What has Android Central become?

[teejay69]

I've been a huge fan for a long long long time, from owning a Pre to my S9+. I've always come for news, and leaks, and tips, but now it's easy to heavy with feeling and recommending stuff of all kinds. I know I can opt ot of commercials, but I don't see much else. Am I wrong, mis guided, or have I learned too much, and grown up? Don't get me wrong you're still on my home page, and I check in a couple of times a day. Still nothing better ot there though. Anybody feel this way?

 

[tadpoles]

I've been a huge fan for a long long long time, from owning a Pre to my S9+. I've always come for news, and leaks, and tips, but now it's easy to heavy with feeling and recommending stuff of all kinds. I know I can opt ot of commercials, but I don't see much else. Am I wrong, mis guided, or have I learned too much, and grown up? Don't get me wrong you're still on my home page, and I check in a couple of times a day. Still nothing better ot there though. Anybody feel this way?

I've read this sentiment before.

 

[dangerousfen]

I too feel the same. It's become so annoying.

 

[Inders99]

The reviews should be helpful for those interested in a particular product, at least it aids in comparison shopping. The ads...eh, takes money to make things run, the only way around that is a paid membership site, don't think you'd want that.

I have noticed the site is not as interesting as it used to be since smartphone innovation is at the marginal improvement stage, the time for compelling changes is long gone so it reflects that stagnancy in its content.

 

[mohit9206]

Android central has become pure ****. That's your answer.

 

[Peterh56]

Both Android Central and Windows Central are now nothing more than shopping channels. At least 75% of articles are now about shopping

 

[greatgoogly]

Sadly I've also found my time spent on the website dramatically less over the last few months. Clearly the owners have decided for whatever reason to abandon actually providing interesting content in lieu of articles built to drive traffic to affiliate links. Had been a visitor of the site for many many years, but lately I visit only once every few days and even that is dropping. Fortunately the podcast still lives on.

 

[tony bag o donuts]

It sure has changed over the years since it was a site with three phones to its forums. I understand the need to recycle articles as there are always new members, but do I really come to AC to see the best deals on a Crockpot?

Phil moving to whatever site he's calling it this month left a huge void, but there is still quality staff here. I remember when AC would be the first on certain news stories, now they seem to look to other services for the news and then post it here. It's a shame.

 

[JDGAFFLIN]

AD-Droid Central. Mobile Nations in general has gone this way. I understand the need to monetize, but not to the point where you lose what made you great in the first place.

it's a shame.

 

[wmurch3]

Site is hot garbage and the app is almost worse. The only thing bringing me here are the forums and those are pretty barren these days.

I've moved over to Android authority for my Android news. This site barely even covers Android anymore and is basically a glorified deals site. If I took a screenshot of the mainpage there'd be like 1 or 2 actually articles and 90% filler. "What color s10 should you get?" Really? This is an article that needs to be written? "Best 4k TV's for Chromecast" ugh...an ad disguised as an article is still an ad.

I feel bad for the writers. They are clearly talented and maybe even love tech but are being forced to write this drivel.

 

[jlangner]

Obvious why all the shopping ****, they get kickback on any purchases I bet. I mean every phone that comes out now has a best SD card for it....lol, all phones will use the same.

 

[sleepy_dad]

Yeah, I'm out of here. This is my gone fishing sign.

 

[anon(10181084)]

I mainly follow AC news thru Twitter and get links that way, but 90% of it is stupidity about "Best Chromebooks of [insert year here]" or "PlayStation Classic Review" and other stuff like that that has little to nothing to do with ANDROID! The Chromebook stuff is tolerable because those can run Android apps, but game consoles and other stuff are way off and should NOT be reviewed by Android Central. On top of that, the web version of the forums is INCREDIBLY hard to navigate and is fairly sluggish at times even on a desktop PC! The only thing keeping me on Android Central is this WONDERFUL forum community . It was the first forum that I was able to participate in without getting mistreated for being a geek, and it has also proven to be overall the most friendly and informative forum for anything Android related. The sense of community on this forum is absolutely amazing.

 

[anon(10181084)]

Sorry about double posting but I have to add some more stuff.

Just wanted to give thanks to my favorite members, B.Diddy, Rukbat and a few others (you know who you are) for keeping this forum a helpful, friendly and fun place.

I wish the higher-ups would at least offer to hire some of the better forum members to write articles if they want to. If we had B.Diddy, Rukbat and others writing articles on the AC news page, it would quickly outpace most other Android news outlets.

 

[Mooncatt]

I never did use the main site much, and just stick to the forums with the ad free AC Forums app. My only negative experience with the main site is the replacing of an article that was great for explaining RAM management in Android. By replacing, I mean the original URL that includes the old title still exists, but the article displayed is now something pushing more RAM and doesn't explain RAM management as more than an afterthought.

 

[anon(10181084)]

I tried using the Android Central main app once and it felt like a low-quality app from the late Jellybean era...

 

[B. Diddy]

Sorry about double posting but I have to add some more stuff.

Just wanted to give thanks to my favorite members, B.Diddy, Rukbat and a few others (you know who you are) for keeping this forum a helpful, friendly and fun place.

I wish the higher-ups would at least offer to hire some of the better forum members to write articles if they want to. If we had B.Diddy, Rukbat and others writing articles on the AC news page, it would quickly outpace most other Android news outlets.

Hey, that's really nice of you to say! We also appreciate your posts as well, and find them quite helpful and knowledgeable.

 

[anon(10181084)]

Hey, that's really nice of you to say! We also appreciate your posts as well, and find them quite helpful and knowledgeable.

Thanks for the appreciation
It feels good to know that I am helpful.

Anyways, I think that in the current state of affairs there are 5 things that need to be done IMMEDIATELY to make Android Central a better place:

1) Offer the chance for forum members to at the very least be able to voluntarily write an article if they want to.

2) De-spam the news site. As someone said above, it is essentially a glorified deals site. I also now use Android Authority and the r/Android subreddit for news. I wish there was at the very least a "geek section" on Android Central where there would be super technical articles about the latest technologies, devices, etc... I know that most people are "average Joe" when it comes to technical knowledge, but there should seriously be a section that is dedicated to the tech enthusiast/geek/nerd crowd that I am part of.

3) For the forum to at the very least get a general subforum for discussing rugged phones, which are getting more and more popular as Samsung and other mainstream phones become more an more fragile. I am SICK TO DEATH of being forced to discuss my rugged phone in the "General News And Discussion" subforum.

4) For the forum to get a bot that gets rid of spam/ad posts that sometimes show up. I'm lazy, so reporting all those is a MAJOR inconvenience.

5) The news page needs to forget about ChromeOS tablets and FOCUS on Android tablets instead. This is not "ChromeOS Central".

 

[anon(10181084)]

Sorry AGAIN for double posting, but it seems that as of lately Android Authority has learned some "lessons" (not the good kind) from Android Central and is yet another glorified deals/ad/nonsense "Android news" site.

Here are some screenshots of their Twitter posts so you can see for yourself:

 

[B. Diddy]

Those are all good suggestions -- I especially like the Rugged Phones one, and will suggest that to the higher ups. (Unfortunately, I think suggestions about decreasing the ad content will fall on deaf ears, since it's a business after all.:-\ Believe me, the Mod/Ambassador leadership has brought it up in the past.)

Personally, I don't mind the focus on Chrome OS, since there has been increasing convergence between Android and Chrome OS devices.