Things that Irritate me About Android OS - 4 weeks in
1–10 of 34 posts
Re: Things that Irritate me About Android OS - 4 weeks in
#2> 1. Phone storage vs. SD card storage.
Why? Because power users like to be able to move their data around as they wish. For the typical "mother," they aren't filling up the 8GB internal that's included. The 16GB SD card (or larger) is just gravy.
> 2. The epic list of applications (ELOP)
Not sure what you mean... all apps are installed and available in the app locker? In the market place app list, they are organized by install/update date (I believe that is default).
> 3. I have to manually move apps from the ELOP to the home pane where I want them.
I think I get it... you don't like customization.
> 4. Inconsistent interaction
Huh?
> 5. If I have the power to run multiple apps, then give me the power to close them.
The apps aren't really "running" in the background. This isn't a pc like you're used to. It actually degrades performance and battery life to use task killers. The Android Developer site has a good article on this.
Re: Things that Irritate me About Android OS - 4 weeks in
#3> 1. Phone storage vs. SD card storage. Why? Because power users like to be able to move their data around as they wish. For the typical "mother," they aren't filling up the 8GB internal that's included. The 16GB SD card (or larger) is just gravy. > 2. The epic list of applications (ELOP) Not sure what you mean... all apps are installed and available in the app locker? In the market place app list, they are organized…
Here is the link: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals.html
TL;DR : Android kills tasks on its own based on memory needed. Memory management in linux is different than in windows. Battery and performance drain comes from CPU cycles and not memory used.
Re: Things that Irritate me About Android OS - 4 weeks in
#4> 1. Phone storage vs. SD card storage. Why? Because power users like to be able to move their data around as they wish. For the typical "mother," they aren't filling up the 8GB internal that's included. The 16GB SD card (or larger) is just gravy. > 2. The epic list of applications (ELOP) Not sure what you mean... all apps are installed and available in the app locker? In the market place app list, they are organized…
> For the typical "mother," they aren't filling up the 8GB internal that's included.
My mother (why the quotation marks?) loves recording videos and wouldn't dream of removing them from her phone/SD, even if she imported them to her computer. Filling 8GB is very doable. She'd be thoroughly confused once she did so.
Giving power users the option of moving things around is OK, but the phone shouldn't report that it's out of space unless all the storage mechanisms (internal and SD and anything else) are actually full, as opposed to;
> Today my phone said I was out of space, but it turns out I have plenty of space, but just not in the right place.
Re: Things that Irritate me About Android OS - 4 weeks in
#5> 1. Phone storage vs. SD card storage. Why? Because power users like to be able to move their data around as they wish. For the typical "mother," they aren't filling up the 8GB internal that's included. The 16GB SD card (or larger) is just gravy. > 2. The epic list of applications (ELOP) Not sure what you mean... all apps are installed and available in the app locker? In the market place app list, they are organized…
On point 5:
> If one of the top apps in your app store is a “app killer” application, then I think you have a problem.
(Quote from OP)
Yes, there is a problem. However in this case it is one of communication and understanding, as there is absolutely no need for a task killer on Android at all. I uninstalled the task killer I was using and haven't looked back, it's never a problem at all.
For those who don't know Android's internals that well, when you "tab" away from an application, it is sometimes terminated there and then. Whenever a pane is opened (can't remember the correct terminology) it is given a context object representing its state last time it was viewed. When a pane is closed (i.e. you go to another application), the O/S asks for a context object for it so it can be restored later. It will then be kept asleep in the background, but if the resources it is using are needed by another app, then it will be terminated without warning. That context item is the be-all and end-all, apps cannot rely on being notified by the O/S when they are terminated - only when they are hidden. It's a neat system IMO, optimising for responsiveness when resources are plentiful, and for resource usage when they are not.
Re: Things that Irritate me About Android OS - 4 weeks in
#6> 1. Phone storage vs. SD card storage. Why? Because power users like to be able to move their data around as they wish. For the typical "mother," they aren't filling up the 8GB internal that's included. The 16GB SD card (or larger) is just gravy. > 2. The epic list of applications (ELOP) Not sure what you mean... all apps are installed and available in the app locker? In the market place app list, they are organized…
> For the typical "mother," they aren't filling up the 8GB internal that's included. My mother (why the quotation marks?) loves recording videos and wouldn't dream of removing them from her phone/SD, even if she imported them to her computer. Filling 8GB is very doable. She'd be thoroughly confused once she did so. Giving power users the option of moving things around is OK, but the phone shouldn't report that it's o…
The 8GB in his example is internal memory, used only by the phone to store the Android system image and application packages. All user data, including videos, are stored on the SD card, external memory. The vast majority of users will never install enough applications to fill internal memory, hence the OP's point is relatively moot.
I assume the author probably bought a dirt cheap Android device that doesn't actually have a decent amount of internal memory; my original G1 for instance only had 512M of internal memory, and installing some big apps or games could quickly fill that up. Modern, powerful Android phones can have 4G or more of internal memory for installed programs, which most users will never have a problem with.
Granted, I'm not saying this still isn't confusing, but for most people it should be a non-issue because the only thing they'll care about is filling the SD card.
Re: Things that Irritate me About Android OS - 4 weeks in
#7> 1. Phone storage vs. SD card storage. Why? Because power users like to be able to move their data around as they wish. For the typical "mother," they aren't filling up the 8GB internal that's included. The 16GB SD card (or larger) is just gravy. > 2. The epic list of applications (ELOP) Not sure what you mean... all apps are installed and available in the app locker? In the market place app list, they are organized…
> For the typical "mother," they aren't filling up the 8GB internal that's included. My mother (why the quotation marks?) loves recording videos and wouldn't dream of removing them from her phone/SD, even if she imported them to her computer. Filling 8GB is very doable. She'd be thoroughly confused once she did so. Giving power users the option of moving things around is OK, but the phone shouldn't report that it's o…
That's why recording video, camera pictures, browser downloads, app cache is being stored on the SD card. Most apps, however, get installed on the internal storage of the phone, which is usually around 1 to 1.5 GB.
Sadly, most app developers tend to ignore the SD storage option, and store all their maps, levels, save games etc on the internal phone storage. Whether this is an OS or App design fault is debatable.
Re: Things that Irritate me About Android OS - 4 weeks in
#8> 1. Phone storage vs. SD card storage. Why? Because power users like to be able to move their data around as they wish. For the typical "mother," they aren't filling up the 8GB internal that's included. The 16GB SD card (or larger) is just gravy. > 2. The epic list of applications (ELOP) Not sure what you mean... all apps are installed and available in the app locker? In the market place app list, they are organized…
> For the typical "mother," they aren't filling up the 8GB internal that's included. My mother (why the quotation marks?) loves recording videos and wouldn't dream of removing them from her phone/SD, even if she imported them to her computer. Filling 8GB is very doable. She'd be thoroughly confused once she did so. Giving power users the option of moving things around is OK, but the phone shouldn't report that it's o…
>but do I really expect someone like my mother to understand this and use it?
His usage of mother seemed to be an allusion to someone non-technical in nature, not just his mother. Therefore, I "mother" to include the more generic person he was talking about.
I think at the end of the day, you're mom is an exception. I consider myself a power user and don't even come close to the 8gb internal and 16gb sd on my phone. Most people now listen to music on the cloud, use apps like qik to post movies online, upload pictures right to facebook, etc.
Also, I think a lot of my apps save created files (like pictures and movies) to SD by default. Not sure on that. But, one of the reasons most apps write some data to internal is because it has higher security privileges.
It's not much of an argument. For some people, the easiness and out of the box nature of the iPhone is preferable. For other people, the customization abilities and expandability of the Android OS is nicer. Every one wins.
Re: Things that Irritate me About Android OS - 4 weeks in
#9The OP raises some valid points (agree with them or not).
> 1. Phone storage vs. SD card storage
As much as people much like expandable storage it is, by definition, more complicated. There are currently two simple models:
1. All internal (the Apple model); and
2. All external (the digital camera model, even though some do have up to 1-2GB of internal storage).
Having a mix is like having two hard drives. You're suddenly asking your users to make decisions about things they probably don't care about or that they do care about in ways you can't predict. Will they want this app on internal or external storage? What about this music?
All external works for digital cameras because the OS (firmware, etc) is in the camera. The photos and videos go on the card. You don't lose functionality when you take out the card (apart from edge cases like saving profiles on certain high end DSLRs).
This is why I believe iDevices will never have an SD card slot. Or, if they do, it will only be for very limited use, much like the Camera Connection Kit on the iPad.
> 2. The epic list of applications (ELOP)
I find this a little strange too. If someone installs something, it appears at the top level in iOS. On Android, mainly due to manufacturer customization, you have less "home pages" for your apps (and they're generally filled with crud you need to remove). Making your newly downloaded app harder to find is a little odd.
> 4. Inconsistent interaction
This is like the one/two button mouse argument. iDevices have one button, the home button (as well as volume and, on the iPad, a mute/orientation lock switch). In part for this reason, iOS apps are extremely consistent.
Android has 4 buttons: back, home, menu, search. IMHO at least 2 of them are unnecessary. App developers use them in completely inconsistent ways, which tends to frustrate the user.
The way I describe iOS (and Apple in general) is that they make the right choices for most users most of the time. Nothing will ever make everyone happy. The uncomfortable truth is that this is really the best thing to do for the market as a whole.
Many tech-savvy people chafe against what they see as choices being taken away from them (which they are) but they're also under the illusion that a) they need these choices and b) having these choices, by definition, is better. Neither is true. You may like these extra choices but that doesn't mean that they're good or that you need them.
Again, we can make a Windows/Mac comparison. Windows apps are horribly inconsistent. Mac apps are almost completely consistent. That makes learning new Mac apps much, much faster for experienced Mac users. By the same token, put a Mac user in front of Windows or a Windows user in front of a Mac and both will flounder (I don't buy the argument that Macs are inherently easier; it still comes down to what you're used to). The learning curve is definitely gentler on Macs however. Same for iOS (vs Android).
Re: Things that Irritate me About Android OS - 4 weeks in
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
> For the typical "mother," they aren't filling up the 8GB internal that's included. My mother (why the quotation marks?) loves recording videos and wouldn't dream of removing them from her phone/SD, even if she imported them to her computer. Filling 8GB is very doable. She'd be thoroughly confused once she did so. Giving power users the option of moving things around is OK, but the phone shouldn't report that it's o…
The 8GB in his example is internal memory, used only by the phone to store the Android system image and application packages. All user data, including videos, are stored on the SD card, external memory. The vast majority of users will never install enough applications to fill internal memory, hence the OP's point is relatively moot. I assume the author probably bought a dirt cheap Android device that doesn't actually…
Thanks for clarifying for me!
Correct. All of the more recent "power" Android phones even tend to have 8GB internal.
I wonder what phone OP was using... I just checked my Droid X: 1 GB (of 16 GB) used on SD card, 2 GB (of 8G B) used on the internal.