Android's Fragmentation Also Happens to be it's Key Strength

When you hear “Android fragmentation,” we often conjure up the negatives, but there is more to the mobile OS forks than slightly slow software updates. Unlike Android, iOS has an end-to-end experience controlled by Apple from start to finish. That means that because of iOS, we sometimes wrongly see fragmentation as a dirty word. The thing is, it is actually quite the opposite on the Android side of the fence.

In terms of experience and features, fragmentation within Android can, and should, be considered a very good thing. Note how I say “experience and features,” as there are some trade-offs with this fragmentation. Phones not having the latest security patches is one of many problems that we face as enthusiasts and owners.

But what we do have is new features, true software, and hardware innovation, and a wealth of choice as a result of this third-party OEM fragmentation. So with that out of the way, here are five solid reasons why you should consider this fragmentation as one of the core strengths of Android.

I wasn't sure what the article and video was about from the title. And even the three paragraphs in the excerpt may not make it clear to some people. When you have nine different Android based devices it is likely that each of them will operate a little differently. And each update changes their behavior, so that it is often difficult to figure out how to change a setting from screen brightness and volume to numerous other "features". And when you try to look it up on the internet or an online support resource you are likely to have a frustrating experience many times also. Android often seems to be meant to be muddled through by those who like to explore without a guide.

I have numerous Android devices from the beginning to current. I can usually figure out how to change their settings to get them to work the way I want them to, but it can be a challenge. Not to mention that I used to root all of them to further customize them. It can be nearly impossible to help someone over the phone if you do not have an identical device with the same updates. When I bought my parents new phones I made sure and bought my wife the exact same model and set them up the same largely for this reason. It sometimes makes one appreciate the relative sameness of Microsoft computers. Android is the wild West by comparison. So is this a strength or weakness or both?

The video associated with the article interesting to me as well and points out the huge array of options available to Android users. It doesn’t even get into the availability of “custom roms” developed by enthusiasts to get even more performance or visibility from their pet devices.

An operating system designed by Google has no business anywhere near a voting machine... especially considering the behavior of its autocorrect system. R to D is small potatoes for a device that can change well thought out sentences to gibberish while leaving obvious typos uncorrected. I leave the autocorrect turned off much of the time, but it does improve speed a bit of you select the predicted words that show up above the onscreen keyboard.

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