Lead Android dev Jean-Baptiste Quéru has dropped some bad news for Nexus S and Motorola Xoom owners.
The Google developer says that neither device will be officially updated past their current Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean operating system.
In all, the news should not be too shocking to owners of the devices, since both are nearing two years old and are on antiquated hardware. Many Nexus ... [ read the full article ]
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Looks like it may be time to root my Xoom... But this raises the larger concern that Android hardware can quickly become outdated and obsolete after only two years of service, even though they may function totally fine. Puts a major "buzz kill" on purchasing top of the line devices that run the Android platform.
Originally posted by phobet: Looks like it may be time to root my Xoom... But this raises the larger concern that Android hardware can quickly become outdated and obsolete after only two years of service, even though they may function totally fine. Puts a major "buzz kill" on purchasing top of the line devices that run the Android platform.
First, the time to root was the day you bought it. The base distro is a relatively minor reason to root IMHO...my Galaxy S3 is rooted and I didn't even bother to update to the latest OTA version. However, I did get to restore all my apps and settings and I was able to greatly improve performance by renaming some APK files.
Second, the idea that a device is "only" current for two years in a market that smashes Moore's Law estimates is hardly a complaint. You can't get the latest iOS features on an iPhone4 that is only a few months old.
Third, it is not a PC...it is not meant to be upgradable for years and years even when there is no benefit to upgrading. Most people would rather just stick with the old distro that works well...and an official update would either force them to update or confuse them about if they should update or not (most would update just out of security fears). If you want 4.2 on your phone, in spite of the drawbacks, root it...don't wish that it was forced on everyone else.
