Why does android have to be so specific?

[JonHewett95]

Is there anyone who can help me understand the specificity of android? Since every single device needs to have a tried and tested version of android that's built specifically for that device, since it shouldn't be anything to do with the hardware as you can put something like linux or windows on virtually any hardware yet two android phones with identical hardware from two different manufacturers require different versions of android?

[thekeemo]

drivers

[CatzRuleZWorld]

It's like drivers and bloatware...

[_ASSASSIN_]

Because with a computer, you don't have to manage the camera, display, hardware buttons, vibration motor, speakers, etc.

There is a lot of drivers you have to deal with.

But, that doesn't mean that things can't work together. A lot of LG G2 developers use kernels that come from the Nexus 5 and use those to build on top of since they have very similar hardware.

[Diederik_Gr]

Smartphones are still somewhat young, and they haven't got anywhere near the standardization that the PC has gotten over the years.

[Mew]

It's not like iOS isn't specific either. Each phone has its own ipsw- even the 6 and 6+ which have almost exactly the same hardware.

[vembutech]

Yes as said the drivers and mostly the user friendly one is android.

[Blebekblebek]

that is the selling point of android

and computer

and consoles which using computer tech

so each devices from different companies or person or individual can create different platform for different purpose by using the same engine

 

think about android just like you think about game ENGINE

 

Unreal Engine 3 for example, there are so many games can be created with this engine and not limited only for games

it can be use for movies, demo, simulation etc

 

are you prefer a closed platform device?

[ThE_MarD]

Heyyo,

drivers

Definitely the main reason yes. Next would be their skins. Manufacturers do tweaks to the Android interface to make it more of a featured operating system. As Android has been evolving though? The stock experience has been getting better and better. Android Lollipop has so many awesome features that there isn't much that the smartphone manufacturers need to add in minus gestures as seen in the OnePlus One or any OPPO phone (like the OPPO's gesture dropdown menu).

It's not like iOS isn't specific either. Each phone has its own ipsw- even the 6 and 6+ which have almost exactly the same hardware.

True... but at the same time with iOS ispw's then... why the crap does each new version of iOS make the phones more sluggish? on my ol' iPhone 4s going from 6.1.3 to 7.0.2 made everything load slower, run slower and act less responsive. Ruined what was once a fun phone. Even trying to disable all the animations via that the accessibility options barely made a difference. Apple customized their ispw's and promised performance fixes for the iPhone 4s and then essentially forgot about the phone... or maybe it's part of their marketing strategy to make you think "oh your phone is slow because it's two years old despite how it used to run lovely on ios 6 so you should buy a new iPhone tee-hee-hee!" /ragequitapple

[omniomi]

A good example for how driver issues hit Android is the Samsung Note Pro 12.2" (SM-P900) vs Samsung Tab Pro 12.2" (SM-T900.) The P900 and T900 are virtually the same except for one has a stylus and slot and the other doesn't.. In fact if you open a T900 half of the parts are stamped with "P900" because the hardware is the same. When Cyanogenmod was released fro the P900 someone forked it for the T900 and pretty much everything worked except for auto-rotate because the position sensor in the T900 is one revision newer than the one in the P900. If two almost identicle pieces of hardware from the same manufacturer can have little differences like that imagine the difference between an HTC device and an older LG device... There could be revision differences in the hardware, firmware differences, they could use all the same coore system components but different sensors... etc.

 

Because drivers aren't downloaded separately on Android, they're part of the ROM, your ROM needs to be setup for your device to make sure everything works.

[Mew]

True... but at the same time with iOS ispw's then... why the crap does each new version of iOS make the phones more sluggish? on my ol' iPhone 4s going from 6.1.3 to 7.0.2 made everything load slower, run slower and act less responsive. Ruined what was once a fun phone. Even trying to disable all the animations via that the accessibility options barely made a difference. Apple customized their ispw's and promised performance fixes for the iPhone 4s and then essentially forgot about the phone... or maybe it's part of their marketing strategy to make you think "oh your phone is slow because it's two years old despite how it used to run lovely on ios 6 so you should buy a new iPhone tee-hee-hee!" /ragequitapple

 

Well, the cost of extra functionality (100+ with every iOS release) and demanding and long animations (since I have the 5s, I'd rather have demanding graphics over simple graphics but animations could be a little shorter/sped up) combined with the the doubling of cpu performance and 7x increase in gpu performance going from the 4s to 5. On top of that, the 5s doubled on cpu and gpu performance over the 5 (which means 4x faster cpu and 14x faster gpu); cpu performance over the years and gpu performance over the years. Apple has been increasing performance with some updates, particularly the new 8.3 update but there's only so much you can tweak with the hardware holding you back. 

[ThE_MarD]

Heyyo,

 

Well, the cost of extra functionality (100+ with every iOS release) and demanding and long animations (since I have the 5s, I'd rather have demanding graphics over simple graphics but animations could be a little shorter/sped up) combined with the the doubling of cpu performance and 7x increase in gpu performance going from the 4s to 5. On top of that, the 5s doubled on cpu and gpu performance over the 5 (which means 4x faster cpu and 14x faster gpu); cpu performance over the years and gpu performance over the years. Apple has been increasing performance with some updates, particularly the new 8.3 update but there's only so much you can tweak with the hardware holding you back.

Ah, so you're saying Apple is correct with nerfing the iPhone 4S? That it's ok they break a product with an update cause it means they need to have the latest and greatest? That their iOS update process is ok with breaking the WiFi chip on the iPhone 4S due to an update? Interesting.

But you're right eh? The hardware was holding me back... enjoying my iPhone 4S was holding me back from shelling out my money to have the fanciest phone available instead of using common sense of "hey, my current device works great so why bother paying extra for not a lot of change for the basic user experience?"

Nah... fuck that. Fuck Apple. I'll enjoy my Android devices where I have the option to do what I want with my smartphone instead of being blind and accepting the bullshit of "nah it's broken."

Want to know the kicker of all this? I waited and didn't upgrade to iOS 7.0 off the bat due to lack of a proper jailbreak since I used that to change my default browser from Safari to Chrome since I use Chrome on my PC and have all my bookmarks and such synched... then I kept reading how iOS 7 really messed up iPhone 4 and 4s devices... but then I was planning to go to the Philippines so I needed to do an unlock to use my phone there. Paid the $30 through my carrier... unlock didn't work. Read up online and it says you need to have the latest iOS update... WHY!? THAT'S COMPLETE SHIT!!! So I broke down and did the restore and update to get the carrier unlock to work... and it worked... but then my WiFi stopped working... i lost my iPhone 4s that I loved... all because of Apple's stupid fucking iOS restrictions.

My HTC One M7? I was on Android 4.3 when I got it... bought a carrier unlock... followed the instructions of swapping SIM cards and punching in my carrier unlock code I purchased from Telus for $30... carrier unlock worked. Didn't force me to upgrade to KitKat (although I eventually did and to my surprise it made the phone better). So yeah, Android? Customization, options to do as you please and really make the phone personalized.... Apple? You bend over and take what you get and squeal like a pig... weee!! weee!!!

Back in the day of the iPhone 3Gs? Yeah, it was awesome and Android was pretty poop back then... nowadays? Other way around. Apple has been constantly just doing stupid crap on the software side of things yet Android's software just gets more and more refined. The only "win" that Apple has is their Metal 3D API. Once Vulkan 3D API comes out later? They won't even have that.

I dunno if Apple iOS is still a prick when it comes to selecting your default Browser? But on Android 4.3 and up? It is an option on what default browser I wish to use. I'm not forced to use the stock internet browser or Chrome.. I could put on FireFox with Adblock Plus if I wanted to and make that my default browser... I can change my default-whatever-I-want on Android instead of being told "YOU WILL ALWAYS USE SAFARI FIRST AND ENJOY IT!!!"