gadgets and technology devices: Will different versions trip up Android?

Will different versions trip up Android?

It has been more than a year since Google’s mobile operating system, Android, was released. And the last few months have finally seen it making its presence felt in the market with a number of terrific handsets, most notably the Motorola Droid and the HTC Hero. Ironically, it is this very profusion of handsets that is providing the OS with its biggest challenge. For, just about every major handset out there is running a different version of Android – the Hero is on 1.5, the Droid on 2.0, the Nexus One on 2.1 and there a few handsets on 1.6 too. And they are all different in more than nomenclature – those using versions 2.0 and 2.1 get the joys of voice navigation and better apps, among a host of other features.

Android fan boys, and many others, will point out that this is in fact is a good thing as it just shows how rapidly the OS is developing and that even the much-hyped Symbian and iPhone operating systems have different versions running on devices. While I can see their point, there is one crucial difference between what happens to Symbian and the iPhone OS and Android – in the case of the former two, the user has the power to upgrade, while in the case of Android, he or she is almost always at the mercy of the manufacturer.

For instance, I have the HTC Hero since September and have been waiting for an upgrade to 2.1, or heck, even 1.6. I do have the option to root my device and upgrade it but that would render its warranty void. Naturally, I am less than pleased with the situation. And I am not the only one, a friend of mine bought the HTC Magic in India in August, where it was released without the Android Market. He is still stuck on the same OS, even though HTC has been talking of patches to upgrade the OS! And this is not an anti-HTC rant, other mobile manufacturers have not been upto speed either. Where is the upgrade for Samsung Galaxy?

This laxity on the part of handset manufacturers could eventually scuttle Android as it has resulted in a number of handsets that run the same OS, but have different functionalities. Even users of the Android Market are getting annoyed at the fact that some of the apps out there work only on certain versions of Android. One of them said he would be buying the Nexus One only because he was certain that it would be upgraded regularly and on time!

As the success of Nokia shows, users like to stay within a certain, familiar OS environment – something that Android lacks, thanks to all the versions floating out there. Google has got Android up and running, but it is time it got the manufacturers to move their firmware teams into place too. Else, Android could end up like Linux, with different people using different versions that do not say Hello to each other.

And consumers do not like that. Do they?

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