Public interest in smartphones is increasing, and as more and more find out about them and start to buy them, they are expecting and wanting their phones to support the most up to date technology and features especially their software. Fortunately these days updates of software mean you can have the newest edition of a phone operating system despite the fact you might not have the latest phone model. But this isn’t the case for every phone, and as many smartphone users are aware of (especially Android phone owners), updating isn’t easy or straightforward.
Problems such as late or lagging releases and bricked cell phones are certainly annoying, but the science of software updates is not as straightforward as you may assume. The reality is that it is complicated and takes a lot of time. It is not just the case of an OS provider passing on the update to the phone manufacturer or operator to distribute out to phones. The process involves multiple stages and plenty of testing is required to be sure that the software, when released, will function correctly. Even after these steps, some problems may still appear.
The whole process begins with the planning stage. The OS providers, like Google and Microsoft, are constantly updating and evaluating parts of their software, they also consult with the OEMs and operators, and quite often the chipset manufacturers too, to determine the scope of the update and to decide on the targeted schedule. When there is near-final code coming from a particular OS provider, the manufacturers of handsets are the next group to begin the testing phase, in order that they can create the firmware to allow the update to happen.
Research is undertaken to analyze the features of the update, including making sure the newly added features are working in the correct manner and ensuring that prior functions are not altered after the update. When it has passed through the lab, the update reaches the beta testing phase with field customers, after which the product is released to all users. If there aren’t errors or issues arising during any point of testing, the operators can take the reports to the OEMs in order that they can deal with the problems.
When the software has come back with endorsement from all three groups (the OS provider has to double check as well and ensure that its own apps and services are functioning correctly), the update is complete and prepared for distribution. It can be done by OTA (over the air) or side loading. When provided by OTA, the carrier distributes the OS update in pieces not all at the same time, as the update can be very big and slow down the entire network. Updating in small numbers ensures that users won’t experience problems downloading the update.
Verizon and Sprint both state that they monitor several media, including customer calls and emails, forums and blogs etc, to check for any problems that may arise. If the issue is significant enough, they might chose to withdraw the update before other users download it, in order that they can put it under scrutiny, ascertain the underlying cause, make fixes, and re-release the software.
Through all of these processes, questions are raised. Are interfaces like Motoblur, TouchWiz and Sense, making things complicated and increasing the time it takes to update the software? It’s a factor that affects Android phones as many users have custom UIs as well as fragmentation, unlike other operating systems like iOS, WebOS and Windows, which provide a similar UI in its range of handsets which debatably leads to a simpler update method.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sera Filson is a writer, entrepreneur and professional student who’s currently pursuing a B.A. in Business Management. She manages her busy life by staying organized with Outlook, which uses Intermedia’s Exchange Hosting.
Filed under: Consumer Electronics,Mobile Computing,Notebooks,Product Reviews,Tablet PCS
