Android is Google's Agent Smith
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Android is Google's Agent Smith
1–10 of 46 posts
Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith
#2uhhhh .. I think the majority of the people don't know what version of android is on their phone, don't know why it matters, and don't care. The branding for the various android phones so far is tied to the carrier and the phone manufacturer, not the phone. There is no AndroidPhone. There is the HTC EVO, Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Droid.
People just want a phone that's fun and easy to use. If they don't like the phone they have, they will buy a new one when the contract is up, which likely will have a new version (the number of which they won't know or care about) and will work better.
Fragmentation is a big pain for developers and so on, but users don't care and shouldn't need to care.
Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith
#3[deleted]
Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith
#4uhhhh .. I think the majority of the people don't know what version of android is on their phone, don't know why it matters, and don't care. The branding for the various android phones so far is tied to the carrier and the phone manufacturer, not the phone. There is no AndroidPhone. There is the HTC EVO, Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Droid. People just want a phone that's fun and easy to use. If they don't like the phone…
Agreed. This is similar to the iPhone antenna problem: bloggers and developers making a shitstorm out of something almost nobody feels the effects of.
Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith
#5uhhhh .. I think the majority of the people don't know what version of android is on their phone, don't know why it matters, and don't care. The branding for the various android phones so far is tied to the carrier and the phone manufacturer, not the phone. There is no AndroidPhone. There is the HTC EVO, Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Droid. People just want a phone that's fun and easy to use. If they don't like the phone…
As a user, I care about what OS version I have because that determines the features my phone has, its performance, its compatibility, and its stability. What you describe is the ideal for the manufacturers and the carriers -- they want to keep people in the dark about the software. But the reality is that everyone knows, every phone review includes it, and it's critically important to the end user.
Every Android user I've talked to knows exactly what version their phone runs. Many are patiently waiting for upgrades. Every single phone review tells me exactly what OS version the HTC EVO, Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Droid run and I doubt anyone here wouldn't consider that piece of information extremely important in their purchasing decision.
Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith
#6uhhhh .. I think the majority of the people don't know what version of android is on their phone, don't know why it matters, and don't care. The branding for the various android phones so far is tied to the carrier and the phone manufacturer, not the phone. There is no AndroidPhone. There is the HTC EVO, Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Droid. People just want a phone that's fun and easy to use. If they don't like the phone…
As a user, I care about what OS version I have because that determines the features my phone has, its performance, its compatibility, and its stability. What you describe is the ideal for the manufacturers and the carriers -- they want to keep people in the dark about the software. But the reality is that everyone knows, every phone review includes it, and it's critically important to the end user. Every Android user…
Plenty of users buy phones without knowing what Android is or even what an "operating system" is. All thee know is compared to their old phone with a random proprietary OS, this phone has a much more polished interface and apps similar to their friends iPhone.
I'm sure most of the people that read HN care about the details you listed, but I wouldn't assume your average mall-shopper that walks into a cell phone store not knowing the difference between any two phones knows or cares about version numbers or compatibility.
Most non-technical people I've talked to about it have been so confused about the marketing of a phone named "droid" that they think any reference to "android" means that phone.
Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith
#7[deleted]
> then people won't buy Dell phones
But why must the software be explicitly tied to the hardware? We don't buy desktops or laptops that way. I periodically upgrade the ROM in my smartphone and the result is amazing. Why should I have to toss a perfectly good piece of hardware just to get software improvements?
Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith
#8[deleted]
> then people won't buy Dell phones But why must the software be explicitly tied to the hardware? We don't buy desktops or laptops that way. I periodically upgrade the ROM in my smartphone and the result is amazing. Why should I have to toss a perfectly good piece of hardware just to get software improvements?
Sorry, I deleted my comment because I felt it wasn't very useful. The software needs to be tied to the hardware because the carriers are completely incompetent at software, and are generally unable to expend the effort to QA all the crapware they have put on the phone for a new OS; they also have a financial incentive to force you to buy a new phone from them as often as possible.
Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith
#9The summarizing line of the article:
For things to really work for them, maybe there should be one kind of device, one OS version and one App store (sounds familiar?).
I'm not saying I agree, I was disappointed with the author's opinions.
Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a user, I care about what OS version I have because that determines the features my phone has, its performance, its compatibility, and its stability. What you describe is the ideal for the manufacturers and the carriers -- they want to keep people in the dark about the software. But the reality is that everyone knows, every phone review includes it, and it's critically important to the end user. Every Android user…
Plenty of users buy phones without knowing what Android is or even what an "operating system" is. All thee know is compared to their old phone with a random proprietary OS, this phone has a much more polished interface and apps similar to their friends iPhone. I'm sure most of the people that read HN care about the details you listed, but I wouldn't assume your average mall-shopper that walks into a cell phone store…
I disagree with your top statement. Every user knows what an operating system is -- they've been educated on that fact for decades. And any user of a "smartphone" knows they're really getting a little computer. The iPhone probably has the broadest market of non-technical users and even they periodically get OS upgrades -- you think their users don't know what that is?
The problem with this conversation is lumping together mobile phones and smartphones. There are very few Android phones marketed to "non-technical people". But they will come, they will be cheap, and nobody will care what OS they run. But the top of line phones, the expensive phones, and the profitable phones will be sold to semi-technical people who know what they're getting.