Are Android Smartphones 'Designed for the Dump?'

In The Story of Electronics, Annie Leonard introduced viewers to the concept of electronics that are "designed for the dump." These devices aren't meant to be kept and cherished, but bought and replaced as quickly as possible. And while pretty much everything's like that these days, electronic gadgets are special offenders, as advances in technology quickly render your old gear outdated.

So if Android smartphones are really like that, some of the problem is simply because they're smartphones. But Android smartphones have a few extra "features," that make many of them especially dump-worthy.

Rapid innovation

Coming out with new features all the time is good, right? Not so fast ... literally.

First, new features are often added to Android smartphones before there's any way to really use them. The first front-facing cameras came out before video chatting apps like Qik and Fring were anywhere near ready, and Google added an NFC chip to its Nexus S smartphone (by Samsung) before Google Wallet came out. Meanwhile, HTC's happily running off in its own direction making the HTC Flyer tablet use its own stylus, one which may well fall out of favor when Google -- or HTC itself -- introduces a more widely-used variant.

Nobody wants to get stuck with Betamax. But while Google sets the standard for Android apps and services, Android itself is an experiment, one that keeps evolving to keep up with Apple's iPhone. The next version of Android, called Ice Cream Sandwich, is rumored to do away with hardware buttons altogether, making it unlikely that it'll be ported to earlier smartphones. This is one reason why.

Software updates

They are a problem. See, in Apple's world older iPhones receive iOS updates regularly, adding new features to even outdated phones. iPhones eventually fall behind, but Android phones tend to get kicked to the curb much more quickly, and left to languish while their manufacturers move on to new phones.

Even when an Android phone does receive an update, the process is not always smooth. To update my HTC Aria to Froyo, I had to download a Windows-only app and plug my smartphone into my PC. I had to backup my personal data, since the update would blow away everything I had on it. And a new "feature" made the AT&T logo take over my notification bar, so I had to figure out how to work around that before I could enjoy using my smartphone again.

Some Android phones, however, are even worse, because they're ...

Cheap and disposable

... or very nearly so. The plastic creaks, the touch screen takes a second to register your swipe, and the latest games and apps simply won't work on them. Part of that's because they're so much less powerful, but another part seems to be that the designers simply don't care. Why should they?

Obviously, not all Android smartphones are like this. High-end Android smartphones are incredibly powerful, often have features that the iPhone lacks, and tend to be higher priorities for timely software updates. And even if your phone isn't that high-end, or was purchased awhile ago, if you still love it there's no need to switch.

That's the thing, though. Many Android smartphones aren't designed to be loved -- they're designed to be thrown away. So when you go shopping for smartphones, make sure that you love your choice enough that you won't, at least not anytime soon.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.