Rant - I am Beginning to Despise Android, WTF is wrong with Google?

[Richard Feynman]

How can a company like Google simultaneously have their act so together that they create the Android OS, and then be SO F'N STUPID that they allow the experience to be destroyed by idiotic BS. I just bought a Samsung Galaxy S4. It's a GREAT phone but:

1. Why the hell should I have to spend an hour going through all my apps and turning off endless freaking notifications? Does Google really think I want to know every time the phone uploads a note to Evernote? Every time it uploads a photo to G+? Ad nauseum. And I'm a geek so I'll spend the time to do it, but that means 90% of the users out there are just living with these endless notifications. And if Google is going to allows apps to default to notifications ON, how about giving me one central place or command to turn them off?!

2. I'm now getting other notifications on my phone that I consider the equivalent of ads. Yesterday Swiftkey popped up a notification asking me to watch their tutorial videos. Now today they popped up a notification reminding me I could have it scan Facebook and Gmail to learn my text habits. So I go into the settings and find there is a F&&*NG setting for receiving notifications about "tips and tricks". Are you kidding me?!

I bought this phone to be more productive, not have an endless series of useless s*&t shoved down my throat. I'd like to shove this phone up someones A$$ at Google right now.

 

[Richard Feynman]

BTW, Apple handles this 10X better. You install an app and you HAVE to give it permission to give you notifications. THAT'S what I want Android to do. Don't make me go into every app and search for where that app hides notifications, not to mention that half the time they don't even call them "notifications"! For instance, in swiftkey it's under Settings?>Advanced>Tips and Tricks

 

[HNNNNNGHHH]

How can a company like Google simultaneously have their act so together that they create the Android OS, and then be SO F'N STUPID that they allow the experience to be destroyed by idiotic BS. I just bought a Samsung Galaxy S4. It's a GREAT phone but:

1. Why the hell should I have to spend an hour going through all my apps and turning off endless freaking notifications? Does Google really think I want to know every time the phone uploads a note to Evernote? Every time it uploads a photo to G+? Ad nauseum. And I'm a geek so I'll spend the time to do it, but that means 90% of the users out there are just living with these endless notifications. And if Google is going to allows apps to default to notifications ON, how about giving me one central place or command to turn them off?!

2. I'm now getting other notifications on my phone that I consider the equivalent of ads. Yesterday Swiftkey popped up a notification asking me to watch their tutorial videos. Now today they popped up a notification reminding me I could have it scan Facebook and Gmail to learn my text habits. So I go into the settings and find there is a F&&*NG setting for receiving notifications about "tips and tricks". Are you kidding me?!

I bought this phone to be more productive, not have an endless series of useless s*&t shoved down my throat. I'd like to shove this phone up someones A$$ at Google right now.

You can't make a legitimate reason about android with a Samsung TouchWiz device. You have to experience AOSP by either buying a SGS4 Google Edition, HTC One Google Edition, or one of the Nexus devices. OEM's are known to place their horrendous android reskins on their handsets. (Motorola is an exception since their new UX is almost vanilla android)

Posted via Android Central App

 

[jrsharp70]

Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman

Posted via Android Central App

 

[DS1331]

Google didn't technically create android they bought it right

Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums

 

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

How can a company like Google simultaneously have their act so together that they create the Android OS, and then be SO F'N STUPID that they allow the experience to be destroyed by idiotic BS. I just bought a Samsung Galaxy S4. It's a GREAT phone but:

1. Why the hell should I have to spend an hour going through all my apps and turning off endless freaking notifications? Does Google really think I want to know every time the phone uploads a note to Evernote? Every time it uploads a photo to G+? Ad nauseum. And I'm a geek so I'll spend the time to do it, but that means 90% of the users out there are just living with these endless notifications. And if Google is going to allows apps to default to notifications ON, how about giving me one central place or command to turn them off?!

2. I'm now getting other notifications on my phone that I consider the equivalent of ads. Yesterday Swiftkey popped up a notification asking me to watch their tutorial videos. Now today they popped up a notification reminding me I could have it scan Facebook and Gmail to learn my text habits. So I go into the settings and find there is a F&&*NG setting for receiving notifications about "tips and tricks". Are you kidding me?!

I bought this phone to be more productive, not have an endless series of useless s*&t shoved down my throat. I'd like to shove this phone up someones A$$ at Google right now.

Cant you just hold down on a notification and go to app info and uncheck notifications that way? Seems pretty direct.

 

[TheLibertarian]

I certainly don't share the OP's anger, but I do hope for some sort of centralized notification settings area in KLP. Apple has a rudimentary system, but I'm quite fond of the way BlackBerry created their Hub on the new Z10.

 

[ab304945]

BTW, Apple handles this 10X better. You install an app and you HAVE to give it permission to give you notifications. THAT'S what I want Android to do. Don't make me go into every app and search for where that app hides notifications, not to mention that half the time they don't even call them "notifications"! For instance, in swiftkey it's under Settings?>Advanced>Tips and Tricks

easy fix for you. Get an iphone, problem solved

 

[anon5664829]

How can a company like Google simultaneously have their act so together that they create the Android OS, and then be SO F'N STUPID that they allow the experience to be destroyed by idiotic BS. I just bought a Samsung Galaxy S4. It's a GREAT phone but:

1. Why the hell should I have to spend an hour going through all my apps and turning off endless freaking notifications? Does Google really think I want to know every time the phone uploads a note to Evernote? Every time it uploads a photo to G+? Ad nauseum. And I'm a geek so I'll spend the time to do it, but that means 90% of the users out there are just living with these endless notifications. And if Google is going to allows apps to default to notifications ON, how about giving me one central place or command to turn them off?!

2. I'm now getting other notifications on my phone that I consider the equivalent of ads. Yesterday Swiftkey popped up a notification asking me to watch their tutorial videos. Now today they popped up a notification reminding me I could have it scan Facebook and Gmail to learn my text habits. So I go into the settings and find there is a F&&*NG setting for receiving notifications about "tips and tricks". Are you kidding me?!

I bought this phone to be more productive, not have an endless series of useless s*&t shoved down my throat. I'd like to shove this phone up someones A$$ at Google right now.

It's not Google, it's Samsung. try a Nexus 4 and if you don't like it, simple solution- back to the iPhone.

 

[anon(21022)]

You can't make a legitimate reason about android with a Samsung TouchWiz device. You have to experience AOSP by either buying a SGS4 Google Edition, HTC One Google Edition, or one of the Nexus devices. OEM's are known to place their horrendous android reskins on their handsets. (Motorola is an exception since their new UX is almost vanilla android)

Except if you read his rant, it has nothing to do with Touchwiz but everything to do with apps, and how app notifications aren't centrally managed or not managed in any consistent way.

I think Google is slowly moving towards something like that, but we'll see.. In the meantime it's a mess, and while I'm not angry like the OP, I do agree that this needs to be cleaned up.

And IMO, this is why people still buy iPhones. They're not "clueless sheep who just buy iphones because they're stupid and buy what everyone else buys". Apple has actually thought these things through BEFORE releasing the product! Granted, some of their decisions are now getting obsolete and is limiting the OS, but they were strong design decisions initially. Meanwhile Google puts stuff out there and see how it evolves, that's why every Android version changes looks and functionality. Because Google didn't think it through before, they put it out there to see what people do with it THEN improve it. Both approaches have theor pros and cons obviously...

 

[ab304945]

they made it easy to disable notifications.

If u get a notification, and don't want it from that app anymore, just long press the notification and hit app info, and unchecked the box.

Before you didnt really have an option unless it was in the app settings

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Uninstall Evernote and Swiftkey. Don't support developers who take advantage of an open platform in a way you don't like.

Wanting Google to vet applications or force developers to do something a certain way isn't the solution.

As for a notification catch-all setting, that's ludicrous. Why would I look anywhere besides the settings for an app to change the way that app notifies me? That's as far from intuitive as possible. Like turning off the circuit breaker to silence your alarm clock.

In other words -- What you like is certainly not what I like.

 

[mayconvert]

I get where you are coming from. I just got here from using iPhone and I think settings and notifications in Android are the biggest mess I've ever seen.
My only problem is, I don't know what I CAN turn off without it messing other things up. Like AT&T locker? what the hell is that? Can I turn it off?
I can't be certain but I Think my phone is being backed up in like 6 places... no idea....

I can live with the settings tho. Take me a while to get them set right, but oh well.

I can tell you what bothers me more than Anything on android is APP Permissions. If you install an app, you are basically saying, here do what ever you feel like with my phone and my personal information. Hell, even if you don't install a single app, you still are doing that.
AT&T locker has permission to change my settings, read my fortune, take nude photos of me while I shower, and tell me what I can and can't eat.
That's one thing I Do like about iOS. Apps do have SOME limitations.... Android apps have ZERO limitations. They are free to do any dam thing they want.

 

[bespinct]

I get where you are coming from. I just got here from using iPhone and I think settings and notifications in Android are the biggest mess I've ever seen.
My only problem is, I don't know what I CAN turn off without it messing other things up. Like AT&T locker? what the hell is that? Can I turn it off?
I can't be certain but I Think my phone is being backed up in like 6 places... no idea....

I can live with the settings tho. Take me a while to get them set right, but oh well.

I can tell you what bothers me more than Anything on android is APP Permissions. If you install an app, you are basically saying, here do what ever you feel like with my phone and my personal information. Hell, even if you don't install a single app, you still are doing that.
AT&T locker has permission to change my settings, read my fortune, take nude photos of me while I shower, and tell me what I can and can't eat.
That's one thing I Do like about iOS. Apps do have SOME limitations.... Android apps have ZERO limitations. They are free to do any dam thing they want.

Be careful, Android is much more transparent about permissions. The apps are not free to do whatever they want. If a user is uncomfortable with the permissions am app is REQUESTING, the user doesn't have to install it.

I've never been informed about what permissions a given app will use on my iPhone. With the curating in apple's app store I don't really think about it much, but the curation is not foolproof.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[abazigal]

Uninstall Evernote and Swiftkey. Don't support developers who take advantage of an open platform in a way you don't like.

Wanting Google to vet applications or force developers to do something a certain way isn't the solution.

As for a notification catch-all setting, that's ludicrous. Why would I look anywhere besides the settings for an app to change the way that app notifies me? That's as far from intuitive as possible. Like turning off the circuit breaker to silence your alarm clock.

In other words -- What you like is certainly not what I like.

A more apt analogy would be like having a central remote control which you can use to manipulate every single device in your house, but it is located in quite an inconvenient location (but then you only need to be in one place to control everything). Vs having an individual remote for every single device (can be more convenient for the small stuff, but juggling with so many remotes can get tedious fast).

It has its pros and cons either way.

IOS consolidates most settings in one central app. This makes it easy for when you are trying to change a similar setting for multiple apps simultaneously (such as deciding which apps you want to receive notifications from, what sort of alerts and how many all at one go), as opposed to having to go into 10-20 different apps to achieve the same result. It is also a catch-all that allows me a bird's eye view of what apps I have which allow for notifications, which are on/off and so on.

On the flip side, this also makes it quite cumbersome for certain other settings which I may want access to on a more regular basis. For example, chrome lets me enter private browsing mode right from the app itself; but for mobile safari, I have to go back into settings itself to turn this function on and off. If I want to change the default font for the notes app, I have to do so from settings (should be available from the app itself).

IMO, there is no one best solution. What I would like to see from both platforms is for the developers to sift out the settings which I likely won't need to touch as often and would benefit from being able to manipulate all at one go (like notifications, privacy settings, sync preferences etc), and consolidate them all into one settings location. More common toggles should be left within the app itself.

That would really be the best of both worlds.

 

[srkmagnus]

Good discussion going on here. Personally, I am Ok with how notifications are done right now. However, that doesn't mean I will be closed to other methods in the future.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[darkoman4]

A more apt analogy would be like having a central remote control which you can use to manipulate every single device in your house, but it is located in quite an inconvenient location (but then you only need to be in one place to control everything). Vs having an individual remote for every single device (can be more convenient for the small stuff, but juggling with so many remotes can get tedious fast).

It has its pros and cons either way.

IOS consolidates most settings in one central app. This makes it easy for when you are trying to change a similar setting for multiple apps simultaneously (such as deciding which apps you want to receive notifications from, what sort of alerts and how many all at one go), as opposed to having to go into 10-20 different apps to achieve the same result. It is also a catch-all that allows me a bird's eye view of what apps I have which allow for notifications, which are on/off and so on.

On the flip side, this also makes it quite cumbersome for certain other settings which I may want access to on a more regular basis. For example, chrome lets me enter private browsing mode right from the app itself; but for mobile safari, I have to go back into settings itself to turn this function on and off. If I want to change the default font for the notes app, I have to do so from settings (should be available from the app itself).

IMO, there is no one best solution. What I would like to see from both platforms is for the developers to sift out the settings which I likely won't need to touch as often and would benefit from being able to manipulate all at one go (like notifications, privacy settings, sync preferences etc), and consolidate them all into one settings location. More common toggles should be left within the app itself.

That would really be the best of both worlds.

I like this man's reasoning.

 

[Aquila]

Agree 100% with "uninstall those apps" and get ones that do things the way that you like. Keep is much better than Evernote now (IMO) and I really like the stock Android keyboard now.

 

[_X_]

How can a company like Google simultaneously have their act so together that they create the Android OS, and then be SO F'N STUPID I'd like to shove this phone up someones A$$ at Google right now.

That's a bit not mellow dramatic.

Anyhow I understand you might not like the experience but it's to each own. I do like the notifications system on Android. In all of the examples you mentioned those are examples where it's used to enhance the users experience with the apps. They are informing the user BUT I have seen apps that abuse the notifications system and truly send out pure spam. Usually it's games, those apps get uninstalling right away and given a negative review.

Google didn't technically create android they bought it right

You can't buy the rights to open source software. What they did is buy the company that developed Android.

But to the point you were trying to make, notifications where developed after
Google owned the company.

 

[_X_]

Keep is much better than Evernote now (IMO) and I really like the stock Android keyboard now.

Keep doesn't even measure close to Evernote.

Stock Android keyboard is nice but I still think SwiftKey and Swype are better.