Live data from Hacker News

15 Years of Android Memories

blog.google

11–20 of 62 posts

Re: 15 Years of Android Memories

#12
post #2

TIL HTC Dream was called T-Mobile G1 in the States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Dream

My first smartphone. I started working at Tmobile in college as a sales rep when the G1 came out and I immediately was smitten with it. The functionality and experience was so much better than anything that BlackBerry had to offer, yet all of the seasoned reps scoffed at the G1 and continued to push and sell Blackberries. They thought I was crazy to carry and sell the G1. I think I got the last laugh.

Re: 15 Years of Android Memories

#13

Missing from 2014: pushed out Lollipop release to OG Nexus tablets, destroying performance, leaving only those technical enough to downgrade with any way to keep using the devices. 2023: pushed out Android 14 update, removing access to any additional profiles used on the devices. TBF they still have time to deal with this one, but their response so far has been terrible. And yet I still buy the damn things because th…

iOS has non safari browsers

Re: 15 Years of Android Memories

#14
post #2

TIL HTC Dream was called T-Mobile G1 in the States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Dream

One of the understated innovations of the iPhone was bringing awareness of the phone manufacturer to the masses, disrupting the relationship between customer and carrier. Android provided (and still does) a way for carriers to regain some control in that relationship.

One example is Verizon's Droid campaign, which was so successful that "Droid" became a genericized trademark for any Android phone for a decade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon_Droid

Re: 15 Years of Android Memories

#15
post #8

> our mission has always been to bring computing to everyone Yet if you try to do computing on Android, you hit a wall: file access is absymal from a user point of view (virtual folders ?). Text editors are terrible. The only thing existing are some BASIC interpreters, terrible to use. Combine this with the unaccessible GUI (small scroll bars, widgets too big or too small) and everything tells you to go away and neve…

As opposed to what? Your Linux desktop that will readily allow sending your browser cache, ssh keys, family photos to anyone with a simple ‘npm install’, nothing at all preventing it?

Also, if you call that GUI inaccessible, you write from a place of privilege: mobile platforms absolutely beat the shit out of any desktop computer on accessibility count, hands down, any people with some kind of disability will tell you as much.

There are negatives, but also, all around mobile OSs are a newer generation of OSs, that fixes many problems of their forefathers. To not call them computing devices is just unreasonable.

Re: 15 Years of Android Memories

#16

Missing from 2014: pushed out Lollipop release to OG Nexus tablets, destroying performance, leaving only those technical enough to downgrade with any way to keep using the devices. 2023: pushed out Android 14 update, removing access to any additional profiles used on the devices. TBF they still have time to deal with this one, but their response so far has been terrible. And yet I still buy the damn things because th…

iOS has non safari browsers

But they are not real alternatives as they still have to use WebKit, as far as I know

Re: 15 Years of Android Memories

#17

Missing from 2014: pushed out Lollipop release to OG Nexus tablets, destroying performance, leaving only those technical enough to downgrade with any way to keep using the devices. 2023: pushed out Android 14 update, removing access to any additional profiles used on the devices. TBF they still have time to deal with this one, but their response so far has been terrible. And yet I still buy the damn things because th…

Don’t forget you can’t call emergency services if you had Microsoft Teams installed.

Also you still can’t call emergency services due to some other bug?

One year they forgot December existed in the Contacts app.

Also wasn’t their permission model terrible from the start vs. iOS’ fine grained prompts?

Re: 15 Years of Android Memories

#18

Missing from 2014: pushed out Lollipop release to OG Nexus tablets, destroying performance, leaving only those technical enough to downgrade with any way to keep using the devices. 2023: pushed out Android 14 update, removing access to any additional profiles used on the devices. TBF they still have time to deal with this one, but their response so far has been terrible. And yet I still buy the damn things because th…

iOS has non safari browsers

Child: Dad, can we have non Safari browser?

Tim Cook: No, we have non Safari browser at home.

[Non Safari browser at home: WebKit logo wearing a wig]

Re: 15 Years of Android Memories

#19
post #14
post #2

TIL HTC Dream was called T-Mobile G1 in the States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Dream

One of the understated innovations of the iPhone was bringing awareness of the phone manufacturer to the masses, disrupting the relationship between customer and carrier. Android provided (and still does) a way for carriers to regain some control in that relationship. One example is Verizon's Droid campaign, which was so successful that "Droid" became a genericized trademark for any Android phone for a decade: https:…

This is incredibly US-centric, the line between manufacturer and carrier is much clearer just about everywhere else in the world.
Post reply on HN