Android: Stop the flow of "haterade"

[Droid800]

I think Android is suffering the same problems iOS is; namely, that the OS as a whole hasn't really changed a whole lot since the days of the Hero. Most of the foibles and oddities of the OS are still there, and most of the biggest complaints about Android have gone unfixed.

That isn't to say that Android is a bad OS by any stretch of the imagination. Its just saying that all of the things that were wrong with Android on the early versions are still there on the newest versions. And that's what a lot of the sites are noticing.

4.x should fix them though. They have Matias Duarte plugging away at finally fixing the various UX foibles, and unifying the OS look and feel across the board, and they're also fixing (or have fixed) many of the other issues. The 4.x release is going to be a big one for Google; they can either do it right, or they can put a fresh coat of paint on what's already there. Hopefully they choose the former. (They can't really afford to choose the latter)

 

[butler360]

1. Google is quickly taking over
2. Two of the biggest tech blogs, Engadget and Gizmodo, are of the opinion that iPhone is the standard and anything that deviates from it sucks.
3. Carrier crapware/interference (similar to the PC market)

That's basically it. Also, Apple is very good at marketing and that has made a very big difference (being shiny and having a whooshy UI helps, too).

 

[cckgz4]

How do I say, I don't have to pay for Angry Birds without that being a slight against another platform that you have to pay for it on?

Oh silly, you can get Angry Birds free on iOS. Just gotta know how.

 

[Droid800]

1. Google is quickly taking over
2. Two of the biggest tech blogs, Engadget and Gizmodo, are of the opinion that iPhone is the standard and anything that deviates from it sucks.
3. Carrier crapware/interference (similar to the PC market)

That's basically it. Also, Apple is very good at marketing and that has made a very big difference (being shiny and having a whooshy UI helps, too).

Eh. I think you're glossing over some of the issues Android has.

Oh, and as for Engadget and Gizmodo; not really. They loved the G2X and the Nexus S, but they like Sense or other skins much less than stock. And like it or not, the iPhone IS the standard for touchscreen smartphones. If they weren't comparing it to the competition then they wouldn't be doing their jobs. Both of those blogs are just as quick to point out iOS' flaws as they are to point out Android's.

 

[cckgz4]

And lets not pretend the Android sites don't do the same. You can't utter iOS without being attacked

 

[Chopper Joe]

In part, it's about stock price

Part of what's happening has a pretty clear explanation and it's not about comparing technical specs of iOS and Android.

After WWDC announcements, there was the usual war of words between, well, you know. For all the debating and name calling, there was an objective fact: the response of the stock market, and the market was not impressed. There was no bounce in response to iCloud etc and the stock began a progressive decline that only reversed in the last couple of days.

If you look at the stories about Apple in the financial sector over the past couple of weeks, you'll see an interesting trend.

First, several stories show up questioning how Apple will be doing in the future and questioning the upside (some of these stories had to do with things like people leaving Apple etc but some had to do with market factors that mitigate the upside, e.g., "law of big numbers" -- when something gets big, it's harder to get the same percentage growth as in the past).

Second, in response, you see a number of pro-Apple analysts making some pretty outrageous claims (e.g., iphone 5 will "destroy" Android) that suggest a bit of concern, if not mild panic. There are a lot of careers and mutual funds who depend on Apple stock staying high. Also, many non-Apple fans may not realize that a lot of Apple supporters are also invested in the stock as well as the hardware.

I'm not suggesting that Apple is in trouble or about to collapse or anything like that. However, there are a number of financial factors that suggest Apple may be peaking, at least for the near term, and that has a lot of financial folks nervous.

 

[tropper]

Personally the fragmentation isnt an issue for me, and for those who are less tech oriented than me it is even less of an issue for them. All most people really see is a great phone with many different styles to choose from, one that fits their style best, one that is way more customizable than the rest.
I really feel it is the other brand fanbois that are most scared, not the OEMs, because they no longer have the latest and greatest phones out there. Android is no longer a joke in the smart phone world but more of a contender, if not the leader in the race for the best phone out there.

 

[bnrbranding]

I agree with Holsom about the fragmentation issue. My wife has a rooted CDMA Hero on Cyanogen 6, she has no idea what OS she has nor does she care. She just knows it works and I did some stuff to her phone. The vast majority of Android users I know couldn't tell you what OS they have, nor do they care. All they know is that they have a "Droid". The typical consumer has no clue, just the tiny segment of geeks knows or cares about this, and we are the least affected since many of us root and mod anyhow.

There will always be Android hate just like there will always be Yankees, Cowboys, Red Sox, Lakers, Lebron, and Kobe hate. Everyone loves the underdog and hates on success. No big deal, it just means Android is leading the pack.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Fragmentation and non-techies

I think the fragmentation issue will be most obvious for nontechies when they buy the latest and greatest Android phone and then find out they can't install Hulu or Netflix.

And if I had to guess, most people won't have a family member who roots their phone for them to install the latest hacked Netflix app.

 

[paulus]

For the most part, I believe they have the right to bash what they believe is Android. In fact what they're bashing is the Blur, the Sense, the - whatever crap the manufacturers force over the top of Android. Not enough people experience the real Android.
What would be good is more of this

 

[LaTuFu#AC]

Apple gets its fair share of ripping from blackberry and android sites.

Honestly, as much as I love my android phone and tablet, there are definitely some days where I appreciate how simple my blackberry curve was. A stable OS and strong antenna are not overrated on days when all you want to do is make a phone call without a screen lockup or force close. It didn't do much, but what it did, it did very well.

Now Apple is the one that looks kinda stale and sitting still. And the fanbois probably noticed that all of the "improvements" to iOS5 were largely takeoffs on Android stuff.

 

[Droid800]

For the most part, I believe they have the right to bash what they believe is Android. In fact what they're bashing is the Blur, the Sense, the - whatever crap the manufacturers force over the top of Android. Not enough people experience the real Android.
What would be good is more of this

When the Nexus S came out Gingerbread was bashed quite a bit, because it didn't really move the needle at all. If Google doesn't fix the issues that they didn't fix in Gingerbread, ICS is going to be bashed as well.

 

[zuben el genubi]

I've asked about this elsewhere. I read Daily Rotation and most of the postings are very negative about Android.
I've got the SGS4g on TMO. The phone is rooted and unlocked. I don't know about IOS, but I use the phone as a PDA, and have it set up now the way I want, I resent the fact that Google and/or the carrier can access the phone. I'm running Froyo, and I would prefer to know what benefits and update would have for me since I'm not having a storage or app problem since I'm rooted. I don't want to change just because I could play "Angry Birds" faster.
However, I like Android. With TMO, I can get free wifi calling over ANY wifi which helps as I get to places that don't have many bars for any carriers. I do have a data plan, but I don't have to as I bought the phone outright. Since I use my own wifi at home - data is practically unlimited anyway. I don't care about speed, either, since I am using my wifi. As long as voice works, I can wait until I get home for data.
I'm not a programmer, and don't pretend to be, so this MOD and that MOD mostly go over my head.
I just want to use a phone the way I want to, not the way the MFG thinks I'll use it, nor the carrier thinks I'll use it. So far, Android hasn't complained. I really don't want a "beneficent dictator"

 

[EricWiz]

You know.... they may have a point.

Android is fine for us geeks but not so great for the populace necessarily. I talked my dad into an android and now, after 2 years, he is going with an iPhone on his upgrade.

Why? well, it just works. And for all the fragmentation and different vendors and ui's and etc... it just not as polished as the apple product. I hate this! I am not a fan of apple but the device is a good choice for him. He just wants the thing to work and doesnt want to tinker.

There's a lot of people out there like that.

Now, add to that the fact that all the form factors are different so there are no real alarm clocks or stereos or this accessory or that because of it. Apple has cornered the marked on that stuff. Again, not saying it's good just that it is what it is.

 

[shady28]

Android is fine for us geeks but not so great for the populace necessarily. I talked my dad into an android and now, after 2 years, he is going with an iPhone on his upgrade.

Why? well, it just works. And for all the fragmentation and different vendors and ui's and etc... it just not as polished as the apple product. I hate this! I am not a fan of apple but the device is a good choice for him. He just wants the thing to work and doesnt want to tinker.

There's a lot of people out there like that.

Now, add to that the fact that all the form factors are different so there are no real alarm clocks or stereos or this accessory or that because of it. Apple has cornered the marked on that stuff. Again, not saying it's good just that it is what it is.

That's the fragmentation thing. There really isn't that much difference between iOS and Android if you're willing to 'root' or 'jailbreak' your phone. Android is Linux, iOS is Darwin. Darwin is in fact open source, based on BSD Unix, the Mach kernel, and elements of NextStep. The interfaces are different, but the base platform has far more in common with each other than with Windows 7 or Blackberry OS. The iPod / iPhone for example, once jail broken, have a telnet daemon and a shell prompt.

But most people just want a phone that's easy to use, reliable, and capable in terms of apps. My wife hated people who always played with their phones, now she does it after getting her an iPhone simply because it's so easy to use. The kid had an LG Optimus Android, but even he is not inclined to root it. My experience so far is that most android phones out of the box are not as usable, definitely not as reliable, as the iPhone.

Google needs to tighten up it's criteria for a phone to get the Android label amd make the manufacturers consistent with what they deliver, or user frustration will slowly erode their platform and they'll lose customers to WP 7 and Apple. They also need to enable some kind of base standard for upgrading the OS, and require all phones to be able to run a core version of Android - it's ridiculous that so many 1 year old Android phones can't be upgraded to 2.3 or in many cases even 2.2 without "rooting"; that kind of thing should be automatic and transparent to the user.

 

[Guamguy]

One thing that people complain about Android is that it isn't as smooth and fluid as iOS, and that is mostly true. The browser on the Iphone 4 scrolls and zooms very smoothly as if it was going 60 frames a second. The browser on my Mytouch 4g is pretty smooth too, but it seems like it's only going 30 frames a second or something. Anyone else understand what I'm talking about?

I think I read somewhere a long time ago that Android doesn't use gpu hardware acceleration and that's why things aren't as smooth. If Google would only add that, Android would be near perfect.

The raw Android up to Froyo doesn't graphically accelerate the browser, but some handset vendors do, Samsung and HTC in particular. However, the GPU on the HTC phones aren't as fast as Apple's and some of the choppiness comes from the garbage collection that all managed code does (the dynamically compiled apk runs inside a Dalvik VM). Apple's browser is native (statically compiled C binding to DLLs).

Here, try an experiment. There are actually two native code and executing browsers in the Android Market: Firefox Mobile and Opera Mobile 11. Download it to your MT4G and start scrolling, panning, pinch and zooming. Its all very smooth, like the iPhone's. These two browsers manage to get higher HTML5 scores to boot and much faster in running SunSpider than Safari, which is Apple's own preferred web benchmark.

The graphical acceleration is there in Android. But the app has to use it. I've seen enough 3D demos and live wallpapers --- try Asteroid Belt for example --- that shows complex 3D rendering and texture shading,. and Android pulls it off very smoothly.

You can only push the GPU on the MT4G up to a certain point, no matter how much native code you use. That's why on the Samsung's, who do accelerate its native browsers with a more powerful GPU to boot, you can see the difference.

 

[randy pennella]

I noticed to if you check out all the side by side compare videos, also they all lean to apple. i think android platform provides a lot more freedom than apple not to mention its a lot faster.

 

[Droid800]

I noticed to if you check out all the side by side compare videos, also they all lean to apple. i think android platform provides a lot more freedom than apple not to mention its a lot faster.

Faster in what way though? When you have two disparate operating systems its almost impossible to say one is faster. Both have animations that obscure their true speed, and both have their areas where they slow down significantly. I don't think its accurate to say one or the other is faster, because they really aren't.


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