O/S Upgrades

[aintnorock]

How does one upgrade to the latest operating system?

I am a complete noob when it comes to tablets, so bear with me.

I have Android O/S 4.1.1 on a generic, no brand name, made in China by slave children (I made that last part up, probably true) tablet.

I also have another Vizio tablet with Honeycomb.

I would like to upgrade both to Jelly Bean, if I could, or at least the same o/s so I can learn both of them - learning two different O/s is providing a steep learning curve. The Vizio tablet is my wifes.


Thanks,
Carl

 

[Frederuco]

Welcome to the forum!

In the Android world, it is up to the device manufacturer to push out the new OS if they so choose. The only exception to this is the Nexus devices as they are supposed to be a pure Google device that they get updated first.

For many tablets, the only way to get a new OS is to find a custom firmware made by a 3rd party developer and then install it manually using a custom recovery.

I have an Asus Transformer TF101. It was released in April of 2011. The last firmware update by the device OEM is ICS 4.0.3 in July of 2013. I am currently running the latest Jelly Bean 4.3 on it thanks to a developer who has compiled the source code and adapted it to get the device running. It is 99% working great (no front camera because I have photosphere working).

So, with that being said, it may be very difficult for you to upgrade your tablets to both run the same version unless it was popular enough for a developer to make a custom ROM for it.

 

[aintnorock]

So, I'm guessing what this means is that I'm stuck with what I got on the generic (all it says is Made in China), and if Vizio decides to upgrade, I might get something better. I think I'll try their support.

Thanks
Carl

 

[edap]

Hi, Carl.

Welcome to our Forum.

So far, other than Nexus, not a single device manufacturer, neither brand, nor non-brand, has chosen to upgrade to the latest version of Jelly Bean.

Cheers.
Ed

 

[Tom T]

Upgrades to 4.3 have been announced for a number of devices, such as Samsung's, but I have not heard of any being delivered yet. A lot of this has to do with the various customizations certain manufacturers make to the OS for their specific devices. For some devices, such as the Galaxy Note line, there is some work to be done.

 

[aintnorock]

Hi, Carl.

Welcome to our Forum.

So far, other than Nexus, not a single device manufacturer, neither brand, nor non-brand, has chosen to upgrade to the latest version of Jelly Bean.

Cheers.
Ed

How convenient for them. Planned obsolescence. Anyone want to buy a duck, er, new tablet?

 

[Frederuco]

How convenient for them. Planned obsolescence. Anyone want to buy a duck, er, new tablet?

It has nothing to do with obsolescence. One issue is hardware. Each tablet has different hardware and each tablet OEM has to obtain the code from google and then build it so it works with each tablet. On iOS there are only a finite number of models of devices. In android, multiply that by at least 1000. Google can't produce a lightweight mobile OS to run one very device and still keep the installation size to 200-500MB. Oh yeah - remember Google only makes the software. Others make the hardware.

 

[vampirefo.]

How convenient for them. Planned obsolescence. Anyone want to buy a duck, er, new tablet?

Google is a two edge sword, they are a great company no doubt but they are a company meaning they want their products to always have the latest OS before anyone else, Only google knows what hardware will be required for the next android, as they make android. So all other companies have to wait til google releases the latest android and hardware, kernel, requirements.

Very few tablets will be able to upgrade to the latest android and run it well, even google's tablets doesn't have the best hardware to run the latest android that's why they made new nexus devices.

 

[edap]

One of the biggest complaints against Android has always been timely updates. The first company that really takes updating seriously and learns how to make faster upgrades, at least for their flagships, will definitely win market share, guaranteed.

 

[vampirefo.]

One of the biggest complaints against Android has always been timely updates. The first company that really takes updating seriously and learns how to make faster upgrades, at least for their flagships, will definitely win market share, guaranteed.

The constant upgrades most likely will be the down fall of android, vendors are getting tired of Google's constant switching the OS, hardware, kernel requirements. That opens the door for windows which almost never upgrades the OS, so in the long run windows would cost the users and vendors less than android. I would like to see alternatives to android, something in the Linux field. Samsung I read some time ago was pondering the ideal to compete with google with their own OS, that's what the world needs, Google' android needs competition from other Linux based systems.