One of the biggest issues with Android to date is the painfully slow update process and fragmentation. While the fragmentation issues are slowly dissipating, updating remains an agonizing process. For those not daring enough to test out custom ROMs, waiting on the next official version of Android can be a long, frustrating wait.
Froyo, or Android 2.2, was released back in May of 2010. Only three months later, HTC's EVO 4G was updated to Froyo. This, in actuality, was a very quick update. Several other devices also followed rather quickly in late August like the original Droid and HTC Incredible, and the Droid X in September.
Samsung's Galaxy S series, however, is another story all in itself. It wasn't until 2011 that the Galaxy Series in the US got their official Froyo updates after months of hollow promises. And just this Monday, the Epic 4G finally got its dose of Frozen Yogurt.
Now we are on to Android 2.3, or Gingerbread, which was released by Google back in December. Unlike the Froyo update, we are nearly four months past its release and are just now hearing rumors of devices being due to get their Gingerbread updates. The Droid X is said to be getting its dosage as soon as next week, and the XPERIA X10 should be updated "later this year,” referencing a Q2 or Q3 time frame.
It will be interesting to see if Motorola will be the first to update one of their devices to Gingerbread. We all would have expected HTC to be leading the pack to 2.3, seeing as they've generally been the fastest about updating. HTC upgraded 50% of their eligible phones to Froyo in 2010, which is a lot more than any other manufacturer can say. Motorola followed with a measly 15.4%, Samsung came in third with 11.1%, and Sony Ericsson, LG, and Dell upgraded a whopping 0% of their devices to Froyo in 2010.
We were whole-heartedly hoping – only half-believing – that manufacturers would be getting better with their update processes. But with no word from HTC and Samsung just finishing up their Froyo update, it appears as if this will be another round of a spread out update process.
The bigger problem is, Google is churning out updates faster than the carriers and manufacturers are able to release them. There are rumors suggesting that Google's Ice Cream Sandwich update will hit sometime this summer, which would undoubtedly be long before many devices even see Gingerbread. This would only add to the frustration, considering most Android users would be two versions behind the most current build.
If rumors hold true, we might just see an official build of Gingerbread on a non-Nexus device as soon as next week. I feel the rumor is a bit flimsy, but there is still hope. What do you guys think? Will the Droid X be the first non-Nexus Android device with an official build of Gingerbread? Will it happen next week?
