OK so I'm a newbie, until 3 weeks ago I'd never used an Android device and hadn't really looked at this ecosystem, some aspects of this have come as a shock…
After several years with a Windows phone recently made the jump to Android…well I thought it was Android… Primary driver for the switch of platforms - the Apps.
Now I didn’t do much research (my mistake), I picked a price point of less than £200 SIM free, drew up a spec list, 5.2" or bigger, Compass, NFC, ability to add micro SD, picked up a Huawei P8 Lite 2017…
All seemed OK but then over a week or so started to understand the tech a bit more and spot the issues that you don’t see in the spec sheet…
It's not really Android, it’s a crippled version of Android with a manufacturers wrapper/overlay, in the case of Huawei, EMUI. Then there's the manufacturer specific Apps pre-loaded…Apparently this is for the manufacturers to 'add value' and differentiate themselves in the market. So what's wrong with this? Well as a Windows phone defector its unbelievably horrid and well it's just 'bat s**t' stupid.
You don’t seem to be able to get rid of the manufacturer overlay (EMUI), there's loads of 'added value/crap' (delete as necessary) bloat ware that can't be uninstalled which hogs memory that on the P8 Lite is in relatively short supply (3Gb/16Gb). Apps can't be moved to the SD card either.
The underlying software on my handset was out of date when I got it, Android 7 (v7.1.2 is current at time of writing) and it can't be updated to v7.1.2) and it seems that at best it will at best be months before updates become available, if ever. Compared to Apple and Microsoft where updates are available to all as soon as they go RTM it’s a laughably ludicrous scenario, what on earth do the manufacturers think they are doing????
It seems that if you want an 'Android' phone you must buy a very upmarket handset like the Google Pixel or soon to be released Essential. The manufacturers at the cheap/budget end of the market spend money 'adding value' that adds horrid overlays (EMUI) turning core functionality off (ability to move Apps to SD card), filling the memory with Apps that many people won't use and cant removed, and to cap it all stop users ever getting an up to date underlying OS. Worse it seems Huawei can't even supply or offer up to date versions of their own software, I have EMUI 5, seems they are now on EMUI 5.1...
So 3 weeks into the 'Android' experience and I'm thinking, shall I jump ship, bite the bullet and buy an iPhone, the iPhone 8 will be out soon… I'm not wildly enthusiastic about the Android/EMUI UI, it's not a patch on Windows Phone but I'll get used to it, it's not a deal breaker.
Seems to me the manufacturers have missed a trick, why can't they offer users the choice, do you want our 'added value' wrapper/overlay and bloat ware bundle or would you like a plain vanilla absolutely stock install of Android?
Positive side, the Google App store is way better than the Microsoft store.
Have I missed the plot here??? All opinion/comment/suggestion welcome.
After several years with a Windows phone recently made the jump to Android…well I thought it was Android… Primary driver for the switch of platforms - the Apps.
Now I didn’t do much research (my mistake), I picked a price point of less than £200 SIM free, drew up a spec list, 5.2" or bigger, Compass, NFC, ability to add micro SD, picked up a Huawei P8 Lite 2017…
All seemed OK but then over a week or so started to understand the tech a bit more and spot the issues that you don’t see in the spec sheet…
It's not really Android, it’s a crippled version of Android with a manufacturers wrapper/overlay, in the case of Huawei, EMUI. Then there's the manufacturer specific Apps pre-loaded…Apparently this is for the manufacturers to 'add value' and differentiate themselves in the market. So what's wrong with this? Well as a Windows phone defector its unbelievably horrid and well it's just 'bat s**t' stupid.
You don’t seem to be able to get rid of the manufacturer overlay (EMUI), there's loads of 'added value/crap' (delete as necessary) bloat ware that can't be uninstalled which hogs memory that on the P8 Lite is in relatively short supply (3Gb/16Gb). Apps can't be moved to the SD card either.
The underlying software on my handset was out of date when I got it, Android 7 (v7.1.2 is current at time of writing) and it can't be updated to v7.1.2) and it seems that at best it will at best be months before updates become available, if ever. Compared to Apple and Microsoft where updates are available to all as soon as they go RTM it’s a laughably ludicrous scenario, what on earth do the manufacturers think they are doing????
It seems that if you want an 'Android' phone you must buy a very upmarket handset like the Google Pixel or soon to be released Essential. The manufacturers at the cheap/budget end of the market spend money 'adding value' that adds horrid overlays (EMUI) turning core functionality off (ability to move Apps to SD card), filling the memory with Apps that many people won't use and cant removed, and to cap it all stop users ever getting an up to date underlying OS. Worse it seems Huawei can't even supply or offer up to date versions of their own software, I have EMUI 5, seems they are now on EMUI 5.1...
So 3 weeks into the 'Android' experience and I'm thinking, shall I jump ship, bite the bullet and buy an iPhone, the iPhone 8 will be out soon… I'm not wildly enthusiastic about the Android/EMUI UI, it's not a patch on Windows Phone but I'll get used to it, it's not a deal breaker.
Seems to me the manufacturers have missed a trick, why can't they offer users the choice, do you want our 'added value' wrapper/overlay and bloat ware bundle or would you like a plain vanilla absolutely stock install of Android?
Positive side, the Google App store is way better than the Microsoft store.
Have I missed the plot here??? All opinion/comment/suggestion welcome.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram