Sign to show interest for phones with HW keyboard - Android General

Hi guys,
as you may know, there aren't any actual android phones with an HW keyboard. Some people still prefer them to "normal" touchscreen devices.
As seen on the Motorola Milestone / Droid forums, or the G2, there are some people sometimes talking about "to what could we upgrade?"
The only option for Verizon users inside the US is the Motorola Droid 4, but it's not aviable as global-phone.
I think there might be some interest of other people, this is not really a petition, more a way to show manufactors, that there is still interest for HW-Keyboard-Phones, and not that every phone on the world, should look like an iPhone.
Not everyone is a girl or has thin fingers, also there are people still using smartphones as business devices, so they write emails onto it etc... this is what smartphones were originally made for.
If anyone of you is interested in this, he can feel free to sign. Maybe Samsung or anybody else will see this petition one day with plenty of signs in it and they will say "let's make one, there are people intending to buy it"
change.org/petitions/all-android-smartphone-manufactors-make-a-good-phone-with-an-hw-keyboard
(can't post links, would be nice if anyone could answer with this as link)
thank you for reading.

Xperia Pro don't have the best specs, but run really fast, and have a full QWERTY keyboard.

Theres also the Samsung Stratosphere, its specs aren't as good as the Droid 3 (besides having 4G) but at least its another keyboard offering. They have made several HW keyboard phones in the past.
Hopefully as businesses switch from the dying blackberry platform they will go for devices with a physical keyboard. Motorola also has a blackberry looking phone called the Droid Pro.

Related

Android Dies Tommarrow?

Will Android Die tommarrow once the Iphone is announced for Verizon? I think so. As a former 5 time Android phone user I cant wait. I gave the robot every chance. But without the support of Devs making applications an OS is useless.
Enjoy!
honeycomb is gunna rock peoples socks!
Do they use cdma in other parts of the world?
??????
... must ... not ... correct bad spelling ...
Yeah -- have fun with your iPhone then.
HA It wont be dieing for me. I would never pick a iPhone over an android. Android so much more flexible and inventive in my humble opinion.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
Tomorrow does not have an 'a' in it.
And no, the iPhone will not kill the Android no matter what carrier signs it. iPhones share the same traits as Macs -- pretty, easy to use, and nearly idiot-proof -- but the more advanced and adept users will always gravitate towards Android (linux) and Corporate users towards Windows.
Besides, iPhones to date have been overpriced and, like Macs, the only way you can run their OS is on their hardware. Android runs on everything from tablets to mp3 players to cell phones across a variety of manufacturers.
I mean, you're essentially asking if Betty Crocker Instant Mashed Potatoes are going to hurt the sale of spuds. The only real answer is a smack in the mouth.
delugeofspam said:
I mean, you're essentially asking if Betty Crocker Instant Mashed Potatoes are going to hurt the sale of spuds. The only real answer is a smack in the mouth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Backhand hand smack in the mouth?
delugeofspam said:
iPhones share the same traits as Macs -- pretty, easy to use, and nearly idiot-proof
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
awesome dude... share it on twitter xD
BigBonkers said:
Will Android Die tommarrow once the Iphone is announced for Verizon? I think so. As a former 5 time Android phone user I cant wait. I gave the robot every chance. But without the support of Devs making applications an OS is useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously?? No dev support? Have you taken the phone out of the box and used it?
You do realize that your posting about no dev support on one of the larger dev communities right?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
only used HTC handsets now for maybe 6 years or so, now purely android and a tablet as well.
wife has an iphone 3gs running the new OS on it, had her use my android handset for a week as a test ...
she admitted if it weren't for the games and stupid little bits and bobs she was used to having she'd sell the iphone and switch in a heartbeat but alas not to be
BigBonkers said:
Will Android Die tommarrow once the Iphone is announced for Verizon? I think so. As a former 5 time Android phone user I cant wait. I gave the robot every chance. But without the support of Devs making applications an OS is useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HA! no support from the devs? Try owning a palm pre. I just ditched one for the new evo shift, and so far I am LOVING the amount of support for android
Please don't feed the troll!
you see now I never asked which was a better os......i stated that without support from TRUE developers making apps a OS is no Good. Android has a horrible market which rarely works. The apps are 2 year old ports from the iphone. As far as the pre i think it has the best os just horrible hardware.
Look at what Nividia showed running on the Tegra chips at CES.....1 year old PORTS of games that run on the Iphone perfectly.
Hardware is fine and dandy but NO SUPPORT guys. Its sad.
I honestly beleive once the iphone comes to verizon noone on BigRed will ever buy an android again. Atleast the common user. Well see soon. This is gonna be fun!!!!!!
BigBonkers said:
you see now I never asked which was a better os......i stated that without support from TRUE developers making apps a OS is no Good. Android has a horrible market which rarely works. The apps are 2 year old ports from the iphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is just blatantly wrong, so go troll somewhere else -- there's lots of big-name developers on Android, including some from the iPhone world.
And yes, there's lots of garbage on the android market, but it does work. Don't forget that Amazon will be launching their cleaned-up android market this year too.
@burtcom actually your proving my point. please show me ONE app that they focused on the TEGRA chips that isnt on the Iphone??? Please name one? Also Amazon market??? Ummm where is it? Ohhhh its not here yet....oh ok Let me know when it is!
Please name me the developers on Android...... Netflix (not yet)...Gameloft (ummm old ports from iphone) EA.....ummm wheres madden? Oh still in beta?
Dont talk when you have no clue!
Oh and if there are games on Gamelofts site (the Ports) there made for the droid phones and the resolution is way off wack!!! But enjoy
The US is the last place that the iPhone hasn't been available on multiple carriers. The rest of the world has carriers with both the iPhone and Android phones competing directly, and Android is still doing great there. A Verizon iPhone will probably put a dent in their Android handset sales, no doubt, but there's always going to be a segment of the market that want something cheaper, or more powerful.
So no, Android will be just fine after tomorrow.
And apps are not the be all end all. They only matter so much to iPhone because it's basically just a glorified app launcher with a few apps bundled in. You can't even see the current weather without launching an app.
OP, you do realize that the iPhone is available on many major carriers in the the rest of world, right? Do you seriously think the US has the biggest cellphone market? (The answer is no. I'm telling you this since you probably don't know the answer.) Android is still growing at a rapid rate and taking up market share in the rest of the world. We shall see how the iPhone 4 does IN THE US when it comes to Verizon. If iPhone 4 Verizon does destroy the Android, then Android will die ONLY in the US, not the rest of the world.
So what if many apps are ported from the iPhone? Why don't you ask why those developers are porting their apps over to Android if they don't see the potential of Android?
Technically, Android has the best developer that no iPhone developers can compare - Google itself. Where did iPhone's Maps and Youtube apps come from? Which OS has the better Google apps?
you see now I never asked which was a better os......i stated that without support from TRUE developers making apps a OS is no Good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You didn't ask, you simply implied that iOS is better. People here are just disagreeing with you. And most of your arguments are surrounding the game department of the iOS. What else do you have? Even if you bring some more things on the table, you still can't argue what I wrote in my first few paragraphs. Enjoy the iPhone. I honestly think it is a great phone, but I hope you didn't type your posts using the iPhone. If so, learn how to fully use your iPhone please, otherwise it would just be a waste, no offense.
When people keep talking about apps apps apps for iPhone, they are just talking about games. Really, ask any iPhone users what awesome apps they are talking about that aren't games, and they will not have an answer for you. Or name apps that also exist on Android. Netflix? Yeah, its pretty cool. But its not like its been out all that long for iPhone, and the video selection is pretty limited, AND it will be out for Android anytime now, since it was already leaked at CES.
Seriously, how many games do you need? I love playing games as much (probably more) than the next guy. And there is plenty on Android, and developer support is growing. If you need more games than available on Android, its pretty likely that you need to spend more time on other activities besides playing little casual games on your phone.
Besides, not all developers are in love with Apple. Look at Adobe and PrimeSense (the original developer of the XBox 360 Kinect controller). These are important players, that were completely turned off by Apple's need to domineer and control, and eventually gave up on Apple.
The OP implies that the only reason that not everyone owns an iPhone, is because they are tied to Verizon. There are plenty of people like me that have been on AT&T forever, but have no interest in the iPhone. AT&T customer for over a decade, and I've never owned an iPhone, and never will. If Apple had their way, there would be no variety in hardware, or how we use our phones. There will always be people that find these types of limitations suffocating and unacceptable. Some of us like to have the choice of more than one form factor (say a larger screen, or a smaller one, or a hardware keyboard), or to have a homescreen that isn't just a near-useless grid of shortcuts. It would be a sad place where only one device could exist. Luckily, things don't work that way, and there is always room for competition in just about any business. So with any luck, Android won't be going anywhere soon.
Sure the iPhone is popular. But saying an OS is doomed just because its not the most popular platform, and doesn't have the most games, then that's the same as saying Mac computer shouldn't exist either.
Android won't die tomorrow
But troll should die today
I don't know about others but to me a cell its more like a helping hand or what ever you like to call it. Atleast for the tech lovers like me. But we all have different ways of doing our day to day stuffs. Android appreciates and compliments that. That's why I will go for Android. For the level of freedom it gives you, not how many new cookies it have in the box.
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using XDA App
Android is for guys..... iOS is for girls. Really!
http://m.pcgh.de/(S(4c2p4i55naliy455fdiacc45))/News/Articleviewer.aspx?id=802741
Sorry link is in german but the pictures are multi-language
Sent from my DHD using the force...

My opinion of the Verizon 10.1 galaxy tab Verizon 4g lte version only.

You wonder why I post this, I get it. Personal experience warrants that I tell you about this Verizon tab.
Locked bootloader
No netflix
No skype for front camera
And this is my basis to start this frustration rant. Either Samsung or the android os in general is not popular enough to push these technologies to be developed for the latest and greatest droid device and honeycomb.
Please understand I love droid and am anti ipad/apple. But the fact is I bought an ipad2 last night and I am doing all the things I can't on the Samsung.
Don't tell me to sideload anything. It simply does not work on the Verizon model. I want to root but no support has been lended to me and many others on this and many other droid sites. Including the Samsung forum site.
If there appears to be a way to root, then no one has a reversing flash for it.
In general, new technology or not, the apps should be there. When paying the equivalent price of an ipad the android tab should blow the freaking doors off apple. I've got em both right here and the ipad2 just kicked the bajesus out of this 10.1
Proprietary skiz and all for nothing more than me being able to log in get apps and have them work without bootlegging, voiding warranties and sideload this and that.
now before you go calling me a troll or a hater...
I have a
Dx2 and so does my wife
I hada first gen droid and ran chevy ss
Xoom
Samsung galxy 10.1
And now because droid is not "mainstream" enough a damn apple ipad2 in my house. What the hello, droid os is now officially pissing me off. I know that it is not the os fault but, really I disagree. If droid was selling tabs at half the rate of apples ipad then this freaking rant would never have been written and my azz would never considered looking at a freaking lemming apple ipad anything.
Maybe somebody here knows somebody that will forward this along because this kind lf crap right here. Droid developers not taking availability of apps seriously is what killed IBM in the 80's by thinking home pcs in every house was a farce.
droid development needs to lobby payoff incentavize whatever the hello they need to do to get service providers to write for droid if they want to command a price equal or greater than apple.
please do whatever you do agree or disagree but do not attack me personally or belittle my intelligence. I am neither a kid or dummy. I like technology but I do not like beating my head against the wall trying hours in vain to get something to work just to find out it won't.
I could go on but Why?
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk
It doesn't have locked bootloader... does it
Sent from my SCH-I500 using xda premium
to the OP.....you do understand the difference between "Droid" and Android, right? "Droid" is just Verizon's marketing campaign for SPECIFIC android devices (Motorola Droid, HTC Droid Incredible, Samsung Droid Charge). MOD EDIT: REMOVED OFFENSIVE WORDS. you purchased a carrier specific tablet, not a WiFi model. therefore, development for said device will only move forward considering more people decide to buy it. theres plenty of development for the WiFi version of the GT10.1.
as for locked bootloaders.......actually, Samsung doesn't ever lock bootloaders, from what i understand. HTC has been known to, and Motorola is notorious at it. Samsung and i believe LG have the easiest exploits when it comes to rooting.
BTW, the Honeycomb source code hasn't been released for any device, probably not until ICS drops.
thachosenone said:
to the OP.....you do understand the difference between "Droid" and Android, right? "Droid" is just Verizon's marketing campaign for SPECIFIC android devices (Motorola Droid, HTC Droid Incredible, Samsung Droid Charge). so to say "droid development" just makes you sound ignorant. you purchased a carrier specific tablet, not a WiFi model. therefore, development for said device will only move forward considering more people decide to buy it. theres plenty of development for the WiFi version of the GT10.1.
as for locked bootloaders.......actually, Samsung doesn't ever lock bootloaders, from what i understand. HTC has been known to, and Motorola is notorious at it. Samsung and i believe LG have the easiest exploits when it comes to rooting.
BTW, the Honeycomb source code hasn't been released for any device, probably not until ICS drops.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? Are you serious? Droid, Android,,,,, again Really? Yes I do understand that a droid is a phone and android is an operating system. Did you not see the reference to honeycomb etc..? Forgive me I don't mean to be disrespectful......this is just not the kind of response I'm looking for.
I'm sorry if my abbreviations confused you.
For locked bootloader again not an idiot the bootloader is locked. is that really a surprise dealing with big red. Samsung is doing what they are told I guess. Not only is the bootloader locked don't flash this puppy with odin or you will be unable to wipe or return to virgin setup.
PERIOD! at least with the current means and methods on the net.
Samsung wifi models some were shipped with unlocked bootloaders but not Verizon models. Again! I am only referencing the 4g model so any other make model manufacturer is completely irrelevant.
I have had 3 of these in my hands they are all on lockdown. They also are telling people 4g must be activated to get owner registration......the first one I returned doa to the selling dealer but big red corporate would not exchange it because I didn't HVE 4g turned on so in their system I didn't even show owning the product.
I could go on and on.
point is everything in the original post in 100% true and accurate and knowledge from my personal hands on experience.
I am hoping that someone takes it personally and gets some interest in mastering this device. I pretty much root all my devices but after bringing my first one Bck to lofe 4 times and never getting superuser I am in a holding position until full accurate knowledgable instructions on how to unlock bootloader, backup, root, unroot. I am waiting.
Truth again, the post was not about rooting but the fact that the android development team had better start using some power in their speech to people like skype, netflix, and any other major player on behalf of us the people that buy android devices or we are and are gonna continue to be pissed if they don't get it and that means we will buy other peoples stuff ya know,,,the whole supply demand free market concept?...
Especially when I go pay the same price for an ipad2 and all the skizz I want is a click away for free and with no effort or time wasted in a forum on why my stuff doesnt offer main stream popular sh#%!
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk
thachosenone said:
to the OP.....you do understand the difference between "Droid" and Android, right? "Droid" is just Verizon's marketing campaign for SPECIFIC android devices (Motorola Droid, HTC Droid Incredible, Samsung Droid Charge). . you purchased a carrier specific tablet, not a WiFi model. therefore, development for said device will only move forward considering more people decide to buy it. theres plenty of development for the WiFi version of the GT10.1.
as for locked bootloaders.......actually, Samsung doesn't ever lock bootloaders, from what i understand. HTC has been known to, and Motorola is notorious at it. Samsung and i believe LG have the easiest exploits when it comes to rooting.
BTW, the Honeycomb source code hasn't been released for any device, probably not until ICS drops.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One last thing. To pick up on one keyword "droid development" while overlooking the entire context of the post after in that same post disclaiming that I did not want anyone to attack or belittle me and you then state that I appear IGNORANT? Well maybe it will to some, but, what you just did makes you appear far worse. Imho...
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk
marksnet said:
You wonder why I post this, I get it. Personal experience warrants that I tell you about this Verizon tab.
Locked bootloader
No netflix
No skype for front camera
And this is my basis to start this frustration rant. Either Samsung or the android os in general is not popular enough to push these technologies to be developed for the latest and greatest *droid* device and honeycomb.
Please understand I love *droid* and am anti ipad/apple. But the fact is I bought an ipad2 last night and I am doing all the things I can't on the Samsung.
Don't tell me to sideload anything. It simply does not work on the Verizon model. I want to root but no support has been lended to me and many others on this and many other *droid* sites. Including the Samsung forum site.
If there appears to be a way to root, then no one has a reversing flash for it.
In general, new technology or not, the apps should be there. When paying the equivalent price of an ipad the android tab should blow the freaking doors off apple. I've got em both right here and the ipad2 just kicked the bajesus out of this 10.1
Proprietary skiz and all for nothing more than me being able to log in get apps and have them work without bootlegging, voiding warranties and sideload this and that.
now before you go calling me a troll or a hater...
I have a
Dx2 and so does my wife
I hada first gen *droid* and ran chevy ss
Xoom
Samsung galxy 10.1
And now because *droid* is not "mainstream" enough a damn apple ipad2 in my house. What the hello, *droid* os is now officially pissing me off. I know that it is not the os fault but, really I disagree. If *droid* was selling tabs at half the rate of apples ipad then this freaking rant would never have been written and my azz would never considered looking at a freaking lemming apple ipad anything.
Maybe somebody here knows somebody that will forward this along because this kind lf crap right here. *Droid* developers not taking availability of apps seriously is what killed IBM in the 80's by thinking home pcs in every house was a farce.
*droid* development needs to lobby payoff incentavize whatever the hello they need to do to get service providers to write for *droid* if they want to command a price equal or greater than apple.
please do whatever you do agree or disagree but do not attack me personally or belittle my intelligence. I am neither a kid or dummy. I like technology but I do not like beating my head against the wall trying hours in vain to get something to work just to find out it won't.
I could go on but Why?
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
look above....i didnt just pick out ONE time you used "droid" to describe something that runs android. so yeah....you sound REALLY ignorant. You literally used "Droid" 10 times
and regarding bootloaders:
http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?2511-ROOT-RECOVERY-Galaxy-Tab-10.1-LTE&
all i had to do was google "galaxy tab 10.1 LTE Recovery"....do you know how to google something??
so yeah.......
I'm surprised that you have been allowed to start a thread which expresses your own personal opinion. I've had a thread removed to the Off-Topic Forum because I did that.
Gaugerer said:
I'm surprised that you have been allowed to start a thread which expresses your own personal opinion. I've had a thread removed to the Off-Topic Forum because I did that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They may yet censor me but, the title says opinion the body of the post is all fact. We shall see.
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk
thachosenone said:
look above....i didnt just pick out ONE time you used "droid" to describe something that runs android. so yeah....you sound REALLY ignorant. You literally used "Droid" 10 times
and regarding bootloaders:
http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?2511-ROOT-RECOVERY-Galaxy-Tab-10.1-LTE&
all i had to do was google "galaxy tab 10.1 LTE Recovery"....do you know how to google something??
so yeah.....
I've seen the post and it works but it doesn't return the device back to stock. also again you fail to see where rooting was not the point of the above post. It was one point out of many.
So I was in a hurry and didn't put an in front of droid each time. I did however say
Droid device
Droid os
Etc..
To a common sense individual they got it.
To someone interested in ignoring the subject, offering no solution, as I am guessing you are not a developer, and being negative you Win!
I'm ignorant yea you win now please go away.
So glad we got that straight.
Bye bye now.
Mark
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But if you have a custom recovery, couldn't you just make a cwm backup when you first get it? Then that would return it to stock when you restore that backup.
They don't drop source code for honeycomb. That's just how they do it.
you further perpetuate the misconception that "Droids" are anything with Android on it. It's bad enough when people who know nothing of rooting and such call it "Droid". But you're on xda.
And I've contributed to the community a lot more then you have man. You've only offered this rant.
And every post, on here, I've still offered some sort of answer or advice.
Don't be one if those people that come on here to demand people to develop for the device you bought. Be happy with what is offered and have patience. All you accomplished on your OP is sounding like a jackass with buyers remorse.
And GTFO with your iPad.
For some reason no you cannot flash cwm. Theres a ton of people posting on this and why it sends the tab into a bootloop. There are also multiple post on this forum and others where people are asking for the stock image due to this.
There is also a post where rooting instructions are clear and precise. One problem. The links are broken and no longer valid.
I do not further perpetuate anything. You may perceive it that way because you have the inability to look at a forest instead of a frikken tree.
I have stated enough times that I do understand that Android is an O.s. and that "droid" is a phone device produced by motorola, although I never mentioned moto.
Geez.. Also I stated in my OP that I bought the ipad2 for comparison. I do not want the ipad2 as I have invested way too much in market apps and gmail to start the wallet all over with apple apps. However, now that I have an ipad2, I dont hate it. It's a good machine. If that makes me bad then ok, whatever.
My first post was done largely abbreviated and maybe i didnt convey my points or angle well enough. I'll concede that but, I was typing on my samsung tablet and was just trying to get some action on the topic. The last thing I wanted was for someone to make it their mission to point out what was wrong line by line but, hey whatever.
Simply put just in case my original post was written ineffectively on my tablet. I am on my desktop now and the keyboard is much more effective than trying to type a letter on the tablet, let me reexplain my op.
Simply put,
I prefer the Android O.s.
I like the samsung tablet.
The memory, processor, flash, a million things I see potential in.
However, when I analyze something I also analyze as if or from a consumer standpoint and maybe not so much a dev. standpoint.
By this alone I think that the people/powers that be need to wake up and push the big boys like skype, netflix, etc... to make apps that will be compatible with the latest and greatest release of not only the O.s. but the hardware devices that come from HTC, Moto, Samsung, lg, etc....
In order to get mass appeal from consumers ****e is gonna have to work or people will opt for what does work.
Right now the samsung 10.1 wifi's only work netflix on some platforms not all.
Right now the samsung 10.1 wifis and lte models will not do skype with the front cam.. so no video on either side.
ALSO TRUE FOR XOOM
These are just 2 apps but, they are "THE" two apps that alot of people converting to tabs are wanting.
Contrary to popular belief most people buy tabs to eff off with. They are not hot like a laptop, they surf relatively well, but everyday consumers want to skype, netflix, check email, all of it.
They do not want to be in front of a desktop with their tablet hooked up via usb hacking and sacking the images, custom roms, etc... That is a few of which I am one of but, even I grow tired and frustrated when I brick ****e and screw it up but, really, just to get netflix loaded. No way man, I want to click and install enter my username and watch my son watch his movies.
Yeah its fun getting them working again but, with this thing.......It's all for nothing. I still dont have the full potential of this device because it simply will not do it.
Apple ipad2 does both of these out of the box with no trickery. Just search and download.
That may not be a problem for you as a senior member and expert at going thru the work of sideloading apps etc...... but, for mom at the grocery store. She's gonna pick what works with the click of a button.
Android devices and The Android O.s. developers are going to have to be compelled to make the ****e work on their devices if they want to take the sales to the next level. This is not my opinion at all. This is just fact. You can have a great hardware device and a sporty o.s. but, if there is no software available for it, or apps in this case then you have nothing and you certainly dont have buyers for it.
Ipad sales compared to android type tab devices are not even in the same universe. Ipad sales are smashing Android based tabs. Not because they have been out longer either.
Why is that? Well people are sheep for one! I get it but, how does Android smash Apple? Well they do it by #1 advertising, #2 being better (measurably), (which I believe they already are) , but they also have to, have to, have to, offer at least what the ipad will do and more.
Come on man, I'm not asking for the world here.
To be better when you are the underdog you have to be twice as good. NOt from a hardware standpoint but, from all of it. Cosmetics, function, hardware,cost,more apps, better graphics. etc...
Android has done most of this but, not all of it. The apps lacking in the market have got to catch up immediately or people will continue doing what they have been doing. Buying ipads
Again, this is what the post was about. You just think that Android and hardware is good now. Get them (the Android stiffs) the revenue stream that Apple has and then we will "really" see some cool stuff.
this may be the one negative about open source. If the people making the apps and the people making the devices, and the people making the upgrades to the O.s. are not all working together then Android will not be "THE" player, they will just be "A" player in the sea of other players.
I am also not demanding anyone develop for my specific tablet. I really dont care if they do or not. But, if that is the attitude of a tablet that is supposed to be "THE" tablet for the Android flagship right now, that's a bad attitude or stance for them to take when basic apps are not even offered or if they do they will not work. Not exactly how your gonna get susie away from the apple store. Again, this is simply about marketing, and retail appeal.
Develop, dont develop, the market wins only players lose.
On a personal note.
By the way, I have not one time condemned or attacked you. You have insisted on calling me names and being sarcastic to me each time you post. Please let me say that it was not my intent to offend you. This post was not about you or the fact that you help people or dont help people on this site.
I would like you to stop calling me ignorant and telling me to GTFO and such about an ipad, after I said that I was pro android.
I will say one thing about the comparison of the 2.
Apple kicks the samsung on two major things:
Keyboard does not lag on apple. I am always backspacing corrections on the samsung.
Apple has apps, our android market does not.
Now I'll compare the Xoom and The Samsung 10.1
I like the xoom better. At least netflix works on it.
However, skype does not so Apple still wins in flexibility of apps.
I like the hardware and acceleration of the samsung 10.1 over all of them.
I am not sure what gives on the keyboard lag? Sucks.
This is exactly why I placed in my original post that I was not hating on Android and I did not want personal attacks.
I am asking you to please stop. I am not interested in name calling.
Continue if you must but, I will not engage in calling you names.
At all
Please keep discussion on topic and do not use offensive words
..........
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App
Its Android not Droid dammit!
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium
Well put Android os is really getting old with exclusive apps for certain devices or with verizon with there own app store. Don't they know they would make more Money releasing to everyone duh. If a old ass iphone 4g can play high end games why not my duel core sensation ? Or in your case the tablet.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
Well put Android os is really getting old with exclusive apps for certain devices or with verizon with there own app store. Don't they know they would make more Money releasing to everyone duh. If a old ass iphone 4g can play high end games why not my duel core sensation ? Or in your case the tablet.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Finally someone that looks past jargon and looks at subject matter!!!!! Another common sense human on here! What strange feeling this is,,,,
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk
Man... Everything in here by the OP is nonsensical and tough to read.
z33dev33l said:
Man... Everything in here by the OP is nonsensical and tough to read.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
Update!
Netflix is not in the market but there is an apk for it now and it works!
Skype folks say they are working on a solutionno time commitment though.
Clockwork and roms still limited but will come in time hopefully.
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk
marksnet said:
You wonder why I post this, I get it. Personal experience warrants that I tell you about this Verizon tab.
Locked bootloader
No netflix
No skype for front camera
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In reply to all three: BULL****! I have had a Verizon Galaxy Tab 10.1 for many months and:
1. The bootloader is not and was not ever locked
2. Netflix patch was trivial to install (and it runs great)
3. Skype does support the front camera (as of its most recent release a couple months ago)
Other than that, rooting the device was just as simple as installing Netflix.

Smartphones

This is just...For the fun of it. I can enjoy a bit of philosophising once in a while. I was playing around with devices of almost every manufacturer (except Motorola, sorry), and thought about the particular quirks and advantages of smartphones.
It might be nice for me first to zoom out to the platform level. There are a few platforms used right now. WP7, Android, BB, iOS come to mind as the main ones. Most smartphones developed and sold are tailored towards a particular operating system. This defines their capabilities, their limitations, and their general goal during their lifespan.
I will address each briefly:
WP7: With the latest Mango, these phones are tailored to social networking. The Lumia 800, for example, is certainly an impressive device in that capacity.
Android: These phones tend to be for people who want to play around with their OS. They generally offer large touchscreens and fast dual-core processors (the latest phones do, at least). One of the dogmas seems to be multimedia ease. I will ask a question about such phones that I will get back to later: "Is there such a thing as too large?".
BB: These phones and the operating system they run on were designed with security in mind. They offer physical keyboards which are unrivalled. RIM also have the best data technology on the market. I like to think of BBs as having the functionality of bricks, but being as hard to take down as bricks as well. These phones are far behind everyone else, but I would state that they are very stable. They also are, potentially, the best phones. I use "phones" in the forgotten capacity: for making calls. They possess the best radios.
iOS: BE UNIQUE! Well, it somewhat worked until everyone and his grandmother had an iPhone. I, personally, despise lowercase "i"s, so have never been tempted that way. What do they offer? Apps. Many, many, many apps. Need I say more? Apple started out with a brilliant idea of how to sell products to the masses (yes, I am quite fond of The Affluent Society), but they have not improved much upon that idea since its inception.
These are obviously non-exhaustive notes. The general purpose of the information written above is to determine the role of smartphones.
Addressing Android, you have speed and power. But is it necessary? The Galaxy Note is awkward. The Galaxy SII is also reasonably so. These devices try to provide a Web and gaming experience, combined with all-around functionality. Sure, they have large screens in order to provide that experience, but a tablet can perform the same things better (refer to Asus Transformer Prime). Is there a point to those functions on a phone? I want to stress "phone" again, since it seems we have strayed so far from the functions of a phone.
Nokia have been producing quality plain handsets for a long time. They sell many of these to developing countries. Their place and their existence is, I believe, justified. Whether they are needed with WP7 is another matter.
Blackberry have always targeted businesses and sought to provide fast text inputs on their phones. Their devices are built like bricks, as I said previously. The BB infrastructure is more impressive than BB phones, in my opinion. Especially the Data compression.
Apple, well...Apple is Apple.
I can only peg down three categories: BB for infrastructure, Nokia for supplying the world with phones, Apple and Android for experimentation and multimedia aspects.
So what is the role of smartphones? Are they too developed for their own good? Typing on a 4.5'' screen in landscape mode will never fail to annoy me. Apple's watchful gaze is creepy. RIM's antipathy towards progress is strange.
This is actually quite well done and addresses the various brands and OS' without being extremely biased that i would be use to=D Bravo and I agree they all have their place
Dark lord me said:
This is actually quite well done and addresses the various brands and OS' without being extremely biased that i would be use to=D Bravo and I agree they all have their place
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yay! My freestyle writing is appreciated! =)
Thanks!
Hoping that a few people will want to post their opinions and discuss. After all, we are passionate about smartphones. Otherwise we would not be on here.
Thought I would add something on my "brick" line of thinking. I and a friend got two different phones at approximately the same time in 2008. I got the BlackBerry Storm 9530. He got the HTC Dream (or G1, whichever you prefer to call it). Mine looks, feels, functions as if brand new. His is in a sorry state.
Yeah , I understand your pain of large phones , but some people just don't like tablets and want phones to have tablet-like functionality .
Don't bash me please ! *prones*
Sent from my GT-S5830 using XDA App
EmoBoiix3 said:
Yeah , I understand your pain of large phones , but some people just don't like tablets and want phones to have tablet-like functionality .
Don't bash me please ! *prones*
Sent from my GT-S5830 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For site about smartphones, I would have thought more people would be interested in this topic. But I suppose I am targeting obsessions...Try telling an iPhone user that iPhones are not the best, or that they are not particularly unique.
What is a phone??? Lol but seriously I do agree we have strayed far away from the cellphone era. We have entered a new age that began in 2005, which I like to refer to as the connected age. With the growing number of smartphone users it is easy to track down anyone you want. Everyone is connected to everyone. Our phones grow larger in size every 6months. I remember when I wanted the smallest most compact flip phone. The bigger it was the uglier it was. Now.... anything under 4.3 inches I cant even use lol. I predict in ten years smartphones will be non existing. It will be converted to tabs. U can buy a tablet for half the price of a brand new sgs2.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
I disagree with tablets being "better" that smartphones or smartphones being replaced by tablets, not everyone can or want to travel with a tab everywhere
A phones portability will trump most of times(a quick pic, quick vid, listening to music, browsing in the crapper,etc)
What i mean is that your not always able to go with a carrying bag(well girls can) or a notebook sized thing in your hands, thats when the mini tab in ur pocket comes to use
Might not be as good as a tablet for somethings but its still performs ok and makes calls, and its very easy to carry around
On the other hand, if the tablets are to replace something, is the laptop
Sent from my X10a using xda premium
negrobembon said:
I disagree with tablets being "better" that smartphones or smartphones being replaced by tablets, not everyone can or want to travel with a tab everywhere
A phones portability will trump most of times(a quick pic, quick vid, listening to music, browsing in the crapper,etc)
What i mean is that your not always able to go with a carrying bag(well girls can) or a notebook sized thing in your hands, thats when the mini tab in ur pocket comes to use
Might not be as good as a tablet for somethings but its still performs ok and makes calls, and its very easy to carry around
On the other hand, if the tablets are to replace something, is the laptop
Sent from my X10a using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
OP: you don't seem to understand that people in this era want more than just a phone, if you are complaining that smartphones these days are too advanced to be a phone, then go and get a nokia from 1998 and stop posting on XDA.
The only argument I have is that in which you seem to feel that Blackberry devices are superior in terms of security. I disagree, and also feel that a SPoF has finally shown blackberry devices to be vastly inferior in terms of both security and content delivery.
Food for thought: the US Gov't has finally decided to branch out from the bricks of yesteryear, and now are starting to allow iOS, W*, and A* devices on the AEN with server side security policy implementation. That's saying a lot since they've previously only allowed a BBD on the AEN as all other devices "couldn't be secured". Kinda hard to secure a RIM server in Canada...
Sent from my SGH-i727
inv3stment said:
OP: you don't seem to understand that people in this era want more than just a phone, if you are complaining that smartphones these days are too advanced to be a phone, then go and get a nokia from 1998 and stop posting on XDA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's like, just his opinion, man. Why you have to flame home for it, man
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inv3stment said:
OP: you don't seem to understand that people in this era want more than just a phone, if you are complaining that smartphones these days are too advanced to be a phone, then go and get a nokia from 1998 and stop posting on XDA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1000000000000000000000000
Pipsqueak approved this message
thisisbrian said:
What is a phone??? Lol but seriously I do agree we have strayed far away from the cellphone era. We have entered a new age that began in 2005, which I like to refer to as the connected age. With the growing number of smartphone users it is easy to track down anyone you want. Everyone is connected to everyone. Our phones grow larger in size every 6months. I remember when I wanted the smallest most compact flip phone. The bigger it was the uglier it was. Now.... anything under 4.3 inches I cant even use lol. I predict in ten years smartphones will be non existing. It will be converted to tabs. U can buy a tablet for half the price of a brand new sgs2.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
negrobembon said:
I disagree with tablets being "better" that smartphones or smartphones being replaced by tablets, not everyone can or want to travel with a tab everywhere
A phones portability will trump most of times(a quick pic, quick vid, listening to music, browsing in the crapper,etc)
What i mean is that your not always able to go with a carrying bag(well girls can) or a notebook sized thing in your hands, thats when the mini tab in ur pocket comes to use
Might not be as good as a tablet for somethings but its still performs ok and makes calls, and its very easy to carry around
On the other hand, if the tablets are to replace something, is the laptop
Sent from my X10a using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not that I am a great fan of BlackBerry. It is just that I am very uneasy about Androids. What is to say you will not be charged $1,000 on your next bill due to an exploit allowing premium text messages to be sent from your device without your knowledge?
Yes, I have a bias towards security. We have Facebook and Twitter, which are used as breeding grounds for all sorts of mayhem...Obviously all they have done is displayed all our private information to the whole world. That is really going to be regretted by everyone using those services...Sooner or later. We have the multimedia Androids which ignore fundamental issues and have grown too large to comfortably use. HAVE YOU NEVER HAD TO REALLY STRETCH YOUR FINGER TO REACH AN ICON, OR USE ANOTHER HAND?
Regarding tablets, are we really suggesting that they can beat laptops at anything important? If the general stream is towards mass procrastination, tablets have helped us achieve that. But I do not see the next 10 years seeing tablets replacing laptops.
Well, i still think the future of the laptop and notebook is the tablet
And blackberrys are not as safe as you think they are
Sent from my X10a using xda premium
smartphones - of any kind - are the functional equivalent of the light bulb. game changer. amazing tech advance.
RickMckc said:
smartphones - of any kind - are the functional equivalent of the light bulb. game changer. amazing tech advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some of the biggest advances are as simple as a dung when analized deeply but still revolutionary
Sent from my X10a using xda premium
I've been a fan of Smartphones for a while. I have a Samsung Galaxy Ace, mainly because I couldnt afford the SII at the time. I like the Bigger phones cause i can use it for reading, watching media, surfing the web, looking at pictures, etc...
Personally I'm hoping to get a galaxy note for my birthday next year as its perfect for everything I like to do with my phone.
For me, smartphone is a universal device which is computer replacement anywhere, where there are no computers.

What Google isn't Doing right (don't hate me)

1st off, My house is an android powered house and I love the platform. It is only after months of being around my girlfriend and her family as they used android, that I started to really put a finer point on why so many people prefer other OS's (yes i understand Android is grabbing up market share like crazy). this is my thoughts after watching people I know use and leave android, use and struggle with android, and use and love android.
1st off, a list of the things that aren't google fault per say, but pit falls due to there lack of control over the final product.
#1) battery life. Due to varying hardware design and the freedom to do as you please to the OS, manufactures have made some phones with really bad battery life. this coupled with the constant updating a android device can do for any apps and the increase in popularity of cloud service, android ends up with wildly varying battery life from device to device.
#2) Consistency. If someone had a Verizon "droid", they could be using a Sense UI, a moto blur UI, or vanilla android. That's just in that one "brand of phone" alone. People dont adapt well to tech if they aren't big tech fans.
#3 quality of hardware, and I'm not talking about specs. Most consumers only judge the internals on how smooth the final product is. No, I'm talking about, build materials and the screen. There is some junk out there (allot of them have great internals). some of these phones are built like toys with race car parts inside them.
Now for where google is falling short.
#1 marketing. This is amazing to me that an Advertising company would fall short here but they do. Google ads focus on strange things like the ability to unlock your bootloader. Most people have no idea what this means and why they should care. They probably shouldn't care since they will never hack there phones.
also, every time Apple comes out with an "I" product ad, they are doing a real good job of showing how there "new feature" will make your life more fun and allot easier. The funny thing is, they are almost always features that android already had.
This is one of the things I really started to notice as I was surrounded by the non tech savvy android users. I would say, "funny, android already does that, has for a while now". My girlfriend would then ask, "does my phone do that?". Wow Google, you should be the master and telling people about all the selling points of your product.
#2 ease of use. This one may also be an issue with the carriers but I am going to put it in this section. One of the things I again noticed as I helped my girlfriend master here Nexus S 4G was, weird quirks that are not even a stumbling block to a Tech savvy user but almost a deal breaker to the average consumer.
Example: when my girlfriend 1st got here nexus, she hated it, couldn't believe I recommended it. One of her issues that stuck in my mind was the SMS limit. She hated that the SMS would cap her before she was done texing a message. She didnt care if it sent as two messages but she wanted to be able to type one continues message and then send it, letting the software sort it out. So I said, no problem, my phone doesn't do that (galaxy nexus) so there must be a deep setting to control this. As it turns out there wasn't, at least I couldn't find it. So again, I said no problem and down loaded handsent witch fixed the problem and she loved the easy theming. Well along came here ICS update that I had been raving about and her phone started crashing. Turns out handsent was the reason. Again, I said, no problem and downloaded Go SMS witch she loves even more.
That's just one example, in the mean time, 4 people in her family have switched from android to I Phones and don't regret it. I feel that one of them was mainly due to the hardware they chose and the rest is because they didn't have the live in tech help that my girlfriend has ( don't mean that to sound arrogant). My girlfriend loves her phone partly because I fix each issue as it arises and inform her of cool features.
Conclusion: I really think that the the lack of consistency is the other side of the open source double edged sword. this shows it self in software and hardware. It can be as small as the order in witch the bottom buttons appear, and as big as the Sense UI that changes everything a little bit. I also feel that no one besides Verizon in the early days, is really advertising Android well. Even Verizon doesn't do as good of a job showing you how much the phones can do and why you should want these features as Apple does.
Oddly I aggree with most of that, esp the marketing, you know I just found out just how good google voice was the other day... I have had android phones now for 3 years... Lol.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
funny you should bring up google voice. That was one of the things that I was thinking about when it comes to advertising short comings. It has been a great feature and a solid performer and now with Jellybean, it has every function of Siri, with the performance level I have come to expect from Google voice.
google needs to talk about it in plain English with every day examples of implementation
All of those faults/cons/criticisms can be attributed to just about any device/thing/object/concept that endorses an open-ended nature. The one off the top of my head that fits the OP's bill nearly word for word is Windows (technically Windows is closed-source). The Playstation 3 is a similar concept too. It's got all the nice bells and tech but its advertising sucks.
Google doesn't need to do any advertising, but rather the respective manufacturers. They're the ones that should be selling what Android does for their phones and why people should choose their phones over the others. If there are feature discrepancies from one phone to the other, the manufacturers should work to get those features implemented, that's the real strength of open-source software. It helps a lot if a manufacturer works together with their modding community to make it happen, which in turns makes your product/device more competitive and play on that.
Google caters to the developers because that's what Google is: a developer. That's why Google has their own line of phones: Nexus. Their phones are catered to the developers and well...us XDA'ers. They do a good job at advertising where it matters: recent one being their own conference just a week ago. If it reassures the OP: the rumor that Google plans to expand the Nexus line to more manufacturers is a good thing for us XDAers and friends of XDAers.
alpha-niner64 said:
All of those faults/cons/criticisms can be attributed to just about any device/thing/object/concept that endorses an open-ended nature. The one off the top of my head that fits the OP's bill nearly word for word is Windows (technically Windows is closed-source). The Playstation 3 is a similar concept too. It's got all the nice bells and tech but its advertising sucks.
Google doesn't need to do any advertising, but rather the respective manufacturers. They're the ones that should be selling what Android does for their phones and why people should choose their phones over the others. If there are feature discrepancies from one phone to the other, the manufacturers should work to get those features implemented, that's the real strength of open-source software. It helps a lot if a manufacturer works together with their modding community to make it happen, which in turns makes your product/device more competitive and play on that.
Google caters to the developers because that's what Google is: a developer. That's why Google has their own line of phones: Nexus. Their phones are catered to the developers and well...us XDA'ers. They do a good job at advertising where it matters: recent one being their own conference just a week ago.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1st off, other companies doing it too, its not a reason to ignore said issue. Also, windows is taking steps to correct the hardware issue and make there OS consistent (for example)
If you think google doesn't "have to" advertise, I guess your right but even companies like 3M who sells many products to OEM's that then sell to the end user (like google) advertise to further there brand and promote the use of there products by OEM's. Also, 3M knows more about the products than any one OEM that uses there products, not to mention, the OEM's that use 3M consider 3M to be one of the reasons there product is good, and will not focus on key points of the 3M element.
Also, look at gorilla glass from corning, another product that isn't sold direct to the end user. They do there own advertising to promote there product and increase brand recognition to better sell there product.
I also disagree that google is a developer selling to developers only. Google nexus 7 is a perfect example of that. The nexus 7 tab is meant to further the "play store" brand, and is being sold at a vary low price point in the hopes that play store sales will make up for it just like the Kindle. I also don't think the Galaxy Nexus is a "developer device" at least, not exclusively.
So does google have to, no. Should they want to, yes.
What would you have Google advertise about that other companies should be doing in their stead? Google has brand recognition already and it's pretty clear by Google I/O that their intended audience isn't the Apple crowd: so who else would there be to advertise to? If the Apple crowd is whom you're referring to: that should be Samsung, HTC, Sony's job to do. What can Google do to help those manufacturers sell their features to the consumer that those companies aren't already doing themselves?
This is where we are going to disagree. Google has brand recognition but Android has far less. Verizon, did the best job and now the "droid" brand has more recognition than "android", many times "droid" is used and the general brand for all android by consumers. I don't think Google should depend on hardware companies to advertise there product. Even windows advertises there software. The OEM's should ALSO advertise but not ONLY advertise.
Advertising that the Galaxy nexus has a "unlockable" boot loader is un needed and doesnt further the brand. 98% of the people who want a unlocked boot loader, knew the galaxy nexus had one before the ad hit the streets.
The fact that apple fans are oviusly not googles target market is or should be false (proven by samsung). Google should be polishing there OS so that more of apple users would be interested. Google will not be able to continue on for ever just appealing to a small market such as the XDA community. OEM's will abandon them if that was the case. Look at the OEM's and there behavior, they are not interested in selling phones to the developer community only, otherwise Motorola would not lock there phones down as they did, or at least they would offer developers unlock tools like HTC has done. HTC is a little more "developer marketed" but lets be real, they still drag there feet when ever they can or feel pressure from the big 3.
That leads me to the Carrier's, they do not want to sell phones marketed to developers that are easily hacked and modded. they want control. Google should want to sell the most units they can within reason. This means helping the developer community with there goals and helping the OEM's and Carrier's with there's. Google should be (and I think they are) trying to make android more marketable to the masses and then lead that marketing campaign by example.
Its like that old saying, "alone with your principles". You can stand here and say that the OEM's should do all the advertising but it doesn't change the fact that they aren't doing what needs to be done and google need to sell product that is dependent on the platform. They are an advertising company so do they sit back and hope HTC and Samsung start talking more about there product and doing more to show how it will improve our lives or should they step in and show the OEM's how its done, at the same time increasing the value of there products
I think a lot of your issues are going to be solved for the mainstream with more Nexus devices rolling out. The other great thing is that as more people start looking at Nexus flexibility and timely updates the more other OEMs will be forced to follow suit if they want to stay viable. It seems Sony and to some extent HTC and Samsung are pretty serious about both the hardware and update side of things so anyone else will just have to play catch-up.
As a whole though some of these things will continue to persist. One of the draws of Android devices is having smartphone abilities without ridiculous cost. There will always be people who want the goodies but don't have a lot of extra funds and those devices will simply be a little behind the curve. With the optimizations coming via Jellybean though OEMs won't have the excuse of claiming that newer versions are too complex for older phones and I would hope that they continue to push updates for a reasonable period.
Stupid post. Why? Because you have no clue what android is. Android is an open source operating system. OEM's take android, and just so you know, they don't need google's consent, and manipulate it the way they want to put on their hardware. Google has no say in what they do to it, how they arrange their buttons, or the UI that they add to it. So your post is more directed at OEM's than google.
lowandbehold said:
Stupid post. Why? Because you have no clue what android is. Android is an open source operating system. OEM's take android, and just so you know, they don't need google's consent, and manipulate it the way they want to put on their hardware. Google has no say in what they do to it, how they arrange their buttons, or the UI that they add to it. So your post is more directed at OEM's than google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you read my post you would have seen I acknowledge that some of these issues are a side effect of open source. They do in fact charge for the "gaps" suite. all hardware sold with gaps on it has paid licensing to Google.
dB Zac said:
if you read my post you would have seen I acknowledge that some of these issues are a side effect of open source. They do in fact charge for the "gaps" suite. all hardware sold with gaps on it has paid licensing to Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So? Google gets no say in how they manipulate the OS. I mean seriously...battery life? How the f*** could that be a google issue?
I spesificly said that wasn't Google's fault, but a short coming of open source
Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk 2
dB Zac said:
I spesificly said that wasn't Google's fault, but a short coming of open source
Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you need an Iphone..
lowandbehold said:
Sounds like you need an Iphone..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I have to love it and ignore any and all short coming or be crusified? Ok sounds like a page from apple fanboyism
here, since you will not read the whole thing before commenting, i will post the part you seemed to miss
dB Zac said:
1st off, a list of the things that aren't google fault per say, but pit falls due to there lack of control over the final product.
#1) battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dB Zac said:
1st off, My house is an android powered house and I love the platform. It is only after months of being around my girlfriend and her family as they used android, that I started to really put a finer point on why so many people prefer other OS's (yes i understand Android is grabbing up market share like crazy). this is my thoughts after watching people I know use and leave android, use and struggle with android, and use and love android.
1st off, a list of the things that aren't google fault per say, but pit falls due to there lack of control over the final product.
#1) battery life. Due to varying hardware design and the freedom to do as you please to the OS, manufactures have made some phones with really bad battery life. this coupled with the constant updating a android device can do for any apps and the increase in popularity of cloud service, android ends up with wildly varying battery life from device to device.
#2) Consistency. If someone had a Verizon "droid", they could be using a Sense UI, a moto blur UI, or vanilla android. That's just in that one "brand of phone" alone. People dont adapt well to tech if they aren't big tech fans.
#3 quality of hardware, and I'm not talking about specs. Most consumers only judge the internals on how smooth the final product is. No, I'm talking about, build materials and the screen. There is some junk out there (allot of them have great internals). some of these phones are built like toys with race car parts inside them.
Now for where google is falling short.
#1 marketing. This is amazing to me that an Advertising company would fall short here but they do. Google ads focus on strange things like the ability to unlock your bootloader. Most people have no idea what this means and why they should care. They probably shouldn't care since they will never hack there phones.
also, every time Apple comes out with an "I" product ad, they are doing a real good job of showing how there "new feature" will make your life more fun and allot easier. The funny thing is, they are almost always features that android already had.
This is one of the things I really started to notice as I was surrounded by the non tech savvy android users. I would say, "funny, android already does that, has for a while now". My girlfriend would then ask, "does my phone do that?". Wow Google, you should be the master and telling people about all the selling points of your product.
#2 ease of use. This one may also be an issue with the carriers but I am going to put it in this section. One of the things I again noticed as I helped my girlfriend master here Nexus S 4G was, weird quirks that are not even a stumbling block to a Tech savvy user but almost a deal breaker to the average consumer.
Example: when my girlfriend 1st got here nexus, she hated it, couldn't believe I recommended it. One of her issues that stuck in my mind was the SMS limit. She hated that the SMS would cap her before she was done texing a message. She didnt care if it sent as two messages but she wanted to be able to type one continues message and then send it, letting the software sort it out. So I said, no problem, my phone doesn't do that (galaxy nexus) so there must be a deep setting to control this. As it turns out there wasn't, at least I couldn't find it. So again, I said no problem and down loaded handsent witch fixed the problem and she loved the easy theming. Well along came here ICS update that I had been raving about and her phone started crashing. Turns out handsent was the reason. Again, I said, no problem and downloaded Go SMS witch she loves even more.
That's just one example, in the mean time, 4 people in her family have switched from android to I Phones and don't regret it. I feel that one of them was mainly due to the hardware they chose and the rest is because they didn't have the live in tech help that my girlfriend has ( don't mean that to sound arrogant). My girlfriend loves her phone partly because I fix each issue as it arises and inform her of cool features.
Conclusion: I really think that the the lack of consistency is the other side of the open source double edged sword. this shows it self in software and hardware. It can be as small as the order in witch the bottom buttons appear, and as big as the Sense UI that changes everything a little bit. I also feel that no one besides Verizon in the early days, is really advertising Android well. Even Verizon doesn't do as good of a job showing you how much the phones can do and why you should want these features as Apple does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok let me help you out.
#2: Actually, Droid branding is owned by motorola, therefore they will only be using blur UI.
Marketing: Google is not in the business of advertising an OEM's phone. That is up to the OEM and the OEM only.
Ease of use: Apple owns a patent that breaks up the long text AFTER it is typed. Therefore, it would be illegal for Android to use it. Example invalid.
Conclusion: Verizon sucks.
You really did not point out 1 thing that google has control over in your whole post.
lowandbehold said:
Stupid post. Why? Because you have no clue what android is. Android is an open source operating system. OEM's take android, and just so you know, they don't need google's consent, and manipulate it the way they want to put on their hardware. Google has no say in what they do to it, how they arrange their buttons, or the UI that they add to it. So your post is more directed at OEM's than google.
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http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/03/14/android-isnt-really-open-its-just-less-closed-than-apple/
Google only cares about advertising (and like to snoop in on what you do, say, what you buy, where you shop, visit, etc... ) of course.
But they do have pretty good control over Android.
lowandbehold said:
Ok let me help you out.
#2: Actually, Droid branding is owned by motorola, therefore they will only be using blur UI.
Marketing: Google is not in the business of advertising an OEM's phone. That is up to the OEM and the OEM only.
Ease of use: Apple owns a patent that breaks up the long text AFTER it is typed. Therefore, it would be illegal for Android to use it. Example invalid.
Conclusion: Verizon sucks.
You really did not point out 1 thing that google has control over in your whole post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1st off, "droid" always running blur was not the point and incorrect. Verizon owns the "droid" name, as it is licensed to them by Lucus Industries. hence the HTC phones under that same brand name. I was commenting on the superior advertizing and Branding that Verizon did. The Droid 1 was a great vanilla phone that did well in a large part, due to advertizing. The verizon campain made "droid" a household name, more so than "Android".
2nd google can advertise features and the OS without advertising a specifice peice of hardware, windows does it all the time. Also, since google does have Google branded harware (nexus), they are in the hardware biz and should advertize aas such.
"Verizon sucks" based on what I can only emagin was your reasoning for this statement, I'm sure all major cariers "suck, not really the point here. Out of all the cariers, Verizon, furthered the android the most in the last 3 years out of anyone. Only now is Samsung beging to be the leader in promoting the android platform.
I agree with you on this, anyone who ask me what phone to get, i personally recommend iPhone UNLESS the guy knows his stuff, i myself LOVE android, been using it for 3 years now but i am software developer and very much familiar with kernels and bootloaders and and and , someone was aksing me the other day, since Android has much bigger marketshare, why everything comes out for iPhone first?
answer is simple, as a developer making things for iPhone is sooooo much easier, you only have "ONE" screen dimension to worry about, you only got 3-4 phones to worry about which 90% of them are similar, now compare this with android phones !!!
and last as everyone mentioned is advertising, personally i think google and all manufacturers do a HORRIBLE job promoting , remember when iCloud came out? nothing new really, just another DropBox, but Apple made such a big deal about it, everyone was AMAZED !!! same with siri, and so many other things,
Personally i think iPhone WORKS, its great for people who dont think outside the box, they want something that WORKS and thats it, they like to be TOLD what to do, how to use your phone , and they follow it.
Android is for thone who like to explore, install custom ROMs , play with OC/UV , etc.
Raul77 said:
remember when iCloud came out? nothing new really, just another DropBox, but Apple made such a big deal about it, everyone was AMAZED !!! same with siri, and so many other things
thats another real good example of, others were 1st but Apple advertizes better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually came from a blackberry, where in convention they make and market their devices.
When I switched to android now essentially Samsung was giving me their flavour of what they call android through Touchwiz and I really hated it.
Google should really take sometime to ensure manufacturers aren't dumbing down the platform for consumers and give users a clear overview of how it can serve them. Which is exactly what Google does with its Nexus.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

So you wanna sell some phones? But your phones won't fly (off the shelves).

First of all, props to anyone who gets the reference in the title. This thread is to talk what about OEMs could do better when selling their phones. This is what they need to focus on if they want to sell.
Disclaimer: I like Samsung. I don't like HTC, only because they bought a big part of Beats. I hate Beats, it's overpriced, terrible, and only exists to line Dre's pockets. The One isn't bad, I've tried it myself, but meh. I don't get everyone's need for build quality. Most people use cases anyways. This isn't a flame post, but I see a lot of things they could do better. And since it's competing at a high level, it receives most of my critiism.
Before we get to that, let's split up the OEMs into tiers, based on usage, coverage, and general awareness.
Tier 1: Apple and Samsung
Tier 2: HTC, LG, Motorola, Nexus, Nokia, Sony
Tier 3: Blu, Pantech, Kyocera, and any other OEMs that make low / mid range carrier phones.
All the Tier 2 (T2) brands are completely capable of battling Apple and Samsung, but they're doing things wrong. But, what exactly are they doing wrong?
Mainly, Naming and Branding
This problem applies to all of the T2 brands except for Nexus. Nexus has it right, but all the others have a problem with creating a brand name. Samsung may slap the Galaxy name on everything, but people know what it is. Consumers can't distinguish the individual models yet, but Samsung is heading in the right direction. But how come everyone else can't seem to get this right? Here are some general branding rules.
1. Create a memorable cohesive brand name (Nexus, Galaxy, Optimus, Lumia)
This does not need to be explained.
2. Do not use numbers and/or letters in any form in the phone name (Lumia 920, 925, 928, One X, One)
*Does not apply to sequels
Nokia, these numbers are confusing, and not memorable.
HTC, using numbers and letters are very confusing when you try to name sequels. What's next? The One One? One Two? One+? One+One?
3. Do not use vague sounding buzzwords. (Optimus G Pro, One X+)
Pro, +, and X are all marketing cliches here. They're not memorable.
The moral here is create a strong brand and then insert various words to name your phones.
Nexus_______, Optimus__________, Lumia__________, Galaxy__________, Xperia ________
HTC, ditch the One brand.
Motorola, use Razr as a name, not a brand. And I hope Moto X is just a codename.
Availability
Samsung and Apple are to be commended here, for making their phones available on all the major carriers. The S3 is available on 5/7 of the largest carriers in the US, and on MetroPCS when it was not owned by T-Mobile. This works for them, just look at the market share. In addition, every carrier seems to have a Galaxy ___________. That's a combination of availability and strong branding. HTC has almost done (it) the same thing with the One. It's their most available phone yet, and will only get stronger once it hits Verizon. So it's been obvious over the last year that carrier exclusives don't work. And why would they? I'm not sure on the business behind it, but the OEMs have to do what they can to get their Hero phone on every carrier. It's obvious that Hero phones only sell well when they're available to all.
The moral here is to make your phones as accessible as possible.
Marketing
Availability only matters when you can market. People need to know about the phone. Samsung's major success with its Galaxy S and Note lines are widely attributed to its massive marketing budget, and for good reason. Their marketing team is killing it. Their commercials are funny, clever, and show what you can do with the phone. That's important. Apple doesn't play the marketing game, they have great brand awareness and word of mouth. As we've seen with the HTC commercials, it's not enough to make ads. They have to be good. Samsung's commercials show people interacting with the device, because that's what people care about, how they can use it. The Droid DNA commercials are a great example of what not to do. Normal people don't care about specs.
*I read all of this somewhere (maybe Verge forums) and it made a great point. I'm just paraphrasing here.
The moral here is to make ads with people using the phone, not the specs.
Features
This ties back into marketing. Samsung has been slammed for all the features that they've included in the S4, but why slam an OEM for including too many features? Because it lags? Everything lags, and I'd much rather have a little lag for a lot more features. Seems like a fair deal. The only version of Android I've seen that doesn't lag at all is stock. (Avatar rom on Samsung Captivate/ S1 for AT&T) But why would an OEM use stock? Because you guys think it will sell well? It won't. OEMs need to add features to distinguish themselves from the pack. The S Pen has no real features when you're not using it on Touchwiz.
Instead of slamming Samsung, the criticism should be on Motorola, HTC, LG, Nokia, for not including any notable features. "But they have features!" so you say. I don't see the Zoe and Blinkfeed being something notable. I've seen the ad for Blinkfeed, it has what I want in an ad but it's alright. Too exaggerated with the dirt though. Boomsound is good, but has to be marketed better. If HTC really sees this as features, they have to convince me. They have to make ads where I can see it being used in normal situations, like Samsung and their S4 Graduation party commercial. This commercial is a great demonstration of features.
The moral here, add features, then make ads on those features.
That's all I can remember for right now. But what do you guys think? Do you agree? Or am I way off? I'd love to have a civilized argument about this.
Personally, I want Motorola X to compete with Samsung. I think Motorola could make some great stuff. It would be even better if Google bought Nokia and merged them. Nokarola. Can you imagine? Camera, battery, colors, and super slim phones? And it would piss off Microsoft, which I know Google likes to do.

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