Android Cheap iPhones?

[Maikai.Guy]

Yeah pretty much agree. It's like swarvosky crystal. But we are talking about phone that we keep in our pockets not in our wall shelf.

Hmmm... Swarvosky Crystal.

You just helped me see the point of some people's claims of "luxury". I've admitted the iPhone is pretty and feels good in the hand, but whenever I looked at it, I looked at it as a "mobile phone." As an engineer, I can't help but consider the application when evaluating the industrial design. For a mobile application, it is a fail... clearly. The device MUST have additional protection or it will break when dropped, period. The argument that it will never be dropped is... unrealistic.

I can't think of another example in the mobile space (I'm talking even outside of cell phones) that such an evident design flaw is accepted by consumers.

But considered as an extension of Apple's marketing as a prestige item and appeal to people's egos, rather than logic, it starts to make sense. People are considering this thing completely outside it's application... as a piece of art... as Swarvosky Crystal... or even jewelry.

It's neither of course, like you indicated. A cell phone is a mobile electronic device, meant to be replaced in short order. It is not an expensive piece of artwork, like Swarvosky Crystal, which would adorn one's home for decades, and not a piece of jewelry, like a Piaget watch, which will adorn one's wrist for decades.

One has to applaud Apple for successfully instilling this level of value mystique into the minds of the "iSheep."

 

[Maikai.Guy]

Touche, but just the fact that people actually bash the Iphone for being "smashable" while even Gorillia Glass (HTC's One X) gets visible cracks after three attempts. That is pure ludicrous and makes me laugh in jest.

Even if I just happen to drop my phone and it cracks, Gorilla Glass or otherwise, guess what, I don't actually go bash the manufacturers for screwing up. That is thinking ass-backwards.

You are going quite a bit out of your way to ignore the fact that the phone survived a waist high and shoulder high drop to pavement with no functional issues. Only a face plant from shoulder height could smash this phone.

How does one completely discount the level of endurance that phone demonstrated? Only someone predisposed against Android could take that position.

An iPhone would not have survived the first drop.

Rather than laughing in jest, try making a rational case for why you think the endurance shown should be discounted? Puh-leeze don't say nobody drops an iPhone. Even Apple would disagree with you.

 

[kachowdhury]

Wow, you really missed the boat here mate.

By the way, I find your implying I am a "self declared elite or in other words 'isheep'" pretty offensive, abusive and racist as well. So, I guess we are even.


Congratulations. Quite a few of them do, though, sorry.

Points accepted. And indeed we are even. I Just got carried away with the remarks which I shouldn't have.

 

[Speedygi]

Simple answer: No one drops a phone accidentally from shoulder high, and even if I *somehow managed to incur a face plant on a HTC One X I will certainly hope that nothing cracks, but as it's often said, "s*** happens."

That said, do I think dropping the phone accidentally should be discounted? Not really.

And do I really care if an Iphone isn't able to survive even a small drop? Nope...

Now where does the main thread of this topic stand

 

[Maikai.Guy]

Now where does the main thread of this topic stand

The question was:

...why can't Android shake that cheap iPhone status that seems to have iPhone users and the blogosphere run to that tune. Is Android really the cheap iPhone in the american tech publics eyes regardless of the feature rich android devices? does the hardware decide which one is the high echelon of devices?

This is not really a question, but more of a premise that Android hardware is considered cheap and second class by the public. It's just worded as a question, but quickly makes a statement.

IMHO, phonemaster123 (and others) fall victim to the human nature trait of thinking everyone else is like them.

I do not believe "the american tech public" agrees with phonemaster123's premise. If they did, Android phones wouldn't have kicked the ass of iPhone so quickly after being released nor continued to kick iPhone's ass like they have.

And people like me (owned the first 3 iPhones) would have never switched in the first place if we thought Android did not represent the best-in-class phone.

I've tried to point out one very obvious reason why many people might prefer an Android phone, its durability, but the iPhone lovers here tend to vehemently reject any criticism of the iPhone and 100% discount anything good said about Android phones.

Look at your own words regarding an Android phone dropped from shoulder height and surviving, which is a pretty impressive thing if you ask this engineer.

And do I really care if an Iphone isn't able to survive even a small drop? Nope...

Seriously? Aren't you being just a little unreasonable here? Don't Android phones earn a little green check mark under "durability" and don't iPhones earn a little red minus sign?

Another very striking shortcoming of the iPhone is the small display. Of course Apple immediately tried to head this off with their "retina display" cow pie, but 3.7 inches is so yesterday for most people. Even my sister-in-law, who I believe to be Queen of the iPhone fan-girls, has openly admitted she yearns for a larger screen.

But I'm sure this criticism too will be met with an immediate vehement rejection.

 

[garrim85]

Is it 3.7 or 3.5? Either way, I totally agree, for me, it's too small. I honestly fee like Apple has painted itself into a corner, so to speak, with the screen size. At this point it will be difficult for them to go with a larger screen, not impossible, just difficult. Given the incredible amount of apps that exist for that screen size, asking all developers to update (or not, at the risk of their app looking bad on a larger screen) is a huge task. I hope they do, though, it would be nice.

 

[Johnly]

Is it 3.7 or 3.5? Either way, I totally agree, for me, it's too small. I honestly fee like Apple has painted itself into a corner, so to speak, with the screen size. At this point it will be difficult for them to go with a larger screen, not impossible, just difficult. Given the incredible amount of apps that exist for that screen size, asking all developers to update (or not, at the risk of their app looking bad on a larger screen) is a huge task. I hope they do, though, it would be nice.

Exactly, they have an enormous amount of apps to maintain integrity, so they wont jolt a jillion different screen sizes. Prolly a 4", liquid metal and LTE. Hope that bird can be broke.

 

[Speedygi]

I' m not sure if this should be Google's job, but I think since they are the ones providing the APIs and that the developers have to use them they should make the apps backward compatible...It isn't hard, create some sort of emulator that allows future OS releases to play legacy apps or apps exclusive on certain form factors. If it's hard then at least create some workaround, because I can see people liking IOS for the more managable ecosystem.

 

[Lanhoj]

I' m not sure if this should be Google's job, but I think since they are the ones providing the APIs and that the developers have to use them they should make the apps backward compatible...It isn't hard,

It's more difficult than you think to simply make things backwards compatible which is why so many iOS Apps need updating whenever a new iOS is released.

 

[Speedygi]

But it seems many Android developers are not being diligent enough in updating the apps for ICS then... It's a little blunt to say it but some people do care about using the apps they want on a device they want...

 

[Lanhoj]

But it seems many Android developers are not being diligent enough in updating the apps for ICS then... It's a little blunt to say it but some people do care about using the apps they want on a device they want...

I'm not disagreeing however, a big part of the problem is compatibility with not only the vast differences in hardware but also custom ROMs, overclocking, custom launchers, editing system settings...the list goes on.
So what makes Android great is also hurting development of new games.
I work for a major Developer and games as simple as Words With Friends, Tetris, or Scrabble take months to just put out an update due to how many things need to be checked. With the Android versions, Developers generally want to go back as far as 1.5 whereas on iOS most don't bother with anything below 3.0 anymore.

It also depends how the studio was setup initially - if started as an iPhone studio then transitioning to include Android is far more difficult than the other way around which (I feel) is probably why a lot of Android games switch quickly to iPhone versions after getting all the kinks out in their Android release; since there's no approval process when an update is ready it's pushed live instead of waiting an additional 2wks for App Store approval. It's also easier to track the devices having problems in the comments for Android VS iPhone so it makes sense to do Android first then Apple.

So all in all, yes it's sort of the Developers' fault but also the nature of the platform itself that's hurting update time.

 

[Speedygi]

Which is probably why some don't even want to go through the hassle, leaving many apps lying around with no chance of running well on ICS or at all...

Thanks for the insight by the way!

 

[Maikai.Guy]

I' m not sure if this should be Google's job, but I think since they are the ones providing the APIs and that the developers have to use them they should make the apps backward compatible...It isn't hard, create some sort of emulator that allows future OS releases to play legacy apps or apps exclusive on certain form factors. If it's hard then at least create some workaround, because I can see people liking IOS for the more managable ecosystem.

Huh? This is news to me. Exactly which older apps won't work on a newer Android OS? I haven't run into any.

In fact, Honeycomb and ICS have a native app for tablets that expand the screen for older apps, from before Android tablets existed. Or you can just run the older app in it's original small mode.

 

[Speedygi]

Huh? What older apps won't work on a newer Android OS? I haven't run into any.

In fact, Honeycomb and ICS have a native app for tablets that expand the screen for older apps, from before Android tablets existed. Or you can just run the older app in it's original small mode.

A few, Gun Bros, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, among others.

 

[Maikai.Guy]

A few, Gun Bros, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, among others.

Two? You guys kind of made it sound like there's an entire population of Android apps being left behind.

Both are currently in the store.

The wife wouldn't appreciate SI Swimsuit on my stuff, so just purchased and downloaded SI Swimsuit app to my son's ICS tablet. He'll like that. ;-) Seems to work fine.
Maybe they changed the girls and you want to keep the old ones?

Downloaded Gun Bros Multiplayer to my Dinc2 (rooted, running aeroevan's CM9 build). Working fine.
Maybe there was a non-multiplayer version at one time?

How does this have anything to do with the subject of this thread?... the build quality and public perception of the iPhone versus Android phones?

 

[axne1]

So I know that Android has high-end smartphones just like Apple's iPhone. Also Android has phone far more capable and more customizable then Apple's single handset. My question is why can't Android shake that cheap iPhone status that seems to have iPhone users and the blogosphere run to that tune. Is Android really the cheap iPhone in the american tech publics eyes regardless of the feature rich android devices? does the hardware decide which one is the high echelon of devices?

Because they made android affordable to everyone!
Which is Great!
The only reason why apple users feel their product is superior is because they pay so much for it... that's all. The allure of the iPhone/iPad is dying off quickly though.

sent from a Android device
I'm always on!

 

[bricker1]

this is really nice apples marketing has people second guessing every other phone personally ill take an android every time the iphone has its place we are all entitled to our choices and opinions

 

[Speedygi]

Two? You guys kind of made it sound like there's an entire population of Android apps being left behind.

Both are currently in the store.

The wife wouldn't appreciate SI Swimsuit on my stuff, so just purchased and downloaded SI Swimsuit app to my son's ICS tablet. He'll like that. ;-) Seems to work fine.
Maybe they changed the girls and you want to keep the old ones?

Downloaded Gun Bros Multiplayer to my Dinc2 (rooted, running aeroevan's CM9 build). Working fine.
Maybe there was a non-multiplayer version at one time?

How does this have anything to do with the subject of this thread?... the build quality and public perception of the iPhone versus Android phones?

NBA Jam also runs with bugs on ICS, and so does DrawSomething...

I am not just saying these things aren't available, some are, and others work poorly or doesn't work at all on ICS. This is just one concern of mine and I am just putting them out here.

Based on the conversation I have prior to you replying to this particular train of thought was just me proving that maybe the IOS app store seems more reliable in providing updated apps for their current OS versions.

Is all I am saying...

haha did I do something to your coffee this morning? :-!

 

[Johnly]

Because they made android affordable to everyone!
Which is Great!
The only reason why apple users feel their product is superior is because they pay so much for it... that's all. The allure of the iPhone/iPad is dying off quickly though.

sent from a Android device
I'm always on!

LOL, I am sure Apple is having RIM's problems, yup, they should be dead soon

 

[Speedygi]