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Help Do You Care About Your Specific Android Operating System?

Other than an Android nut, does the particular OS on your phone really matter to you?

  • Yes, I have to have the latest and greatest!

    Votes: 1 16.7%

  • No, I'm more interested that it works, has some features, runs my apps and looks attractive...

    Votes: 5 83.3%

  • It doesn't matter to me, I use a launcher that mimics an upgraded OS

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    6
  • Poll closed .
kblanco

kblanco

Well-Known Member
Okay, so there's a discussion that's popped up at CNet.com about this. The reporter behind the article is remarking about how they never expect to see the new Android OS codenamed M. They're still running Kit Kat and haven't even updated to Lollipop yet. They also included a pie chart showing the breakout of every OS from Lollipop all the way back to Gingerbread or Froyo (which apparently some folks are still running...).

Basically in summary, Android has a lot of hoops to jump through. It first has to be created and tested by Google. Then it's released to phone manufacturers and phone resellers - think HTC and Moto then tack on the likes of say ATT and Verizon. Each has to put their own two cents in so that it'll work with their particular phones and custom modifications. So by the time someone finally gets the opportunity to upgrade from Jelly Bean to Kit Kat, Lollipop has been out a while. By the time you upgrade to Lollipop, M has been out for a while.

And that's not even getting into the fragmentation issue between name brand manufacturers and those more obscure, like ZTE or another. Perhaps you have a lesser phone that might not have the chops necessary to be able to upgrade.

Many people in the comments, there are always those Apple detractors, they understand the article and really don't care what OS their phone is using. It does what they need, they purchased the phone with a dominating factor other than the particular OS it's running - like camera or screen quality, the ability to use an SD card or battery life...

So my questions are this... Other than some Android technophile, do you really care what OS your phone uses? Did you even really give it much thought or were you more interested in device appearance? Maybe features such as screen resolution, battery life, camera quality, on board memory and/or ability to use an SD card?

I've never given much thought to OS myself. I had a ZTE Overture running Jelly Bean and it did everything that I asked of it and looked like a really nice phone. I would go on to mangle it and purchased a Moto G running Kit Kat which also did everything I asked of it and looked like an even nicer phone. I would've gladly purchased another Overture without thinking about it except Cricket wasn't offering them anymore which caused me to look at the Moto G and an LG. Otherwise each was the same to me aside from a few small aspects (although I do like how the Moto G does some things better than the Overture and has more on board memory...).

KB
 
My preference is "what works best for the hardware". So I kept my 2010 HTC Desire on Gingerbread even though ICS and JB ROMs existed because in my judgement it ran GB ROMs better. My One M7 is running Lollipop just fine and I'd not go back to KK because there are a few things I like better, but you see people in the forum who do want to roll back or not take an update - how well the manufacturer implements the update is a key factor here I think.

But do note that I _never_ buy phones through a carrier, so I cut the biggest delay out of the loop (actually personally I also use custom ROMs, but as my current one is based on the official stock rather than a port that won't come out before the manufacturer's own). I also buy flagship handsets because the software support will be better - that's not quite the same as OS version, but I suppose it does mean it's somewhat important to me.
 
Typically what ran the smoothest works for me, my s6 edge is running a rooted version of lollipop, while my retired evo 3d is capable of running jb, majority I ran gb on it as that's what ran the smoothest on it.
 
Ditto, I always like to have the newest software to tinker with and see what's new. Although Lollipop has been mostly trouble for me on Z1, I may end up reverting back to KitKat just for the stability :/
 
Like a lot of people have said, to the extent that it lets me do what I want to do on the phone. I have a Chinese phone from China that runs Gingerbread and won't even work here as a phone, but it works great for IM apps and puzzle games so I'm just fine with the OS. If I wanted to run Clash of Clans on it I'd probably hate the thing, lol.
 
Let me rephrase my post, I like stability, however on my 3vo days that came with stock froyo. I'd always try out the latest and greatest (ics and jb on PACman was the rom to have :)) I'll always give the latest and greatest a go despite how unstable just for the fact it's something very new then jump back down with something was borked (typically camera, video or something of the like [emoji14]
 
Speaking of being compatible with all the apps, I installed Lollipop on my Sony Experia Z last night and now none of the books in my Kindle app show content. It shows the cover and the headers, but nothing else. The books in the other digital book apps seem fine. My wife has the same tablet and her Kindle books are fine.
 
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