Recently it has come to my attention that my Droid X, purchased last a little over a year ago, was no longer going to be updated. While it is possible some independent user might release a ROM with a newer flavor of Android (4.0), it seems highly unlikely. I see two problems with the current Android market, both of which might be obvious by now. The first is over saturation. While listening to an episode of Build & Analyze, I seem to remember Marco mentioning how Android phone manufacturers realized that they should just keep making phones with bigger screens and more advanced hardware to keep sales up. While this might seem innocuous at first, realize that the hardware manufacturers are pushing their own products into obsolescence ever month or two. My Droid X was old news only months after it came out. This meant that its resell value was destroyed, but it also meant that it had little chance of continuing support from Motorola/Verizon. Look at the iPhone 3GS, which came out a YEAR before the Droid X. It is STILL supported today by Apple, as much as they might wish to leave it be. I suspect this is because some people might still be locked into contracts while owning this phone. Either way, its one major plus for Apple. I don’t honestly even know what the current Droid Du Jour is today, and don’t really care. I would be content with my Droid X if it wasn’t for the fact that it constantly shuts off. That is my second gripe. Android still feels buggy to me, and while it might not be Google’s fault, but instead Motorola’s, I can’t help but feel slightly duped. I don’t think it is unreasonable to want your phone to just work. I don’t know if I will buy an iPhone, I might just go back to the old fashioned “feature phone” or dumb phone. At least that thing always worked.
