What problems? Got the nexus 4 here and zero problems.

I don't do brand loyalty and this is the first LG phone i have ever owned and the build quality is amazing.

Fragmentation is only an issue to Apple fanboys who are clutching at straws.

A simple guide for said deluded types is:-

Gingerbread > IOS
ICS >> IOS
Jellybean >>> IOS

Nexus is the equivalent of the iPhone ..... guaranteed updates (for a period).

Its no different from putting up with the iPhones problems (yes it has some like any other phone), features and price .....

The good thing about the Android (and Windows) ecosystem is that you additionally have other phones you can choose if you so wish that are bigger/smaller/cheaper/faster etc etc.

Apple fanboyism is no worse than Android fanboyism, which you are clearly guilty of.

I do prefer the Android approach though. Of course many older phones wont get updated to the newer versions of the OS. But Android is such a fragmented market you never really know what you're going to get. Even the Google Nexus phones are not guaranteed to support the latest version because hey eventually they get too old to support the latest features.

With Apple you have to read the small print, although of course they would prefer you just buy the latest phone every year. All current Windows Phone devices that shipped with 7.x won't even get WP8 at all, but at least they will see some new features with 7.8.

Whilst I don't like the Apple model too much, and particularly the Apple prices, the way IOS updates are controlled is better than Android. I wish Android OS development would slow down a bit, but I guess they need to keep at it to forge ahead with features and not lose market share .

I find being stuck on Gingerbread a PITA at times. e.g. I'd quite like to use Sky Go, but Sky use continental drift as a guide of how fast to test things so there is no chance of that happening.

I think because of things like this I will go for a Nexus 4. Its a bit bigger than I'd ideally like but at least it will be well supported/bleeding edge of Android for a little while.

Thats confusing. Are you saying you dont like how Android makes improvements all the time and prefer the stagnation of iOS?

Sky are a bad example of Android development.

In fact if you want to use Sky Go you're better off with a handset that isn't upgraded regularly. SG has NEVER worked with the latest version of Android on release, and has taken 6 months or so to be 'tested' for each new version.

I don't think it helped that the phone everyone saw as the premium phone (S3) took so long to update. We all know the reasons, but I don't think it is a good advert. And as for everyone else waiting, it doesn't leave a good impression.

To who exactly?

I'd much rather than wait and get everything, than get the update and no new features!

Its clearly subjective, because i think the iOS approach is terrible personally. The latest update have zero new features to my iPhone because it was an entire 2 years old!

I haven't researched the Nexus 4 much yet, but the one i have heard of is that it's screen is supposedly not well calibrated.

Personally I would have a ZTE or Huawei phone before I would touch an LG.

Of course it is subjective. I don't think the wait that S3 owners had was very good. I, as an ace 2 owner got a phone that was released 7 mouths ago and it still awaiting the update (although I'm told it is arriving this mouth).

I'm not interested in what apple do, but if I had bought a 4s I would have had the update on the first day.

My point is that I don't think it is great for google and I'm willing to bet that over time the likes of samsung will try and improve the situation, especially with the rise of nexus phones as competition to them.

To be fair I think most people with android phones don't even know about the latest OS until it is pushed to them over the air. My OH doesn't really care that his S3 has not been updated to 4.2 yet, he only got interested when I told him that he would get some of the features that his friend has on his galaxy note 2, but apart from that he's not fussed. If I asked him what version of the OS his phone was currently running he probably couldn't tell me. If I asked him what the difference between ICS and Jelly bean or Jelly bean and gingerbread, he wouldn't be to sure.

And I agree with that. It would be interesting to ask someone who had just bought a S3 if they thought it was the latest Android release.

When I got my S3 I didn't know what all the different android os's were. I also didn't know what the latest features were of the latest android.

The 50 things videos proved that very well top me and a lot of posters.

What a pointless thread. iOS has not beem updated since 2007. It is still utterly the same/ In fact iOS 6 is worse as it has crApple maps/ I have owned Donut and 4.2.1 phones and they are so completely effing different it is unreal.. The 47% of Android owners on 2.3 should either buy themselves a beer or go out and laugh at the screen size of the iPhone 5/

What a pointless post more like

How many times can this be discussed and the same points raised each time, seems to bother non android users more than it does those with android phones.

My note is on 4.04 with JB due soon but until that is released it is running the latest version of the software for my phone that can't be difficult to understand can it?

In the year since its release it has had several updates can't see any issue with that at all.

I'll let the misses know who has a wildfire s and ask her if she'll buy me a beer as well

If you ask most people have they got gingerbread on their phone they would probably say are you taking the biscuit?

This 'delay' of rolling out new versions of Android is hardly the fault of Google.. the fault lies primarily with the TelCo's who seem to take their sweet time pushing out the updates... adulterating Android with their 'skins' and associated bloatware... and also, sometimes, it might not be in the best financial interest of the TelCo's to push out the latest Android update.

If they can 'ensnare' customers in new 18 month long contracts on the latest mobile running the latest version of JellyBean - with the latter as a selling point, then why would they feel an incentive to push out that new OTA update for free?

Of course they're not going to do that ... they're going to allow customers to go through the natural upgrade cycle... ie., wait for customers to get bored of their current handsets and inveigle them into a new contract with a nice new shiny 'phone running a nice new shiny version of Android.

And that, people, is the reason why Gingerbread is still the predominant ROM on most peoples 'phones.

------

Of course, with a bit of knowledge and some research, you can screw off that particular business model, and ROOT and FLASH a custom ROM of your own selection.

Rgrds,
SebJ.

I can't complain. My note came with gingerbread. It got updated to ICS and a jelly bean update is imminent. I doubt it will see another update but 2 updates that brought significant improvements to my phone and added new features isn't bad. I buy a phone based on what it can do now not based on future updates. I see updates as a bonus rather than a right.

This is pretty much what I've been trying to say all along. Of course when apple release an update it's already fully working with their phone models as they only have a few models to support and they control the whole eco system. Google only own the platform so all the OEMs need extra time and effort to make sure it works on their platforms and to consider whether it's worth doing for their product portfolio. Would you want your budget phone to have all the same features and capabilities as your flagship model?

So, when you are told your phone will get an update, how long do you think a reasonable time to wait is?

I wouldn't like to say. If they say they will give an update it's to keep the customer strung along but it may not feature in their short term plan for several months. If I was to buy a phone I would buy it for it's current features not what it will potentially gain in the future. However I've not personally purchased a phone for my own use in years so maybe my perspective is skewed.

Wouldn't you buy your phone for its current features though?