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Saving Android From a Second-Rate Future

wired.com

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Re: Saving Android From a Second-Rate Future

#11

Post by Zigurd »

The article contains a common error:

"Every iPhone comes with iOS exactly as Steve Jobs intended, which means developers know precisely what they’re getting."

On Android, that's not the problem. All Androids, as uglified by OEM add-ons as they might be, are highly compatible with applications. All Androids running the same API level of Android, even the Kindle Fire, run all the applications that use those APIs. There are optional APIs that some apps depend on, but those dependencies are also completely unrelated to OEM customization of Android.

The problem is that "customized" Androids are hard to upgrade. That means that, while all the iPhones that can run iOS 6 will be running iOS 6, there are many many models of Android devices that will never be upgraded to Jelly Bean. And that reduces the value of a lot of the Android installed base relative to Apple products in the field.

Re: Saving Android From a Second-Rate Future

#12

Post by radley »

The author seems to be stuck in 2011 when device UIs were rough, behind the curve, and the promise of a pure Android device would save the platform. The "second rate" Galaxy S3 is now massively outselling the Nexus and is the only Android device to outsell iPhones last summer.

Re: Saving Android From a Second-Rate Future

#13

Post by talmand »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #7
dougmccune wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's also not just about the skin being bad, it's about quickly getting updates. That's the bigger problem IMO. Both the phone manufacturer and the carriers seem to hold up updates, sometimes indefinitely. More important than getting TouchWiz/Blur/Whatever off the phone is getting the latest Android bits on the phone. If the manufacturers pushed their skin updates as quickly as Google can push release-ready Android u…

I understand this frustration as a developer, but users don't seem to care, or else Nexus would be selling like hot-cakes. More to the point, as Android slows release cycles and focuses on things like "Project Butter", having the absolute latest becomes less important. I mean, you're right and I do NOT want to be making excuses for the version fragmentation out there when Apple does such a better job with updates (gr…

But that's the very thing that people who should know better keep forgetting or are ignoring, the market doesn't care!

Find any random person that has a phone running Android v2.3 and ask them if it bothers them that their phone, which works perfectly fine every day for their needs, is not running the latest and greatest version of Android. I'm willing to bet most of them would not know what you're talking about and that they have no idea what version they are running anyway. You might as well ask them what version firmware is installed on their TV.

I'm also willing to bet this is true for most of the market for iPhones as well.

The average consumer most likely DOES NOT CARE. As long as the phone is in their price range, a carrier they like, and that it works for them then they could care less about the OS version. Whether it's Android or iOS.

Why can't people just be happy with the amazing things we have?

Re: Saving Android From a Second-Rate Future

#14

Post by drivebyacct2 »

talmand wrote: post #13
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand this frustration as a developer, but users don't seem to care, or else Nexus would be selling like hot-cakes. More to the point, as Android slows release cycles and focuses on things like "Project Butter", having the absolute latest becomes less important. I mean, you're right and I do NOT want to be making excuses for the version fragmentation out there when Apple does such a better job with updates (gr…

But that's the very thing that people who should know better keep forgetting or are ignoring, the market doesn't care! Find any random person that has a phone running Android v2.3 and ask them if it bothers them that their phone, which works perfectly fine every day for their needs, is not running the latest and greatest version of Android. I'm willing to bet most of them would not know what you're talking about and…

I agree that the average customer doesn't care but "Why can't people just be happy with the amazing things we have?" is a terrifically awful outlook. If people thought that way, we'd still be using Motorola RAZRs. The flip-style one, not the smartphone one.

Re: Saving Android From a Second-Rate Future

#15

Post by elcogote »

Zigurd wrote: post #11

The article contains a common error: "Every iPhone comes with iOS exactly as Steve Jobs intended, which means developers know precisely what they’re getting." On Android, that's not the problem. All Androids, as uglified by OEM add-ons as they might be, are highly compatible with applications. All Androids running the same API level of Android, even the Kindle Fire, run all the applications that use those APIs. There…

>The problem is that "customized" Androids are hard to upgrade.

Why are they so hard to upgrade?

Re: Saving Android From a Second-Rate Future

#16

Post by mchusma »

anigbrowl wrote: post #10

Android is second-rate because it's only in Jellybean that they've conquered the latency issues. People are using Android devices for passive consumption, rarely for any kind of content creation, because virtually all the content creators are and content creation software are already on iPad and have given up on Android, in much the same way that musicians almost exclusively used Macs for 10 years because nobody took…

I run a startup, we do iOS and android development. I switched from iOS to android last year with the galaxy nexus, now back to the iPhone 5. I can tell you we spend a ton of time dealing with fragmentation. Here is the issue. It takes you something like 2x the front end time to test on some devices (40 or so, which we own some and use services and friends for others). After you finish and release, you get about 10x the support request for all kinds of random devices, and it is nearly impossible to debug without the device. Fragmentation is huge part of the effort in android. As a user, I found many of my favorite apps didn't work. I had to use my old iPhone 4 for music, as Spotify didn't work for bout the first 6 months I had my phone.

Re: Saving Android From a Second-Rate Future

#17

Post by martey »

mtgx wrote: post #2

As an Android users I agree with the article. The very least Google could do is get Motorola to use the "stock" Android. They really shouldn't care what the other manufacturers think about it. First off, they aren't using stock Android anyway, so why would they be upset about it? And second, they seem to be very willing to adopt a very "stock" WP8 OS on their phones, so again I see no reason for them to get mad over…

One of the weirdest things about this article is the fact it does not mention wireless carriers once. If Motorola makes phones with stock Android, but no carriers decide to carry it in their stores and on their websites, it is no different from a Nexus phones.

Former Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha previously suggested that phone skinning and customization was heavily driven by wireless carriers, as well as phone manufacturers: http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/10/2697939/motorolas-sanjay-j...

Re: Saving Android From a Second-Rate Future

#18

Post by protomyth »

talmand wrote: post #9

I don't get it, is he complaining about the Android OS or the UI skins that manufacturers choose to install on their devices? Does this mean that if I apply a custom theme to my Windows7 install it is no longer "true" Windows7? Older phones not getting Jelly Bean is a silly complaint at this point, can't we get past this? I just really don't get these type of articles, I can only assume they are link bait since they…

"Older phones not getting Jelly Bean is a silly complaint at this point, can't we get past this?"

I would imagine we can get it past it when every phone capable of running the newest Android version is allowed to upgrade to the newest Android version. Until then, it is an issue for developers who want to use the latest APIs.

Re: Saving Android From a Second-Rate Future

#19

Post by FrojoS »

elcogote wrote: post #15
Zigurd wrote: post #11

The article contains a common error: "Every iPhone comes with iOS exactly as Steve Jobs intended, which means developers know precisely what they’re getting." On Android, that's not the problem. All Androids, as uglified by OEM add-ons as they might be, are highly compatible with applications. All Androids running the same API level of Android, even the Kindle Fire, run all the applications that use those APIs. There…

>The problem is that "customized" Androids are hard to upgrade. Why are they so hard to upgrade?

Because after 6 months the supplier forgets they soled you the phone and doesn't release any more updates. You might be able to update by rooting the phone, but most people can't get bothered.

I've been once burned by HTC (Wildfire). One update after 3 months and that was it. Still runs Android 2.x. with countless major bugs, like 'when you click on one SMS message, it opens a completely different one'.

Is Samsung better in terms of update policy? Otherwise I will probably go with an iPhone this time.

Re: Saving Android From a Second-Rate Future

#20

Post by moreati »

elcogote wrote: post #15
Zigurd wrote: post #11

The article contains a common error: "Every iPhone comes with iOS exactly as Steve Jobs intended, which means developers know precisely what they’re getting." On Android, that's not the problem. All Androids, as uglified by OEM add-ons as they might be, are highly compatible with applications. All Androids running the same API level of Android, even the Kindle Fire, run all the applications that use those APIs. There…

>The problem is that "customized" Androids are hard to upgrade. Why are they so hard to upgrade?

Hard for an end user if no official OTA upgrade is offered.

Apple is in sole control of which iPhones (et al) iOS upgrades published and when. They generally do so for several years after a model is announced, and every device can download the newer version on the same day. Even the 3GS got a cut down iOS 6.

For an Android device the decision is made by a combination of the manufacturer and (for phones) the operator. A device typically gets 1 or maybe 2 official upgrades beyond what it was sold with, maybe months after Google announced that version. Some get no official updates.

There's CyanogenMod etc. for those of us with the know how/confidence, but most people shouldn't/won't do that.

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