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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

#191

Post by [deleted] »

stcredzero wrote: post #108
allbutlost wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think he is being facetious. It may be true to say "it's not android", but as far as they end-user is concerned it _is_ android. It's got the logos, came with an android sticker on the box. For that user, when it comes to purchase or recommend another phone, will they make the same distinction or will their previous android experience influence their choice?

It's more of a statement about the culture and expectations growing up around Android, than about Android the technical artifact. The technophiles are right about the point they make about the latter, but it's the former that will make or break it in the marketplace.

[deleted]

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

#192

Post by jarin »

My mom did the exact same thing. She wanted to finally get her first smartphone, so she went to Best Buy to upgrade from her crappy flip phone to an iPhone 4, but the sales rep insisted that Android was "way better".

She knows how to use a computer, but she isn't the most tech-savvy person around. She was calling me constantly trying to figure out how to use her Android phone. I finally said she should probably switch to an iPhone instead, and a day after she did she was playing Angry Birds and sending me MMS picture messages, all without any help at all.

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

#193

Post by mdda »

If his Mum had lusted after an iPhone, that's what they would have bought.

Instead, she lusted after an HTC Incredible, so they bought a Samsung Charge...

In some ways, it was her son that distorted the picture, assuming that all Android phones were equivalent. Without his conviction, his Mum would have dragged him, and his Incredible into a store, and said "I want one like his".

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

#194

Post by guptaneil »

sili wrote: post #100
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…

This is the same problem that has plagued Windows on PC for years before this. Buying a PC from Dell or any other large retailers with Windows pre-installed meant a day worth of removing their crap-ware, support software, and back-up suits. Or you could reformat straight out of the box. Only this time the problem is more perwasive. With PC an average user did not get botherd by all this trash, the machine was good en…

PC makers made extra money on each PC sold by bundling other people's apps for them. Until recently, this was a reasonable business strategy, since users didn't have much choice and had to put up with the poor experience, so why not make extra money at the minor cost of frustrating your customers?

For wireless companies, the custom branding is how they hope to be considered more than just a dumb pipe by providing additional "value" to users. This is why Verizon bundles their Vcast music store, and AT&T includes their custom Navigation and Yellow Pages apps. They desperately want to be seen as content companies. This is not a reasonable business strategy though, because the more they frustrate their customers with this nonsense, the more those users will flock to the pristine shores of iOS, where carriers have even less control, thereby cementing their position as a simple utility.

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

#195

Post by tomkarlo »

LokiSnake wrote: post #189
garyrichardson wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter why this person's experience sucked with Android, it still did. An iPhone 'just worked' for this same person. I know exactly what I'm getting when I get an iPhone no matter where in the world I get it. There's no carrier specific crap. All the models have well known limitations and features. I can trust, for the most part, any apps I get from the app store. It's great that you can go onto eBay and g…

Google having more control over Android would make a better UX and platform, but it would not have allowed for Android to take off as it has. One of the key reasons it's selling is because it's not an iPhone. It's open, and comes with all the pros and cons that openness entails.

Normal customers don't care that a phone is 'open' any more than a non-gearhead cares if a car is user-serviceable. They don't even really know what that means.

Tech folks need to stop thinking of 'open' as a selling point when it comes to consumer products and focus on the actual experience for a consumer.

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

#196

Post by kooshball »

micampe wrote: post #185
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 think this has been one of the major innovations of the iPhone: not allowing carriers to tamper with it. MS understood this and they are doing the same with WP7. Google knows it is a problem so they release the Google Experience phones, but they can’t disallow it completely.

I think it's quite interesting to see google go the same route as MS did with Windows and Windows Mobile which is allow the OEM to customize to make money, while letting user satisfaction drop. At the same time, WP7 is a total different strategy to tightly control the hardware and give a much greater user experience while the OEMs have less and less control.

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

#197

Post by ashishgandhi »

"I’m a big Android fanboy and proud PC owner."

How are both related except being not-Apple? Almost as if you are supposed to pick sides - one being Apple and the other not-Apple. Use what suits you. Doesn't matter who makes it.

"... but I worry about the future."

The author's mom is much happier with an iPhone and the author suggests that everything works. Also a friend is mentioned who uses a Nexus S which is "a pleasure to use". Given how things are it's reasonable to say a stock Android will always exists which Google launches with every new Android release. So what's the worry about?

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

#198

Post by tomjen3 »

stcredzero wrote: post #42
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. I'll be downvoted, but here goes: This shows the Linux heritage. All of Linux's problems on the desktop aren't really problems with Linux. It turns out that Android's problems aren't Android's either. Solved!

If those problems had been problems with Linux, we could have solved them.

But the fact that some hardware producer doesn't want to give up the specs so that we can support it? Not Linux problem.

They may be a problem for you, if you want to run Linux but it isn't Linux problem.

This case is the same. I would prefer it was some problem with Android, since we could then solve it but crap-ware on carriers isn't a software issue.

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

#199

Post by pedrocr »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #117
pedrocr wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I installed CM7 stable, she gets push updates that are seamlessly handled via Rom Manager. Does this work for major updates? As far as I know when you want to move between major versions (the next one is 7->7.1) you have to basically wipe the phone and start from scratch. Because most Android apps use local storage that isn't synced to the cloud, to actually keep your data you'll have to use hacky things like Titani…

I've gone from super alpha CM7 to CM7.1 and current nightlies without wiping, save for once, and that was due to Google Apps changing. CM6 -> CM7 you have to wipe, but most OTA updaters will tell you that the OTAs from Eclair->Froyo or Froyo->Gingerbread effectively require a data wipe anyway. My mother had issue after issue after the Eclair->Froyo OTA and they went away when she did a factory reset (wipes /data). >I…

>CM6 -> CM7 you have to wipe, but most OTA updaters will tell you that the OTAs from Eclair->Froyo or Froyo->Gingerbread effectively require a data wipe anyway. My mother had issue after issue after the Eclair->Froyo OTA and they went away when she did a factory reset (wipes /data).

I just checked and 7.1 doesn't require a wipe, I was under the impression that it did. Is it that only when the upstream major android version changes that you need to wipe? A quick googling leads me to believe at least Google's official OTAs for the Nexus line don't require wiping.

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

#200

Post by powerje »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #77
jm4 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I owned 3 different Android phones over the past 3 years. My wife owned 2 models different from mine over the same span. My experience is based on using 5 different Android models from different manufacturers. Although I'm focusing now on the things I did not like, the fact that I stayed with Android for so long should suggest that there was plenty I did like. Battery life was terrible on every Android phone I used.…

Task killers don't do anything, the issue that created a need for them was patched in 2.2. Now they're just a placebo.

Well, they don't do anything except cause the problems he was complaining about in his post.
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