The problem with Android Phones
I've owned a Samsung Galaxy S5 for about a year now as my corporate phone. It's on AT&T and is currently running Android Lollipop 5.1.1.
From a hardware standpoint the Galaxy S5 is a pretty good device, good CPU, RAM, SD Expansion capabilities. Personally I think the camera's are a little weak but voice and data capabilities are good. Battery is typical of most mobile devices today - just enough to make it through the day...
From a Core OS standpoint I don't think that Android itself is a bad OS in fact it seems to be pretty good. The device seems stable and quick.
Adding in Google Store's amazing app portfolio is pretty good too. There is every bit as much diversity as Apple's - and just about every app I can think of I can run.
I have all 3 major Phone OS in my home - so iOS, Android and Windows 10 Mobile. Each to me has their plus and minuses. So I've had the chance to experience each OS and ecosystem.
For android, I am seeing two things that concern me.
First is Google's handling of OS releases & patches. Today's it's somewhere in the middle between the annual new release of iOS with subsequent patch releases and MS's ridiculously slow - maybe you'll get it - maybe you won't approach.
Let's use the new Android Marshmallow release as an example. If this was an Apple release I would have it already. But with Android while the code was officially released on Oct 5 - it is still primarily available only for Google Nexus devices. 3rd party companies like Samsung, LG, etc - often take months to test, package and prepare to release. So for example - recent news releases are stating that AT&T will release Marshmallow for my Galaxy sometime around Jan 18 - so a little over 3 months.
Now sure it's not Google's job to make sure Android runs correctly on a partners hardware. But Samsung is by far their largest partner - with some 51% of the Android market. In fact you could make the argument that without Samsung, android would be just another me too mobile os. In theory they should first first out the door. And I think that's part of the problem.
Samsung's approach with Galaxy phones in many ways remind me of HTC's approach back when I used their devices a lot. And that is extending the base OS by placing custom shells, start menus and bloatware. Add to that AT&Ts additional bloatware and no wonder there is a thriving community providing "clean" images to flash.
Similar to the mess that the PC industry ran into with bloatware - Google is experiencing the same with Android. And while luckily they have the Nexus line that supports a "pure" Android experience - they are a small part of the overall market share when compared to Samsung and Huawei for example.
The second problem is with what I'll describe as core experience. Android like iOS uses a pretty rudimentary interface with the pages of icons for whatever app portfolio you have. And while it offers widgets - to provide you more of a glance view of real content - I found many to not work well at all - so for example not keeping current or hanging up, etc. Often you need to reboot the phone to get those widgets working again - only to have them freeze up again.
Additionally - while Google is by far the king of search, but in my opinion they are way behind on voice interaction. Sure they added the voice interaction to search, maps. But Windows Mobile for example is light years ahead in how it handles messaging. When I'm driving and using a BT headset - when I receive an incoming text - the phone will notify my in my earpiece and ask if you want to ignore or reply. If I say reply I can then speak my response - it gets read back to confirm accuracy and then I can simply say send. There is absolutely no reason why Google can't provide that same type of service. Instead you get a lame AT&T app that monitors incoming texts and replies with "I'm driving.."
If the device is smart enough to allow you to answer a call and talk while driving via BT - then it can certainly do the same for text. I argue that if Google implemented this capability the number of text messaging related traffic accidents would drop dramatically. Same is true for Apple. If there is a failure in those two ecosystems - that's it.
Another thing I do believe that MS got right with their mobile UI is the live tile concept. The ability to shape and size icons, and then have live content displayed within the icon is brilliant. When compared to the widget experience I described above its night and day. I can glance at the phone and see what I need instead of launching individual apps.
Bottom line - Google and its major partners need to get smarter about their approach. First Samsung needs to drop the bloat or at least give you the option to remove their apps which will help them go to market faster with new Android versions.
Second, Google needs to really up their game in Voice interaction and think user safety versus just interacting with the screen. Third - provide a better method of providing basic news, sports, weather, financials, etc content.
From a hardware standpoint the Galaxy S5 is a pretty good device, good CPU, RAM, SD Expansion capabilities. Personally I think the camera's are a little weak but voice and data capabilities are good. Battery is typical of most mobile devices today - just enough to make it through the day...
From a Core OS standpoint I don't think that Android itself is a bad OS in fact it seems to be pretty good. The device seems stable and quick.
Adding in Google Store's amazing app portfolio is pretty good too. There is every bit as much diversity as Apple's - and just about every app I can think of I can run.
I have all 3 major Phone OS in my home - so iOS, Android and Windows 10 Mobile. Each to me has their plus and minuses. So I've had the chance to experience each OS and ecosystem.
For android, I am seeing two things that concern me.
First is Google's handling of OS releases & patches. Today's it's somewhere in the middle between the annual new release of iOS with subsequent patch releases and MS's ridiculously slow - maybe you'll get it - maybe you won't approach.
Let's use the new Android Marshmallow release as an example. If this was an Apple release I would have it already. But with Android while the code was officially released on Oct 5 - it is still primarily available only for Google Nexus devices. 3rd party companies like Samsung, LG, etc - often take months to test, package and prepare to release. So for example - recent news releases are stating that AT&T will release Marshmallow for my Galaxy sometime around Jan 18 - so a little over 3 months.
Now sure it's not Google's job to make sure Android runs correctly on a partners hardware. But Samsung is by far their largest partner - with some 51% of the Android market. In fact you could make the argument that without Samsung, android would be just another me too mobile os. In theory they should first first out the door. And I think that's part of the problem.
Samsung's approach with Galaxy phones in many ways remind me of HTC's approach back when I used their devices a lot. And that is extending the base OS by placing custom shells, start menus and bloatware. Add to that AT&Ts additional bloatware and no wonder there is a thriving community providing "clean" images to flash.
Similar to the mess that the PC industry ran into with bloatware - Google is experiencing the same with Android. And while luckily they have the Nexus line that supports a "pure" Android experience - they are a small part of the overall market share when compared to Samsung and Huawei for example.
The second problem is with what I'll describe as core experience. Android like iOS uses a pretty rudimentary interface with the pages of icons for whatever app portfolio you have. And while it offers widgets - to provide you more of a glance view of real content - I found many to not work well at all - so for example not keeping current or hanging up, etc. Often you need to reboot the phone to get those widgets working again - only to have them freeze up again.
Additionally - while Google is by far the king of search, but in my opinion they are way behind on voice interaction. Sure they added the voice interaction to search, maps. But Windows Mobile for example is light years ahead in how it handles messaging. When I'm driving and using a BT headset - when I receive an incoming text - the phone will notify my in my earpiece and ask if you want to ignore or reply. If I say reply I can then speak my response - it gets read back to confirm accuracy and then I can simply say send. There is absolutely no reason why Google can't provide that same type of service. Instead you get a lame AT&T app that monitors incoming texts and replies with "I'm driving.."
If the device is smart enough to allow you to answer a call and talk while driving via BT - then it can certainly do the same for text. I argue that if Google implemented this capability the number of text messaging related traffic accidents would drop dramatically. Same is true for Apple. If there is a failure in those two ecosystems - that's it.
Another thing I do believe that MS got right with their mobile UI is the live tile concept. The ability to shape and size icons, and then have live content displayed within the icon is brilliant. When compared to the widget experience I described above its night and day. I can glance at the phone and see what I need instead of launching individual apps.
Bottom line - Google and its major partners need to get smarter about their approach. First Samsung needs to drop the bloat or at least give you the option to remove their apps which will help them go to market faster with new Android versions.
Second, Google needs to really up their game in Voice interaction and think user safety versus just interacting with the screen. Third - provide a better method of providing basic news, sports, weather, financials, etc content.
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