So if the Android team realized that Samdroid and Motodroid and HTCdroid suck... what could they do about it? As he says, the fragmentation is inherent in the business model.
I like the Nexus approach. They are working with a phone manufacture on a device to show what CAN be done with time and love. Anyone can take Android and put it on a phone so the best thing you can do is set an example of excellence. If companies don't want to follow and people don't want to vote with their wallet so be it.
My main point is I really don't think this Google's problem and I think they are already doing more then I would have expected.
exactly. The solution is, tell you and your friends to buy nexus phones. They're not even all that expensive, I got mine for $99, (yes, it was a special deal, yes it was to close out prior to the next model, yes I had to sign a 2 year contract - but it's still working phenomenally).
Shitty article. It's not Google's fault that some OEMs suck, or offer a different experience. Also, I would bet that Google engineers are eating their own dog food, it's not as if Nexus devices aren't available on the market.
My wife has a Nexus 7, and it's great. I have an HTC phone, it's also great.
This whole article seems like a bad attempt at discrediting Google and Android....
His point seems to be that Google engineers are not getting the same experience as their customers, and that could mislead them.
The same thing occurs in general software development. The developers will often have more and larger screens, faster computers, more memory, storage, faster networking etc than their average customer. And that can lead to a worse than expected experience for their customers.
The poster could explore what Google can do about it. One obvious thing is to make stock Android that much "better" so that consumers seek it out, or at least prod vendors to keep up. The other is to make Android upgradable to the current/best version - a choice Google did not make except for very limited areas (play store and services).
If a Google engineer walks into Verizon and purchases a phone, he received one with stock Android installed? How in the world does Verizon keep track of all the Google employees? Do the sketchy early-20 yr old managers with their cracker jack "Small Business" certifications perform the downgrade?
I don't know how this would scale very well. Impressive Verizon!
95% of shitty experiences on android phones stem from tons of people being on 2 year old versions of android, at best.
Fix that conundrum, and you will have a lot of your problems fixed with the ecosystem. Perhaps bifurcating the "os" from "runtime" or something is necessary so google can update everyone to the same 'version' of 'android'
I don't know where to draw the line, but this is a chief reason iOS eats android for lunch app dev wise.
This article is totally off base. The best Android experience you will can currently have is using a Samsung Galaxy S4 (Google Play OR Samsung Edition). I know this is just an opinion but it is widely held in the Android community. I haven't had personal experience but I believe the HTC One and the Note 2 are also generally considered better experiences than the N4 as well. Another issue is that Verizon has essentially made it impossible to have a true "Nexus" experience with a phone on their network. So this article doesn't even apply to the largest US carrier. And finally, I believe the Android market share is around 80%.
This article is pretty silly. The example of "ringer" offered by the author specifically refers to instances of products that are made way better than what's available to the customer in order to mislead people about what the customer is getting. But the topic is the Nexus phones, which ARE available to any customer who wants one...it's just that a lot of people don't buy them. Claiming the Nexus is a ringer for Android because people buy other things is like saying Bently is a ringer for cars because a lot of people will buy a Toyota Corolla instead.
I'll agree that judging all Android phones based on the Nexus experience is silly since you miss the vendor bloatware and lack of timely (or any) updates common in many Android products. But I'm not convinced many people are doing that, and the author certainly doesn't do anything to support the idea that they are. People might be buying a lot of bargain basement crapware Android phones, but are they doing so with the expectation that they're getting the optimal Android experience?
Eating your own dog food is using your own product, which Google does without question
Devices not sold on the Play Store are not Google's product. Those products performing poorly, purchased as you stated, are the fault of the carriers.
I also wouldn't call the Nexus devices "ringers". Maybe if Play customers had faster processors or better displays than our carrier cousins, sure; but that's not the case. We are just purchasing our tiny little computers straight from the manufacturer, rather than buying from a third part.
The Nexus devices have their own history of problems as well. I still have no WiFi calling on my Nexus 4, despite T-Mobile Nexus 4's having the ability to do so. Of the 3 Nexus 7's I purchased for Christmas 2012, there's only one that will charge any longer: the one I rooted and run Cyanogen Mod on.
I'm not sure exactly what you are asking for with this post, for Google to run the bloated device you paid twice as much for from the carrier, as opposed to buying straight from Google (the Nexus 4 case study).
Uhhh... No? If my employer, or its customers, insisted I used my mom's computer to develop their software I would tell them to fuck right off.
13 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 38.2 ms ] threadMy main point is I really don't think this Google's problem and I think they are already doing more then I would have expected.
A hand tweaked car is something that you can't get unless you're a GM exec, or have work done (at your own expense) after buying the car.
It may be true that nexus devices aren't leading the pack in popularity for various reasons, but they are at least available.
My wife has a Nexus 7, and it's great. I have an HTC phone, it's also great.
This whole article seems like a bad attempt at discrediting Google and Android....
The same thing occurs in general software development. The developers will often have more and larger screens, faster computers, more memory, storage, faster networking etc than their average customer. And that can lead to a worse than expected experience for their customers.
The poster could explore what Google can do about it. One obvious thing is to make stock Android that much "better" so that consumers seek it out, or at least prod vendors to keep up. The other is to make Android upgradable to the current/best version - a choice Google did not make except for very limited areas (play store and services).
I don't know how this would scale very well. Impressive Verizon!
Fix that conundrum, and you will have a lot of your problems fixed with the ecosystem. Perhaps bifurcating the "os" from "runtime" or something is necessary so google can update everyone to the same 'version' of 'android'
I don't know where to draw the line, but this is a chief reason iOS eats android for lunch app dev wise.
I'll agree that judging all Android phones based on the Nexus experience is silly since you miss the vendor bloatware and lack of timely (or any) updates common in many Android products. But I'm not convinced many people are doing that, and the author certainly doesn't do anything to support the idea that they are. People might be buying a lot of bargain basement crapware Android phones, but are they doing so with the expectation that they're getting the optimal Android experience?
Devices not sold on the Play Store are not Google's product. Those products performing poorly, purchased as you stated, are the fault of the carriers.
I also wouldn't call the Nexus devices "ringers". Maybe if Play customers had faster processors or better displays than our carrier cousins, sure; but that's not the case. We are just purchasing our tiny little computers straight from the manufacturer, rather than buying from a third part.
The Nexus devices have their own history of problems as well. I still have no WiFi calling on my Nexus 4, despite T-Mobile Nexus 4's having the ability to do so. Of the 3 Nexus 7's I purchased for Christmas 2012, there's only one that will charge any longer: the one I rooted and run Cyanogen Mod on.
I'm not sure exactly what you are asking for with this post, for Google to run the bloated device you paid twice as much for from the carrier, as opposed to buying straight from Google (the Nexus 4 case study).
Uhhh... No? If my employer, or its customers, insisted I used my mom's computer to develop their software I would tell them to fuck right off.