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Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

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Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#571

Post by megablast »

mattmaroon wrote: post #453
adamweld wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Now, Google is no Samsung, but they're a long way from Apple or even Microsoft on the UX front. Not sure I agree with this. I've been on android for a while, so I'm sure I'm biased, but stock AOSP Android is pretty much perfect for me. Very minimal and aesthetically beautiful, but still powerful and customizable.

I have both a nexus 5 and an iPad. I greatly prefer stock Android. Just yesterday my girlfriend was trying to figure out how to turn her ringer off at night while still being able to hear her alarm. Little tasks like that are trivial on Android but difficult on iOS.

Go to settings and search for volume?

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#572

Post by r00fus »

kefka_p wrote: post #281
cholantesh wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, and I personally like Cyanogenmod and OxygenOS a lot, too. In fact, I think Touchwiz is the only (major) Android iteration that I haven't enjoyed using. Frankly, I don't get all the hype about iOS' user experience - every time I've had to use an Apple device, I've found just about every task much more cumbersome.

Frankly a lot of people don't get the hype about having to install custom ROMs to make their phones behave in a tolerable way. People are always going to find computing on devices they don't normally use to be more difficult than computing on devices they normally use, yet to you this is proof Android is better?

This is a crux isn't it? Do you want an information appliance that simply works and happens to have pre-approved software choices (albeit a huge number), or a pocket general purpose computing device (with less accessory/software support, but hey you can always install custom software)?

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#573

Post by pinaceae »

bitmapbrother wrote: post #351
czhiddy wrote: post #8

“The difference with this device is that we started from the beginning,” says Dave Burke, who runs Android engineering. Started from scratch, yet the end result looks like a iPhone knockoff from a random Chinese shanzhai company? http://i.imgur.com/LlqaAPO.png

Reminds me of the original iPhone - it was an LG Prada ripoff. I'm sure you call all phones with a white front iPhone knockoffs.

totally!

i mean look at it, what is the difference? http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/06/iphone...

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#574

Post by sorenjan »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #367
adamweld wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Now, Google is no Samsung, but they're a long way from Apple or even Microsoft on the UX front. Not sure I agree with this. I've been on android for a while, so I'm sure I'm biased, but stock AOSP Android is pretty much perfect for me. Very minimal and aesthetically beautiful, but still powerful and customizable.

Honestly, in terms of staff UI design cred Android is in better place than iOS right now. With the Sidekick, PalmOS, and then Material Design, Matías Duarte has been consistently at the forefront of mobile UI design. Jony Ive is probably the most brilliant consumer electronics hardware designer in the world, but I have yet to see any indication that he has any idea how to lead a platform UI design project. I had issu…

Matias Duarte doesn't work on Android anymore.

https://twitter.com/MatiasDuarte/status/781132858802909185

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#575

Post by aetherson »

threeseed wrote: post #568
aetherson wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they fail at doing it, then you'll be able to tell by market share or percentage of industry revenue. But profit share as a metric would have it that even if Google succeeds and lowers Apple's market share and revenue, but in doing so causes itself serious losses, that's somehow good for Apple. Which is stupid, and particularly so in the case of the competing platforms market of this, where even if a strategy ends…

Again. Apple is making money. Lots of it. Having money means you can continue to keep up with the investments in technology needed to stay relevant in the mobile phone business. And the reason people keep bringing up the profit share metric is because companies like HTC, Sony, LG were running at losses for so many years that it put in jeopardy their continued presence in the mobile phone market. And nobody wants to b…

Nobody is denying that Apple is making money. "Profit" is a great metric. Profit share is a terrible one. Because how much money Apple makes is precisely the point, and whether a competitor has wide margins, narrow ones, or negative ones does not affect how much money Apple makes, but it does affect their profit-share.

Huawei and Apple have roughly equal marketshare. If "nobody wants" to buy a phone from an unprofitable manufacturer, how come that's true?

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#577

Post by w1ntermute »

st3v3r wrote: post #518
w1ntermute wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried using third party apps on the iPhone? You can't change the default browser, mail client, maps app, etc. on iOS. At least it's possible to switch the defaults to 3rd party apps on Android.

But it sounds like the core apps on iOS work the way they want them to, whereas the alternatives on Android are all lacking. So being able to change is a nice option, but if you don't use it, doesn't really add much.

> But it sounds like the core apps on iOS work the way they want them to, whereas the alternatives on Android are all lacking.

It doesn't make sense to compare the core apps on iOS to the alternatives on Android. The core apps on Android are just as good as (I would say better than) the core apps on iOS.

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#578

Post by gnarbarian »

uptown wrote: post #552
gnarbarian wrote: post #519

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but is pretty soulless What does that mean?

It's kinda like reference hardware. It's the baseline, with nothing special or unique. It takes a talented designer to take the toolkit and design language, and extend those to inject their own style and character into the finished product so that it both solves the specific needs of the product being designed by clarifying the interface to the user - and hopefully delights the user in some way to make the experience…

So, in a sense material design is too restrictive to let designers think outside of the box.

I get that opinion. But allow me to play the devil's advocate:

Mobile interfaces are small and restrictive. Touch screens and gestures have zero discoverability. Interfaces must scale to a multitude of different screen sizes and resolutions. Flare hurts usability in these situations. When designers break convention it is far more likely to result in confusion or frustration by end users. Well defined standards can enable me to use your app without even looking at the screen and drastically improve accessibility for things like screen readers.

I think the tendency toward flare stems from design education that emphasizes print media and tries to make a direct translation into Web/UX Design. Print media, and advertisements are meant to grab your attention, establish unique brand design language and brand identity. But If I'm already on your website or using your app you already have my attention. You've already sold me. Now simply help me accomplish the task I am here for in the least painful way possilbe. Branching out beyond common guidelines and creating new interface conventions may scratch your creative itch but it is rarely more efficient or easy to use that established conventions.

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#579

Post by imaginenore »

Veratyr wrote: post #269
Fej wrote: post #95

What is the draw here? I have been running my Nexus 5 into the ground (soldered on a new power button when the original broke) in anticipation of the next Nexus phone. Pixel is no Nexus. Seriously, what does this have that the year-old Nexus 6P and 5X don't, other than incremental hardware improvements? And a massive price hike? Why should I buy this? (Seriously, Google? You want $650 for a phone with a 1080p screen?…

> what does this have that the year-old Nexus 6P and 5X don't, other than incremental hardware improvements? As someone who owns a 5X: - The Pixel is a premium 5" phone, not a budget one. It has a flagship SoC rather than a mid-tier SoC. - The camera is better and more responsive (the camera on the N5X is slow and annoying). - The body isn't plastic, which means there will be less issues with heat and CPU throttling…

Nexus 6P and 5X have the same camera, and it's one of the best smartphone cameras out there.

DxO rated them 84, while iPhone 7's is 86. While Pixel's is ranked 89, it's not that far ahead. And 5X is a really cheap phone, I routinely see deals under $200.

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#580

Post by fencepost »

julianpye wrote: post #354

Last week we tried to launch an Android-first app at a major startup conference with 5000 visitors. 95% of the visitors (startups, entrepreneurs, investors, executives) had iPhones. We later confirmed this by looking at the network stats and couldn't believe it. In a country where Android statistically has 80% marketshare. The Android users loved the product, but we failed because we couldn't generate word-of-mouth.…

If your app is mostly targeting startups (cue stereotype of hipsters on Macs in coffeeshops and coworking spaces), then Android should probably not be your first choice of platform.

If your app is targeting a non-startup audience and you can identify a conference or tradeshow more relevant to your actual audience, that may be a better place to try for attendee interest than a startup conference.

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