There's always room for improvement, but it's not shit if you ask me. In my opinion it's the best mobile OS we've got.
The latest version of iOS runs on all iOS devices back to the iPhone 5 -- introduced in 2012. How many Android phones still get updates from their manufacturer 5 years later? When Apple releases a security patch, it's available from day one to all users worldwide over the air. Can you say the same for Android?
Have new iOS versions stopped getting aggressively slower on old devices yet? Technically running but in a broken way doesn't stop it being planned obsolescence. If that did change then great, more people should be made aware.
> Can you say the same for Android?
This is about iOS's faults, not Android's.
But even if the new OS runs slower on old devices, that's not even remotely Planned Obsolescence. Planned Obsolescence means they deliberately make older devices run badly in order to drive upgrades. But there's not even a snowflake's chance in hell that Apple is doing that, and saying they are is pretty insulting to all the work they do ensuring the OS is at least usable on those devices. The simple fact is, as devices get more powerful, the OS expands to take advantage of that power, and so when you run the OS on older hardware it's now doing more work than it used to and frequently ends up slower.
Android is open for anyone to do anything with, and there is no way to force someone to support something after they release it any more than it is possible to get them to not use Android in the first place.
If we look at Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC, etc... independently as companies I am sure some have crappy upgrade policies and some have great policies. If you want shop around for it, look at reviews for other phones.
If you don't want it, like if you are planning on installing your own OS or have other plans for the hardware then this is misfeature. It becomes a thing you have paid for but will never use.
Well...yes. Great upgrade policies: Apple. Crappy upgrade policies: Samsung, LG, HTC, etc.
Let's look at the flagships:
Apple: iPhone 5 from 2012 supports their newest OS release.
Samsung: Galaxy S3 from 2012 supports Android 4.3 and 4.4 (depending on model). Those are 2012 and 2013 OSes.
HTC: One X from 2012 supports up to Android 4.2.2.
LG: Optimus G from 2012 supports up to Android 4.4.2.
Google itself: Nexus 4 from late 2012 supports up to Android 5.1.1. A maintenance release from last year, with a base OS release 2.5 years ago...but certainly better than other Android vendors.
Android itself is still being updated as far back as 4.4.x, but that doesn't help much when the vendors aren't picking up the updates (and installing LineageOS tends to lose access to some of the features I paid for).
Do any android handset manufacturers ship updates?
Whether I buy a computer from Dell, HP, Lenovo or any other PC vendor, I still can get upgrades and security patches from Microsoft. I don't have to wait on the vendor for updates.
we look at Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC, etc... independently as companies I am sure some have crappy upgrade policies and some have great policies. If you want shop around for it, look at reviews for other phones.
Tell me one Android vendor who supports their phone with security patches for five years?
I have seen plenty of preinstalled crapware from all those companies that never gets updated.
All I am trying to say is that android, the OS is not the reason updates don't happen. The Vendor is and largely your point point agrees with me.
Are you really comparing the ease of clicking one button to upgrade Windows or iOS devices with using some semi supported "Android" OS that may or may not be supported for your phone?
I finally switched back to an iPhone, and realized how silly I was trying to convince my iPhone using friends to switch to Android. It just works. My friends don't care about kernels or custom ROMs. They want an OS that works, is secure, and stays updated. iOS does that. Apple will have to really mess things up for me to leave iOS at this point. For something I interact with on a daily basis, I don't have the time or the patience to deal with Android.
The things that iOS does, it arguably does better than Android. The things it doesn't do are what have kept me away.
External storage seems to be pretty rare on Android though?
My #1 complaint about iOS is that they don't really allow other browsers.
Not too rare. Google doesn't like it, so their stuff usually doesn't have it, but Samsung, HTC, and LG seem to have it in most of their flagships, anyhow. Maybe a generation skipped, here or there. It's not guaranteed, but not rare. I checked some budget phones from Blu, for the other end of the price spectrum. Some of those have microSD slots, too.
People really have no context...