How Google is Keeping it New With the Open Handset Alliance!

How Google is Keeping it New With the Open Handset Alliance!

May 11th, 2011

admin

Great news for users not comfortable rooting their devices, but are still very anxious to get their hands on a fresh new version of Android. Google has joined together with carriers and manufactures to create the Open Handset Alliance. This information is coming straight from the official Google blog. It was their first post after the first session of the Google I/O 2011 keynote (that is now uploaded on Google’s YouTube, go check it out!).

The Android ecosystem has been moving really fast over the last two and a half years and rapid iteration on new and highly-requested features has been a driving force behind Android’s success. But of course that innovation only matters if it reaches consumers.

So today we’re announcing that a founding team of industry leaders, including many from the Open Handset Alliance, are working together to adopt guidelines for how quickly devices are updated after a new platform release, and also for how long they will continue to be updated.

The founding partners are Verizon, HTC, Samsung, Sprint, Sony Ericsson, LG, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Motorola and AT&T, and we welcome others to join us. To start, we’re jointly announcing that new devices from participating partners will receive the latest Android platform upgrades for 18 months after the device is first released, as long as the hardware allows…and that’s just the beginning.

Stay tuned for more details.

I think this is fantastic, I know several users who don’t want to take the risk or time in rooting their devices. So unfortunately they are stuck with a now seriously outdated version of Android. The Android’s OS just updates so quickly, Android 2.3 has been out since December…and the “latest and greatest” phones are still being sold with 2.2! Manufactures seem so focused on pushing out a new device that they forget about the previous phone as soon as launch day arrives. I think (or maybe hope) this announcement will bridge the gap a bit for users before they are forced to upgrade their device just to receive a OS update.

Do you think this will help unite the Android experience for users?