I believe that's because Samsung doesn't lock it's software at all. You only need Odin and the flash files to change your software. At least this is true for GSM models of SGS and SGS2.

I totally get what you mean, but i think the comparison you wanted is Desire HD -> Incredible S (i own the DHD), where the ONLY difference was a front facing camera, and the enclosure. And the model came out what.. 3-4 months after DHD came out? Same with Desire -> Desire S. And then less than 5 months after the Incredible S, lo and behold, Sensation, which compared to both IS the new generation (dual core processor). But WTF didn't they make the DHD with a FFC and made it the ultimate model for at least half a year?

So yeah, they like to shit out phones like it's nobodies business. But hey! Didn't Nokia do the EXACT SAME THING?

May i ask on what hardware is this?

No you're not. 2.1 was Eclair, and MT3G never had that one (oficially anyway). It went straight 1.6 (Donut) -> 2.2 (Froyo) (and then consequently 2.2.1)

2.3 is Gingerbread.

That's not how i envision it, it will be more subtle, and it won't be the hardware, but the software that will be leased -> Software as Service (provided straight from the Cloud). The result will be pretty much the same tho.

Yes, i do think he has a point. Actually i've been bragging about the same thing (and more) ever since Apple announced the Mac App store. Not only apps are gonna go to the cloud (think the new cloud based office), but apps are gonna go to the pay-for-service model, hardware will unify to either expensive (and maybe even licensed, like console SDK style) workstation type, and dumbified cloud-clients like the iPad. This is NOT a good future, and is pretty much the bleakest scenario.

I was just pointing out that Android is NOT locked down compared to the other smartphones out there (WP7, iDevices).

The GP is a little wrong. 95% of android handset require no hacking whatsoever to sideload apps. Preferences -> Applications -> Allow Unknown Sources -> Done.

AFAIK only AT&T blocks this on their android handsets. But they deserve to die a slow death anyway.

In many ways gaming has gone the way of hollywood. More flash, bigger budgets and more streamlined.

I invite you to look at Shadow of the Colossus. HDR, fur shader, fairy shader, DoF, very nice looking motion blur, IK, and much more flashy effects, on a 200Mhz MIPS machine with 32MB of ram, complete with data streaming. That, and the game is considered to a goddam piece of art if there was ever a game that was worthy of calling art.

Actually it's not a new direction at all. If anything, the PS2 was the new direction. Stick very high speed vector processors next to the a standard CPU and GPU and some low latency ram on a high speed interconnect. The PS3 is just this idea extended to more vector units and current-generation CPU and GPU (at the time it was made).

What Microsoft did was smart - instead on banking on very specialized hardware, it made sure it's development kit could do the optimisation automatically, hence it's MUCH easier to push the xbox to it's limits than the PS3 (read about the ATi shader compiler for R600, and how cool Visual Studio for the Xbox is).