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Why my Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone

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Re: Why my Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone

#171

Post by stretchwithme »

I was torn between Android and the iPhone for a while. But fear of experiences just like the one described eventually led to pick the one I knew would work. I picked the one where the single responsible is the best in the world at sanding off all the rough edges of the user experience.

Past experience with Apple Care and with other devices having multiple responsible parties made it easy. When many are responsible, none are ultimately responsible. Except you, of course.

Apple goes out of its way to do everything for you that has a learning curve and where there's no point in you learning it. It just makes more sense to write a piece of software that performs a complex task well than to expect millions to struggle with it.

Yes, I know Android is infinitely flexible. But on a mission critical device like my phone, I don't want to have to infinitely flex.

Re: Why my Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone

#173

Post by jsz0 »

nhebb wrote: post #29
yock wrote: post #6

The real issue here is not the hardware and not Android, but what device manufacturers and network providers cram down the throats of their customers. Custom UI enhancements/replacements, useless bundled apps that can't be removed, and the removal of standard, OS-delivered features. None of this should have been new or a surprise to the writer's mom, who was coming to Android from a feature phone. Feature phones have…

The battery life and "scorching hot" temperature sound like hardware issues, but I doubt they're representative of all Android phones - just this model.

Mysterious battery drain seems like a really common problem on Android phones. Sometimes my Droid X lasts till 6PM -- sometimes it's dead by 1PM. More or less the same usage patterns. When it dies early in the day the phone is definitely warmer than usual.

Re: Why my Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone

#174

Post by jsz0 »

linuxhansl wrote: post #169

Can we stop blaming Android for what the carries do with their phones? Please?! I have a Nexus S. I switched it on and it just worked. In fact about 5 minutes after I switched it on, it informed me that there was an upgrade to Android available. "Do you want to upgrade?" Sure. Just like that, over the air. Do that with an iPhone, you need iTunes installed (i.e. you need a computer somewhere). There's no crappy softwa…

Not anymore. iOS5 has OTA updates. (the last beta update was pushed OTA)

Re: Why my Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone

#175

Post by stretchwithme »

yock wrote: post #6

The real issue here is not the hardware and not Android, but what device manufacturers and network providers cram down the throats of their customers. Custom UI enhancements/replacements, useless bundled apps that can't be removed, and the removal of standard, OS-delivered features. None of this should have been new or a surprise to the writer's mom, who was coming to Android from a feature phone. Feature phones have…

That's 55 cents a day over a 2 year contract. And if you make $25 an hour after taxes (hopefully you make more), you're be working 92 seconds of every day just to pay the iPhone premium.

Me thinks the better experience saves me at least 93 seconds of pain per day, possible even 2 whole minutes worth.

Re: Why my Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone

#176

Post by stretchwithme »

danudey wrote: post #143
jerrya wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I really, really, really wanted to like Android, but you can damn-near put an 18 month countdown on the majority of the Android phones before the manufacturer abandons it and you're stuck using XDA developers or the like for updates, patches and improvements, or just to fix the stock crap they ship. On a 24 month contract cycle, that's just unacceptable." Somewhat broad generalization ahead... About once a year, App…

Many years ago, I took a look at the Apple iPod website, and looked at the models. The breakdown was simple. iPod shuffle, iPod Mini, iPod. You could see one page with all prices for all sizes (two sizes for each model), and then you just had to pick a colour and you were good. I then went to look at Creative's website, and looked through their list of products. They had 16 separate models, many of which were very su…

You hit the nail on the head. Apple curates the array of products it offers, while its impossible to tell which Android best suits you.

Google needs to create a new platform that curates as well as Apple does. Or sit and watch while Amazon builds one on top of Android.

Re: Why my Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone

#177

Post by dman »

danudey wrote: post #143
jerrya wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I really, really, really wanted to like Android, but you can damn-near put an 18 month countdown on the majority of the Android phones before the manufacturer abandons it and you're stuck using XDA developers or the like for updates, patches and improvements, or just to fix the stock crap they ship. On a 24 month contract cycle, that's just unacceptable." Somewhat broad generalization ahead... About once a year, App…

Many years ago, I took a look at the Apple iPod website, and looked at the models. The breakdown was simple. iPod shuffle, iPod Mini, iPod. You could see one page with all prices for all sizes (two sizes for each model), and then you just had to pick a colour and you were good. I then went to look at Creative's website, and looked through their list of products. They had 16 separate models, many of which were very su…

Apple is one of the few companies in the world that does both software and hardware in a competent and timely fashion. If Sony / HTC / Samsung had as much software roots as Apple I believe we would see Android handsets that actually offered credible alternatives rather than being showcases for their hardware and physical design departments. Then again I guess shipping Android phones amounts to admitting that you cant do the whole stack. I really commend HP for trying to be the other company that does the whole stack.

Re: Why my Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone

#178

Post by rayiner »

yock wrote: post #6

The real issue here is not the hardware and not Android, but what device manufacturers and network providers cram down the throats of their customers. Custom UI enhancements/replacements, useless bundled apps that can't be removed, and the removal of standard, OS-delivered features. None of this should have been new or a surprise to the writer's mom, who was coming to Android from a feature phone. Feature phones have…

> I'm glad the author's mom found a smartphone she likes, but this isn't an Android problem. It may very well be a Google problem

It's definitely Google's problem. Experiences like this tremendously hurt the Android brand. What if you bought a "BMW" but it turned out to be a piece of crap because BMW had licensed their engines and logo but exercised no quality-control over the final products? You'd never buy another BMW, regardless of whose fault it really was.

Re: Why my Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone

#179

Post by glassx »

samstokes wrote: post #164
markokocic wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But this what you explained is exactly the problem with Android. With iPhone, carriers, phone manufacturers and such are not allowed to install their crapware/bloatware on the phone. With Android, they can do whatever they want, and the only sane option for an end user is to root the phone.

The only sane option is to root the phone How about the only sane option is to not buy a phone with crapware on it ? This is what markets are for - so that crappy products can die. If Verizon sells phones with crapware and T-Mobile sells phones without, choose T-Mobile. Even better, if the US market finally wakes up to buying unlocked phones from electronics vendors rather than locked phones from carriers, you can ac…

A local (Brazilian) phone operator made 'we only have unlocked phones' as their selling-point. Also they don't have contracts, and (at least for me) no crapware apps.

Sorta gives me a bit of hope on capitalism. I stay with them on principle.

Re: Why my Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone

#180

Post by glassx »

mtogo wrote: post #157

I’m sorry what? To make the phone work right I have to possibly void the warranty or brick the phone and load a customized operating system? To be fair, that's pretty much what you need to do with an iPhone, too.

That's not true at all, or not anymore after iOS 4, at least. (to be fair, lots of Androids don't need rooting at all, too)

In fact, it's quite the opposite of what rooting is intended to do in the context of this article, which is putting the phone in a pure, clean state.

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