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Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration)

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Re: Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration)

#111

Post by technoslut »

wvenable wrote: post #73
ajross wrote: post #4

FTA: Fans of Android, let’s not tiptoe around this: Android exists because it is a rip off of iOS. Sure, it has grown into its own in a lot of ways, but its roots are decidedly placed at the introduction of iOS in 2007 While true, I continue to find it infuriating the extent to which people credit Apple with inventing things it didn't. The iPhone was not the first touch-only buttonless interface out there (depending…

The iPhone might be considered a rip-off my SE P800 running Symbian from 2002. Touch screen with no physical buttons on front and apps displayed as rows of icons on the main screen. Oh yeah, and it had apps too. That's 5 years before the iPhone. Apple didn't invent the concept they just made it work.

>Apple didn't invent the concept they just made it work.

No one argues that. The point made is whether Android is a ripoff (or heavily influenced) by iOS. The gap is far wider between the iPhone/P800 than it is between iOS and Android. If the P800 was that influential, early Android prototypes would've resembled the P800 instead of a Blackberry.

Re: Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration)

#112

Post by barrkel »

actf wrote: post #110
barrkel wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What bad performance? IME, my Nexus One browser is slightly less smooth to scroll, but faster at redraw than the browsers on my (admittedly, slightly old at this point) iOS devices. It's a toss-up, really. Question: do you have Flash installed? I had to uninstall it completely, because even the "on demand" option for browser plugins didn't disable it reliably. (Biggest problem I have with my iOS devices (an iPod Touc…

> What bad performance? Did you miss the video in the article? - The one where the iPhone scrolls as smooth as butter, and the other phone scrolls slow enough to make me wonder - is it frozen? FWIW this has been my experience with Android as well. Obviously not every web page is like this, but even if 5% of the pages out there do this - it's a serious usability problem. I just don't understand how the scrolling perfo…

Of course I didn't miss the video; but my experience has never been like that, except maybe when I briefly had Flash installed, for a few hours a year or so ago. I addressed it in the following comment, and a different comparison video too, for bonus points!

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3121906

Re: Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration)

#113

Post by thwarted »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #86
unoti wrote: post #44

I develop apps for both iPhone and Android. I stopped carrying my iPhone for personal use, and use my Droid Bionic full time. Here are the 3 reasons why. 1. Google Maps, and navigation. If you're actually driving places, google maps is an amazing godsend. If you're taking mass transit, it blows the doors off what's on the iPhone. Ever get on a bus with your iphone, and have it vibrate in your pants when the next bus…

I got a Nexus S for the same reason the author did. To address your points. 1. Good luck using those features with rubbish GPS hardware. I've tried testing my Nexus S navigation on public transport and mostly it looks for GPS signals. My iPhone 4 picks up a signal fine. I agree they would be awesome features. But Android has just added 'research GPS hardware' to the list of things you need to do to get an Android han…

2. I can't get over the fact that the forward button actually goes backwards in your list and the back button actually goes forwards.

I wonder if this has to do with the displayed sort order. I don't know which one you mean when you say "back" and "forward", but the button with the arrow pointing to the left on the message/thread view screen on my Android 2.3.6 nexus S gmail app goes to the message further toward the top of the list, and the button with the arrow pointing to the right goes to the message further down the list. This is as I expect.

Re: Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration)

#114

Post by schiffern »

ajross wrote: post #38
mbreese wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't basing it off of UI as much as form-factor... and that is hardly superficial.

Nor, as was pointed out, is it an Apple invention. You could just as easily claim that Apple and Google ripped off the LG Prada: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada_(KE850)

Images of the LG Prada were first leaked on Dec 15, 2006. The iPhone was announced on Jan 9, 2007. It's hard to imagine that Apple revamped the entire form-factor of their two-year phone project in 25 days.

Re: Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration)

#115

Post by schiffern »

dlss wrote: post #48
ajross wrote: post #4

FTA: Fans of Android, let’s not tiptoe around this: Android exists because it is a rip off of iOS. Sure, it has grown into its own in a lot of ways, but its roots are decidedly placed at the introduction of iOS in 2007 While true, I continue to find it infuriating the extent to which people credit Apple with inventing things it didn't. The iPhone was not the first touch-only buttonless interface out there (depending…

Android inc was founded by Andy Rubin in 2003, bought by google in 2005, and unveiled its first phone in 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system) Not being an insider, it might be true that no one at Android inc was talking about touch screens before 2007. But probably not. Ultimately, we can't observe what we really want to talk about here -- what would have happened without iOS. The same compas…

I got as far as,

>since iOS was not built from top-to-bottom for multi-tasking functionality...

before realizing that the author is just trolling.

iOS supported multi-tasking from day 1 -- it was a stripped-down Mac OS X, after all. They intentionally restricted multi-tasking to avoid performance and battery-life issues, a trade-off which is still paying dividends in their UX.

Apple forces developers to ask themselves, "do I really need multi-tasking?" Often the answer is "no," and the user benefits from that conversation.

Re: Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration)

#116

Post by vetinari »

schiffern wrote: post #114
ajross wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nor, as was pointed out, is it an Apple invention. You could just as easily claim that Apple and Google ripped off the LG Prada: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada_(KE850)

Images of the LG Prada were first leaked on Dec 15, 2006. The iPhone was announced on Jan 9, 2007. It's hard to imagine that Apple revamped the entire form-factor of their two-year phone project in 25 days.

LG Prada was first presented in September 2006, so you could add another 90 days to the 25 figure.

Re: Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration)

#117

Post by vetinari »

schiffern wrote: post #115
dlss wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android inc was founded by Andy Rubin in 2003, bought by google in 2005, and unveiled its first phone in 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system) Not being an insider, it might be true that no one at Android inc was talking about touch screens before 2007. But probably not. Ultimately, we can't observe what we really want to talk about here -- what would have happened without iOS. The same compas…

I got as far as, >since iOS was not built from top-to-bottom for multi-tasking functionality... before realizing that the author is just trolling. iOS supported multi-tasking from day 1 -- it was a stripped-down Mac OS X, after all. They intentionally restricted multi-tasking to avoid performance and battery-life issues, a trade-off which is still paying dividends in their UX. Apple forces developers to ask themselve…

That's one interpretation.

Do not forget, that Apple has attitude "users do not know what they want, they will take what we offer". You don't know, whether users would be better off with multitasking or not, because you can't compare these two scenarios.

Sure, you don't need multitasking for checking in with Foursquare. You pretty much need for Location or Tasker. IOS users are not aware, that such applications exists and they are not missing them. If they would be used to them, they would miss it. Same with Swype and other apps available on Android.

Re: Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration)

#118

Post by vetinari »

morsch wrote: post #85
dminor wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/download-map-area-add...

I've used an inexpensive Nokia smartphone for a year or two. I've switched to an inexpensive Android phone, and I don't regret it. But for maps and navigation, Nokia wins hands down. It's great you can precache maps in GMaps now, but fast, offline vector maps are a totally different beast. Particularly useful for abroad, no roaming charges and precaching is not always an option. Also, it's just cool to run around wit…

For offline navigation, I'm using Sygic Aura. Sure, it is extra 50 EUR for maps of Europe and takes almost 2 gigs on your SD card, but you don't need to precache anything, it just works just GPS gadget.

Re: Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration)

#119

Post by vetinari »

morsch wrote: post #89
stupandaus wrote: post #3

Your question of who the Android is meant for has a very simple answer. It's designed for people who want a smartphone, but aren't willing or capable of spending enough for an iPhone. Also Apple haters as noted.

I guess the parent is a flamebait, but I was going to make a similar point: I got a used entry-level Android smartphone (ZTE Blade) for 100 EUR. Installing a custom Android 2.3.5 ROM on it was easy. A used iPhone 3GS fetches 2 to 3 times the price over here, despite the much inferior screen. I could spend more, but I would constantly worry about losing or breaking it or having it stolen. And when I relax my spending…

I can vouch for ZTE Blade. It is a a very nice, cheap phone. Does everything I need, despite being ARMv6. It was 100 GBP for me (got the OLED one) and I'm not afraid that I will lose or damage it.

Btw., Nexus S is around 260 EUR today (retail, unlocked, no contract).

Re: Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration)

#120

Post by wvenable »

technoslut wrote: post #111
wvenable wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPhone might be considered a rip-off my SE P800 running Symbian from 2002. Touch screen with no physical buttons on front and apps displayed as rows of icons on the main screen. Oh yeah, and it had apps too. That's 5 years before the iPhone. Apple didn't invent the concept they just made it work.

>Apple didn't invent the concept they just made it work. No one argues that. The point made is whether Android is a ripoff (or heavily influenced) by iOS. The gap is far wider between the iPhone/P800 than it is between iOS and Android. If the P800 was that influential, early Android prototypes would've resembled the P800 instead of a Blackberry.

Even with Windows Mobile there were blackberry-like keyboarded phones (like the WinMo Treo) and all-screen touch screen phones. The assumption here is that Android only had plans for the former but I can't see that being entirely true given the market at the time. But, after the iPhone, almost everyone dropped their blackberry-like designs (except RIM).
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