Who Can You Trust to Upgrade your Android Device?

Google is cranking out a new desert treat a couple of times a year now... we have Gingerbread and Ice Cream coming soon. But what does that mean for existing PDAPhone / Smartphone owners in terms of upgrades? Before Apple introduced the iPhone, it was extremely rare that a carrier would release an OS upgrade to a PDAPhone that was activated on their network. Taking Windows Mobile as an example, Microsoft would have to produce an upgrade to the OS. Once Microsoft had finished, the manufacturer of the device would have to adapt their modifications to it and test it. And finally, the carrier would have to do their testing and approval, AND provide a mechanism for the upgrade to be implemented in the field. There is virtually no incentive for the carrier to play in this upgrade space because it actually can hurt their ability to sell newer, faster, better PDAPhones to subscribers under new contracts. If he only way to get the new OS is to buy new hardware, then that's better for the carriers. That was all before the days of Apple's iPhone. Apple has made the upgrade process painless and simple, and everyone can get the upgrade immediately without all these delays and approvals. This is one great advantage of the Apple ecosystem over most others, with the notable exception of RIM. So how to Android users fare in the upgrade game?

Computerworld recently completed an analysis of the upgrade process to Google's Android 2.2, Froyo which was announced last June. They found that some Android PDAPhones got the upgrade within days, while others took months, and some still haven't gotten it. So before you throw down your hard earned cash for a shiny new Android PDAPhone, which hardware makers and which carriers are the most supportive up getting you an upgrade quickly?

First lets take a look at the hardware makers. Keeping in mind that its been six months since the upgrade was available from Google, the big winner here is HTC who has made the upgrade available for 50% of its Android PDAPhones by now. The next closest competitors were Motorola at only 15.4% and Samsung at 11.1%. The rest are all at zero percent! While HTC has a big lead here, 50% is still not a stellar number. From a "time to market" point of view, Motorola and HTC were neck and neck at 56 and 55 days, while Samsung came in at 159 days.



So summing up the hardware maker results, HTC is the clear leader with the largest percentage of devices upgraded at one day shy of the best average time to market. Motorola comes in second with the best time to market, but pretty poor percentage of devices dealt with. Samsung is third with only 1 of their 9 devices upgraded and taking over 5 months to make that happen.

Dell and LG are near the bottom having stated that they intend to upgrade some of their Android PDAPhones, but not having done so in the six months so far. Sony is a total fail having said that their eligible Android devices won't get the upgrade, but assuring us that they will do better with future devices.

The hardware maker is one part of the puzzle, so lets see how the carriers fared in supporting upgrades for Android device owners. Verizon comes out on top with 33.3% of their eligible Android handsets upgraded to Froyo during 2010. Sprint is close behind at 28.6%, and T-Moble was much lower at 12.5%. AT&T was at 0% having upgraded none of their Android PDAPhones to Android 2.2 during 2010. The order for "time to market" with the upgrade was ordered the same, with Verizon at 58 days, Sprint at 100 days, and T-Mobile at 112 days.



Summarizing the carriers, Verizon is the clear winner having upgrade 1/3 of its Android handsets on average in 58 days. Sprint comes in second with a little over 1/4 of its handsets with an average time of 100 days. Sprint was negatively impacted by a slow delivery on the Samsung Intercept. T-Mobile came in third with only 12.5% of Android handsets upgraded and taking an average of 112 days to do it . AT&T showed no love to Android owners and was unable to upgrade a single one of its nine Android PDAPhones in the six month period it was available in 2010. There is some hope that some will still get it.. namely the Dell Streak.

I have personally been using an Apple iPhone for the last couple of years and had forgotten how big of a fiasco that upgrading a PDAPhone was with other platforms. In my Windows Mobile days, the thing was custom ROMS that enthusiasts would build to upgrade phones that the hardware maker or carrier didn't support upgrading. Apple has made this whole problem a non issue by generally announcing a new version of the OS, and announcing exactly which features will work on older iPhones, and the process of the upgrade usually happens within a few days by a sync with iTunes. It is also relatively easy to upgrade earlier by just joining the developers program.

It appears that if you want to run Android, and you want to stay current, you can't do much better than an HTC device on Verizon. With that combination, you would appear to have a 50% chance that you will get the upgrade within 6 months of Google releasing it, and if you are in the half that do, you will likely get it in roughly 2-3 months from release. Compared to 100% and instant, not so good... but compared to say a Sony Android device with AT&T, its pretty good. Hopefully this analysis will help those who want to stay current pick their next Android PDAPhone.