How open is Android

[stevehy]

I also have an iPhone 4 and the battery life for heavy users on the SGS2 is not even close to the iPhone 4. I can get 13-14 hours max out of the SGS2, twice that (almost) from the iPhone 4.
I understand the problems with some software (although I do not experience them) as Android software development and the OS itself is crude compared to iOS. Google is not and will never be a software company (notwithstanding what Andy Rubin would like you to believe).The core of the OS is built on Linux while the core of iOS is real Unix, and that makes a difference in memory management and stability, and the user interface and its consistency on Android has much to catch up with.
While I find Android very interesting and use it daily don

 

[daivik]

What do you mean by an open OS is Android isn't open?

I'm very intreiged seeing as I've always thought that Android is as open as it gets. Can you explain more about the Samsung/HTC bit. PM me if you prefer.

 

[stevehy]

What do you mean by an open OS is Android isn't open?

I'm very intreiged seeing as I've always thought that Android is as open as it gets. Can you explain more about the Samsung/HTC bit. PM me if you prefer.

The OS tree is completely controlled by Google, mere mortals cannot contribute to its development. It is as tightly controlled as iOS with the ONLY gatekeeper Google. This is not Linux (although the core is) but it branched off from the Linux development tree long ago. Last month Google threatened its core hardware partners about staying its course for Android and not divulging from it. This open myth is just that, and perpetuated by Google to their advantage. As an example, they never released Android 3.0 to their partners. Much more about this on the web.

 

[mrvirginia]

The OS tree is completely controlled by Google, mere mortals cannot contribute to its development. It is as tightly controlled as iOS with the ONLY gatekeeper Google. This is not Linux (although the core is) but it branched off from the Linux development tree long ago. Last Mont Google threatened its core hardware partners about staying its course for Android and not divulging from it. This open myth is just that, and perpetuated by Google to their advantage. As an example, they never released Android 3.0 to their partners. Much more about this on the web.

maybe as far as releasing source code... but once the source code is out... it's so open that even i've learned to mess with some of the code.

Android 3.0 source code was never released because they didn't want people trying to port it to mobile handsets. i believe this happened anyway, though.

so no, it's not as tightly controlled as iOS. you'd have to be delusional to state such utter nonsense, no offense.

lots of articles regarding why they haven't released 3.0 source code yet similar to this one Google delays Android 3.0 source code | Mobile Technology - InfoWorld

as someone who knows A LOT about the way their code works now and how to change stuff... i can tell you it is nowhere near as bad as iOS. no way lol

ps. i'm a mere mortal and i've contributed here and there on xda

 

[stevehy]

maybe as far as releasing source code... but once the source code is out... it's so open that even i've learned to mess with some of the code.

Android 3.0 source code was never released because they didn't want people trying to port it to mobile handsets. i believe this happened anyway, though.

so no, it's not as tightly controlled as iOS. you'd have to be delusional to state such utter nonsense, no offense.

lots of articles regarding why they haven't released 3.0 source code yet similar to this one Google delays Android 3.0 source code | Mobile Technology - InfoWorld

as someone who knows A LOT about the way their code works now and how to change stuff... i can tell you it is nowhere near as bad as iOS. no way lol
ps. i'm a mere mortal and i've contributed here and there on xda

If you have contributed to the source tree in Android, please tell me where and where on the dev site can I find this (reference number please) . If you have, you would be the first outside of the Android team at Google. Listen, I don

 

[mrvirginia]

If you have contributed to the source tree in Android, please tell me where and where on the dev site can I find this (reference number please) . If you have, you would be the first outside of the Android team at Google. Listen, I don’t have a problem with Android but do have a problem with the open myth.
I could contribute to the Darwin project for Apple, but it’s not the same as contributing to iOS. Same with Android.

i never said anything about contributing directly to Google or their official team of developers.

i did say, however, that i contributed to some to projects over at xda, where source code is modified for certain devices. this is what open source is, mate. being able to take what someone has already written and modify it to make improvements where we see fit, with no cost to us for the source code.

just so everyone is clear on what open source is...
Open source - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

but you completely missed the point of my original reply, and that is that you saying Android OS "is as tightly controlled as iOS" is a false statement. you're comparing apples to oranges (pun not intended). they're both "fruit" but that's pretty much where the similarities stop.

 

[jinwons]

Part of reason why iOS looks more polished, stable is it's smaller simpler OS than android. Android does more tasks than iOS like widgets, multi-tasking, flash. iOS is tightly integrated with apple hardware, softwares with everything controlled by Apple. Also it supports hardware acceleration from A4, A5 processors I believe, another reason why its UI feels smoother.

But with dual core APs advancing fast and arrival of IceCream supporting hardware acceleration, I think Android will eventually match or overtake iOS in UI smoothness and current fragmentation issue will be addressed.

 

[mrvirginia]

Part of reason why iOS looks more polished, stable is it's smaller simpler OS than android. Android does more tasks than iOS like widgets, multi-tasking, flash. iOS is tightly integrated with apple hardware, softwares with everything controlled by Apple. Also it supports hardware acceleration from A4, A5 processors I believe, another reason why its UI feels smoother.

But with dual core APs advancing fast and arrival of IceCream supporting hardware acceleration, I think Android will eventually match or overtake iOS in UI smoothness and current fragmentation issue will be addressed.

i've been waiting for hardware acceleration for a looong time. i thought Gingerbread was going to have it so i hope they stick with their claims in bringing it with IceCream!

but yes, exactly. the way iOS is set up is why it has generally better performance in comparison to almost all Android devices.

 

[daivik]

What exactly is hardware acceleration? (beyond what is says in the title )

What does it actually do? and how does it improve the experience.

And about the Google, Apple thing. Google will always be KING in my eyes , I love their general work-ethic, or their "way of working/operating." and I think it's a large feat to achieve this business ecosystem in such a large and high revenue company.

 

[mrvirginia]

What exactly is hardware acceleration? (beyond what is says in the title )

What does it actually do? and how does it improve the experience.

And about the Google, Apple thing. Google will always be KING in my eyes , I love their general work-ethic, or their "way of working/operating." and I think it's a large feat to achieve this business ecosystem in such a large and high revenue company.

not trying to be a douche or anything haha
Hardware acceleration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

someone correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe our hardware is "hardware acceleration ready" but the software is actually keeping it from doing it's job. hardware has obviously passed what the Android OS is capable of. this is evident because the software doesn't fully take advantage of dual-cores. it does to some degree, but not like it will when IceCream drops (supposedly).

 

[lotus49]

The core of the OS is built on Linux while the core of iOS is real Unix, and that makes a difference in memory management and stability, and the user interface and its consistency on Android has much to catch up with.

As a lifelong Unix user, I cannot let this pass.

Android is based on Linux. MacOS X is based on BSD. Neither was based on commercial Unix such as System V R4 so in what way is MacOS X based on "real Unix"? There is absolutely nothing wrong with the stability of Linux compared to BSD and indeed, my two Linux laptops never (and I really mean absolutely never ever) crash. My MacBook Pro, my Mac Mini and my wife's MacBook have all crashed.

Apple is tops when it comes to UIs (way ahead of anything that Google can dream of in my view) but not when it comes to stability.

I have been using Linux since it was barely out of nappies (long before there were any distributions, I had to compile everything myself) and in all that time, on at least 4 platforms (Intel, PowerPC, ARM, SPARC) it has crashed on me twice and one of those occasions was when I was debugging a device driver I was writing. Linux is rock solid and just as reliable as BSD. Any problems with Android are NOT Linux's fault.

Also, my iPhone did crash a few times and my SGS2 has not yet crashed at all (although I've only had it for three weeks).