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Android is Google's Agent Smith

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Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith

#41

Post by forgottenpaswrd »

Calamitous wrote: post #40
uxp wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially when manufacturers and vendors start selling devices with different Android versions, as they are now. Someone that physically breaks their Motorolla DroidX running 2.2 and buys a replacement Samsung Galaxy that runs 1.5 (now 1.6 I hear), and then realizes that the majority of the apps that they purchased aren't compatible with the lower version of the phone, and that the phone has a terrible UI (compared…

If they downgrade from a DroidX to a Samsung Galaxy, and it sucks, are they going to blame the OS or the phone? Put another way, are you more likely to hear "My phone sucks" or "This lower version number of the OS I was previously happy with sucks"? The market will drum out the bad apples who try to leave their Android phones stuck at ancient versions.

The same way people has complained for years about Linux drivers support. They don't care their printer or modems, or webcams manufacturers don't give technical info about their devices, they just want their devices to work as they are used to.

Ironically, now Linux support way more devices than Windows, and let you do things that no commercial vendor is going to let you do(e.g I have used an old scanner as spectrogram with very little money).

Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith

#42

Post by mdaniel »

jay_kyburz wrote: post #17

I think there is a really exciting opportunity for a startup to write some simple desktop software that would allow novice users to root their phone (any android compatible phone) and then choose from a selection of fun, interesting or just more up-to-date os's.

And if you think the folks at unrEVOked aren't doing their damnedest to achieve that goal, then I think you're mistaken.

However, the reason they don't have that toy (and the same reason another random startup won't) is because the process does carry some non-zero risk and complexity when viewed across the spectrum of all devices. It is my opinion that the risk is only going to get worse over time, given the animosity that hardware manufacturers feel toward the hacker community.

Jailbreakme.com is outstanding, but they only had to deal with a small microcosm of hardware/OS tuples (which, if I'm not mistaken, is actually the topic under discussion right now).

Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith

#43

Post by semanticist »

wvenable wrote: post #33
semanticist wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the thing: Nokia's smartphones are smartPHONEs, not PDAs with a cellular modem. The current smartphone obsession is being largely driven by American-style smartphones, which are mostly terrible at being phones. Nokia screw up when they try to copy this style of device and forget that their strength is excellent telephony devices. Which, despite the trendiness of mobile browsing and 'apps', is what most people…

Blackberry managed to crack into the mobile market by offering devices that didn't do telephony at all . The "current smartphone obsession" as you call it has been developing for a decade now. People who primarily want to make phone calls from their phone is a dwindling market. For business, on demand email is significantly more important. For teens, texting ability is much more important (my daughter never calls any…

Really, you're totally wrong. :o)

I think you're confusing what 'people who read HN' want with 'what the majority want'. It happens really commonly in tech-literate circles.

I'll grant you that texting is important, but that revolution happened a decade ago with the Nokia 3310. You don't need a smartphone for that.

The calling experience on most smartphones is horrific. On my iPhone I need to find an icon and tap it before I can even start dialling. Once I do get through to someone, the signal reception is weak - and this is an iPhone 3G on a UK network.

Pick up a Nokia S60 smartphone. There's number buttons on the front of them (except their weak attempts at touchscreen phones). You push them. The signal quality is rock-solid. These are things that normal people don't even think about until they dismiss an iPhone or Android smartphone as 'too fiddly'.

Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith

#44

Post by Locke1689 »

Calamitous wrote: post #40
uxp wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially when manufacturers and vendors start selling devices with different Android versions, as they are now. Someone that physically breaks their Motorolla DroidX running 2.2 and buys a replacement Samsung Galaxy that runs 1.5 (now 1.6 I hear), and then realizes that the majority of the apps that they purchased aren't compatible with the lower version of the phone, and that the phone has a terrible UI (compared…

If they downgrade from a DroidX to a Samsung Galaxy, and it sucks, are they going to blame the OS or the phone? Put another way, are you more likely to hear "My phone sucks" or "This lower version number of the OS I was previously happy with sucks"? The market will drum out the bad apples who try to leave their Android phones stuck at ancient versions.

You're right but I think they end up with the same result. Whether or not it's "my phone sucks" or "my OS sucks," the result is just going to be people leaving for the main competitor (i.e., Apple).

Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith

#45

Post by wvenable »

semanticist wrote: post #43
wvenable wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blackberry managed to crack into the mobile market by offering devices that didn't do telephony at all . The "current smartphone obsession" as you call it has been developing for a decade now. People who primarily want to make phone calls from their phone is a dwindling market. For business, on demand email is significantly more important. For teens, texting ability is much more important (my daughter never calls any…

Really, you're totally wrong. :o) I think you're confusing what 'people who read HN' want with 'what the majority want'. It happens really commonly in tech-literate circles. I'll grant you that texting is important, but that revolution happened a decade ago with the Nokia 3310. You don't need a smartphone for that. The calling experience on most smartphones is horrific. On my iPhone I need to find an icon and tap it…

I think you're still confusing smartphone users with the regular mobile phone users. The iPhone is huge but I can guarantee that most people are purchasing it because it's a mini portable connected computer and not because it's a phone. That's the point.

Re: Android is Google's Agent Smith

#46

Post by usaar333 »

borisk wrote: post #34
usaar333 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a good thing then that you are on Hacker News. As a tech person who wants the latest software, you can spend a few minutes rooting your phone and installing a custom ROM with the latest Android version.

A few minutes if someone (who hasn't wasted his time on HN :D ) already compiled the latest version for your device. Otherwise one can spent months trying to get the poorly documented and sometimes incomplete code to work.

Good point. Definitely don't buy a device that isn't already popular with the rom making crowd.
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