4 out 5 phones sold are Android based

[Glenn]

http://www.techspot.com/news/53545-android-on-nearly-80-of-smartphones-shipped-in-q2-2013.html?

It can't be good for competition and innovation if a product has such a dominant position.

[Simon]

Makes me wonder why some of the bigger manufactures can't develop their own OS.  Firms like HTC and Sony have skinned their products deep into the OS, so I wonder why they can't go all the way?

[zappaDPJ]

I'd guess one of the reasons would be a lack of apps which would probably decimate sales.

[Simon]

True.

[mervl]

One of the advantages of Android is that if you are so inclined there are plenty of customised ROMs available, with different functionality. And I shouldn't have thought that Apple (or even Microsoft with Windows phone) are likely to fold, and with even Blackberry fighting on, competition is healthy. I don't see any sign of Apple or Android failing to innovate. So what do you think we're missing out on? The only thing I regret is the lack of support for FM, but that could be described as wanting to regress, I suppose. There's money in data (and muck).

[pctech]

Samsung tried with Bada but I don't think it got the traction they were hoping for.

Remember also that Nokia had Ovi which was for Symbian but this didn't really work out either.

The reason I think Android has become so popular is that it doesn't tie you to a specific manufacturer or device as it runs over a range of devices and form factors which is why Apple is now suffering as in addition to the above people are tightening their belts and going for cheaper devices.

[Steve]

I think Apple suffers because of the cost, hence the reason we may see a cheap iPhone 5C.

[pctech]

I think there maybe a few heated conversations over Cupertino way as many Jobs' loyalists argue against reducing the price while others argue that it is necessary to reclaim some market share.

Tim Cook seems to be quite level headed so I think you maybe right as he cares more about the long term sustainability of the business than its past.

 

[mervl]

  I thought price was one of Apple's core selling points!
But seriously Android converts might be disappointed, when they have to look after themselves without the comfort of Apple's welfare state. To a few of us nutters it's Android's selling point!

[pctech]

Yep, good old fashioned computing where with the right software you can actually look at the file system!

[Technical Ben]

Makes me wonder why some of the bigger manufactures can't develop their own OS.  Firms like HTC and Sony have skinned their products deep into the OS, so I wonder why they can't go all the way?

Massive logistics.

[Gary]

The thing is some android phones are nasty cheap things running old versions of the OS, and the later phones cant always be guaranteed updates like the Nexus units so app writers still go for the Apple app store as the OS is more consistent. Android is given away, its hardly surprising its on so many handsets, but fragmentation is still an issue.

[pctech]

Yes, there are some truly horrid android handsets out there and even buying some of the mid to higher tier ones such as the SE Xperia Ray and HTC Desire S doesn't always guarantee a good experience in my own experience anyway but then again I tend to put function as a phone higher than form.

But then again I am left handed and so tend to cover the antenna portions of the handsets I have mentioned above and in addition the coverage isn't particularly great round here.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 seems to work well as a phone (my first priority) and also running applications although hardware wise it's not in the same league as the S4. Nexus or HTC One.

[Gary]

I still dont thik phones need octo cores  most apps I imagine are still not fully using dual cores, its like the old PC marketing must have next chip hype, except that's not so important now, a good quad core is a good quad core, I don't see people scrambling to update motherboards and cpu's so much these days. In fact I know less and less people with desktops tbh.

[Technical Ben]

Mainly it's so they can keep certain apps running in the background while you do other things, and not notice suffer any slowdown. What kind of apps? Well, there are adds, facebook and the [redacted on request of NSA] apps that love to sell/buy to/from you.

[Gary]

Mainly it's so they can keep certain apps running in the background while you do other things, and not notice suffer any slowdown. What kind of apps? Well, there are adds, facebook and the [redacted on request of NSA] apps that love to sell/buy to/from you.

Still don't need an octo core for that, its pure marketing hype. Interesting complaint though, the NSA is running my battery down 

[pctech]

Always wondered what that PRISM process was I couldn't close down 

[Gary]

Always wondered what that PRISM process was I couldn't close down 

[pctech]

Not sure if you've seen Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon marketing but one of the key points is it runs cooler than others.

I agree that an octo-core CPU is overkill and there will come a time when heat is a real issue as it became in PCs.

[Technical Ben]

Still don't need an octo core for that, its pure marketing hype. Interesting complaint though, the NSA is running my battery down 

Well, it depends if changing the number of cores active or throttling the chip is more power efficient. But yet, 99% of everything is marketing. We don't "need" 16million colours on a PC... greyscale is sufficient for "work".

[pctech]

or we could go back to green screen.

[Technical Ben]

One thing is for certain... I hate that smart phones now need to boot up.