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Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

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Owen Densmore

Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

Administrator

My current ancient ios iphone 4s is finally on its last legs. So I'm looking to decide between the new iPhone 6 reportedly available next month the various android devices. My ecology is basically google, so android would be preferred from that standpoint.

So, this popped up in a newsletter:

http://opensignal.com/reports/2014/android-fragmentation/

Now fragmentation is not a bad thing, just difficult for folks to manage, especially developers. But what is interesting is just how rich the android ecology is, but also how diverse.

And yes, the article is careful to point out samsung dominance and consider some of its specific fragmentation issues/advantages.

It's a well considered, non fanboi article, useful for folks deciding between various devices and form factors.

I did ask an android friend at Friam how he deletes apps on his phone. He couldn't delete the ones we tried, basically samsung built-in annoyances. Anyone know how?

-- Owen

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Steve Smith

Re: Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

Owen sed:

My current ancient ios iphone 4s is finally on its last legs.

And here I feel like my iPhone 4 is downright brandy new! I've only immersed it and tore it down twice so far... It's got at least one more good dunking in it! And despite my most fierce attempts, the gorilla glass *is* tough!

That said, I'm amazed at how far all of these devices (and ecology, and market) have come in a short 7? years, pretty much since the first iPhone was released (07?).

Next upgrade, I'm likely to try a "phablet" such as the upcoming Galaxy Note 4 with a >> 1080p 5" screen, planned to go into the Oculus Rift as well... so... just drop it into Google Cardboard and "wheee!"

I rarely put my phone to my ear anymore, using either headphones or speaker phone and as I more and more need reading glasses for smart-phone sized text, I will appreciate all the real-estate I can get, as long as it still fits in a pocket! Eventually they will get big enough to be harder to misplace!

- Steve

So I'm looking to decide between the new iPhone 6 reportedly available next month the various android devices. My ecology is basically google, so android would be preferred from that standpoint.

So, this popped up in a newsletter:

http://opensignal.com/reports/2014/android-fragmentation/

Now fragmentation is not a bad thing, just difficult for folks to manage, especially developers. But what is interesting is just how rich the android ecology is, but also how diverse.

And yes, the article is careful to point out samsung dominance and consider some of its specific fragmentation issues/advantages.

It's a well considered, non fanboi article, useful for folks deciding between various devices and form factors.

I did ask an android friend at Friam how he deletes apps on his phone. He couldn't delete the ones we tried, basically samsung built-in annoyances. Anyone know how?

-- Owen
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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Owen Densmore

Re: Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

Administrator

Good observations. I'm also interested in the phablets so am hoping the (presumed) larger iPhone6 at 5.5 inches might be interesting. Had a long chat at Friam with a Note 3 in hand, and it sure is a different experience than the large phones. Let us know what you find out.

-- Owen

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 1:25 PM, Steve Smith <[hidden email]> wrote:

Owen sed:

My current ancient ios iphone 4s is finally on its last legs.

And here I feel like my iPhone 4 is downright brandy new! I've only immersed it and tore it down twice so far... It's got at least one more good dunking in it! And despite my most fierce attempts, the gorilla glass *is* tough!

That said, I'm amazed at how far all of these devices (and ecology, and market) have come in a short 7? years, pretty much since the first iPhone was released (07?).

Next upgrade, I'm likely to try a "phablet" such as the upcoming Galaxy Note 4 with a >> 1080p 5" screen, planned to go into the Oculus Rift as well... so... just drop it into Google Cardboard and "wheee!"

I rarely put my phone to my ear anymore, using either headphones or speaker phone and as I more and more need reading glasses for smart-phone sized text, I will appreciate all the real-estate I can get, as long as it still fits in a pocket! Eventually they will get big enough to be harder to misplace!

- Steve
So I'm looking to decide between the new iPhone 6 reportedly available next month the various android devices. My ecology is basically google, so android would be preferred from that standpoint.

So, this popped up in a newsletter:

http://opensignal.com/reports/2014/android-fragmentation/

Now fragmentation is not a bad thing, just difficult for folks to manage, especially developers. But what is interesting is just how rich the android ecology is, but also how diverse.

And yes, the article is careful to point out samsung dominance and consider some of its specific fragmentation issues/advantages.

It's a well considered, non fanboi article, useful for folks deciding between various devices and form factors.

I did ask an android friend at Friam how he deletes apps on his phone. He couldn't delete the ones we tried, basically samsung built-in annoyances. Anyone know how?

-- Owen
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

Robert Holmes-3

Re: Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

In reply to this post by Owen Densmore

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 11:43 AM, Owen Densmore <[hidden email]> wrote:

My current ancient ios iphone 4s is finally on its last legs.

That's the iphone 4s that came out in Octiober 2011? i.e. less than 3 years ago?

I'm curious, what are the features that you really, really need and don't have in your 'ancient' phone? ;)

Owen Densmore

Re: Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

Administrator

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 2:59 PM, Robert Holmes <[hidden email]> wrote:

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 11:43 AM, Owen Densmore <[hidden email]> wrote:

My current ancient ios iphone 4s is finally on its last legs.

That's the iphone 4s that came out in Octiober 2011? i.e. less than 3 years ago?

I'm curious, what are the features that you really, really need and don't have in your 'ancient' phone? ;)

It's a bit slow, for one thing. And in my experience, phones start failing at this age. It's way out of contract too, so a new phone would be pretty cheap

I'm also interested in the larger screens. I find the tiny screen makes browser use pretty bad. Oh, and I also need better performance, especially with webgl development.

-- Owen

Tom Johnson

Re: Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

Given your Italian travel, be sure to check out the deals at T-mobile.

-tj

============================================
Tom Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA
505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)
Twitter: jtjohnson

slideshare.net/jtjohnson/presentations

http://www.jtjohnson.com [hidden email]
============================================

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 3:55 PM, Owen Densmore <[hidden email]> wrote:

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 2:59 PM, Robert Holmes <[hidden email]> wrote:

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 11:43 AM, Owen Densmore <[hidden email]> wrote:

My current ancient ios iphone 4s is finally on its last legs.

That's the iphone 4s that came out in Octiober 2011? i.e. less than 3 years ago?

I'm curious, what are the features that you really, really need and don't have in your 'ancient' phone? ;)

It's a bit slow, for one thing. And in my experience, phones start failing at this age. It's way out of contract too, so a new phone would be pretty cheap

I'm also interested in the larger screens. I find the tiny screen makes browser use pretty bad. Oh, and I also need better performance, especially with webgl development.

-- Owen

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

Robert Holmes-3

Re: Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 4:24 PM, Tom Johnson <[hidden email]> wrote:

Given your Italian travel, be sure to check out the deals at T-mobile.

I can talk to that. I got a Note 3 on T-mobile precisely because of the international data for when I travel to the UK. I learned the hard way that you really have to read the fine print. The "unlimited" service is limited internationally to 128k (OK for email, no good for Google maps) and you can't use your phone to tether. If you want 3G speeds and you want to tether you need to buy an international pass, which was $50 for 500MB.

Having said that, I'm still very happy with my Note 3. (Love the camera)

—R

Tom Johnson

Re: Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

I am able to scale up my international data service to something like 25g p/month for US$10. Or at least I was last January/February.

-tj

============================================
Tom Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA
505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)
Twitter: jtjohnson

slideshare.net/jtjohnson/presentations

http://www.jtjohnson.com [hidden email]
============================================

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 4:55 PM, Robert Holmes <[hidden email]> wrote:

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 4:24 PM, Tom Johnson <[hidden email]> wrote:

Given your Italian travel, be sure to check out the deals at T-mobile.

I can talk to that. I got a Note 3 on T-mobile precisely because of the international data for when I travel to the UK. I learned the hard way that you really have to read the fine print. The "unlimited" service is limited internationally to 128k (OK for email, no good for Google maps) and you can't use your phone to tether. If you want 3G speeds and you want to tether you need to buy an international pass, which was $50 for 500MB.

Having said that, I'm still very happy with my Note 3. (Love the camera)

—R

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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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Russell Standish-2

Re: Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

In reply to this post by Owen Densmore

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 11:43:31AM -0600, Owen Densmore wrote:
>
> I did ask an android friend at Friam how he deletes apps on his phone. He
> couldn't delete the ones we tried, basically samsung built-in annoyances.
> Anyone know how?
>
> -- Owen

I recently went through this exercise. Those apps, I assume, are
stored in ROM, and so you won't be able to delete them without also
flashing the ROM (which I gather is possible, though not for the
faint-hearted). The best you can do is revert to the factory version,
which at least frees up any space occupied on your flash memory. Not
sure how you can prevent the buggers from auto-updating the next time
the phone phones home though.

Other apps that you downloaded you can simply delete them from the
phone, and they're gone.

Cheers

--

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University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au

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James Steiner

Re: Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

In reply to this post by Owen Densmore

re deleting apps.

apps you install and some pre installed apps uninstall easily, using the app manager or google play.

some bundled apps are cooked into the OS when it is compiled. so to the OS they look like system apps, which can not be removed by your user-level access.

to remove these one must get root access. if your phone is designed to make rooting the phone impossible, you may need to replace the vendor supplied version of Android with a root friendly version.

many Samsung phones are relatively easy to root, without replacing the OS .there are websites dedicated to providing root instructions for various brands and models of phone.

once you have root, you can get and use a so-called root uninstaller, that will list all apps, even system apps, and remove them by request.

danger, don't remove system apps on a whim."what is this?I don't need/trust that feature, I'll remove it" is what people about to own bricks say.

rooting has other benefits. macro programs like macroDroid let you add custom behaviors to your phone.rooting gives them/you more control.

I use a rooted Samsung galaxy exhibit II.

On Aug 24, 2014 1:44 PM, "Owen Densmore" <[hidden email]> wrote:

My current ancient ios iphone 4s is finally on its last legs. So I'm looking to decide between the new iPhone 6 reportedly available next month the various android devices. My ecology is basically google, so android would be preferred from that standpoint.

So, this popped up in a newsletter:

http://opensignal.com/reports/2014/android-fragmentation/

Now fragmentation is not a bad thing, just difficult for folks to manage, especially developers. But what is interesting is just how rich the android ecology is, but also how diverse.

And yes, the article is careful to point out samsung dominance and consider some of its specific fragmentation issues/advantages.

It's a well considered, non fanboi article, useful for folks deciding between various devices and form factors.

I did ask an android friend at Friam how he deletes apps on his phone. He couldn't delete the ones we tried, basically samsung built-in annoyances. Anyone know how?

-- Owen

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

Grant Holland

Re: Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

In reply to this post by Owen Densmore

Owen,

Here's my $2 worth on this subject...

Technologists have known how to solve and re-solve the fragmentation problem for users for centuries. Essentially, the same solution has been reinvented under different monikers and different vocabularies since, at least in the western world, the ancient Greeks - who had to invent "standardized interfaces" for the broad adoption of musical instrument design. During the industrial revolution, the discipline and trade of engineering had to be invented to solve the same kinds of problems anew. After all, engines of any kind had to be commonly understood by the masses in order to gain broad usage and adoption. The same kind of thing recurred with the invention of the electrical grid and the creation of mass markets for electrical appliances that use it. And, NIST (nee, NBS) was established about that time to help things along.

In our time, one of the more recent and successful technologies to answer this call to combat fragmentation was in the software engineering, and went under the general heading of "object oriented technology". You know the names of some of its enabling mechanisms: "separation of concerns", "encapsulation", "interfaces" and "polymorphism".

But there are other interests at work than those of end users. Vendors want to divide and conquer. Programmers (er, web developers) want to invent novelty for its own sake and to have it dominate existing technologies.

My point is...I don't believe we have to treat the fragmentation of the Android market as some kind of inevitability that is out of our hands. Fragmentation has always been a wasteful propensity in technology. But the solution has been known since ancient times. If we aren't solving it, then probably we either have vested interests in not solving it (like some vendors), or we don't remember our history (like some programmers).

Cheers, Grant

On 8/24/14, 11:43 AM, Owen Densmore wrote:

My current ancient ios iphone 4s is finally on its last legs. So I'm looking to decide between the new iPhone 6 reportedly available next month the various android devices. My ecology is basically google, so android would be preferred from that standpoint.

So, this popped up in a newsletter:

http://opensignal.com/reports/2014/android-fragmentation/

Now fragmentation is not a bad thing, just difficult for folks to manage, especially developers. But what is interesting is just how rich the android ecology is, but also how diverse.

And yes, the article is careful to point out samsung dominance and consider some of its specific fragmentation issues/advantages.

It's a well considered, non fanboi article, useful for folks deciding between various devices and form factors.

I did ask an android friend at Friam how he deletes apps on his phone. He couldn't delete the ones we tried, basically samsung built-in annoyances. Anyone know how?

-- Owen
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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Joe Spinden

phone

I got an email recently about a phone that (I think) I have not seen mentioned here. The OnePlus One seems to have a large screen, android based, good camera. Does anybody have any experience / opinion ?

Joe

On 8/24/14, 11:43 AM, Owen Densmore wrote:
My current ancient ios iphone 4s is finally on its last legs. So I'm looking to decide between the new iPhone 6 reportedly available next month the various android devices. My ecology is basically google, so android would be preferred from that standpoint.

So, this popped up in a newsletter:

http://opensignal.com/reports/2014/android-fragmentation/

Now fragmentation is not a bad thing, just difficult for folks to manage, especially developers. But what is interesting is just how rich the android ecology is, but also how diverse.

And yes, the article is careful to point out samsung dominance and consider some of its specific fragmentation issues/advantages.

It's a well considered, non fanboi article, useful for folks deciding between various devices and form factors.

I did ask an android friend at Friam how he deletes apps on his phone. He couldn't delete the ones we tried, basically samsung built-in annoyances. Anyone know how?

-- Owen
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

-- 

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant."

  -- Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, 1913.