Anyone seriosuly looking at the new DROID?

Originally Posted by spectrrr

maybe I missed that article, but from my brief reading I think thats incorrect. To the best of my knowledge, Nexus 1 is running Android 2.1 which is not a different version of the OS on the droid, its just the latest version of it. The Moto Droid is slated to get the same thing in an update very soon (and certain folks who like to live dangerously have already done it themselves, but its not recommended).

Where are you reading that the OS's are going in different directions?

I could have misunderstood what they were saying. But google android and fragmentation.

One example:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/...fragmentation/

[spectrrr]

Originally Posted by Resipsa

I could have misunderstood what they were saying. But google android and fragmentation.

One example:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/...fragmentation/

In a nutshell, it comes down to Mac vs PC.
It's the EXACT same development problems for the phones as it is for the computers.
You can't have your cake and eat it too. Apple makes their own hardware and it mostly comes in ONE flavor (well technically three flavors that are merely different varieties of the same flavor - vanilla).... As such it is very easy to develop for the phone, because "the phone" is a known factor in the equation, everyone knows what hardware it's going to be running.

But if you want Chocolate, or Cookie Dough... well thats too bad, since Apple is the only folks that make it and they have chosen to make Vanilla only. Enter Google. Good news: anyone can make the hardware, so you'll see submissions from HTC, Motorola, Samsung, etc.... Do you want a physical keyboard? Different camera? Smaller phone? Larger phone? Cheaper phone? NO PROBLEM! You can get any flavor of ice cream you want, from the classic chocolate all the way up to Rocky Road and a dairy-free soy ginger.

And there's where the problems appear: Some apps are allergic to nuts. What worked great with the chocolate........ sent you to the ER with the Rocky Road. And other apps handle nuts fine, but are allergic to ginger. Back to the ER we go.

This "fragmentation" of different options means that for the developers whose apps are inherently allergic to nuts or ginger or whatnot, they then have to figure out how to modify the app to account for that specific issue. As the number of Android handsets grows, so does the number of available flavors and the complexity of the food allergies facing android developers.

That's the simple version. There's plenty of things that "could" be done to help alleviate that problem (but it would NEVER eliminate it)... but since I can say with fair certainty that it will NOT happen that way.... All I can say is comes with the territory. If you want choice in your ice ream flavors, you're going to have to put up with the food allergies or switch to Vanilla.

[kgoings]

Originally Posted by spectrrr

In a nutshell, it comes down to Mac vs PC.
It's the EXACT same development problems for the phones as it is for the computers.
You can't have your cake and eat it too. Apple makes their own hardware and it mostly comes in ONE flavor (well technically three flavors that are merely different varieties of the same flavor - vanilla).... As such it is very easy to develop for the phone, because "the phone" is a known factor in the equation, everyone knows what hardware it's going to be running.

But if you want Chocolate, or Cookie Dough... well thats too bad, since Apple is the only folks that make it and they have chosen to make Vanilla only. Enter Google. Good news: anyone can make the hardware, so you'll see submissions from HTC, Motorola, Samsung, etc.... Do you want a physical keyboard? Different camera? Smaller phone? Larger phone? Cheaper phone? NO PROBLEM! You can get any flavor of ice cream you want, from the classic chocolate all the way up to Rocky Road and a dairy-free soy ginger.

And there's where the problems appear: Some apps are allergic to nuts. What worked great with the chocolate........ sent you to the ER with the Rocky Road. And other apps handle nuts fine, but are allergic to ginger. Back to the ER we go.

This "fragmentation" of different options means that for the developers whose apps are inherently allergic to nuts or ginger or whatnot, they then have to figure out how to modify the app to account for that specific issue. As the number of Android handsets grows, so does the number of available flavors and the complexity of the food allergies facing android developers.

That's the simple version. There's plenty of things that "could" be done to help alleviate that problem (but it would NEVER eliminate it)... but since I can say with fair certainty that it will NOT happen that way.... All I can say is comes with the territory. If you want choice in your ice ream flavors, you're going to have to put up with the food allergies or switch to Vanilla.

I hate Vanilla...and Apple for that matter.

[hotreds]

No.

[spectrrr]

Originally Posted by hotreds

No.

I didn't catch that Hugh, why don't you tell us how you really feel!

While not disagreeing entirely with you, it's a little more than Mac v PC, LOL

the wired article makes an interesting analogy between android and java, which developers pretty much despise. Lots of articles out there as to how developers are unhappy and reconsidering whether or not they want to invest the time working with android. Time will tell, but if the developers don't want to work with the os, or choose to ignore it, then google and android will be Palm all over again

[spectrrr]

Originally Posted by Resipsa

While not disagreeing entirely with you, it's a little more than Mac v PC, LOL

the wired article makes an interesting analogy between android and java, which developers pretty much despise. Lots of articles out there as to how developers are unhappy and reconsidering whether or not they want to invest the time working with android. Time will tell, but if the developers don't want to work with the os, or choose to ignore it, then google and android will be Palm all over again

Not a disagreement at all, I was drastically oversimplifying things for the sake of folks that don't understand the techie side of things.

Apple solved the Palm problem with their solution - it was called closed source and closed development. The very nature of a freely modifiable and open development environment creates 90% of the problems in that article. You can't have one without the other. Even though the windows mobile OS was not open source, it was open development and most of the same problems remained.

So to me, it just a modern reworking of the same old tale. The facts are different, the acting and scenery is different, but the plot and punch line appear to be the same.

[systm]

Originally Posted by Resipsa

While not disagreeing entirely with you, it's a little more than Mac v PC, LOL

the wired article makes an interesting analogy between android and java, which developers pretty much despise. Lots of articles out there as to how developers are unhappy and reconsidering whether or not they want to invest the time working with android. Time will tell, but if the developers don't want to work with the os, or choose to ignore it, then google and android will be Palm all over again

If anything just more like software updates for existing OSes, at least in terms of buggines. I think that when 2.1 and beyond becomes more feature rich, people/corps will drop the UI mods, even though they look great most features are now in by default.

[AD720]

Originally Posted by systm

If anything just more like software updates for existing OSes, at least in terms of buggines. I think that when 2.1 and beyond becomes more feature rich, people/corps will drop the UI mods, even though they look great most features are now in by default.

I've seen this happen with WinMo 6.5. It seems that microsoft saw a lot of what people were tweaking/adding on to 6.1 and implemented that at an OS level.

[colimo]

anyone d/l any of the droid cigar apps yet? any reports?