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”No one at Google is Returning Our Calls”

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Re: ”No one at Google is Returning Our Calls”

#31

Post by richardwhiuk »

Zigurd wrote: post #29
ABS wrote: post #13

this "Google offers the Android codebase for free download, but this is only part of the software needed to make a phone viable" is simply false. You have everything needed for a "phone" and even for a "smartphone", you simply miss google services that might (West in particular) or might not (East in particular) be perceived as a must have by consumer. See for example all the android-based phone that ship with altern…

Nobody, not even Oppo with their CyanogenMod-based Android, is selling an Android product in developed-world markets without Google Play and the rest of Google's app suite. The real alternative is expensive: Build your own ecosystem, as Amazon has.

You seem to have come up with the refutation to your claim, but then ignored it anyway. The Kindle Fire [1] does run Android and does not have the Play Store - it has the Amazon app store instead.

1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindle_Fire

Re: ”No one at Google is Returning Our Calls”

#32

Post by venomsnake »

qwerta wrote: post #11
apunic wrote: post #2

Slighlty OT: Anybody knows why installing an OS on mobile hardware cannot be just like installing Windows in the old days? First installing the base system and then drivers for 'non-standard' hardware components. Why do need hardware manufacturers and OS vendors to talk? Getting the G-Suite seems to be a problem now but there are already some alternatives for each of the G-Suite's apps and I'd welcome any newcomer to…

It is possible. For example Ubuntu is installable on some phones. It is like Linux 15 years ago, there are a few good drivers and one has to check compatibility charts. Other problem is hardware detection. OS on PC can detect what hardware is installed. On mobile you need hardware map. There is no way to have universal installer for all mobile phones.

Why do you need the map, except - it was the way it has always been done in mobile?

Re: ”No one at Google is Returning Our Calls”

#34

Post by vetinari »

venomsnake wrote: post #32
qwerta wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is possible. For example Ubuntu is installable on some phones. It is like Linux 15 years ago, there are a few good drivers and one has to check compatibility charts. Other problem is hardware detection. OS on PC can detect what hardware is installed. On mobile you need hardware map. There is no way to have universal installer for all mobile phones.

Why do you need the map, except - it was the way it has always been done in mobile?

There is no plug-and-play, you need to know if the hardware is there or not. If you poke something and you are on the wrong board, if could free/reboot/brick/whatever.

It is an ARM thing. The good news is, that there is a map and a single kernel can run on multiple boards. It is a recent development, before that, you needed a separately built kernel.

Re: ”No one at Google is Returning Our Calls”

#35

Post by at-fates-hands »

alextingle wrote: post #3

It's not just them. Google doesn't talk to anybody.

This was my reaction to the article as well. I'm still baffled why they don't take some of those billions and invest in a top notch customer service team. I'm pretty sure it would increase their bottom line about ten fold in less than three years.

Re: ”No one at Google is Returning Our Calls”

#36

Post by adventured »

Zigurd wrote: post #27

How did Microsoft manage a zillion OEMs who had to have audited numbers and get invoiced, and Google can't manage a simple compatibility test and license agreement? Never mind third tier phone OEMs, this is really hurting Google in tablets, where you don't need carrier retail channels.

Microsoft - Bill Gates - from day one believed they were in the business of selling a product to a customer, providing support to that customer, and they wanted that customer to stay with them forever. For the first 15+ years of Microsoft's existence, they had no monopoly position, and had to always be hustling for customers.

Google being a search engine, from day one never had to nor intended to provide support to any users. By dominating search usage (they owned search by what, five years in?), it guaranteed they'd own the search ad business by default (and of course they hooked up an excellent approach courtesy of goto.com), with that combination in place there would never be market incentive to provide good customer service to their ad customers and partners (and once that behavior was encoded into the company's DNA, they approached everything a similar way).

Sometimes Google seems more like a hobby farm (that happens to have a golden goose) than a properly run business.

Re: ”No one at Google is Returning Our Calls”

#37

Post by pistle »

snowbunny wrote: post #21
jaggederest wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apart from Matt Cutts responding personally on HN, people trying desperately to sell you Adwords, and press releases; they may as well be a black hole.

Another option is to post a ranting and crying video to Youtube to get special treatment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccxiwu4MaJs (Warning: Strong language)

Man, that's funny. Let the equivalent to this get posted to HN every Friday in 2014.

Re: ”No one at Google is Returning Our Calls”

#38

Post by pistle »

Let's prioritize... Help out a large OEM with some level of gravitas and reliability or 10's to 100's of bargain-bin-targeting mom & pop shops that are unwilling to put their balls on the line to get up to speed on making globally-commercial products. Then you have the morass of cheap China tainting your platform. Google loves Samsung because they understand, slightly, how to balance silly, shiny shit with passable hardware. Imagine the backlash when millions of consumers think "terrible piece of crap" when someone says, "Google-compliant, Android-based device."

AND THEN those same OEM's will come back and tar Google (again) for their failures. I wouldn't rush out to prop up everybody with a cousin that knows a bad batch parts fence in Shenzen. Let the creme rise to the top first.

Re: ”No one at Google is Returning Our Calls”

#39

Post by kevingadd »

DanBC wrote: post #26
apunic wrote: post #2

Slighlty OT: Anybody knows why installing an OS on mobile hardware cannot be just like installing Windows in the old days? First installing the base system and then drivers for 'non-standard' hardware components. Why do need hardware manufacturers and OS vendors to talk? Getting the G-Suite seems to be a problem now but there are already some alternatives for each of the G-Suite's apps and I'd welcome any newcomer to…

Blue Screen of Death was often caused by shoddily written drivers. People don't want their phone to BSoD.

The Android devices I've had the displeasure of using (Galaxy S2, Nexus 4) reboot/crash/hang on a more regular basis than any Windows computer I've used in the last ~10 years. I used WebOS devices for a while before switching to Android, and I don't remember the last time either of those crashed or needed to be power-cycled. My iPhone 1 was an unreliable piece of garbage, though, so I guess I can't specifically shit on Android here.

Anyway though, 'people don't want their phone to BSoD' seems a rather unsupportable statement: modern 'big seller' Android phones suffer from surprisingly poor quality control, especially if you install the OS updates on a regular basis. If they're not introducing some sort of hang/crash bug, they're breaking one or two of the built in applications. I remember one of the recent Nexus 4 OTA updates broke one of the built-in preferences panels under Settings - how do you ship an OS release without testing that?

Ultimately cool new features and apps are more compelling to people than actual stability, judging by how many of my smartphone-owner friends complain about phone crashes and hangs. They're still using those phones and buying the latest models...

Re: ”No one at Google is Returning Our Calls”

#40

Post by PaulHoule »

adventured wrote: post #36
Zigurd wrote: post #27

How did Microsoft manage a zillion OEMs who had to have audited numbers and get invoiced, and Google can't manage a simple compatibility test and license agreement? Never mind third tier phone OEMs, this is really hurting Google in tablets, where you don't need carrier retail channels.

Microsoft - Bill Gates - from day one believed they were in the business of selling a product to a customer, providing support to that customer, and they wanted that customer to stay with them forever. For the first 15+ years of Microsoft's existence, they had no monopoly position, and had to always be hustling for customers. Google being a search engine, from day one never had to nor intended to provide support to a…

Nobody at Google returns any calls from anybody, it's a core part of their DNA.
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