Android, WinMo, iPhone OS, Blackberry OS...

[BluePLanetMan]

Hey All,

New application/OS feature question. Of all the new smartphone operating systems out or coming out soon, what are the key features that are most important to you?

For me, a smooth and simple way to consolidate my social networking, my business and personal email and my media is key. I guess even that is too general. Less important to me, but still needed is Geolocation and a good app market.

Well, speak your minds. AndroidCentral is definitely the place to discuss this cool topic.

BluePlanetMan
@blueplanetapps
Blue Planet Apps Website

 

[dekcufi]

I like how customizable android is. I wish it did better with memory management, i am always having to kill off tasks to keep the speed up on my phone. It works great for the most part. It has it's moments. Mostly it is bloatware that I would have to root to get rid of.

Ios seems to be smoother, also much more limited.

I don't really play with winmo..... I think microsoft shot their self in the toe there. They have more then enough resources to make a viable mobile os. Maybe they will develop a real product like they did with xbox and sell it as a loss to get market share

For me personally flexibility is the most important.Performance is a must, but some people might see that as better gaming or smoother applications or BOTH! I am sure we all like smother running system, IOS I would have to say it the king there. Maybe user profiles on a widget would be nice to keep personal/ business separated. I would love to have a widget to hit that turns google voice on and off on a toggle like wifi. I dont want to have to hit a button every time a make a call. I would also be great to be able to set contacts to automatically be dialed via google voice so it is all automatic after that.

 

[BluePLanetMan]

That is a great feature request. I always thought that the Contacts area should have many more settings for each contact, like ringtone, Gvoice or not, IM settings, Ringtone time of day or vibrate, or just block. So many enhancements to Contacts alone.

 

[dwe28]

what are the key features that are most important to you?

Phone, Messaging, Internet, Multimedia, Customization, Apps

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Customization, flexibility, and support for business class productivity apps. I couldn't care less about Facebook or Twitter. I do want a phone I can adapt to me, rather than one that makes me adapt to it.

Key apps are EAS email and calendar. The absolutely horrible calendar in Android (really, the worst I've run accross on any modern platform--PalmOS had better ones more than 5 years ago) nearly ruled that out, but there are 3 apps on the way that should remedy this.

Lack of flexibility and customizability is what takes iOS out of the running for me.

Windows Phone 7 or whatever the Hell stupid name MS gave it is just too much of an unknown at this time.

BB is just a sad joke any more, almost as antiquated as PalmOS, but without the ease of use and flexilibility. Beyond email, it's weak, and even it's email isn't all that impressive now.

WebOS? Great potential, great interface, but an almost total lack of business apps, and very limited customization capability. Also really lousy PIM apps, but with no promise of better ones any time soon.

 

[BluePLanetMan]

I agree. I think that Google has again set the standard by which other smartphone OS makers need to pay attention. As the previous post mentioned, nobody gets it right all the time, and the calendar app is a key problem in the current iterations of Android, but I am certain this will be remedied. The good news is that all this competition will create a much better user experience for the end user and I think we can all look forward to the demise of the desktop PC and eventually the laptop as smartphones and flexible or even projectable displays come to market.

 

[bclinger#IM]

I came from a Sprint Touch Pro 2 running the stock 6.1 ROM. Great business device, though it does occasionally slow down, but it was rare on my device. Stable, no resets. Excel ran fine, Exchange ran fine. Bluetooth implementation more than fit my needs. Calls came directly to the headset, SMS was announced/read to the headset. Other than a received phone call going to the headset and speaker, no one was aware of anything coming in to the device. The EVO, I gotta tap the button to answer the phone. Everyone hears an email arrival. Everyone hears a SMS arrival. I am finally getting better with the software keyboard after I turned of predictive text. One can roam the phone using Exchange; one can only roam the card and doing that means some functionality is not available when it is being done. The TP2 lit up when an email was received; the EVO does not light up when an email is received (like this). It is fast though. Would I buy it again if I knew what I know now? No, I would sit a while longer waiting for a device with a keyboard - the Galaxy S or whatever it is called.

 

[midwest_kc]

I'm still getting used to Android, and personally, I'm not completely sold. I have only used iOS on my ipod touch, and its cool, but nothing I need to have on a phone.

My only other smartphone OS I have experience with is blackberry, and I think people give it too hard of a time. When using it, I felt like I was using a "complete" product. Android doesn't do this for me, though its growing on me. I really think it needs time to mature as an OS, though.

What I loved my blackberries for was messaging. Email, text, bbm, all of it was a joy. Also, the way that the official apps (twitter, Facebook, etc) were incorporated into menus, etc was great.

Again, I don't want this to sound like I'm bashing Android, I have an evo that I hope keeps me satisfied for a long time, and as I get used to Android, I want to want to stay with it forever, but it is very clearly still In its infancy, and has a ways to go.

Just my $.02

 

[Droid800]

I agree. I think that Google has again set the standard by which other smartphone OS makers need to pay attention. As the previous post mentioned, nobody gets it right all the time, and the calendar app is a key problem in the current iterations of Android, but I am certain this will be remedied. The good news is that all this competition will create a much better user experience for the end user and I think we can all look forward to the demise of the desktop PC and eventually the laptop as smartphones and flexible or even projectable displays come to market.

Google's biggest problem is that they're not taking enough of an active role in Android's maturation. They need to set hard standards for the UX, unification, and OS user interactions. Android sucks as far as actually using it goes; things are buried too deep in menus, simple operations take too many clicks, and every program or menu has a different look and feel. Some things they got right, like contacts. Some things they absolutely butchered, like email setup and interaction between multiple email accounts. But there's still quite a bit of work for them to do.

 

[Kyle Gibb]

Google's biggest problem is that they're not taking enough of an active role in Android's maturation. They need to set hard standards for the UX, unification, and OS user interactions. Android sucks as far as actually using it goes; things are buried too deep in menus, simple operations take too many clicks, and every program or menu has a different look and feel. Some things they got right, like contacts. Some things they absolutely butchered, like email setup and interaction between multiple email accounts. But there's still quite a bit of work for them to do.

Android, along with nearly all Google products, are very much a work in progress. Gingerbread is rumored to have major UI changes. I, for one, prefer Google's strategy to say, Apple's. Google releases new stuff all the time for free. It may not have a ton of features or work 100% right, but they are usually updated quickly.

But yes, Android does need some serious work on UI standardization between apps.

 

[Droid800]

Android, along with nearly all Google products, are very much a work in progress. Gingerbread is rumored to have major UI changes. I, for one, prefer Google's strategy to say, Apple's. Google releases new stuff all the time for free. It may not have a ton of features or work 100% right, but they are usually updated quickly.

But yes, Android does need some serious work on UI standardization between apps.

Apple does too, so I'm not sure what your point is?

 

[nox]

Apple does too, so I'm not sure what your point is?

I don't think he's saying Apple is better or anything like that.

But if anything, grab an iPhone, hand it to some person on the street, and tell them to use it, they'll be able to use it with ease.
Then hand them a Droid, a lot more difficult for them to use because of the UI.

Apple does a good job on their UI, no doubt about that.

But I still love my Android, and would choose it over an iPhone any day.
I prefer customization.