Google to kill Play service API for Gingerbread

Everything Goes

22-11-2016

Google are going to kill Play Service API for Gingerbread 2.3 and Honeycomb in 2017. Embarrassingly there are more devices running Gingerbread that there is running 7.0 Nougat. Gingerbread accounts for 1.3% of devices.

Quote:
“The current release supports Android API level 9, which goes all the way back to Android 2.3 Gingerbread. But when version 10.2.0 of the Google Play services client libraries is released, Google will increase the minimum supported API level to 14, making Android 4.0.1 Ice Cream Sandwich the oldest supported version of the OS.”

https://9to5google.com/2016/11/21/go...d-support-end/

https://www.neowin.net/news/android-...rvices-support

Mustabuster

23-11-2016

Most developers would have dropped support for Gingerbread ages ago. Jellybean is still supported by some developers but won't be long before they drop that as well.

david16

25-11-2016

There are many phones and tablets on the market costing less than ￡100 that either have the newest version of android, or have versions of android that will not lose support from Google Play services for a long time to come.

prking

25-11-2016

Isn't this a bit of a non story? The devices won't suddenly stop working. All that will Happen is that any new releases or updates (that want to run on Gingerbread) will need to have a separate version.
As most apps already do this ( for pre 4.0 devices ) or already don't support Gingerbread, I doubt anyone will notice.

tghe-retford

25-11-2016

Originally Posted by david16:
“There are many phones and tablets on the market costing less than ￡100 that either have the newest version of android, or have versions of android that will not lose support from Google Play services for a long time to come.”

And that is something Google will likely tackle, because if your phone still receives app updates for a long time, it disincentives you from buying a new (and preferably well above £100) phone - at a time where people are keeping smartphones for longer than the phone manufacturers would like them to because it hits the bottom line, just as how people moving away from a phone and tablet to using one larger phone in the last year or so have cost cash for manufacturers.

david16

26-11-2016

Originally Posted by tghe-retford:
“And that is something Google will likely tackle, because if your phone still receives app updates for a long time, it disincentives you from buying a new (and preferably well above £100) phone - at a time where people are keeping smartphones for longer than the phone manufacturers would like them to because it hits the bottom line, just as how people moving away from a phone and tablet to using one larger phone in the last year or so have cost cash for manufacturers.”

Just like a PC or laptop, if it's in good working order, many will be happy to continue using their smartphones with an older version of android or ios until they are forced to switch to buying a smartphone with a newer (but not the newest) version of android or ios installed.

The bottom line for the consumer is not the same as the bottom line for the manufacturer. We can't all afford to fork out ￡650 every 2 years for a brand new samsung android or iphone whether buying it outright or absorbed in the cost of a phone with a sim contract over 24 months.

de525ma

28-11-2016

Originally Posted by david16:
“Just like a PC or laptop, if it's in good working order, many will be happy to continue using their smartphones with an older version of android or ios until they are forced to switch to buying a smartphone with a newer (but not the newest) version of android or ios installed.

The bottom line for the consumer is not the same as the bottom line for the manufacturer. We can't all afford to fork out ￡650 every 2 years for a brand new samsung android or iphone whether buying it outright or absorbed in the cost of a phone with a sim contract over 24 months.”

blah blah luddite blah. I'd be amazed if the batteries were still working on Gingerbread devices. You can spend less than the cost of a replacement battery on a more modern device. Non issue.

Aaron_McGowan

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by de525ma:
“blah blah luddite blah. I'd be amazed if the batteries were still working on Gingerbread devices. You can spend less than the cost of a replacement battery on a more modern device. Non issue.”

Believe it or not one of my family members has an old Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus from 2011. It still has Android Gingerbread, and the battery still works well enough to be kept. Alright it will have lost some capacity but it still works!

App support for Gingerbread nowadays is virtually nonexistent though, many apps either have a separate Gingerbread version or don't support Gingerbread at all.