I love Android. I've been using it for two years now and I think Google has finally hit a homerun with ICS. It no longer needs OEM skins and really shines as a great OS.
However, one thing I'm getting fed up with is Google's lack of follow-through when it comes to anything they announce. Let's look at a few things:
- Google Wallet. One of the absolute coolest features my Nexus has, but in order to actually download the app on my Verizon Galaxy Nexus I had to do some funky trick because it's not officially supported. Why is Wallet only available on one (or two?) phone(s) on one of the smallest carriers in the US? Why does it still not even have Visa support? Why, at the absolute very least, does it not even allow auto-replenishment of the prepaid card?
- Android @ Home. What ever happened to it? It was announced at Google I/O 2011 and we haven't heard a peep about it yet. It's such an awesome idea, but Google hasn't done anything with it yet besides talking about it a year ago.
- Android Update Alliance. Also announced at Google I/O, this has gotten about as much play as Android@Home did. We have yet to see anything else about this, and some of the OEMs that were part of this "Alliance" are already bowing out of updating recent phones. Does Google seriously not have enough pull on these manufacturers to make them stick to their word?
- And most importantly... Motorola. When Google announced they were buying Moto, I immediately thought "This is it!" In addition to Google now having their patents, Google could now release flagship phones that have the latest version of stock Android, with the best hardware and screens, all NFC-equipped with things like Wallet installed. People said this would hurt other OEMs, but couldn't Google use their words against them? If HTC, Samsung, etc, really believe that their skins and customizations make Android better, then surely people would still flock to them instead of Google/Moto, right? Yet now we're seeing that Google has no intention of directly running Motorola and is even looking to sell off its hardware division without even trying to make devices first.
It's getting to the point where I have to stop myself from getting excited about new features announced for Android because they'll never see any follow-up. Even the smallest things - in ICS, Matias Duarte showed off the high quality pictures in ICS' People app. Yet when you sync your contacts to Google, you get incredibly low-res images that look horrible. ICS has been announced for over 6 months now and how is that feature still not fixed?
I'm just ranting here I know - I'm just ranting because I've seen so many promising ideas come out of Google yet almost none of them have any refinement to it. I really hope this was going to turn around when Page took over, but I haven't seen any improvement on it at all and it's getting extremely discouraging.
However, one thing I'm getting fed up with is Google's lack of follow-through when it comes to anything they announce. Let's look at a few things:
- Google Wallet. One of the absolute coolest features my Nexus has, but in order to actually download the app on my Verizon Galaxy Nexus I had to do some funky trick because it's not officially supported. Why is Wallet only available on one (or two?) phone(s) on one of the smallest carriers in the US? Why does it still not even have Visa support? Why, at the absolute very least, does it not even allow auto-replenishment of the prepaid card?
- Android @ Home. What ever happened to it? It was announced at Google I/O 2011 and we haven't heard a peep about it yet. It's such an awesome idea, but Google hasn't done anything with it yet besides talking about it a year ago.
- Android Update Alliance. Also announced at Google I/O, this has gotten about as much play as Android@Home did. We have yet to see anything else about this, and some of the OEMs that were part of this "Alliance" are already bowing out of updating recent phones. Does Google seriously not have enough pull on these manufacturers to make them stick to their word?
- And most importantly... Motorola. When Google announced they were buying Moto, I immediately thought "This is it!" In addition to Google now having their patents, Google could now release flagship phones that have the latest version of stock Android, with the best hardware and screens, all NFC-equipped with things like Wallet installed. People said this would hurt other OEMs, but couldn't Google use their words against them? If HTC, Samsung, etc, really believe that their skins and customizations make Android better, then surely people would still flock to them instead of Google/Moto, right? Yet now we're seeing that Google has no intention of directly running Motorola and is even looking to sell off its hardware division without even trying to make devices first.
It's getting to the point where I have to stop myself from getting excited about new features announced for Android because they'll never see any follow-up. Even the smallest things - in ICS, Matias Duarte showed off the high quality pictures in ICS' People app. Yet when you sync your contacts to Google, you get incredibly low-res images that look horrible. ICS has been announced for over 6 months now and how is that feature still not fixed?
I'm just ranting here I know - I'm just ranting because I've seen so many promising ideas come out of Google yet almost none of them have any refinement to it. I really hope this was going to turn around when Page took over, but I haven't seen any improvement on it at all and it's getting extremely discouraging.
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