The Android world is a big mess right now

[garak0410]

My Moto Z Force Droid is the most complete package I've ever had in the phone. It's got a water resistant nanocoating so I can use it in light rain and not have to worry about spills. It has near-stock Android. It's super fast and fluid. The camera is one point lower at DxOMark than the S7 edge. It has USB-C. And it has Moto Mods. I can slap on a battery mod (which can charge my phone wirelessly) if I need more juice during the day. I love this phone!

As I posted above, I can agree the Moto Z Force Droid is one of the most complete packages out there and battery life is quite, QUITE good. If I can solve the quirky camera issues, I CAN live with the speed of the camera. Plus, wife got me the JBL Speaker for Christmas and want to use that more often.

 

[garak0410]

I don't have any issues with my Moto Z Force camera. Maybe you have a faulty one? I'd take it back and exchange it, if you can.

I wonder if it is the adoptable storage causing the problems? I did make sure to get the best rated MicroSD Card out there...I could exchange it or perhaps do a clean reset to see if that helps. Missing a birthday moment I couldn't get back was the kicker to move back to a Pixel for now.

 

[Aquila]

Moderator Note: Moved some off topic stuff about the Note 7 to it's own thread.

 

[Vyrlokar]

Seriously, while as a tech enthusiast I like having the latest and greatest, I sincerely can not justify going above mid-range price point. I mean, for all intents and purpses, a $200-$300 phone is good enough for everything but daydream use (and has higher specs than a 2 year old flagship), and that will probably change by the time I need to upgrade my current 3rd gen Moto G. If I go slightly above that price point, OnePlus and Xiaomi give me the premium look and feel too, with almost top of the line specs. There's no point in spending more than what the OnePlus 3P costs, really.

 

[Nine54]

Android is a 'mess' due to each and every OEM having their own vision of what a phone should look and act like. The double edged sword of Open Source almost also means fragmentation. Take Linux, for example; there are over 100 different versions.

Closed Source can to a degree stifle innovation. Take something closed source, like Apple or MS; 1 version. While that makes moving from device to device seamless, there really is no variety.

So, while some might say that fragmentation is bad, I see variety. And variety can be a good thing.

Great comment. I understand what the OP is saying, though. While the iPhone might not be the absolute best in any given category, it generally is "very good" in almost every category from build quality, camera, performance, etc. With Android, it seems that every device--including so-called flagships--involve some kind of compromise/sacrifice compared to each other. I think these compromises can be broken down into three main buckets:

If you go with Pixel/Nexus, you're compromising on the hardware (except for the camera in the case of the Pixel)
If you go with Samsung Galaxy S series, you're compromising on the software experience
If you with a non-Samsung device, you're generally compromising on the camera

In other words:

Pixel - Pros: software experience, camera. Cons: lack of water resistance, pedestrian design/build
S7/S7E - Pros: camera, design/build. Cons: software experience
Non-Samsung: Pros: these can vary, but often include design/build, price/value. Cons: camera, software experience

 

[Gayle Lynn]

Did anyone mention Huawei Mate 9?

Love it. Also have iPhone 6S Plus as backup and use couple apps.
Tried three 2016 Blackberry models, S7 and low cost BLU (dual sim + SD card, backup also).

Totally blown away by Mate 9. In every way. And 5.9" great hardware.

 

[recDNA]

File structure in iphone is unusable. Like if I download a pdf in Puffin I have to open Puffin to reopen pdf? Crazy. Is the file even in my iphone or. is it in the Puffin server. I imagine it is the same with Safari?

 

[garak0410]

File structure in iphone is unusable. Like if I download a pdf in Puffin I have to open Puffin to reopen pdf? Crazy. Is the file even in my iphone or. is it in the Puffin server. I imagine it is the same with Safari?

This is another reason I can't go iPhone. I want to be able to plug my phone in, see the file/folder structure and freely move photos and videos to and from the phone and not have to use iTunes.

 

[Diehlirious]

Seriously, while as a tech enthusiast I like having the latest and greatest, I sincerely can not justify going above mid-range price point. I mean, for all intents and purpses, a $200-$300 phone is good enough for everything but daydream use (and has higher specs than a 2 year old flagship), and that will probably change by the time I need to upgrade my current 3rd gen Moto G. If I go slightly above that price point, OnePlus and Xiaomi give me the premium look and feel too, with almost top of the line specs. There's no point in spending more than what the OnePlus 3P costs, really.

I almost completely agree. The only area where I feel you have to spend that extra buck is when it comes to camera performance, but imho if you're not a camera junkie, I completely agree w/ you & don't understand why people would buy a Samsung if having a great camera isn't a big deal to them? In that sense get a 1+3t, it's a great option. I've seen so many people w/ Samsungs or iphones, yet they barely use the camera. It makes me scratch my head. I do always let them know they have options regardless.. Probably comes down to branding & lack of knowledge in regards to knowing there are other options.

 

[Diehlirious]

Did anyone mention Huawei Mate 9?

Love it. Also have iPhone 6S Plus as backup and use couple apps.
Tried three 2016 Blackberry models, S7 and low cost BLU (dual sim + SD card, backup also).

Totally blown away by Mate 9. In every way. And 5.9" great hardware.

I've been mentioning the Mate 9 left & right. Earlier in this post I actually had a conversation w/ Rizwan Basir (who I think started this post) in which I mentioned the Mate 9. He mentioned Hauwei's previous software issues, which I can't blame him for that. But the Mate 9 is better in that regards.. If MWC wasn't coming up I would most definitely grab a Mate 9. Did you see the MrMobile's video review for AndroidCentral?

Huawei Mate 9: A good phone that won't sell | Android Central

He was hard on the software & the look/design. How do you like the look/design? & what other stuff do you like?

 

[anon(10092459)]

I dunno... I think choice is a great thing! These debates will always go on because we all have different priorities and needs.

..and I don't see how you can see the iPhone 7plus as complete without a headphone jack. Apple has probably flooded over 2 billion earbuds into the world, that they just decided were irrelevant.

 

[Joshua Luther2]

In my opinion, the only thing that makes the Pixel not the perfect phone is lack of expandable storage. If it had it, I'd be all over it and I think, so would a bunch of other people. I'm also not liking what I'm seeing and hearing about the S8 and LG G6 screen sizes. They are supposed to be taller and narrower because the screen ratio is rumored to be 18x9.

 

[jejb]

Don't disagree but sometimes I just get tired of all the tweaking I'm constantly doing with my androids and just want to use a phone for the reason of using it. My iPhone 7 fills that need perfectly. Then when the tweaking urge strikes I go back to android.

I don't tweak my S7E at all. Yeah, some up front getting it setup the way I want, but that's true of every phone. I install the occasional app, or delete one, but that's about the extent of it for me. Stock phone, running MM. I was more of a tweaker on my past phones, especially since they were rooted. But I just don't feel the need on this one since battery life is so outstanding, and everything just works the way it's suppose to.

 

[Aquila]

In my opinion, the only thing that makes the Pixel not the perfect phone is lack of expandable storage. If it had it, I'd be all over it and I think, so would a bunch of other people. I'm also not liking what I'm seeing and hearing about the S8 and LG G6 screen sizes. They are supposed to be taller and narrower because the screen ratio is rumored to be 18x9.

I definitely would not want expandable storage in the form of an SD card slot. It already has expandable storage support via the USB C port and it has 128 GB of storage, which is way better than low storage and a card. Those cards introduce a lot of flaws to a device and Google had been very clear that microSD slots in phones are meant for budget devices in developing markets where better solutions aren't practical.

 

[hellspawnuk]

I would also disagree on the performance complaint on the S7E and I have had a chance to try the Pixel.

 

[Vyrlokar]

I almost completely agree. The only area where I feel you have to spend that extra buck is when it comes to camera performance, but imho if you're not a camera junkie, I completely agree w/ you & don't understand why people would buy a Samsung if having a great camera isn't a big deal to them? In that sense get a 1+3t, it's a great option. I've seen so many people w/ Samsungs or iphones, yet they barely use the camera. It makes me scratch my head. I do always let them know they have options regardless.. Probably comes down to branding & lack of knowledge in regards to knowing there are other options.

For me, if the camera can read QR codes (as I use that to set up my wifi), it is good enough. Also, I have an innate dislike to physical buttons, so the Samsung physical home button is a negative for me. Software-wise, Touchwiz made me want to claw my eyes out, back when I had Samsungs (I know things have changed though).

As for people getting high end phones and not using them for anything other than texting, that makes me so sad. I mean, why spent 500+€ on a high end phone that you're just using as if it was a featurephone?

 

[JZ VR]

Give the Mate 9 a try, EMUI 5 has fixed most of the software gripes with previous versions of the software and it's the best all rounder atm to me, definitely better than all the phones you mentioned.

 

[Diehlirious]

For me, if the camera can read QR codes (as I use that to set up my wifi), it is good enough. Also, I have an innate dislike to physical buttons, so the Samsung physical home button is a negative for me. Software-wise, Touchwiz made me want to claw my eyes out, back when I had Samsungs (I know things have changed though).

As for people getting high end phones and not using them for anything other than texting, that makes me so sad. I mean, why spent 500+€ on a high end phone that you're just using as if it was a featurephone?

That's great as you can avoid paying the extra money for a top of the line phone to get a great camera. I happen to be a camera junkie.

I've never had a Samsung so I'm not familiar with Touchwiz, but for me I always had the perspective that having a physical button(s) would give me more real estate on the display which I like, but in all honesty those buttons have always been on-screen for any android phones I've ever had so I also don't have much experience there.

 

[Vyrlokar]

Nice to know that Emui is not a train wreck any more. I still find some of the design choices of EMUI to not match my preferences, but good to see that they at least made it snappy.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Android is a 'mess' due to each and every OEM having their own vision of what a phone should look and act like. The double edged sword of Open Source almost also means fragmentation. Take Linux, for example; there are over 100 different versions.

Closed Source can to a degree stifle innovation. Take something closed source, like Apple or MS; 1 version. While that makes moving from device to device seamless, there really is no variety.

So, while some might say that fragmentation is bad, I see variety. And variety can be a good thing.

Think of Android as GTK+ and Bison and ncurses plus other assorted libraries and a very tiny chunk of the software on a phone like a Galaxy S7. It's in no way an operating system when used the way Samsung (or LG or Huawei and others) use it. The only part of what we call Android that they use is what they need to run Android apps and support all apps in the Play Store.

See Chromebook R11 for an example. it runs Android, 100% the same as the S7 does — inside a different OS. Or the BlackBerry Z10, which would have access to Google Play if BlackBerry wanted to make it compliant with Google CTS.


I know, I know. Everyone will disagree. That doesn't change the fact that it's true, and it won't stop me from saying it like I've been for 7 years.