[T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide] Blue6IX:
I do think that people arrive at your conclusions due to three main reasons:

- The misunderstanding that developers are doing this for the users. ( some may, by far most are not)

- The user mentality of owning a smart phone. You want to have this device as long as you can, and get the most out of it.

Most devs see it another way. They want to stay on the cutting edge and try to break new ground. Regardless of how awesome a device is at launch, you are still looking at a limited window of time before it's old hat.

I think that more and more you will be seeing devs moving on more quickly due to the commercial success of the smart phone. Not just an expensive device for a few, anymore they are a dime a dozen for the many.

I've owned 3 doubleshots, still have two. Have an SGSIII, and am thinking about picking up one of the SGSIII international models.

...and that is fast becoming the M.O. of development. Squeeze out whatever learning you can until you benefit more from newer hardware.

Some devs will work on a device until it's about to or just starting to lose it's resale value so they can minimize the move forward.

- The third - and arguably most important reason - is the average user has no idea how much time, effort but most of all frustration goes into working on a device.

Especially for newer devs. For every one accomplishment, there are many, many failures. Failures that may have taken days of almost around the clock work. Failures that - in order to reach - took the place of spending time with friends, significant others or social gatherings. Giving up that day with your friends at the beach just to spend the whole time working on something that not only doesn't work, but even the parts of it you can salvage aren't useful.

This is what learning is like when you are the steward of your own education. You have to make sacrifices like ignoring your friends and family, cutting down on work hours, blowing off your girlfriend for a box with a screen.

Guess what - that whole graphics project for bulletproof that resulted in a 3 part tutorial? A 70 something hour bender where I walked away from the machine twice for less then ten minutes a pop for a quick bathroom break and to make some ramen noodles.

It was ramen noodles because I stopped working for a few months to learn android and build stuff for the doubleshot. Pennies can only be pinched so far.

...and I can't tell you how much I despise and hate actually doing graphics work. It makes me agitated and angry.

But ya know what? I did it to show what could be done and generate tutorials so other people could do it and free me to do other things, yet still enjoy the visual entertainment/enhancements the community would bring.

...and I was let down, in a big way. No one else really got into doing it. No one else invested the time to make graphical mods to. apk files we have or to sense. ( no slight to the very few of you that did)

You've had this phone for ten months, where are your roms, mods or graphical enhancements and stuff?

You argue that so few get involved - yet you do little to help.

This device was my first step into the dev ring. If I can be as successful at it - no reason you can't too. If you'd rather spend time doing other things, well, you never will learn to dev.

These kind of threads are disheartening. The community survives and thrives through your participation. By not pitching in to help, you are forcing the few that do to bear the weight of all forward development for the device.

Don't complain that we few are burnt out when you can't count yourself amongst us.

This division is one you highlight, while we try to eliminate. Come to our side and help out.

Bulletproof had over 2,000 downloads when I checked last back in march/april. No one used it as a springboard to build on?

At the end of the day...

... it's waiting for you to make it.