How much does an updated Android version improve your experience?

[mikael_schiffer]

There has never been a bigger leap than the Ice Cream update for Android. It was also a huge leap in terms of numbers as it totally skipped the number 3. (Google, like Gabe Newel, hates no.3) . I remember the time when we switched our Android from Gingerbread 2.3 to 4.0. It was the only time,when i felt that the update WAS AN UPDATE

BUTTHURT RANT MODE ON

Back in early 2013, when i upgraded by Galaxy S2 ,from Ice Cream 4.0 to Jellybean 4.1, it was SUCH a huge let down. The TouchWiz UI which never seemed to lag was now lagging(imagination maybe?maybe....) I was busy in XDA forums trying to figure out how to move back to Ice Cream Sandwich. Ever since Jellybean, TouchWiz has become the bane of Samsung.

Now we see newer iterations almost bi-annually, pulling all fanDroids in unison of frenzy only iFans can compare to. Like my friends who got their 4.4 update on their Galaxy S4..they were so happy because they "FLASHED" (thats their interpretation for update)their mobile for Rs300 from the local fraudsters disguised under the banner of "MOBILE PHONE SHOP" ....whats there to be so happy about?? Did your txt messaging become faster? did games run smoother? all the while ignoring the fact that 4.4 update has taken away a lot from them. Take for example Moto G. People with older Moto G (in the US) on Jellybean were nicely enjoying OTG on their phone which doesnt have expandable storage(#justgooglethings)..imagine their shock when that feature was taken away after Kitkat update. In Google's defense- "we want consumers to adopt cloud computing because it is the future" (#justgooglethings). I wish my Moto G shipped with 4.3

On a personal side, my Tegra Note can move game files to SD, but 4.4 KitKat takes away the feature,so i refuse to update . I use a 32GB SD card that accompanies the inbuilt 12GB usable storage...but that's far from adequate. 3-4 HD games like GTA:SA or XCOM:EU and even that 12GB storage is choking for space (forcing me to move data to SD). Seriously how on earth do NEXUS gamers manage?? Salute to you guys, SALUTE!

My aging secondary phone Xperia M got 4.3 update too. Frankly speaking , if it was 4.4, i would have refused to update. How was my experience? OMG WHY DID I UPDATE. The phonebook takes like 5 seconds to load. The updated Album,Gallery,Walkman..ughhh so friggin slowww! Can you imagine how tedious the Walkman is now? You open Walkman app, and you are presented with a home screen which shows Huge tile icons(Album Art Thumbnail) of about 6-7 random songs. To select Artists, i have to click i tiny button in the top left corner, which pops out a side bar (like TouchWiz)which lists the usual Artists,Albums etc etc . Is this what software innovation has come to? Removing conveniences in place for "changes" purely for namesake??? Pffttttt... I bet if this phone got Kitkat, it will require another 2-3 taps to get into Artists.
And please dont get me started on battery life. I understand that newer "optimization" and "goodies" can take a toll on battery on phone usage....but why did the standby time decrease?? Seriously???? Whom should i blame? Sony? Google? or the entire software industry??
Improved camera performance...ummm hey Sony, how do i tell my phone that "YOU HAS BEEN UPDATED SO PLEASE PRODUCE BETTER IMAGE QUALITY!!!" My phone made a jump from 4.1 to 4.3, but it simply refuses to act like 4.3... cuz its stubbornly AS BAD AS ALWAYS. I think the new BLOATED camera interface is too much for the Snapdragon 400 SoC, which is the most common SoC in the world yet who gives a frak about optimizations right??

I used to be an Android fan till Ice Cream Sandwich days. It showed promise back then..i felt good inside,supporting something Microsoft hated...it made me feel like a badass rebel of the technology world... Now Google is just another capitalist corporate house. Worst of all, they have brain washed the smart-techie-intellectual demographic of the mobile world. I find it morbidly funny when a fanDroid makes fun of an iFan. Its like a 1Direction fan making fun of a Beiber fan. Neither realizes that their life is a friggin joke!

BUTTHURT RANT MODE OFF

 

[Vyom]

I agree with some points. Increasing version of Android phones have taken a lot than providing. Like the AppOps. Google provided AppOps with Android 4.3 which allowed users to selectively remove permission from any app if you find them suspicious. But it was shockingly and surprisingly removed from the update 4.2.2 citing "Security Update". Oh hell yea. Let all apps which I use for "free" get access to "all my data" even if they don't need it. I am using a "free app" after all. I don't deserve any privacy. (Read more about it here: What is App Ops, and why did Google remove it from Android? | Pocketnow)

The only reason why these updates haven't affected me is because I have rooted my device. And have installed Custom ROM that brings all those features which the "upgrades" take away, plus dump more awesome feature I probably won't even use!

Maybe its true after all. Google is slowly making users dependent more and more on their ecosystem, and taking control away from masses.

Btw, Nexus users manage by keeping and playing only one or two high end games at one time

 

[ariftwister]

Upgrading OS always keep you in advantage. While some things get removed in new update, you get massive advantage in new OS. For eg my 512 MB RAM xperia could barely manage 4.3 (CM ofcourse) but 4.4 is running smoothly. Because they have improved memory management.

 

[tkin]

After 4.2 I didn't feel any improvement.

 

[Hrishi]

The biggest leap I have seen in 2.3 to 4.X . It was a substantial difference. But after 4.3 it was mostly minor upgrades untill Kitkat where they tweaked the UI somewhat and made huge improvements in terms of hw consumption.

While the 4.1 to 4.3 phase was not very interesting but the later and the previous were good.
We should not crib too much about demanding huge changes.

Although I hate few things , specially the concept of limited memory in Nexus lineup .

I was using motorola atrix which was on gingerbread. It was stable but i honestly hated the interface.
I bought optims g which i used a lot on jellybean. It was stable but slow and painfully poor battery.
Recently moved to KK , and the experience in terms of efficiency , battery life , smoothness is very good. Its improved noticeably.

The jellybeans iterations didnt had too much of noticeable change , but other than its okay.

 

[$hadow]

For me 4.4.2 provided utterly smooth experience. And being optimised for 512 mb ram it even made my 2 years old s3 run way way smoother. Let alone my nexus 5 which is running awesome. We all nearly hate android skins but mainly the change and development is seen in these skins not on stock android.

 

[rish1]

android 4.4 is crap in terms of sd card restrictions.. if you really want to enjoy 4.4 then root is mandatory

android 2.3 was awesome .. even when phones had 100 mb internal memory one could easily have 7-8 big hd games installed..

tomorrow we might get android 4.5/5.0 lets see what google has in store for us ... at google io

 

[Minion]

android 4.0 is crap it looks good but it has some serious bugs mainly audio routing issues,heavy on ram. Best version is jellybean it is smooth and not resource hungry even consumes less ram while kitkat is not memory efficient like jellybean my moto E with only one apps only has 350 MB ram free while my brothers around 450 MB free on jellybean.