[betterth]

Anecdotally, I have the opposite experience. I can think of three Android users in my friend group so disillusioned with their SGS1 and 2 that they want to abandon Android as fast as possible.

Doing an OTA update on day one in fifteen minutes is a big factor. Nerds/tech crowd can get through Android updates but for the average user it's an utter clusterf* of a nightmare.

More work goes into figuring out IF your Android device will be updated than goes into the entire iOS update process...

[eropple]

The OTA update from 4.0 to 4.1 was "press button, wait a minute." And far as "figuring IF" my Android device will upgrade: I use a Galaxy Nexus. It'll get upgraded to the newest version for the foreseeable future. You might be shocked at how very, very little "work" that was.

(Yes, I'm saying "don't buy non-Nexus devices." Not like that's a hard one to grasp, though.)

[Caballera]

yes, it was a press button wait a minute, when the OTA update was finally released to you. I waited 4 days to get the OTA on my Galaxy Nexus. My iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS all were able to update when the new iOS was released, that day. No waiting.

[eropple]

The OTA update was released before I purchased my phone. I don't exactly wait with bated breath for oh my god the newest and bestest. It is more than "just" a phone, but the marginal value of an upgrade has not, to date, been worth being an early adopter for any one phone.

"But I had to wait four days" is really just...really? And that gets you frothy?

[betterth]

4 days shouldn't. A minority of Android devices, notably the most recent flagships, are getting decent upgrades.

But even a glance at what version of Android is being used: http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html shows that over 2/3 of all Android Users are still on 2.x or before, and it's very likely that many of them will never have an opportunity to upgrade.

That gets me frothy. iPhones get 3 to 3.5 years of updates, and Android devices averaged on whole are getting what, 1.5 to 2 years? Maybe less, considering how many aren't being updated?

The answer of "only buy a flagship" is bunk. If Google supported that answer, they should cut out the cruft. But Android is more than flagships.

[eropple]

And that's a better point. I'd like to see Google do a better job of it. However, Google's backport APIs are, in truth, pretty good, and I haven't yet found a problem with targeting a decent spread of devices.

[rustynails]

I've had a lot of grief with my iPhone 4. Let's see, 1. Shitty antenna - compensated with free case 2. Lack of free upgrades (Siri, maps) 3. Corrupted iPhone database meant I couldn't copy songs to my iPhone. Had to rebuild the phone to "recover" 4. All upgrades usually take me 1/2 a day to rebuild my phone, as everything is copied off and then back on. 5. Shitty iTunes that makes everything a bitch to get on/off my phone (see 3. Above). My wife has had almost no issues with her nexus s, nor has my best friend with his (inc. free unconditional upgrades) I'm not saying apple is bad, just saying the experience hasn't been as rosy as I would have "expected" given all of the pro IOS hype I read about, and the big price difference I paid vs the nexus s.

[betterth]

My point was that anecdotal experience is worse than useless, as everyone and their aunt has "a story".