 is heaven
MartyLK said:
I have a HoneycomB theme running on my HD2 and love it. It's actually a Gingerbread/CM7 ROM and CM7 is pure excellence. Android and CM7 is heaven
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Click to collapse
I have CM7 on my Optimus v. I LOVE THIS THING. It's made everything about this phone, especially the battery life, better. Rooting is fun. lol. GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKK OOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUTTTTTTT!!!
HoneyComb is awesome!!!!
Yeah,honeycomb is awesome.Only problem is that Google decided to become [email protected]*ckers on the matter and don't release the damn source code so that it could be ported to phones.Yes,Ice Cream Sandwich will have Honeycomb's features and is near to be released,but is it the spirit of XDA to wait for official stuff?Nah,I don't think so.
Come on Google,Android is supposed to be open.I don't want to buy a tablet.Not yet at least,I don't like the Tegra 2(The Exynos on my Galaxy S II makes Tegra 2 devices look like cheap toys,that's why ).And when the Tegra 3 will be out,Ice Cream Sandwich will be out too.
tolis626 said:
Yeah,honeycomb is awesome.Only problem is that Google decided to become [email protected]*ckers on the matter and don't release the damn source code so that it could be ported to phones.Yes,Ice Cream Sandwich will have Honeycomb's features and is near to be released,but is it the spirit of XDA to wait for official stuff?Nah,I don't think so.
Come on Google,Android is supposed to be open.I don't want to buy a tablet.Not yet at least,I don't like the Tegra 2(The Exynos on my Galaxy S II makes Tegra 2 devices look like cheap toys,that's why ).And when the Tegra 3 will be out,Ice Cream Sandwich will be out too.
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Why wait? Have some HC goodness with a GB-CM7 HC themed ROM.
I love the way youtube looks on HC. I just wish more apps worked on it. I many of my favorite apps crash on me in HC, but they aren't things I can't live without. Besides, whatever doesn't run there typically does on the phone so I still get my apps one way or another. One day we will have android installed in our brains and I will have to root myself.

Gingerbread/Icecream/Honeycomb

Can someone tell me the difference between the 3 and how it applies to the nexus s? I am getting to where I really love this device but starting to want the evo3d.
thanks
They are all different android distributions
Honeycomb is designed for tablets but ice cream sandwich is yet to come out
Btw u have the wrong section, this should go in nexus s q&a
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mathkid95 said:
They are all different android distributions
Honeycomb is designed for tablets but ice cream sandwich is yet to come out
Btw u have the wrong section, this should go in nexus s q&a
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
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Brief but to the point...thanks. I'll stick with cm7 and miui til cream comes out.
Yeah those are based off of 2.3 gingerbread
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Gingerbread is the latest smartphone Android OS. Honeycomb is a heavily modified Froyo/Gingerbread created specifically for tablets. ICS is the next generation of Android, merging the codebase of Gingerbread and Honeycomb (and new features) into a single OS appropriate for use on tablets and smartphones.
Honeycomb is, according to Google, somewhat of a rushed OS. It was cobbled together quickly just to get out an OS that's halfway decent for a tablet.
Smh.
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jonnythan said:
Gingerbread is the latest smartphone Android OS. Honeycomb is a heavily modified Froyo/Gingerbread created specifically for tablets. ICS is the next generation of Android, merging the codebase of Gingerbread and Honeycomb (and new features) into a single OS appropriate for use on tablets and smartphones.
Honeycomb is, according to Google, somewhat of a rushed OS. It was cobbled together quickly just to get out an OS that's halfway decent for a tablet.
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Which is exactly why I am waiting for ICS tablets before I lay down my "hard" earned cash
How is it this dude has flashed ROMs and such and does not know the damn difference between GB and HC? Seriously wtf? SMH.
MrDrumngun said:
How is it this dude has flashed ROMs and such and does not know the damn difference between GB and HC? Seriously wtf? SMH.
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Click to collapse
I guess I missed the "Primer on upcoming Android versions" in the rooting guide.

What is andrid fragmentation

Over the last few weeks almost every artile I have viewed about android have mentioned fragmentation can someone please explain to me what this is and how it affects gingerbread?
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It means some devices run 2.2 others run 2.3
Carriers putting on skins ect
Sent From Space Using My ICS Flavored Sensation
So like honeybread?
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asoep1 said:
So like honeybread?
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There is no android version called honeybread but you might be thinking of the version for tablets which is called honeycomb.
Fragmentation means that there are several versions of android being used rather than just one or two.
All operating systems are fragmented but some more than others. For example a number of iphone users are not using ios5 just as a lot of android users are not using ice cream sandwich.
Dave
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From what I have been reading, it mostly refers to the fact that the all Android versions for phones have, over time, taken slightly different directions as far as the UI, development, tools, etc from Honeycomb, the version dedicated to tablets. This in turn has created increasing consistency/incompatibility issues with applications since even slight differences in the OS would (in many cases) require different versions of the same application. This, again translates into unnecessary additional costs, and so ICS has been developing as the common ground for any future software development, be it phone or tablet.
@nacho thnx and other dude I know honeybread is not a version its when you have gingerbread on something but have honey comb icons
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asoep1 said:
Over the last few weeks almost every artile I have viewed about android have mentioned fragmentation can someone please explain to me what this is and how it affects gingerbread?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
It means that not all Android devices are up to date, and they're all running slightly different software versions and manufacturer overlays.
For example there are tons of phones with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), some with 2.2 (Froyo), and a few still on 2.1(Eclair) or 1.6 (Cupcake). The latest Galaxy Nexus has 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and most tablets are still running 3.2 (Honeycomb).
Of the phones on 2.3, all of these phones have slightly different versions of 2.3, with HTC Sense, Samsung Touchwiz, etc. that make these all look and act differently. People complain because there are no consistent UI paradigms across different devices. If you pick up an HTC phone then a Samsung phone they look completely different.
So right now, only ~1% of Android devices are running the latest software (even though ICS is months old), consisting of devices like the Galaxy Nexus and Transformer Prime pretty much. Contrast that with iOS, where probably 90% of devices have the latest version (save for iPhone 2G and 3G, which got kicked off the update path), and when the new version is available, all devices get it at the same time. Windows Phone is similar, in which when there is an OTA, pretty much all manufacturers and carriers push the update, and about 85% are running WP7.5 (latest version).
If you want an editorial opinion, I think Google needs to learn from how Apple and Microsoft are doing their updates and controlling their OS. Fragmentation is bad for the ecosystem, bad for users, and bad for Google. They need to start putting the screws to manufacturers to stop putting skins on Android (for example withhold GAPPS from those who skin), and start hitting the carriers to push OTAs in a timely matter.
martonikaj said:
If you want an editorial opinion, I think Google needs to learn from how Apple and Microsoft are doing their updates and controlling their OS. Fragmentation is bad for the ecosystem, bad for users, and bad for Google. They need to start putting the screws to manufacturers to stop putting skins on Android (for example withhold GAPPS from those who skin), and start hitting the carriers to push OTAs in a timely matter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You got that right. The reason the Samsung Galaxy S series isn't getting an official ICS is because they haven't figured out a way to cram Touchwiz into it. In their view, that's the deal breaker.
On the plus side, it's pushed people like me to XDA. I was quite content with the official Gingerbread but now I wonder why I waited so long before jumping into custom ROMs.
Wakamatsu said:
You got that right. The reason the Samsung Galaxy S series isn't getting an official ICS is because they haven't figured out a way to cram Touchwiz into it. In their view, that's the deal breaker.
On the plus side, it's pushed people like me to XDA. I was quite content with the official Gingerbread but now I wonder why I waited so long before jumping into custom ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But we are getting the.value pack instead
Sent from my SPH-D700
A lot of Android phones aren't getting updates after a few months of being released. This causes major fragmentation. iPhones have fragmentation too, as the older models can't run iOS 4.3 and above.
iJchen said:
A lot of Android phones aren't getting updates after a few months of being released. This causes major fragmentation. iPhones have fragmentation too, as the older models can't run iOS 4.3 and above.
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Yes very true, but only very old models. Even the 3GS got iOS 5, and that is coming up on 3 years old. And the 2G and 3G got updates for about as long as well.

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