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Google’s Android Update Alliance not living up to expectations
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Google, Software,
At the Google I/O conference in May, many Android phone vendors and U.S. wireless carriers made a long-awaited promise: From then on, any new Android phone would receive timely OS updates for at least 18 months following launch, as part of the then newly christened Google Update Alliance.
The back story: If you own an Android phone, you may have watched with frustration as a new version of the OS hit the market. It's almost never clear if your phone will ever get that upgrade—unlike with iOS or Windows Phones, which always get all upgrades (providing they meet the right hardware requirements). With Android, it seems to depend on the phone vendor, the specific model, the wireless carrier, the Android version itself, and whether Google sent the carrier an inflatable plastic food product as a token of its appreciation that week. Worse—and much to our chagrin—sometimes vendors make promises to customers before the sale that they don't keep once you own the phone.
Many factors contribute to this. But custom versions of Android are the key culprit, either thanks to vendor-specific enhancements (like HTC Sense, Motorola MotoBlur, and Samsung's TouchWiz, though LG, Pantech, Casio, and other vendors do it too), or carrier-specific enhancements of a more dubious nature (such as unnecessary preloaded bloatware and changes to default apps). These changes require many programming hours not just to make in the first place, but to also support and upgrade down the road—resources the carrier would rather throw at making new phones to sell you.
So the Google Update Alliance was a breath of fresh air. It sounded like everyone would finally come together, streamline their OS update timelines, and stop jerking around their customers. The thing is, while the Google Update Alliance ended up being one of the biggest stories to come out of Google I/O, we've heard almost nothing about it since then. You can bet we weren't just going to forget about it and pretend it never happened—especially after the release of Google Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which is a huge leap in UI design and overall performance.
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Samsung Galaxy S II is their fastest selling smartphone ever
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Google, Handhelds,
Samsung has announced the latest batch of sales figures for its Galaxy S II Android smartphone, and the device remains the company's fastest-growing smartphone yet.
According to Samsung, the Galaxy S2 has officially hit 10 million in sales all of five months after the device's worldwide launch this past April. Sales in South Korea take the lion's share of the total at 3.6 million, with European markets close behind at 3.4 million. Sales of the smartphone in Asia hit a total of 2.3 million.
"In just five months the Galaxy S II has seen tremendous growth, reflecting its tremendous popularity with customers around the world, who in selecting the Galaxy S2 as their device of choice have driven the device's strong market position globally," said J.K. Shin, president of Samsung's mobile communications division, in a statement.
Previous sales figures put the Galaxy S2 at three million units sold after a mere 55 days on the market, shattering the company's sales records at the time. In fact, the Galaxy S2 hit the three-million figure all of 30 days faster than its predecessor device, Samsung's Galaxy S smartphone. Total Galaxy S2 sales then ballooned up to five million at the 85 day-mark.
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