/\ That article is complete horseshit and the writer doesn't know what he's talking about.
He claims that Google are paying phone manufacturers with Android devices to keep Google Search as the default search engine on them.....LOL, completely bogus.
He claims the smartphones on some networks are "crippled", but doesn't say how. The sole example I can think of, of "crippling", is AT&T removing the ability to load apps from anywhere but Android Market on the Backflip.
Google clearly knew during the spring of 2010, as it was planning to kill off the Nexus One, that Sprint’s EVO, Verizon’s Droid X, AT&T’s Captivate and T-Mobile’s Vibrant models were on the way.
And all of those smartphones are crippled by their carriers. They didn’t have to be.
Again, I'll say.... HOW exactly are these devices crippled?
He points towards you not being able to remove the NASCAR app from the Evo unless you root. Big fucking deal, nobody is forcing anyone to use it, there's enough internal memory on the Evo to not have to worry about the space it takes up, and FroYo supports moving apps to the SD card making it less of an issue. And if you really are THAT concerned about it.... root it.
Then he says that Sprint and Verizon have crippled Android 2.2's built in tethering. They haven't. They charge a fee for tethering, which is fair enough. On the few occasions I've tethered, I've used hundreds of megabytes of data just from simple things like surfing, email, Twitter. When tethering becomes a selling point of the OS like it is with FroYo, rather than a workaround/stealth feature as it was before - people are going to buy them just to use that as their primary modem at home. You start streaming video and music, or using torrents, and you're pushing gigabytes of additional data very quickly.....OBVIOUSLY it's their prerogative to charge you for that and I see nothing wrong with that. You're getting great speeds (4G with Sprint if you're in a coverage zone) and they're only charging, what, 10 or 20 bucks on top of your existing plan?
The guys's saying "Google could have forced the companies to do XYZ" and "Google could have had rules that said this and that".... Google does not operate like Apple, or any other traditional/old-school technology company.
He's speculating that Verizon and Google will act like AT&T and Apple by banning apps to protect their business. NOT.GONNA.HAPPEN.
This whole "net neutrality" thing is a NON-issue. People are getting wound up by agreements and words. It's all a bunch of "this allows them to...", "now they have the ability to..." "they're going to....".
Fact is there's nothing here worth people getting pissed off about. Sure, IF they DO go ahead and do some of the things these naysayers are speculating about, people can complain then.
This article makes me lose faith in a lot of people who masquerade as journalists.
Actually amount of times is only limited by your browser/image viewer.
