Every new version runs like SHIT on anything older than the “superphones” (Galaxy S3, HTC One X+, Note 2, Galaxy Nexus, etc).
I’ve been using a year old Nexus S 4G after I lost my iPhone a few weeks ago. Android has finally caught up to iOS in most regards. I really like the flattened and dark theme, it seems very professional. Maps blows anything on iOS out of the water, and I really enjoy the tight Google integration.
TOO BAD MY PHONE TAKES OVER A SECOND TO REGISTER MOST INPUTS!
It’s ridiculous. App management is horrible. If I’ve scrolled through a couple apps, bam the memory is obviously full and opening a new app is dreadfully slow. The typical end user doesn’t know this, and Google is doing a terrible job at conserving resources. It seems as though Android is consistently developed for the latest and greatest. That’s great, but it leaves people with phones as little as 6 months old in the dust. I now understand why manufacturers are reluctant to update older phones to the newest Android versions: it’ll run horrifically slow. This is probably why the Android ecosystem is so fragmented.
Google, focus more on memory management and your OS’s failure to properly manage limited resources. Not everyone has a quad core processor with 1-2gb of RAM on their phone.
PS if I told my 13 year old, nerdy, computer enthusiast self that one day we’d have those specs in a cell phone, I’d have slapped my older self for being so incredulous.
Yes, iOS runs quite a bit more slowly on older iPhones (4, 3GS, 3), but at least Apple spent the time to ensure that things would run relatively smoothly or remove features they know would not work on older phones. Perhaps Google should release a “light” version of Android that may be stripped of some features but runs smoothly on older phones. The company seems obsessed with constantly innovating (great!) but is completely ignorant of most users’ (at least in America) 2-year upgrade cycle. I highly doubt anyone buying an Android phone now will be able to upgrade to the latest version 2 years down the line: whether it be because of carrier/manufacturer issues or because Google’s forgotten about “legacy” hardware.
This disconnect between Google and manufacturers blows my mind.
I want to love Android, and I do to a certain extent, but the lack of foresight to keep phones relevant for at least 1-2 years is ridiculous.
Went a little folder happy today. Liking ios4
