Android: Still Not Ready For Business?

[robmalt1]

I've been using smart phones since the Windows Mobile days and moved over to Android in 2009 with the Samsung Moment. That phone had it's share of bugs and issues and I quickly moved through a couple more Android phones, the Samsung Epic 4G and LG G2X before finally reaching the promised land with a Galaxy Nexus.

I think I'm a bit odd because I pretty much use everything on my phones. If it's broken I notice. Until the Galaxy Nexus I always found something that didn't work on my phones. Maybe GPS would fail to lock or streaming bluetooth music stuttered.

I work in IT and support a mix of Android phones and iPhones at my company. We have a BYOP policy. The iPhones are far easier to support in a business environment. They just work. With Android devices I'll run into issues such as inability to connect to the VPN or Exchange, poor performance over time, and serious bugs such as email headers shown with the wrong message body (recently occurred on a Galaxy S3). Sometimes these issues can be worked around with firmware/app updates. Sometimes they cannot.

I tell anyone thinking of trying Android to get a Nexus device, but most folks aren't willing to go that route. Even Nexus devices are subject to unnecessary issues when core app updates contain bugs.

The single biggest problem with Android today is end users are beta testers.

Sometimes phones receive updates that address bugs. Sometimes they don?t and the end user ends up running pre-release software for the life of the device.

So what do you all think? Should Google and manufacturers sacrifice some innovation for stability and quality? Or should these phones always be at the cutting edge and somewhat experimental? Are they suitable for use in a business environment or do some of the bugs equate to deal-breakers?

 

[Golfdriver97]

I've been using smart phones since the Windows Mobile days and moved over to Android in 2009 with the Samsung Moment. That phone had it's share of bugs and issues and I quickly moved through a couple more Android phones, the Samsung Epic 4G and LG G2X before finally reaching the promised land with a Galaxy Nexus.

I think I'm a bit odd because I pretty much use everything on my phones. If it's broken I notice. Until the Galaxy Nexus I always found something that didn't work on my phones. Maybe GPS would fail to lock or streaming bluetooth music stuttered.

I work in IT and support a mix of Android phones and iPhones at my company. We have a BYOP policy. The iPhones are far easier to support in a business environment. They just work. With Android devices I'll run into issues such as inability to connect to the VPN or Exchange, poor performance over time, and serious bugs such as email headers shown with the wrong message body (recently occurred on a Galaxy S3). Sometimes these issues can be worked around with firmware/app updates. Sometimes they cannot.

I tell anyone thinking of trying Android to get a Nexus device, but most folks aren't willing to go that route. Even Nexus devices are subject to unnecessary issues when core app updates contain bugs.

The single biggest problem with Android today is end users are beta testers.

Sometimes phones receive updates that address bugs. Sometimes they don?t and the end user ends up running pre-release software for the life of the device.

So what do you all think? Should Google and manufacturers sacrifice some innovation for stability and quality? Or should these phones always be at the cutting edge and somewhat experimental? Are they suitable for use in a business environment or do some of the bugs equate to deal-breakers?

Something else to consider is the fact that unless you get a Nexus on a pre paid service, you are still under the influence of the carrier. There are a lot of bugs that I think are more to do with not working with carrier bugs than anything else. How many bugs in programming can be created because Carrier X tried to close a loophole in tethering? And that is just one example. Adding more and more bloatware just compounds the problem.

 

[gone down south]

There's only 3 iPhones, but there are hundreds of Android phones running 5 or 6 major OS variants, all modded and skinned by different manufacturers.

 

[_X_]

I've been using smart phones since the Windows Mobile days...

So what do you all think? Should Google and manufacturers sacrifice some innovation for stability and quality?

Me too, except I went from a BB then Android. I'm not sure what issues you have been having, but my experience has been Android is next to flawless.

I don't do VPN, but still use my device all sorts of business activities.

In fact I'm able to do far more business activities on my phone than on Android.

From email I can download an attachment open it from my phone office app edit it, then print it from my phone. I'm also able to save off files from my disk drive to the network using nothing more than a file explorer.

As for email download K9 it's the best email client and extremely stable.

 

[benhmadison]

As stated above I think the overreach of the carrier into the software is most of the problem. Also I believe the gap in fragmentation is finally closing on Android. Could be wrong just my take on it.

 

[robmalt1]

I believe the lion's share of bugs come from manufacturers. Whether those modifications stem from carrier requests or not, I don't know.

X, what phone are you using? The devices I've seen that are close to flawless are Nexus devices. Almost all other phones have had Android heavily modified, which wouldn't necessarily be bad if the software was sufficiently tested and debugged prior to release.

I also understand this it's easier for Apple to thoroughly test their single device than say.. Samsung who is releasing how many new devices each year? 20? 30?

 

[_X_]

X, what phone are you using?

I'm using the Note 2.

I came from the Original galaxy S and it has many flaws. This phone has been next to flawless for me.

The devices I've seen that are close to flawless are Nexus devices. Almost all other phones have had Android heavily modified, which wouldn't necessarily be bad if the software was sufficiently tested and debugged prior to release.

That is an incorrect statement the Nexus has had their fair share of problems. Both hardware and software wise. No company is free of issues. My brother complaints about issues he has with his iPhone all the time.

Most decent third party vendors that do a good job testing provide real value. And when no test is done it is apparent and a black eye from the company.

Samsung adds a lot of features under the hood that really make the device business friendly the problem with them is they also add their horrible Launch Skin to it. The first thing I do on my new phones is add ADW.Launcher and I'm back in business.

Note I do this on my ASOP( Nexus) ROMs as as well.

=X=

 

[dchawk81]

So what do you all think? Should Google and manufacturers sacrifice some innovation for stability and quality? Or should these phones always be at the cutting edge and somewhat experimental? Are they suitable for use in a business environment or do some of the bugs equate to deal-breakers?

I think the phones used by a business should be up to the business being affected.

I personally do not support stagnation.

Blackberries are/were fairly stable and lacking innovation, although not perfect. Perhaps that's the route your business should take.

Keep in mind there is no perfect technology, which is precisely why you have a job.

 

[Dreamliner330]

The Motorola RAZR MAXX is a solid business machine. It's stable and is nearly impossible to kill the battery in a day. It will actually PUSH IMAP and Exchange (not the 15 minute crap). It just lags real bad for some reason (called the Motorola Power Saving Script).

 

[Ry]

The Motorola RAZR MAXX is a solid business machine. It's stable and is nearly impossible to kill the battery in a day. It will actually PUSH IMAP and Exchange (not the 15 minute crap). It just lags real bad for some reason (called the Motorola Power Saving Script).

Add a Lapdock for even more productivity.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[SuperXstyle]

I used my iPhone and still use my iPad 3 for work... mainly iWorks, and especially Numbers.
As long as this, or equivalent functions properly, and Exchange mailer, then I am happy to switch to Android.
Syncing across devices is also important.