More Android smartphones belong in a museum

Last week, the Houston Museum of Natural Science released a nifty little smartphone app that gives us more background text and images to go with the vast new Paleontology Hall that opened in the summer. The next time I stroll those exhibits, I look forward to having this guide in my hand. I recommend that everyone install it before their next museum visit.

If you can, that is.

While reading the app's Google Play page, I took notice of the operating system requirement -- Android 4.0.3 or above, a.k.a. "Ice Cream Sandwich." That statement took me aback because AT&T had only released Ice Cream Sandwich for my phone model, the Motorola Atrix 2, just the previous week, and this was for a phone that was purchased new this year. Only recently had I joined a small minority of Android users that could install the app.

At first I thought it was a bittersweet oversight on the part of HMNS's part to go to the trouble of reaching out to a limited audience. But then I suppose this only underlines the laggard manner with which the wireless carriers have been taking in regards to OS updates. The cynic in me says that this is a ploy to get customers to buy new handsets on a frequent basis. But it's even worse, because there are STILL brand new handsets that are being sold with Android 2.3, a.k.a. "Gingerbread,"

And these new phones are being unboxed in an environment where there's no assurances that they're not already obsolete. It's a real waste to see one-year-old devices being left behind. Consumers should start taking note of which manufacturers and wireless providers are most guilty of this behavior and spend their dollars elsewhere.