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by MAGZine 4618 days ago
Because every Android device running an certain version of an OS all have exactly the same functionality for the most part.

iOS might have everyone on the same version, but features are pruned for older hardware. As if getting through one software revision wasn't difficult enough through manufacturers and carriers to a magnitude of devices...

users who are determined can still get the latest version of android on whatever phone they please.
2 comments
millstone 4618 days ago
> Because every Android device running an certain version of an OS all have exactly the same functionality for the most part.

Google seems to be encouraging the opposite:

"A new API, ActivityManager.isLowRamDevice(), lets you tune your app's behavior to match the device's memory configuration. You can modify or disable large-memory features as needed, depending on the use-cases you want to support on entry-level devices.”

http://developer.android.com/about/versions/kitkat.html

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jinushaun 4617 days ago
It's not about user-facing features. It's about the damn API version! Fragmentation is a problem for users AND developers. With the news about the Galaxy Nexus, Google is basically telling developers to keep targeting old version of Android and avoid the latest APIs. As far as I'm concerned, the Android Support Library is the one true API.
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MAGZine 4617 days ago
Android API version isn't as big of a deal anymore, since they've been moving to offload everything onto apps which are updatable separate of the OS.
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