Memo to all Android OEM's (and US carriers)

[Crispy]

Dear Manufacturer,

We are very glad you are introducing yet another flagship Android handset. Please make sure you follow these simple sensible rules and guidelines -

Hardware -

• Choose a SoC which has a decent cpu *and* gpu (note - this means no Tegra 3)
• No physical keyboard
• No hardware buttons (it's 2012)
• A big battery (min acceptable is 2000mAh. It *is* possible to have a thin device with a large battery)
• Thinness is not the ultimate end goal
• HD screen is preferred
• Don't reserve 1/2 the storage space and advertise it falsely
• MicroSD
• HDMI
• NFC
• Decent camera (zero shutter lag, low light)
• Loud volume (handset and speaker)
• Quadrant scores and benchmarks don't matter

Software -

• Unlocked bootloader
• Give users an option to turn off your custom skin
• At least pretend you'll commit to updates in a timely manner (this means at most 2 months after a new Android version, and support for at least 2 years)
• Make drivers for your proprietary components available, or better yet open source
• Commit to release dates

None of this is hard. You are free to introduce 10 different variants which don't have these features, but for your flagship these are a must. This is all your users want - the geeks posting on this forum, and the ones who walk into your stores. It will save you dev costs, you'll save millions on all those market research firms and consultants, and you'll have a huge hit.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Thank god nobody will listen to this.

Choice. look it up.

 

[moosc]

Hmm yea ok unfortantly the manufacturer sells the device carrier and carrier then makes demands before they buy it.

 

[sniffs]

Here's why the manufacturers don't care.

"short term profits" - This means more to them than long term.. and guess what? this is 100 bajillion percent WHY THEY WILL NOT BE AS SUCCESSFUL AS APPLE.

 

[sniffs]

Hmm yea ok unfortantly the manufacturer sells the device carrier and carrier then makes demands before they buy it. Unless the manufacturer is Apple

I fixed your sentence.

 

[cmunic8r99]

Yeah... good luck with that.

 

[bdfull3r]

Agree

• Big Battery
• Thinness is not the goal
• HD screen is preferred
• Don't reserve 1/2 the storage space and advertise it falsely
• MicroSD
• HDMI
• NFC
• Decent camera (zero shutter lag, low light)
• Loud volume (handset and speaker)
• Quadrant scores and benchmarks don't matter
• Unlocked bootloader
• Give users an option to turn off your custom skin
• Make drivers for your proprietary components available, or better yet open source

Disagree

• At least pretend you'll commit to updates in a timely manner (this means at most 2 months after a new Android version, and support for at least 2 years) While software and timely updates should be a focus point of OEM's two months is a relatively short time for some many devices. Look at CM9 some devices still don't have alpha's despite none stop work since November. It takes a while, with a lot of devices, skin issues, carrier support, it takes a while
• Choose a SoC which has a decent cpu *and* gpu (note - this means no Tegra 3) Tegra has game support, HD video isn't the end all be all. Different SoC offer different advantages
• No physical keyboard Its choice, what is wrong with a keyboard?
• No hardware buttons (it's 2012) Again whats wrong with choice. I prefer hardware buttons. I know when i click a button, i don't always know when a software button registers. I also don't have to chase the buttons in ICS builds

 

[moosc]

But the average user on vzw got screwed because of the apple deal. We lost alot

I fixed your sentence.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk

 

[I Monarch]

Memo to all using initials: There's no need to use an apostrophe when pluralizing. It should read as such:


"Memo to all Android OEMs (and US carriers)"

See? That's not so hard.

 

[tbhuang2]

Why was this low quality thread recommended on the front page?

 

[Luger718]

Tegra 3 is bad? i know its not the best GPU but we're looking over it already?

 

[YourMobileGuru]

Why was this low quality thread recommended on the front page?

Good question. The OP has a lot to learn about Android and choice.

 

[anon(21022)]

Screw you, there are a lot of us who prefer hardware keyboards. When only 5-10% of new devices released in a given year have hardware keyboards then I don't see how throwing us a bone every once in awhile hurts arrogant little dickweeds like you who don't like them.

I think there's a huge gap between the OP's "no physical buttons" and "no hardware keyboards".

Me, I disagree with the no physical buttons.. My last 3 phones had physical buttons (and by that I mean home, menu, back.. sometimes even search or camera button!) and I found them extremely usable and useful, much more than capacitive and way more than on-screen buttons. Had a honeycomb tablet and the on-screen buttons really annoyed me, much more than the benefit of having them always at the bottom no matter how I rotated my tablet.

Plus my brain, being human and having evolved in the real world, has spatial memory and knows when things move that things attached to them (ie buttons) move too, and can make the transition pretty easily lol. Maybe that's just me, heck I don't even rotate paper maps when trying to make my way somewhere and always know whether to turn left or right.. Maybe I'm getting old?

 

[pazzo02]

I'm not necessarily agreeing with the OP, but obviously many of you didn't read the whole post. His last paragraph states that he's only demanding one device like this. How many manufacturers only make one device?

 

[scholaryoshi]

Whatever! Physical keyboards are awesome!

 

[KWKSLVR]

Unlockable Bootloader, not unlocked. There are NASTY security vulnerabilities with an unlocked bootloader. Are they likely? No, they aren't. But there's no way in hell that a device should come unlocked.

There is a serious lack of a clue in the community about the nasty things that can happen to an unlocked device... especially if you use your device to check banking info along with storing sensitive documents.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

Unlockable Bootloader, not unlocked. There are NASTY security vulnerabilities with an unlocked bootloader. Are they likely? No, they aren't. But there's no way in hell that a device should come unlocked.

There is a serious lack of a clue in the community about the nasty things that can happen to an unlocked device... especially if you use your device to check banking info along with storing sensitive documents.

AMEN! Even the Motorola Droid, Xoom, and Nexus devices are locked out of the box... for a reason!

 

[blacksapphire08]

I like buttons, if I didnt want them i'd go buy an iPhone.

 

[GNex Girl]

I like buttons, if I didnt want them i'd go buy an iPhone.

iPhone 4S has a button.

 

[tdizzel]

• What's wrong with Tegra 3? How do you know it's not the best SOC? How many phones are there RIGHT NOW that have the Tegra 3? It may end up being the best SOC on the market(maybe not, buts its still a possibility at this point)
• I like physical keyboards. I'm considering selling my Bionic to get a Droid 4 beacause I prefer physical keyboards. I wish there were flagship phones with them because I would rather have one.
• I don't care if they use half the internal storage, most OEMs seem to be including Microsd cards with their flagship phones which more than make up for lack of internal storage
• At this point, NFC is mostly useless. It may become more useful in the future, but what's the point in including it right now when the uses are so limited.
• OEMs rarely if ever advertise quadrant scores, its usually some blog that starts bragging about those meaningless scores.

• Its amazing how the whole "unlocked bootloader" thing has taken off. How many people actually know how to check for themselves if a bootloader is locked or not? How many would know what to do with an unlocked bootloader if they didn't have someone else giving them step by step instructions. Even with so few who actually know what to do with a bootloader, so many people seem to be clamoring for them I guess its because someone told them they should care(sounds a little sheeplike to me)
• All OEMs say they will update their devices in a timely manner. How many of them have ever updated a device in 2 months? Maybe that should tell you that something is going on that makes it a time consuming project.
• Commit to release dates? That way if there is a delay for some reason they can either a) get blasted for delaying a promised launch, or b) release a faulty product and get blasted for that. Sometimes there are unavoidable and unforeseen delays, and committing to a release date is just bad for business.