Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available
Let me offer a solution: It's time for Google to offer a Google+ Certification for Android. These certified devices would have two important characteristics:<p>1. They are guaranteed to run the latest version of Android for 5 years.<p>2. They are guaranteed to have a clean version of Android, without any carrier or device maker modifications.<p>No doubt the marketing people can come up with other things to add to the list, but that's the gist of it.<p>If such a certification existed, personally I would <i>only</i> shop among those options.<p>Such a certification would require that Google have some sort of compatibility criteria, and that their future development efforts run well within those criteria. So it constrains Google just as much as the OEMs. The certification should be cheap, but not free. And I picked the name for Sergey's buy-in.<p>The nice thing about this (voluntary) certification program is that OEMs don't <i>have</i> to participate. And in fact could have certified and uncertified devices. The program captures the essential qualities that made the iPhone successful, in my opinion. The App Store is a big part of their success, and developing for the iPhone is far more pleasant because of the stability of the platform.<p>EDIT: Okay, if it was 3 years I'd still be happy.