Does it matter if your carrier is behind on the version of Android?

boe · #1 (**permalink**) 02-16-2011, 09:51 AM

Hello,

I'm used to WM so I'm not that familiar with Android yet. With my old phone (vogue/touch) I was always able to get a more up to date version of the OS on this site than Sprint had - typically by at least 6 months before Sprint released their version. The kitchen's here typically ran better and had more features than the official release of WM they would put on their site. Is it the same with Android? I was thinking about the Samsung because they have great screens but I wasn't sure if I could keep it current if Samsung was behind on their releases.

**rainfreak** · #2 (**permalink**) 02-16-2011, 10:01 AM

If you want to go with a lot of choices for custom ROMs I would heavily recommend anything HTC over other manufacturers. As an example, there are close to 150 custom ROMs listed for the EVO on our site. Then, for the Samsung Epic, there are some but they don't even have an official 2.2 base to use for custom ROMs.

boe · #3 (**permalink**) 02-16-2011, 10:44 AM

Thanks - I was thinking about switching to Verizon and they only Android phone they have that I like is the Galaxy S. I'm not a fan of Motorola - at all.

**sanmanc** · #4 (**permalink**) 02-17-2011, 02:06 PM

Verizon also carries the HTC Incredible which is very similar to the HTC Evo. As for the OS thing, if you're running stock then as long as it does what you need it to do then it really shouldn't matter if the version is behind.

**mindfrost82** · #5 (**permalink**) 02-17-2011, 02:21 PM

At this point, I wouldn't really buy a phone without Froyo on it if you're planning on running stock. I see Gingerbread as a more optional upgrade, but Froyo was a pretty decent upgrade from 2.1 with JIT, automatic app updates, Flash, etc.

**gTen** · #6 (**permalink**) 02-17-2011, 03:32 PM

Yes you can load up custom roms with android 2.2 and above.

**Johnny.Bravo** · #7 (**permalink**) 02-20-2011, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rainfreak

If you want to go with a lot of choices for custom ROMs I would heavily recommend anything HTC over other manufacturers. As an example, there are close to 150 custom ROMs listed for the EVO on our site. Then, for the Samsung Epic, there are some but they don't even have an official 2.2 base to use for custom ROMs.

The Official Froyo release for the Epic is 21 Feb. Samsung has already released the source code. Personally I recommend the Epic over the Evo from a strictly hardware point of view. Samsung has had some issues keeping their customers current with updates, so HTC does have the upper hand there. But the dev community has done an excellent job keeping the Epic up to speed, and with the official Froyo release coming tomorrow it will be even better.

FYI the Epic has had Froyo ROMs for a few months thanks to the leaked versions that Samsung let out to the developers, so even though it is just now getting the official release, don't think that it hasn't had any Froyo.