It really depends on the OS and OEM in term of updates. If you have iPhone 4, you can’t install iOS7, which means a bunch of apps are off limits to you.
This is why closed ecosystems are vile and Stallman was right in vilifying Jobs in the end. Android is definitely less bad in this respect. I have a handset that runs Android 4.1 (don’t want to upgrade to 4.4 because of its asinine treatment of SD storage, so I’m holding out for the next version that is supposed to fix some of that), and I can run 99% of apps even though it’s a two-year-old OS.
Though I have to say that other than Maps and Talk, I don’t use a whole lot of Google apps.[/quote]BS, Android is 10x worse in this department. I had an HTC Thunderbolt that was stuck on 2.3 while Google was already releasing 4.1 at the time. In America, not only are we at the mercy of OEM implementing the upgrade but we’re at the mercy of the carriers allowing the upgrade as well. Most Android phones do not get upgrades, except for the Nexus devices. Even those get faded out in less than 2 years. even the Nexus devices, which is the best of the Android ecosystem in term of upgrade, gets spanked by iDevices.
As for being able to use 99% of the apps, I call bs as well. A lot of apps are starting to require 4.0 and above and yet majority of android phones are still running 2.3. This makes life much harder for the app developers, who can’t implement some of the newer api because there are still a lot of android phones that are still running old versions.[/quote]
It seems like tablets are also making life tough for developers. I have a kindle fire and a Samsung Galaxy S4, and it’s fascinating for me to see which apps are only on one device, the other, or both.
I had an HTC Thunderbolt for something like 4 years. The physical phone had issues before I started feeling the fact that I couldn’t use all the latest apps. But I’m actually a fairly late adapter on technology due to cheapness. Let someone else pay full price at release, I’ll scoop it up 6 months later at a discount!
