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I was unable to find anything about this using the search, sorry if this is a repost.
Google is set to announce details on it's Android mobile OS today at noon. Will this affect the Hermes? It definitely sounds interesting.
Link
Industry Leaders Announce Open Platform for Mobile Devices
Group Pledges to Unleash Innovation for Mobile Users Worldwide
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.; BONN, Germany; TAOYUAN, Taiwan; SAN DIEGO, Calif.; SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (November 5, 2007) -- A broad alliance of leading technology and wireless companies today joined forces to announce the development of Android, the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. Google Inc., T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola and others have collaborated on the development of Android through the Open Handset Alliance, a multinational alliance of technology and mobile industry leaders.
This alliance shares a common goal of fostering innovation on mobile devices and giving consumers a far better user experience than much of what is available on today's mobile platforms. By providing developers a new level of openness that enables them to work more collaboratively, Android will accelerate the pace at which new and compelling mobile services are made available to consumers.
With nearly 3 billion users worldwide, the mobile phone has become the most personal and ubiquitous communications device. However, the lack of a collaborative effort has made it a challenge for developers, wireless operators and handset manufacturers to respond as quickly as possible to the ever-changing needs of savvy mobile consumers. Through Android, developers, wireless operators and handset manufacturers will be better positioned to bring to market innovative new products faster and at a much lower cost. The end result will be an unprecedented mobile platform that will enable wireless operators and manufacturers to give their customers better, more personal and more flexible mobile experiences.
Thirty-four companies have formed the Open Handset Alliance, which aims to develop technologies that will significantly lower the cost of developing and distributing mobile devices and services. The Android platform is the first step in this direction -- a fully integrated mobile "software stack" that consists of an operating system, middleware, user-friendly interface and applications. Consumers should expect the first phones based on Android to be available in the second half of 2008.
The Android platform will be made available under one of the most progressive, developer-friendly open-source licenses, which gives mobile operators and device manufacturers significant freedom and flexibility to design products. Next week the Alliance will release an early access software development kit to provide developers with the tools necessary to create innovative and compelling applications for the platform.
Android holds the promise of unprecedented benefits for consumers, developers and manufacturers of mobile services and devices. Handset manufacturers and wireless operators will be free to customize Android in order to bring to market innovative new products faster and at a much lower cost. Developers will have complete access to handset capabilities and tools that will enable them to build more compelling and user-friendly services, bringing the Internet developer model to the mobile space. And consumers worldwide will have access to less expensive mobile devices that feature more compelling services, rich Internet applications and easier-to-use interfaces -- ultimately creating a superior mobile experience.
Open Software, Open Device, Open Ecosystem
"This partnership will help unleash the potential of mobile technology for billions of users around the world. A fresh approach to fostering innovation in the mobile industry will help shape a new computing environment that will change the way people access and share information in the future," said Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt. "Today's announcement is more ambitious than any single 'Google Phone' that the press has been speculating about over the past few weeks. Our vision is that the powerful platform we're unveiling will power thousands of different phone models."
"As a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance, T-Mobile is committed to innovation and fostering an open platform for wireless services to meet the rapidly evolving and emerging needs of wireless customers," said René Obermann, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Telekom, parent company of T-Mobile. "Google has been an established partner for T-Mobile’s groundbreaking approach to bring the mobile open Internet to the mass market. We see the Android platform as an exciting opportunity to launch robust wireless Internet and Web 2.0 services for T-Mobile customers in the US and Europe in 2008."
"HTC's trademark on the mobile industry has been its ability to drive cutting-edge innovation into a wide variety of mobile devices to create the perfect match for individuals," said Peter Chou, Chief Executive Officer, HTC Corp. "Our participation in the Open Handset Alliance and integration of the Android platform in the second half of 2008 enables us to expand our device portfolio into a new category of connected mobile phones that will change the complexion of the mobile industry and re-create user expectations of the mobile phone experience."
"The convergence of the wireless and Internet industries is creating new partnerships, evolving business models and driving innovation," said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, Chief Executive Officer of Qualcomm. "We are extremely pleased to be participating in the Open Handset Alliance, whose mission is to help build the leading open-source application platform for 3G networks. The proliferation of open-standards-based handsets will provide an exciting new opportunity to create compelling services and devices. As a result, we are committing research and development resources to enable the Android platform and to create the best always-connected consumer experience on our chipsets."
"Motorola has long been an advocate of open software for mobile platforms. Today, we're excited to continue this support by joining Google and others in the announcement of the Open Handset Alliance and Android platform. Motorola plans to leverage the Android platform to enable seamless, connected services and rich consumer experiences in future Motorola products," said Ed Zander, Chairman and CEO of Motorola, Inc.
Open Handset Alliance Founding Members
Aplix (www.aplixcorp.com), Ascender Corporation (www.ascendercorp.com), Audience (www.audience.com), Broadcom (www.broadcom.com), China Mobile (www.chinamobile.com), eBay (www.ebay.com), Esmertec (www.esmertec.com), Google (www.google.com), HTC (www.htc.com), Intel (www.intel.com), KDDI (www.kddi.com), LivingImage (www.livingimage.jp), LG (www.lge.com), Marvell (www.marvell.com), Motorola (www.motorola.com), NMS Communications (www.nmscommunications.com), Noser (www.noser.com), NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (www.nttdocomo.com), Nuance (www.nuance.com), Nvidia (www.nvidia.com), PacketVideo (www.packetvideo.com), Qualcomm (www.qualcomm.com), Samsung (www.samsung.com), SiRF (www.sirf.com), SkyPop (www.skypop.com), SONiVOX (www.sonivoxrocks.com), Sprint Nextel (www.sprint.com), Synaptics (www.synaptics.com), TAT - The Astonishing Tribe (www.tat.se), Telecom Italia (www.telecomitalia.com), Telefónica (www.telefonica.es), Texas Instruments (www.ti.com), T-Mobile (www.t-mobile.com), Wind River (www.windriver.com).
For more information about the Open Handset Alliance, visit the website at www.openhandsetalliance.com.
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so just a thought , you guys know of any other new os for phones that are in development that look really promising?
With out the app market systems og Android, IPhone, and the Windows, I do not see how any OS Will grab a foothole for a long time.
boominz28 said:
so just a thought , you guys know of any other new os for phones that are in development that look really promising?
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There's bada, which appears to be stripped down android that samsung wants to start using for entry level "smart" phones.
MeeGo springs to mind as the only OS that isn't already out and has a chance to be a contender
The only two real possibilities might be WebOS and Meego, but even they probably have no real future unless they can encapsulate Android compatibility and offer something compelling that goes above and beyond it. WebOS might pull it off, but IMHO Meego is a lost cause, just because:
a) Nokia is its only real supporter,
b) Nokia has allowed itself to become almost completely irrelevant in America as both a brand name AND technology provider,
c) it's almost impossible IMHO for any hardware platform with basically zero mindshare in America to become more than a niche local product. America might be a small part of the global market in terms of units sold, but it's a very influential part of it. Nokia's fatal mistake was assuming that the sole value of the American market was the (minimal) revenue it made by selling phones to American carriers, while totally ignoring the staggering global influence of American media on the rest of the world. The outcome is something we've all seen... 5 years of "Smartphone Roundups" that didn't even mention the EXISTENCE of Nokia phones, and led to them becoming all but irrelevant among high end phone users even in their own home market: Europe. Nokia might try waving the flag and getting people to think Android is "too American"... and they'll fail, because it seems like at least half of Android's core developers are European (even if they live and work in Mountain View), and I don't think even Google will ever really be able to control Android's future global destiny once Chinese developers get tired of waiting for Google to fix things they care about passionately and just take matters into their own hands in ways that cause it to lose full compatibility with "mainstream" Android in ways that can't easily be reconciled.
It's not impossible that some other standard might emerge from China (unique in the sense that its domestic market is basically the same size as the entire rest of the world minus India and Africa, and most phones sold worldwide actually COME from China), but even in China, I'd put the smart money on either Android or a mostly-compatible fork of it. IMHO, China's contribution to our future happiness will be phones that are like PCs... more or less commodity hardware differentiated by speed, aesthetics, ergonomics, and niche peripherals that's perfectly happy running GoogleAndroid, a Chinese variant of Android, Windows*, or a slightly hacked & pirated copy of IOS. Phones sold by companies like Motorola and Samsung will be the equivalent of a micro-sized PC made by HP, sold at Wal Mart, ships with Windows, and nobody has ever successfully gotten Linux to work on because it uses some wacky proprietary video chipset that's undocumented and lacks drivers for anything besides the specific version of Windows that PC shipped with from the factory. Companies like Dell and HTC will sell phones intended for Android, but capable of being coaxed into other OS'es with a bit of work (like running Linux on a Dell Laptop today), and most of US at XDA will have phones designed and marketed by medium-sized companies that focus on trying to outdo each other with arms-race hardware based on bleeding-edge chip and circuit designs that looked good in cad, in the analyzer, and maybe even in the prototype... but inevitably have some major problem that didn't become obvious until 250,000 were made, sold, and bought by users who assumed the flakiness was due to rushed beta drivers instead of some deeper design flaw or premature attempt at cost-cutting that went a bit too far.
SBP Mobile Shell 5.0
Lets not forget android has only been out a few f years and its in its infant stage still. I think future development will blow away the competition once its fully established. The monopoly windows has on pcs is why people still haven't realized the advances of linux yet at the same time we are starting to see that break with some major pc companies shipping systems with linux pre loaded.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
To a degree, yes... but pervasive Windows hegemony is also part of the reason Linux could get a foothold in PCs at all. By being largely compatible with hardware capable of running Windows, PCs capable of running Windows ended up being capable of running Linux by default.
Even now, the fact that it's *possible* to run desktop Linux (KDE, Gnome, etc) on non-x86 hardware doesn't mean that your life won't be *way* more complicated if you insist on trying. Even x86-64 users get a pretty good taste of the sting that comes from deviating from the de-facto hardware norm.
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Microsoft and Nokia have just announced a broad partnership which could possibly mean a big threat to HTC.
What do you guys think about this?
Open Letter from CEO Stephen Elop, Nokia and CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft
Microsoft blog editor
10 Feb 2011 8:51 PM
Today in London, our two companies announced plans for a broad strategic partnership that combines the respective strengths of our companies and builds a new global mobile ecosystem. The partnership increases our scale, which will result in significant benefits for consumers, developers, mobile operators and businesses around the world. We both are incredibly excited about the journey we are on together.
While the specific details of the deal are being worked out, here’s a quick summary of what we are working towards:
• Nokia will adopt Windows Phone as its primary smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader.
• Nokia will help drive and define the future of Windows Phone. Nokia will contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.
• Nokia and Microsoft will closely collaborate on development, joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.
• Bing will power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter will provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services.
• Nokia Maps will be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services. For example, Maps would be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and AdCenter advertising platform to form a unique local search and advertising experience
• Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements will make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low.
• Microsoft development tools will be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allowing developers to easily leverage the ecosystem’s global reach.
• Microsoft will continue to invest in the development of Windows Phone and cloud services so customers can do more with their phone, across their work and personal lives.
• Nokia’s content and application store will be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience.
We each bring incredible assets to the table. Nokia’s history of innovation in the hardware space, global hardware scale, strong history of intellectual property creation and navigation assets are second to none. Microsoft is a leader in software and services; the company’s incredible expertise in platform creation forms the opportunity for its billions of customers and millions of partners to get more out of their devices.
Together, we have some of the world’s most admired brands, including Windows, Office, Bing, Xbox Live, NAVTEQ and Nokia. We also have a shared understanding of what it takes to build and sustain a mobile ecosystem, which includes the entire experience from the device to the software to the applications, services and the marketplace.
Today, the battle is moving from one of mobile devices to one of mobile ecosystems, and our strengths here are complementary. Ecosystems thrive when they reach scale, when they are fueled by energy and innovation and when they provide benefits and value to each person or company who participates. This is what we are creating; this is our vision; this is the work we are driving from this day forward.
There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them.
There will be challenges. We will overcome them.
Success requires speed. We will be swift.
Together, we see the opportunity, and we have the will, the resources and the drive to succeed.
Stephen Elop, CEO, NOKIA and Steve Ballmer, CEO, MICROSOFT
I think this will help wp7 become a major competitor of android and iphone. It will bring some competition to HTC, but that's what brings innovation and creativity. HTC will be fine. We might be seeing some nice devices from nokia... and nokia devices have always been pretty hackable. So whether this is good or bad for HTC, I think this will be good for us consumers.
• Nokia will help drive and define the future of Windows Phone. Nokia will contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.
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I'm guessing by "Larger range of price points" they mostly mean cheaper phones. While budget phones have traditionally been one of Nokia's strong points, I think it's not necessarily a good idea for Microsoft to use WP7 for this. Given the hardware requirements for WP7, they simply won't be able to beat Android there. At the same time, they will most likely be eroding WP7's image as a premium experience. This, to me, seems like a huge mistake.
• Nokia and Microsoft will closely collaborate on development, joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.
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Great! I can't wait for Nokia to add the same magical touch to WP7 that made their own flagship phones, like the N97, such a joy to use!
• Nokia’s content and application store will be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience.
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They're not talking about that OVI stuff, are they? A more compelling consumer experience, really? From what I can see, Microsoft's Marketplace is doing quite well as it is.
Overall, I see this as a desperate move by both players involved. Nokia has failed utterly to bring something worthwhile to the smartphone market in the past years. I'm guessing Microsoft is just desperate to put more WP7 hardware out there - right now, it seems that for every WP7 phone, the same manufacturer will have at least 10 Android phones in its line-up.
I like this. Nokia is still a huge player. And both could benefit from this.
Nokia is known for its great and robust hardware.
Nokia could bring a n95 like device, with a larger screen, slide out nummeric or qwerty keyboard and carl zeiss optics, where HTC has to do it with other camera lenses.
Good move all round.
I think it is a good move allround remember Nokia own NAVTEQ
the leading global provider of maps, traffic and location data.
It’s not like they can put out cheep W7P, due to the minimum speck Microsoft has I am looking forward to a high end W7P in about a year, when my contract runs out.
WP7 may be superior to Apple iOS when used by the novice consumer. Nokia does create marvelous hardware.
Together, they may give Apple and Google a real run for the money.
I think the best thing for us is real competion in the market.
Plus I really hope that the new WP7 will grow strong in time - after all the having choice is the best thing for us - the consumers.
Btw. I found this thing on the net no so long ago - wonder if this will be real
http://www.nokiaphones.net/nokia-concept-windows-phone-7-smartphone/
looks pretty nice and apparently it's designed by a design studio from poland
http://www.mindsailors.com/
I would change the term "threat" from the thread title to "chance".
HTC has been the strongest fighter for the Windows Mobile platform, and they are the strongest competitor with Windows Phone 7, too.
Microsoft won´t be that stupid to endanger that valuable long-term partnership.
In the opposite, I do believe the new partnership between MS and Nokia might bring a certain boost to WP7. But then again, 2 big losers in the same ship doesn´t mean this makes everything a winner. Both of them missed too many opportunities for too much time.
Problem is usually, they are too big, too slow, too far away from us, the users.
In the sum, HTC might be one of the bigger winners on the long run.
Yes I know this is a forum dealing with Android and the Galaxy S...however there are some moments that need to be commemorated.
As most of you know by now, HP has responded to the humiliating failure of their webOS based TouchPad tablet by ending all production of webOS devices (and seem to be about to do the same to their PC line as well). They are saying they are open to someone purchasing the operating system, or licensing it for other devices...but rational voices are rightfully declaring webOS dead once and for all...the final end of Jeff Hawkin's Palm Computing.
webOS is the descendant of the classic Palm OS developed by Hawkins which basically created the market for mobile computing devices for consumers. It was purchased a bit more than a year ago by HP who had intended to use it as the cornerstone for a panoply of mobile products...which never came to be. It is open to debate if the cause of that failure was market realities, or HP corporate chaos, or brand mismanagement, the rise of Android, or Apple being Apple...to be fair the "why" doesn't really matter.
I first entered the mobile computing world with a Palm Tungsten E. I adored it and went on to own 6 Palm OS devices. I still have my favorite Palm device, a Tungsten C, lovingly displayed on my desk like a relic. Palm OS seemed to me at the time to be the perfect compromise between portability and computing power, a simple architecture with thousands and thousands of apps. At the time, Palm and Microsoft's PocketPC were locked in a battle to see who would rule mobile computing...how naive that seems now.
Palm should have been Apple. They really should have been. They had a totally unique niche, and thousands of loyal developers. They had positive buzz in the market and were well liked by the tech press. Their name was synonymous with handheld computers and a powerful brand. They were poised to go beyond PDAs when the Treo was the premier smartphone on the market. Then however, for many sad, inexplicable legal, financial and creative reasons...Palm OS development just stopped and some horrible mistakes were made.
After Palm had been bought and sold by such likes as US Robotics and 3M, Palm was spun out into an independent company again and chose the opposite road that Apple would one day take, splitting into PalmOne for hardware, and PalmSource for software. Palm had lost control of their own OS, with PalmOne licensing the software from PalmSource. From 2002 to 2007 Palm OS 5, codenamed Garnet, was the only offering from PalmSource. They kept promising a next generation OS, to be called Cobalt, but after numerous delays and a half baked attempt at offering both Garnet and Cobalt at once, no devices were ever created using Cobalt. and the Palm OS went into development hell, and PalmSource was bought by ACCESS in a scheme to create the first consumer oriented Linux mobile OS. No devices have ever used the Access Linus OS, either. When it was clear ACCESS had no clue what they were doing, PalmOne renamed themselves Palm again and chose not to license their own OS back and instead created webOS. The Palm Pre was supposed to be the great iPhone killer...but wasn't. Then HP bought Palm and the rest is history...or tragedy.
If Palm had made use of the years between 2005 and 2010 to innovate and make use of their army of developers, Apple's iPhone could very well have found themselves struggling to enter a marklet dominated by the Treo 3G. Instead, Steve Jobs just swept the bones of the Palm OS out of the way and claimed many of the revolutionary features of Palm OS among his own inventions.
What can Google learn from all of this to help Android? First of all, keep control of the OS at ALL COSTS. Hardware may come, hardware may go, but the OS is the key. Next, keep momentum at all times. If a mobile OS stops developing and innovating, it dies.
Lastly, never assume that the status quo will remain static. Ten years ago the companies to watch in the mobile space were Palm and Microsoft...now one is gone and the other is a minor force in mobile. 5 years ago Blackberry ruled. Now, the question is who will buy them for patents and customer base. Currently Apple and Google are titans which fanbois will tell you will reign forever...but either one could be sent back to being an also-ran and a trivia question by just a few serious mis-steps.
The mobile market is a volatile, ever changing thing...for now, we all love our Samsung Android phones...in a year, will we still say the same, or will my SGS sit next to my Tungsten C as I write about how great Android was back in the day?
Very nicely written and informative post. But perhaps it would get more attention in the general android section? It really deserves it!
Very nice reading my friend!... I think you have a really valid point... "Hardware may come, Hardware may go...." If Google doesn't take FULL control of Android it will fragment to much until it dies... If the companies (Samsung, Sony Ericsson, HTC, LG etc...) Want Android to power their devices then is up to them to standarize some sort of hardware and Not Android to accomodate to each one of them...
At the end only time will tell what's going to happen as you clearly mention with Palm vs Microsoft example...
My 2 cents...
JIM
Yup, RIP webOS. It really is freaking awesome OS, my other phone is palm pre. It's a shame it never really took of, ot would be killer OS on a proper hardware.
Hope they make it open source and/or license it to OEMs.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
I have the 2012 Note 10.1 for personal use and have come to the unfortunate resolution that Android just isn't going to cut it from a business perspective. I am not putting the full blame on either the manufacturers or Android itself but without timely updates to a specific platform, I can not justify the use of these in a production environment. There is no way company can justify replacing their hardware yearly, or regularly, in order to get the latest features and security fixes that are provided in updates. Ignoring the additional features for the time being, from a security stand point there has to be a way to patch the devices in a timely manner. The additional features being provided drives the developers to migrate to the newer operating systems and leaving the old systems behind. A lot of times this creates a huge disadvantage in the fact you can run a particular application on one Android device but is unsupported on another.
Now to be fair. I am focusing on Android in this post but have tested Microsoft and iPad devices as well. All have certain advantages and disadvantages but the clear loser so far has been Android. If Android is going to survive in the business world, the manufacturers are going to have to step up and maintain their products actively for at least the full two years of their life expectancy.Android itself will have to hold the manufacturers accountable for keeping their devices maintained. From a personal use perspective, I think it is a great platform and love my Note 10.1. Would I like to see it get updated, I would love to see 4.4.2 on the device to allow me to run application I need that are no longer compatible with 4.1.2. However, I require vulnerability patches in a timely manner and that just isn't happening.
My last job had hired a full time developer to build a custom ROM and patch or update when needed for all the tablets being used on the floor. This approach worked for them because there was only one model in use across all departments.
You should blame Samsung for the late major update for GT-N80XX.
Android actively pushing regular update (minor & major).
Actually Samsung also pushing regular update, but it's only 1 major update (ICS to JB) & some minor/security updates.
If a business used the nexus tablets, they wouldn't have this problem.
theatomizer90 said:
If a business used the nexus tablets, they wouldn't have this problem.
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Not necessarily true. Most current android version is 4.4.4 while my N7 LTE still sits at 4.4.3 with no update even spoken of. So if a business has data enabled tablets, they're still behind current version.
What OP posted doesn't really apply to large businesses. Between KNOX and other third party equivalents sensitive data is sandboxed and doesn't rely on the core B2C version of the OS to protect it. As much as Google may see Android's potential in the business environment no one I know in IT at a bunch of Fortune 1K companies is looking at mobile OS's (either Android or iOS) to replace desktop/laptops as "standard" issue. Tablet and smartphone apps have niche opportunities (commercial pilot manuals and logs, flight attendant passenger service tools, gate agent/hotel staff roaming terminals, sales people inventory access, remote staff automated forms, etc.) but migrating the entire enterprise to mobile architecture just doesn't make sense. So Android can't lose anything it never had and, outside Google's wishes, isn't seriously considered for. The lack of Chromebook adoption by the enterprise demonstrates their disinterest.
BarryH_GEG said:
What OP posted doesn't really apply to large businesses. Between KNOX and other third party equivalents sensitive data is sandboxed and doesn't rely on the core B2C version of the OS to protect it. As much as Google may see Android's potential in the business environment no one I know in IT at a bunch of Fortune 1K companies is looking at mobile OS's (either Android or iOS) to replace desktop/laptops as "standard" issue. Tablet and smartphone apps have niche opportunities (commercial pilot manuals and logs, flight attendant passenger service tools, gate agent/hotel staff roaming terminals, sales people inventory access, remote staff automated forms, etc.) but migrating the entire enterprise to mobile architecture just doesn't make sense. So Android can't lose anything it never had and, outside Google's wishes, isn't seriously considered for. The lack of Chromebook adoption by the enterprise demonstrates their disinterest.
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Not sure if I totally agree with the application only being a niche market. I work for a call center and find that the tablets are becoming an indispensable tool. We have people walking the floor with these devices and using them to keep track of various statistics as well as using them to report potential issues. The ability to pull up data about current client information to respond in an almost instant manner has shaped things drastically. Having a sandbox is really great for protecting certain information, such as email, etc.. but can not protect the device data in flux, such as web browser content. If the system is compromised and access to the file system is obtained then all the data previously obtained becomes available to the attacker. Some measure can be made such as requiring Citrix as your primary form of connectivity but you are only pushing the security back to another device. The focus of this article was to point out the shortcomings of the this tablet as it pertains to the lack of updates.
Don't get me wrong, I truly love Android and will continue to use it as a personal device. However, there is no way I can risk releasing these devices into a production environment without the proper support. And yes, I blame the manufacturer for release and forget, and I blame Android for not enforcing the manufactures to keep these update. It is crucial to both parties to work together and produce something that is not just desirable but maintained for a reasonable amount of time. If Android could come up with a way to provide updates to devices directly and bypass the manufacturer they would have an unbeatable platform.
Zeab said:
Not sure if I totally agree with the application only being a niche market. I work for a call center and find that the tablets are becoming an indispensable tool. We have people walking the floor with these devices and using them to keep track of various statistics as well as using them to report potential issues. The ability to pull up data about current client information to respond in an almost instant manner has shaped things drastically. Having a sandbox is really great for protecting certain information, such as email, etc.. but can not protect the device data in flux, such as web browser content. If the system is compromised and access to the file system is obtained then all the data previously obtained becomes available to the attacker. Some measure can be made such as requiring Citrix as your primary form of connectivity but you are only pushing the security back to another device. The focus of this article was to point out the shortcomings of the this tablet as it pertains to the lack of updates.
Don't get me wrong, I truly love Android and will continue to use it as a personal device. However, there is no way I can risk releasing these devices into a production environment without the proper support. And yes, I blame the manufacturer for release and forget, and I blame Android for not enforcing the manufactures to keep these update. It is crucial to both parties to work together and produce something that is not just desirable but maintained for a reasonable amount of time. If Android could come up with a way to provide updates to devices directly and bypass the manufacturer they would have an unbeatable platform.
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Anytime a serious security breach that can be used from without to effect changes on a device have come to light I have seen updates come out on all my tablets and phones, which is blessedly rare. Android does not operate in the way you are thinking. There is no need to constantly shove out security updates like windows. The system is pretty well secure unless you unsecure it yourself, new versions of the OS usually just add functions, however there is a current (when is there not?) RUMOR of a adobe bug on all versions of android lower than 4.0. Personally I still prefere windows for business simply because of ease of function and with baytrail cpu's and even more promising hardware coming this year I find no reason not to use windows for hard business needs if your business can benefit from tablet use. There are a plethora of cheap windows tablets coming and the current hp omni 10 is powerful enough to suit any light tablet buisness needs for just 299.00 if your business needs more power pay the premium for a surface pro with a full on i3,5,7 cpu fully capable of doing the work of a high end laptop. All that said, I feel Android is if anything more secure than a windows machine. Nothing comes in unless you invite it. Updates not needed until such time as Android can add base functionality in the realm of windows 7, and it is close imho.
Check the trends
Have to agree with Zeab. The university I work for is now supporting apple mobile devices but not android. And despite my having pressured for some support, what support is was for android devices is disappearing. Why ?
Android from one device to the next is different enough to make support difficult if not impossible. Providing advice on connections to secure servers and use of common software falls foul of the same issue.
Android device manufacturers have attempted to sequester their market by creating difference, but all they'll achieve is failure. Add to that the early obsolescence they have engineered and android is dying, even as its market share grows!
We now as a family have windows, apple and android devices. If I include TVs and media devices the list lengthens. The only option that provides continuity of operating system and software, and longer term support with updates is Apple. Given the way Microsoft has gone off the rails with windows 8.1 (I really do believe that OSs should make my computing experience easier, not harder), I think we will be going Apple in the future.