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Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

pcworld.com

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Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#61

Post by dannyr »

rryyan wrote: post #48
dannyr wrote: post #21

This comes with the territory of having an open-source OS. I don't like what Dell is doing but they are damaging their own brand more than they are damaging Android. But before we get too hung up on having the latest version of Android running on our phones, let us put things in perspective. I do care a lot about having the latest version of Android. But I'm like you guys, we're plugged in to the tech scene. We love…

Take a look at the comments on Motorola's Facebook page to see (relatively) mainstream users caring about the version of Android their phones are running: http://www.facebook.com/motorola . The complaints about un-updated phones are relentless. I think the phone manufacturers can blame Apple for this -- they set the expectation for mainstream phones to get regular and significant software updates. Now customers feel…

How does that compare to the overall number of Motorola devices?

The unhappy ones are the loudest but that doesn't mean they are the majority.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#62

Post by alanh »

runjake wrote: post #51
dannyr wrote: post #21

This comes with the territory of having an open-source OS. I don't like what Dell is doing but they are damaging their own brand more than they are damaging Android. But before we get too hung up on having the latest version of Android running on our phones, let us put things in perspective. I do care a lot about having the latest version of Android. But I'm like you guys, we're plugged in to the tech scene. We love…

| But for the rest of the country, a survey of my friends suggest that most of them do not care. They're going to care when they find out that the latest, greatest apps spammed in Android commercials don't run on their old versions of Android.

Yes. This includes the official Twitter app.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#63

Post by alanh »

krschultz wrote: post #47
brianm wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Side by side, yes, they will see they are different. They won't know why though. Most people will never realize they are running a particular version, and few will even realize it is Android (vs whatever phone they have in their hand).

But laymen know there is an iPhone, an iPhone 3G, an iPhone 3GS etc. Google has made a clear break with the 1.x vs 2.x series, maybe they need to make that more prominent

You are so close.

The key differences between iOS versions and Android versions, as far as branding:

1. A major iOS release always coincides with a hardware revision, and are available at least one hardware revision back. Always. Android OS upgrades are not correlated with hardware revisions at ALL, and the latest hardware from one manufacturer (Dell, case in point) may be 16 months and several major versions out of date!

2. Apple advertises the shit out of new phones & new features (again, they coincide). When have you EVER seen advertising mentioning new Android features? When have carriers EVER touted Android, the OS, much less its version number?

3. (Major) There is no NEED for an Apple fan to know iOS version. Buying an iPhone is buying the latest iOS version. Existing users are told via iTunes that they can update their phone with new software (an iOS upgrade, but they don’t even need to know it’s called that).

4. (Bonus) The different manufacturer & carrier branding "enhancements" to Android muddy the water. Now you have two axes of "versioning": The fork, and the version number. Not so with iOS. (The iPad is out of sync, but this should be resolved before it’s much more than 6 months old.)

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#64

Post by Zev »

dannyr wrote: post #21

This comes with the territory of having an open-source OS. I don't like what Dell is doing but they are damaging their own brand more than they are damaging Android. But before we get too hung up on having the latest version of Android running on our phones, let us put things in perspective. I do care a lot about having the latest version of Android. But I'm like you guys, we're plugged in to the tech scene. We love…

My roommate just bought a Palm Pre. There are very few apps in the market. But guess what, my roommate is very happy with his phone. He said it's the best phone he's ever had.

I'll second the sentiments. I've got a Palm Pre Plus for personal use and an iPhone 4 that I use for work (iPhone dev). I love the Pre. It's a fantastic phone. Looks great, is more open than Android, etc. But, it could use an update in hardware. The cpu is somewhat (affects scrolling) and the screen is really scratched up (despite taking reasonably good care of it and only having it for a few months).

But, the Pre has some drawbacks. There's some fragmentation; Sprint is the only network provider to release the 1.4.5 update -- which is big for games. And the openness might not necessarily be for the best. I had some patches installed that really screwed up performance (iPhone 3G-running-iOS4 bad) and it took me awhile to realize that.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#65

Post by wwortiz »

mike-cardwell wrote: post #59
jsz0 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they were shipping 1.6 or 2.0 I might agree but 1.5 has a ton of compatibility problems these days. You can't even run Google Navigation on it. That's something the average user might notice.

My G1 is running 1.6. I thought this excluded me from getting Google Navigation, so was intending to upgrade at the end of my contract. But then one day I got an update and navigation came with it. I'm not entirely sure why I would upgrade now? I don't want to sign up for another 18 month contract if all I'm going to get for it is Flash, voice recognition and a shinier interface. So I've gone PAYG and saved myself ab…

Before you upgrade may I suggest rooting your phone, you don't have to worry about a brick if you are moving on anyway (though I don't think that happens much with android devices), and then you can have 2.2 through a rom.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#66

Post by anateus »

Zev wrote: post #64
dannyr wrote: post #21

This comes with the territory of having an open-source OS. I don't like what Dell is doing but they are damaging their own brand more than they are damaging Android. But before we get too hung up on having the latest version of Android running on our phones, let us put things in perspective. I do care a lot about having the latest version of Android. But I'm like you guys, we're plugged in to the tech scene. We love…

My roommate just bought a Palm Pre. There are very few apps in the market. But guess what, my roommate is very happy with his phone. He said it's the best phone he's ever had. I'll second the sentiments. I've got a Palm Pre Plus for personal use and an iPhone 4 that I use for work (iPhone dev). I love the Pre. It's a fantastic phone. Looks great, is more open than Android, etc. But, it could use an update in hardware…

I'm running the latest UberKernel at 1Ghz with Govnah set to screenstate 500/1000 (it downscales CPU to 500Mhz when screen is off). This turns the phone pretty damn fast! Lack of graphics acceleration for the OS means animation is still not perfect, but now apps load very very quickly. (Both are available from the WebOSInternal feed via Preware)

The Pre was released with plenty of its hardware capabilities just not utilized! The 3D gfx chip being just one example (the on-board H.264 encoder that's now enabled is another).

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#67

Post by QE2 »

acon wrote: post #26

Sure, selling devices with outdated versions of Android is bad, but to me it is worse that they don't release updates for existing phones in a timely manner. If I buy a phone I want it to feel fun at least until the contract runs out, which means 18-24 months. If my friends gets new phones running better software, my fun is reduced and my next phone is more likely to be an iPhone, where I know I'll get timely updates…

> my next phone is more likely to be an iPhone, where I know I'll get timely updates.

One significant update per year, on which Apple has disabled half of the features because you don't have the latest model?

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#68

Post by mattmaroon »

Zev wrote: post #64
dannyr wrote: post #21

This comes with the territory of having an open-source OS. I don't like what Dell is doing but they are damaging their own brand more than they are damaging Android. But before we get too hung up on having the latest version of Android running on our phones, let us put things in perspective. I do care a lot about having the latest version of Android. But I'm like you guys, we're plugged in to the tech scene. We love…

My roommate just bought a Palm Pre. There are very few apps in the market. But guess what, my roommate is very happy with his phone. He said it's the best phone he's ever had. I'll second the sentiments. I've got a Palm Pre Plus for personal use and an iPhone 4 that I use for work (iPhone dev). I love the Pre. It's a fantastic phone. Looks great, is more open than Android, etc. But, it could use an update in hardware…

I too love the Pre. I've used iOS devices a ton, and Android a little, and feel qualified to say the WebOS is just hands-down the best. You're right about the screen, you have to get a protector for it. App support is relatively minimal, but at the same time still covers most bases.

The best thing about it is the Touchstone. That's one of those things that you can't even fathom how much you'll love until you use it. I even mounted one on my dashboard.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#69

Post by ergo98 »

raganwald wrote: post #5

I was going to write that Android needs a Dictator that lays down the law with minions and partners alike, especially to enforce a "No Devices That Suck" policy. But honestly, does Google care? If Dell wants to ship a device that sucks, let HTC prove this is a terrible idea by eating Dell's lunch. If Android 2.2 is better than Android 1.5, let customers vote for 2.2 with their wallets. Of course, there is always the…

Consumer education and awareness is the critical element of this. Google doesn't need to dictate, but they should create some sort of gold star standard that certifies that a phone is the latest release or is promised to be updated to the latest release in some reasonable time frame. Companies like Dell that inexplicably stick some ancient version on their phone will suffer the consequences and will prioritize staying up to date.

Re: Dell's Aero Smartphone: An Embarrassment to Android

#70

Post by agravier »

sprout wrote: post #20
SandB0x wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Just as raganwald suggests on his last line - people will be stung by their experience and simply buy an iPhone next time. Crap like this damages the whole Android brand. Nobody wants to hear "Oh, well you bought this specific instance X of Android on phone Y. That particular one is no good, but it's your fault because you didn't spend a week reading detailed product reviews on Ars Technica before buying you…

People aren't stupid. They can distinguish between Froyo and Cupcake. It's even got a clear analogue in the XP/Vista/7 debacle. Or for those who lived through it, Cupcake is the Windows 3.11 to Froyo's Windows XP, or something like that. People do in fact get that there are different versions of software. If you're aiming at people who don't... they aren't going to know an iPhone from a Nexus One anyway.

> People aren't stupid. They can distinguish between Froyo and Cupcake.

No, they can't, normal people don't know that there exist different versions of Android. They don't care, because they don't want to care.

> People do in fact get that there are different versions of software. If you're aiming at people who don't... they aren't going to know an iPhone from a Nexus One anyway.

If you're not aiming at these people, then you're dismissing the largest chunk of the market, and you are going to lose to your competitors.

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