As an avid Android user, one of the biggest complaints I have with the platform is how long it takes to get a device updated to the latest version of the OS after it has been announced. Case in point: when I purchase the original Samsung Galaxy S I was told by both Samsung and T-Mobile reps that it would see an update to Gingerbread within a month or so. This wait turned into a six month long debacle where Samsung made and retracted promises on when the update would be delivered. The issue holding everything up was the fact that the TouchWiz interface that Samsung had created to go on the device had its tendrils so deep into the OS that it made it difficult to update. I had to wait for both Samsung and then T-Mo to update and test for quality control, which took much longer than anticipated.
Samsung devices weren’t the only ones affected by this, HTC handsets that came with the Sense UI were slow to be updated as well. However, there is hope of this issue being rectified with Google making a strong move to bring standardization to the interface on Android devices.
In an announcement made on the official Android Developer Blog , Google has now made it a requirement that an unmodified version of the Holo UI be installed on all devices running Android 4.0 and beyond. Google gives the reason for the decision as being a coordinated effort to ease the burden on app developers who have had to take into consideration how each different manufacturer skin may affect their programs. This is certainly valid, but to go one step further that mentioned in the post, the move is going to make it easier from here on out to start to eliminate fragmentation on the platform.
Whether you agree or not, the fact that there are so many different versions of Android still in everyday operation out there speaks to the problem of platform disunity. Yes, more and more devices are showing up using Gingerbread, and this is certainly a good thing, but with Ice Cream Sandwichbeing the flavor of the month, the gap is once again going to widen until people begin to upgrade their devices on their own, or purchase a new phone with the OS installed. Google has made an excellent decision concerning the UI requirement because it’s going to force manufacturers to make the skins they put on devices a choice for users, not a mandatory “this is what you get.” This should lessen the time it takes to roll out new updates to legacy devices that can support the newest versions of Android.
What is genius on Google’s part is that it has escaped looking draconian by saying that don’t want to stop companies from “building their own themed experience across their devices.” In the same move that mandates uniformity, they give manufacturers a guideline where they can still control the look and feel to a certain point. I am encouraged greatly by this decision, it shows that Google is taking user issues seriously and is actively trying to make the platform better. Now if they could release an ICS based tablet to truly unify the platform experience across multiple devices, I will have gotten everything on my Christmas list.
via Android Developers Blog
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