[NTLK] Einstein, Android, new Hardware, old Hardware

[Joseph Reilly]

On Nov 30, 2011, at 9:03 PM, Forrest Buffenmyer wrote:
> 
> 
> While in theory I generally support the concept of open sourcing, I am concerned that it has caused a severe dilution of the Android platform, to the point of frustration to some of its users. While some Android users are still waiting for the latest update, and a few recent Android devices--according to Google--won't be offered *any* updates from here on, the recent iOS 5 update covered iPhones all the way back two years ago to the 3G, and was (mostly) done unobtrusively.
> 
> Will we be able to run Einstein on any Android device? I would think, due the many variations, the answer will be "no"...not as successfully, anyway, as the one you've primarily developed it for.
> 
> Just some thoughts and concerns I have on Einstein and Android.

Being an android/ios user I thought I'd chime in on this. Personally I don't hold my breath for os updates  any more, with iOS or Android. 
On the Android side I did hold my breath for the 2.2 update for the Samsung Intercept but that was only because it was almost 
unusable with 2.1. Now that I have the LG Optimus V I'm not even worried about 2.3 since the device works very well on 2.2 and I've 
tweaked it with a few market apps so I'm not sure what more 2.3 would bring to the table. Of course there is always rooting and after market
roms for devices that are left behind, for example my carrier (Virgin Mobile USA) has not issued the 2.3 update for the Optimus although it is
available from LG but aftermarket roms with 2.3 are available if I was really that hot about getting 2.3 today, iOS has no such route for abandoned 
devices, jailbroken or not, supported or abandoned by the carrier/manufacturer. Too many hands in the pot is the only big problem I see with android. 
Google puts out android, then the manufacturer puts of their update of Googles update, then each carrier puts of their update of the manufacturers 
update which is their version of googles update. Google's flagship devices get the updates fairly quick direct from google, if you have another device
your waiting or rooting. 

On the iOS side I stopped holding my breath for updates after we got multitasking and copy/paste. But I will admit the wireless updates, notification bar and 
dictionary look up feature in iOS 5 are pretty nice but I wasn't waiting on them. As stated many times before the biggest problem with iOS is the closed-ness 
of the platform especially when your trying to run an emulator that has no chance of getting into that closed system through official channels.

I'd assume if Matthias and Frank targeted android 2.2 (which they are) in a couple common screen resolutions we won't have too many compatibility problems 
as 2.2 seems to be the common ground these days and despite people thinking it's "old" it works just fine. I'd fathom the problem of needing a dual core CPU
would be the big divide since so many devices are still single core cpu, but the guys have already said they are working on optimisations so that will hopefully
become a mute point as well. Matthias mentioned this morning about getting it optimised enough to run on a 400mhz cpu eventually, which if possible means
that everyone could find some kind of android device to run Einstein. Who knows, around this time a year or two from now most people on the list still using newts 
day-to-day may not be using real newt hardware anymore!

Joe Reilly