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Why google doesn't offer an android OS to buy?

U

uberX

Lurker
greetings

My phone has a dated android operating system and I find it unnecessary to buy a new phone in which my phone is still in good functional condition.

Cyanogenmod doesn't support my phone either. My only option is to buy a new phone if I want the latest android release.

My question is why Google doesn't offer us to buy the latest android OS so we can install/upgrade it ourselves instead of relying on the lazy phone carriers and/or OEMs who gives priorities on which phones should get timely upgrades?

My phone has been on version 4.1.2 for eons while others are at versions4.3 or 4.4.

Having an old android release is like still having windows XP on your system.
 
Hi uberX, welcome to the site :)

Unlike Windows, each phone model needs an Android ROM made specifically for that phone. With 100's of different Android phones that would take lots of time/resources to do. It would be nice though...

Are you sure there aren't newer ROMs for your phone? CM isn't the only option. You can find a forum for your specific phone in this link, then check out the All Things Root subforum to see if anything is available:
Android Phones - Android Forums
 
Thanks kate for the reply.

To be honest, I am leery to installing third party apps to root my phone, I don't know what is being install besides the ROM itself.

However, I do trust CM a bit more because it is more widely used than the others.
 
uberX said:
...why Google doesn't offer us to buy the latest android OS so we can install/upgrade it ourselves instead of relying on the lazy phone carriers and/or OEMs who gives priorities on which phones should get timely upgrades?
Click to expand...

As Kate pointed out, each phone must have specific kernel, drivers and apps for it's particular hardware, but it's more than just a development problem. Smart phones are limited in both horsepower and memory. As mobile devices, it's always a trade-off between features, economy and performance. For there to be a universal firmware for most handsets, it would have to include a monolithic kernel and hundreds, if not thousands of ancillary driver files that would get properly installed if the hardware was detected. While a PC with AC current and many gigabytes of storage and memory, phones do not. IT simply would be too big to install on a mobile device.

Maybe someday it will get there, but not now.

One thing you should be aware of (in case you missed the Google I/O keynote address :rolleyes:) is that Google has decoupled a lot of the services from the rom itself and not installs them through play services. What this means is that most of the technical updates will be pushed to any phone (running 4.x or higher ... I think) without a system update. That means that even though your phone says it's 4.1, it's got many of the improvements of 4.4.4 already running.
 
Nexus would have been your answer, but according to rumors that might be on its way out.

and dont feel so bad, im still running gingerbread and finding new new ways to get around limitations.
 
Actually, even a Nexus device wouldn't solve the problem entirely as, until the recent announcment that the Nexus 4 will get L, historically Nexus devices have only gotten updates for around 2 years.

The problem Google had (though this appears to be changing) is that Moore's 'law' tells us that 2 year old hardware is less than half as powerful as the latest kit. They want want their latest operating system to fully exploit the lastest hardware but an O/S that does that may - and so far, did - require more resource (processor/memory etc) than is available on two year old kit.

Depending on the age of uberX's phone, that may be another reason the latest version is not available (apart from the manufacturer's desire for a sale): the hardware may not be up to running it.

On the upside, as Lunatic59 says, most of the interesting updates - i.e. improvements to the various Google apps - now come through the Play Store so you're missing out on a lot less than you would have done back in the Gingerbread days.
 
uberX said:
Thanks kate for the reply.

To be honest, I am leery to installing third party apps to root my phone, I don't know what is being install besides the ROM itself.

However, I do trust CM a bit more because it is more widely used than the others.
Click to expand...
Actually, the app you use for root doesn't install a ROM. It opens administrator access and installs SuperUser (or SuperSU) to manage admin permissions. Flashing a ROM is separate from gaining root.
 
lunatic59 said:
One thing you should be aware of (in case you missed the Google I/O keynote address :rolleyes:) is that Google has decoupled a lot of the services from the rom itself and not installs them through play services. What this means is that most of the technical updates will be pushed to any phone (running 4.x or higher ... I think) without a system update. That means that even though your phone says it's 4.1, it's got many of the improvements of 4.4.4 already running.
Click to expand...

For those wanting to read a bit more on this, here is a great article that is not too technical but explains how Play services work and will now bring newer features to older hardware.

Why Google Play Services Are Now More Important Than Android
 
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