I think the cheaper Android options serve their purpose and their lower cost makes the entry into the world of smart phones more accessible. I also feel that if a company releases a product, they HAVE to commit to supporting said product for a typical life span of the phone. At a minimum, in the USA, I would like to see half of a typical carrier contract, so 1 year. If they do not plan on doing so, they need to be up front. With any computer, and I consider smart phones to be pocket computers, support is paramount to a agreeable experience.
Working for a software company, I know first hand how many resources have to be allocated just to support your existing platform. On top of that, you need a team or teams to work on your next product. With the release cycle of Android, this can quickly get out of hand when you are supporting over a dozen different smart phones.
I can agree with the column that the cheaper phones can degrade the overall experiences but not many power users, the ones who will dig into Android and make the phone their own, will be getting those cheaper phones. Cheaper phones will be used primarily by folks who won't venture far past default settings. As long as it's stable, who cares what version you're on, right? Though I will point out that the majority of people that are basic users don't need a smart phone at all. They tend to be the people that "just have to have one" and then the loudest to bitch when they have outlandish data charges. The other side of that coin is that with the growth of smart phone presence, people are forced into getting smart phones as the old convention phones are quickly fading into history.
Speaking of stable, my wife has the HTC Evo 4G, Sprint's flagship phone for the past year. While updates for it have continually come, it's been one nightmare after another. I admit, she isn't as tech savvy as most of you in here but she is smart and can operate a phone. That being said, she has had terrible luck with hers. Between random hard locks where the only way to reset the phone is to remove the battery, to the phone physically failing to a malicious app bricking her phone to the point it was easier for Sprint to give her a new one and rebuild the old than try to fix the original one. I see the merits in Android but I don't care for the platform based on my own experience with the "top of the line" device. I know it's unfair to judge the platform as a whole when I have only experienced one single phone but I am. Deal with it.
Concerning Apple, I love their approach. It doesn't give the choices that the other makers do but damn they are stable and once a new phone comes out, the previous generation gets marked down to a much more affordable price point. They have one phone per generation but their support is out of this world and every single person that gets one knows exactly what to expect. I depend on my phone FAR too much to leave it to chance. I commend Apple for the experience they provide.
