Android retention of average end user

[DroidXcon]

I'm Writing this due to an article that i read from CNET news ( Apple, Android 'most desired' smartphone systems | Apple - CNET News ). It states that alot of smartphone users would want an Iphone as their next device. This upsets me, i understand that surveys are just a snippet of users but i have witnessed this train of thought first hand recently.

I am 30yrs old and have owned Droid X and Samsung Fascinate. I recently spoke to a friend of mine who is 21 yrs old, i was expressing to her how i love my Fascinate. She in turn stated that she couldn't wait for Verizon to get the Iphone. When i asked her why, she stated that iphone could do so much more and was easier to use.

Now, i understand that cell phones like anything else comes down to personal preference but i can't help to think that most people who want to switch to Iphone from an Android device do so in an uniformed mind set.

After showing her apps like Handcent, No LED, Launcher pro, PowerAMP, Beautiful Widgets, Multicon, and showed her how to customize Icons; her tune changed and she decided to stick to her Android device.

I believe there is a big disconnect between Android and the average end user. The average user does not see or understand the potential of their Android devices, those of us that are part of Android central community and other Android communities are in the know because we come and ask questions and research what our phones can do. But the average user rely on their carrier reps to show them a couple tips or tricks.

IOS has commercials that show off their applications and what an iphone can do From reading newpapers to using the phone as a musical instrument. While Android has commercials but they are phone and carrier specific. either they are showing off the device can do or showing off what their UI skins can do; which limits the end users understanding the potential of their device.

There has to be a way to bring the potential of Android to the average user. Yes, there is android central and other android communities that offer tutorial and how to videos etc. But lets be real , we are not the average users.

So how can this be done,? Commericals? What if their was a native "How to" customize widget with links to How to videos for the "AVERAGE USER".

I hope that this topic can be disscussed on an upcoming podcast, i would love to hear other ideas on how to have people see the potential of Android vs IOS. And perhaps if we are lucky Google will find take our advice and find a way to fix this disconnect of Platform potential and End user; and hopefully bridge the gap.

 

[Johnly]

Good post....I agree with a lot of what you say. Every time I meet someone in class with a android device, I show what mine is doing, and then they want all the apps and replacement launchers I run, so I load then up and they are happy. It is incredible how many android users don't even tap the potential of their devices.

 

[lazarus]

Agreed- the Android platform goes largely untapped by most users. You can really do some beautiful things with it. The flip side to that is that people can do some truly horrendous things to the OS. Without sounding elitest, most of the UI tweaks done by android rom/root users are truly awful looking. People tweak things because they can and not ncessarily because it makes anything better sometimes. That's the dual nature of an open platform. Apple on the other hand has targeted the average user by locking out users from major UI customization. While they may lose users like us who like to have full control, the lockdown environment they enforce allows them to really hone and create a beautiful UI experience. There software is created for one device, with very specific parameters.

I guess what Im saying is that I think this problem is inherantly baked in to the OS. Either lockdown and give your users a limited but beautiful experience or give complete freedom to the user at the cost have having a few rougher edges for the general public.

Its kind of like the the whole libert vs security debate: give up personal freedom in exchange for security or maintain more freedom at the potential cost of some security.

From my end I'll take more freedom and customizability any day, but I don't knock those who prefer a more controlled environment in the name of ease-of-use and peace of mind.

 

[osuarez]

Very well stated!

I am in agreement with what you have said. I am one who for so long thought of going to the iPhone but did not because I did not think it would hold up to my life style and the abuse I put my phones through. When I saw the Android phones come out and what the potential was I immediately was intrigued with them and had to get one. Well last week I did just that and got my first Android phone and I love it. I got the Captivate and at first was not 100% sold on it I was around 90%. That was until I got the nerve up to root it and add the Lag patch to it. Now I am 110% sold on it since everything is now running smoother and faster. I am looking to learn more about what I can do with it and hope to learn here. I appreciate all those users before me making things so easy to learn through your instructions. See you around the forums!

 

[DroidXcon]

Thanks, Johnly..

Lazarus, i agree on what you are saying,,,but beyond customization aswell end users still do not see potential of their devices.

Like simple things such as controlling your DVR from your phone or being able to use swype in different language.

My goal is to make the average user aware to the potential of the OS and somehow finding a simple way of bringing them demo's and help.

 

[Gee]

What you explained is exactly the reason why iOS is preferred by the mainstream user. It's simple to use. Apple carefully tunes the iOS experience to be that way - basically plug and play. Easy to use, easy to play music, easy to play games, easy to find quality apps, easy almost everything. We may not like all the decisions that they make but most of the compromises they make are to minimize any complications to the experience. So they'd rather have no functionality instead of limited functionality or functionality with bad UX.

Android on the other hand feels like a OS that was designed by engineers for engineers -- and that's basically what the situation at Google is. Hopefully that WebOS UX guy can rub off of some of his culture into Android; but honestly from the admittedly very little I've seen of Gingerbread, it looks even more crude, more engineered. It also doesn't help that the OEMs (who couldn't create their own UX friendly OS if their lives depended on it) are further complicating things with their own crude, badly designed skins.

Hopefully sometime in the future Android can catch up to a similar level of UX but keep the same amount of flexibility that it currently offers.

 

[DolfanCole]

Agreed- the Android platform goes largely untapped by most users. You can really do some beautiful things with it. The flip side to that is that people can do some truly horrendous things to the OS. Without sounding elitest, most of the UI tweaks done by android rom/root users are truly awful looking. People tweak things because they can and not ncessarily because it makes anything better sometimes. That's the dual nature of an open platform. Apple on the other hand has targeted the average user by locking out users from major UI customization. While they may lose users like us who like to have full control, the lockdown environment they enforce allows them to really hone and create a beautiful UI experience. There software is created for one device, with very specific parameters.

I guess what Im saying is that I think this problem is inherantly baked in to the OS. Either lockdown and give your users a limited but beautiful experience or give complete freedom to the user at the cost have having a few rougher edges for the general public.

Its kind of like the the whole libert vs security debate: give up personal freedom in exchange for security or maintain more freedom at the potential cost of some security.

From my end I'll take more freedom and customizability any day, but I don't knock those who prefer a more controlled environment in the name of ease-of-use and peace of mind.

I think you've "hit the nail on the head" with this post. I think it's just inherit in the OS and how it's designed. And there are pros and cons for Apple's approach with iOS and Google's approach with Android. I, too, prefer to go with Android and it's liberty and freedom, so to speak.

 

[cmags]

I see that the general consensus among those of us interested enough to join AC to research, discuss, and learn about the phone, is that we prefer the flexibility and control to the UX and ease of use.

Shifting gears slightly, this discussion spawned another question which is the flipside of what we're all agreeing on, and that is, do you feel that the Android OS is too difficult for your basic user (read: computer illiterate). Or put another way, would you recommend an Android phone to your mother/grandmother?

I recently ordered a set of the LG Optimus S phones from Sprint, taking advantage of the free phone offering, for my wife and myself, as well as my mother and brother still living at home. I'm a bit concerned that the phone may be overwhelming to Mom, coming from a basic feature flip-phone. She was interested in a better camera, bigger screen (to better see pics of our newborn we send via MMS), and a qwerty keyboard because texting takes her forever on a numeric pad. While she's come a long way from "where's the power button?", she's by no means technically savvy. The only reasons I decided to venture it was that it was a no-cost gamble, and that my brother might be able to show her how to use the basic functions as he learns them on his own.

My primary concern is whether this, like her PC, is going to become another device I've signed up for remote tech support for. I've never heard of anyone "messing up" their basic flip phone, but it happens on the PC all the time. Is there the potential for it on Android as well? If so, does anyone know of an Android equivalent to Remote Desktop?

 

[DroidXcon]

I see that the general consensus among those of us interested enough to join AC to research, discuss, and learn about the phone, is that we prefer the flexibility and control to the UX and ease of use.

Shifting gears slightly, this discussion spawned another question which is the flipside of what we're all agreeing on, and that is, do you feel that the Android OS is too difficult for your basic user (read: computer illiterate). Or put another way, would you recommend an Android phone to your mother/grandmother?

I recently ordered a set of the LG Optimus S phones from Sprint, taking advantage of the free phone offering, for my wife and myself, as well as my mother and brother still living at home. I'm a bit concerned that the phone may be overwhelming to Mom, coming from a basic feature flip-phone. She was interested in a better camera, bigger screen (to better see pics of our newborn we send via MMS), and a qwerty keyboard because texting takes her forever on a numeric pad. While she's come a long way from "where's the power button?", she's by no means technically savvy. The only reasons I decided to venture it was that it was a no-cost gamble, and that my brother might be able to show her how to use the basic functions as he learns them on his own.

My primary concern is whether this, like her PC, is going to become another device I've signed up for remote tech support for. I've never heard of anyone "messing up" their basic flip phone, but it happens on the PC all the time. Is there the potential for it on Android as well? If so, does anyone know of an Android equivalent to Remote Desktop?

Yeah there is an equivalent to it, i can't think of it off the top of my head but ill find it and get back to you.

i also was concerned when i got my father the original droid....what i did was i loaded up launcher pro. then i removed all non essential icons from his home screen, then using launcher pro's function to hide all unnecessary apps, i hid anything that i thought would either be confusing for him or anything that i thought would give him to much flexibility to change settings.....

i put everything i thought he would need on the home screen, picture gallery, camera,text icon, phone icon, and power widgets ( brightness, GPS, airplane mode....etc).... he has had the phone for 2 months and so far so good.

 

[cmags]

Good idea, but I'm 1200 miles away from Mom. And I don't think Little Bro could handle the job. O-well she'll either figure it out or bail out and take Little Bro's old LG Lotus (qwerty feature flip-phone) and I'll have a spare Optimus to play with.

 

[TechWhore]

I came from a blackberry storm 1 which was my first smartphone. I thought it was nice but nothing spectacular. I was hoping Verizon would get the iphone until I met the Droid X. I haven't looked back since. I am probably not the typical female user, though. I am 43 and going to school to be a systems admin so I like techie things. I know several people at work that got a droid that really needed to be shown the full benefits of the market, the launchers, all the amazing apps! The majority of females I know with droids did not seek out AC, KWIM? That being said, I dont know that that same group would have done anymore with an iphone.

 

[Aspiring Developer]

On my N1 when the battery is about to die I just swap it out for a fully charged one( without voiding my warranty ).

It may not be for the common user but I think a programmable device should BE programmable. I like my N1 very VERY much.

 

[wes008]

Well, we're not the average users, and we know what to do with our phones. For the people that don't, there's the iPhone. That's not to say that I hat the iPhone. I love the iPhone (please don't spam me for saying that). But I prefer Android. You can do so much more and it just has more potential.

 

[BSG75]

I think the iPhone is dead simple to use. One stinking button and just a list of icons to click on. It can't get much simpler. But I think for anyone that spends 10 minutes to learn about multiple home screens, widgets, voice commands/voice-to-text and universal search, they will find Android is much easier to use for regular tasks. Not to mention that stupid iOS "multi tasking" hack, whereas you don't even have to think about it in Android.

The truth is that people are learning the truth, in the US, Europe and world wide. There are still some tech novices that want that one that "has more gee-bees" but we can't help that.

My wife is tech literate, but wants me to do everything. She wouldn't even sync her iPod in iTunes. She made me do it. Now she has all her own scenes (Sense on an Incredible) with live wallpapers and apps she found on the market.

 

[DroidXcon]

I think the iPhone is dead simple to use. One sticking button and just a list of icons to click on. It can't get much simpler. But I think for anyone that spends 10 minutes to learn about multiple home screens, widgets, voice commands and universal search, they will find Android is much easier to use for regular tasks. Not to mention that stupid iOS "multi tasking" hack, whereas you don't even have to think about it in Android.

The truth is that people are learning the truth, in the US, Europe and world wide. There are still some tech novices that want that one that "has more gee-bees" but we can't help that.

My wife is tech literate, but wants me to do everything. She wouldn't even sync her iPod in iTunes. She made me do it. Now she has all her own scenes (Sense on an Incredible) with live wallpapers and apps she found on the market.

Lol thats just her being a woman lol.......but seriously my point is that alot of people dont even know whats possible so they dont know to go looking for a "How to" there must be a way to show those people that there is so much more than just the widgets and what nots they are presented