By Last week I spiraled into what I admit was little more than an Android fanboy rant, provoked by an article suggesting Microsoft was much more worried about Apple than Android in regards to competition for Windows Mobile. Criticisms of the rant included the following quotes:
- “Lame”
- “you are acting like a little child that is cheering for is favor team!What happen with being objective???”
- “I would point out how you’re such a fan boy…”
- “lacked maturity, objectiveness and class”
This time around I’ll provide only the facts… and if you choose to rant in my absensce, by all means pummel the comment form. The passages below are from a BNet article called “Android Boosted By Blind Dogma”:
HTC’s G1 is the only handset on the market running Android, so it may seem unfair to hang Android on the basis of a single piece of evidence. Richard Spence, a developer with Bluetrail, argues that “the time to judge Android is when there are a number of handsets out there, particularly the Sony.”
But many developers complain that Android runs slowly and has a fairly poor user interface, which is a serious disincentive for developers looking to hook users with a hot new app. Ruby developer Tom Insam noted that
the browser just isn’t up to the standard of the iPhone’s. The Mail app is awful. The web browser seems to sometimes open new windows, and sometimes reuse existing windows when following links…. [and] the on-screen keyboard is sluggish.
*Biting my tongue* There’s more…
William Volk, CEO of mobile app vendor Playscreen, said the Google Checkout experience for purchasing apps is “unacceptable to the vast majority of Android users.”
And finally:
Despite this, Android enjoys a sort of cachet among the tech crowd, which Kerr attributes less to its actual attribute than to the antipathy many developers feel towards Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Nokia’s Symbian. “The whole thing stinks of religious dogma, as with the old PC/Mac/Linux wars…There’s way too much emotional opinion floating around, resting on blind dogma,” he posted on a professional mobile developer forum.
I won’t say anything. I won’t make a single point. I’m just putting it out there that people feel this way about Android. I’ll let the unlame, unchildish, objective, unfanboy, mature and classy readers of Phandroid analyze and conclude however they see fit.
The floor is yours…
I have been using a magic for two months now. Unfortunately, I agree with most of the comments. The mail app is really bad and the replacements are not much better. I really don’t like the browser, but it gets the job done. The OS just seems immature right now. It has great potential, but it has a ways to go. I like the device. I just wish it would get better, faster.
I actually read the article earlier today and really wanted someone to come out with “Android Held Back by Blind Dogma” in response. I hate articles that express the negative views of the few as if they are representative of everyone(even if they were about evil companies like Apple:)) There are plenty of iPhone owners that have switched to Android, so it must have SOMETHING worthwhile to offer. I understand that we do get a little fanboyish in our praise of Android, but to say all Android users stick with it out of idealism in spite of how horrible it is is just ignorant.
Well at least one thing is correct. The last statement about android beong more geared towards the tech crowd. Its hard for the normal cell fone user to get excited about overclocking and new roms. I guess as the ui gets better and the more headset become available the regular user will be interested in the power of open source.
Yeah Slashdot also had their “Why Android isn’t taking off” thread.. stuff full of posts by people who have obviously not even looked at or even used an Android phone, and are ignorant of what is in the pipeline, or even what’s going on in Europe with Android.
For the first quote…really the G1 is the ONLY phone? When was this quote made? I will admit the browser leaves something to be desired but it is better then most. The links opening in new windows is based on the WEBSITE and wether the developer assigned target=”_blank” in the link anchor tag (yes im a web designer). The android browser, like ALL browsers only interpret what the designer put in the code.
The mail app though is perfect, probably of my most used apps. It’s everything gmail is right in my pocket. Zero complaints on it for me.
I was a bit leery when I heard the marketplace would use google checkout since I figured it meant having a seperate account and a lot of headache. Instead in actual use its painless (just enter your payment details)…its almost too easy…why do I have all these emulator apps?!?! :p
I too hate the constant flame wars about which X is better then Y. I personally set out to buy an Iphone when I was shopping for new phones but AT&T totally borked my discount I receive from my work so I said bye bye and went with T-Mobile and the G1 instead…Got one for me and my wife at probably half the total cost upfront. Only regret is that there are less high quality games but I dont know how often I would actually use those. My area also ended up getting 3G with TMobile before AT&T so another plus.
“HTC’s G1 is the only handset on the market running Android” clearly the writer doesn’t have the facts.
I agree.
The browser sucks – doesn’t even do animated gifs, which makes most weather sites useless. The mail app leaves a lot to be desired. The UI is sluggish, and often freezes when I switch screens on the desktop. The contact manager is a pain.
All those things that make an iphone special? The g1 isn’t like that.
I celebrate the g1 not for what it is, but for what I hope it will become. I’m incredibly annoyed at the slow pace of progress.
_Am
Oh, I’m not even going to be remotely as nice as you when I respond to that bullshit. Really, “Blind Dogma?” I keep saying this over and over lately, but Apple people are like abused wives: no, Hubby didn’t do it, he loves me! You’re evil, Officer or Mom for coming over here and telling me different! I hate you for loving me enough to confront me the more he beats me!
“Blind Dogma.” That’s what the dev name for the iTunes Store should be, IMO.
Sorry, no idea how the double post happened. Would delete, but no means to, whoops.
Ridiculous some of the stuff people say about Android. First off, any serious developer (ie, one who isn’t afraid to put in the extra work) would know how extensible and flexible developing for the platform is (not only from a usability and feature standpoint, but graphically as well). Last.FM, Twidroid, Swift, Tweeteev, Multiple Facets, Amazon, etc etc etc would all like to have a word with you.
While I agree that the web browser’s speed isn’t all that great, it’s a lot better than the crap available on Symbian and BlackBerry OS. I also find it rather stupid to nitpick about things such as link-following behaviors. It just makes the critic sound like they’re pulling at straws, hoping to pull on a big enough one to truly shun the platform.
and finally, what is wrong with Google Checkout? Seriously? It’s click and buy, I’ve never ever had a problem with it nor can I recall anyone “complaining” about it.
Rob, rant all you want. Ignorance is bliss and those who bypass Android blindly without even exploring the OS enough to recognize its true benefits, coupled with appreciating the movement that the OHA is trying to promote with OSs such as that, deserves to not even have an opinion on smartphones and should cease all ongoing discussion and debate immediately.
I say Bullshit, the article seems more like hear say and not at all a reflection to anyone who uses Android. Blind Dogma seems a better fit to Iphone users who really only get an Iphone for the sake of following what’s popular. Android users are daring to try something new and be chastised by morons and cowards who refuse to acknowledge there may be something better. From what I can tell the android crowd seems to be for the most part one of the most informed group of people I’ve been around.
While all of us Android users are aware of the past and current short comings of the software and the device we have chosen, we have done hopefully with the knowledge of what we were purchasing. I find that a lot of the times the counter argument from those who are not a fan of the Android OS are the people who play with the phone for a few hours or a week and make a decision that is not based on real life usage.
Like everything that is new to market, not everything works 100% all of the time. Hell I have a 3g capable phone for 6 months before I had 3g service.
I truly see the Android OS as a very innovative piece of software that has real life practical and affordable uses. It is an OS that will be able to grow and adapt long term to my needs without costing me an arm and a leg in the process. And at the end of the day, it does everything I want it to and I am looking forward to seeing what the future has in store.
“The web browser seems to sometimes open new windows, and sometimes reuse existing windows when following links”
Does this person realize that is most likely a result of the way the anchor tag in the HTML was written. Sometimes a web developer might specify the target attribute, and other times not.
Quote #1 paragraph 1 – Either old quote or just ignorant
Quote #1 paragraph 2 – It is somewhat slow on the G1 and I blame that on the hardware constraints….but also remember that the Android OS multitasks while the iphone OS only runs 1 app at a time
Quote #1 paragraph 3 – I personally like the browser and have had no real issues with it. I like the ability to have multiple windows open at one time and don’t find it confusing. Larger screen would be nice but that is not the OS’s fault. As far as the mail client I think it is really really robust and nice. I have had no issues with it…cut & paste before others. Attachments are easy. Labels. Search. What is not to like? Keyboard is sluggish but that to me is another hardware issue….give the OS a better processor, RAM, etc and it all is fine. All my stuff runs very very fast on my G1 but that is because I have it overclocked (or actually running at the processors real potential), better hardware will fix this.
Quote #2 – What is unacceptable or tricky about it? Create account. Buy Apps. It is literally that simple. Does Google make you download another Google desktop app just to manage apps, music, etc? Comeon people! And is it better to have an Apple-locked-down-market where apps get the random boot with no explanation?
Quote #3 – Umm yes. I would have to make an wild guess and say the majority of smartphone users are tech people. Silly. And don’t even bring up Android fanboys in the same sentence as Apple fanboys, they take it to a level that no other fanboys in the world can even compete with.
I really like my G1.
I dont have to jerk the battery out of it because Windows Mobile 6.1 has frozen and the phone unresponsive.
WinMo reminded me of W95 for PC, always freezing up.
I like the fact that I can tether my G1 to my laptop for internet access (yes T-Mobile told me I couldnt do that with the G1 lol). Check out http://www.junefabrics.com .
They already have an Android version of their PDANet software.
I like the Gmail. My opinion is the G1 is the best phone I’ve ever had, and Android is one heck of an OS !
One thing I dont like about the G1 is the weird plug in for chargers/hands free/tether.
I will keep this phone until T-Mobile releases another Android phone with a qwerty. I dont like the virtual keyboard phones that have flooded the market now.
:D
:D
The openness of Android and easier App approval process more then makes up for all its shortcomings. It took iPhone 3 major versions to get here, whereas Android is at 1.5 and still looking good.
HTC sense UI shows the possibilities with Android whereas iPhone UI looks stale and bubbly. Not to mention, Multitasking, Java API, removable storage and so on… So far all Android phones (including Hero) are first generation devices. Android will shine with second generation Phones, and if we could get phones with Creative Zii or Tegra chips, it’ll knock the socks off competition IMO.
Does he mean the awful gmail app that doesn’t exist for iPhone?
No gadget is perfect. You can take shortcomings and blow them out of proportion pretty easily to make something sound really awful. I’ll try:
“I wish I could participate in the Google traffic crowdsourcing effort but I can’t because a corporation dictates what I can and can not do with the phone I purchased. I can’t even listen to Pandora and browse the web at the same time. My friends all use latitude on their phones, but I can’t because the people who made my smartphone think I am too dumb to be able to tell the difference between latitude and maps. I can’t even send MMS messages! I have to keep a charger on my desk at work because I can’t replace the battery. This thing looks pretty, but can’t do much for a smartphone. People only buy them because of massive advertising budgets and because they think it will make them cooler.”
See what I did there?
“While all of us Android users are aware of the past and current short comings of the software and the device we have chosen”
What shortcomings? I’m certainly not making excuses for a mega-expensive phone whose UI amounts to throwing pebbles around on twelve tables, can’t send MMS and didn’t even have standard text editing features like Copy and Paste until a month ago.
If I’d bought an Android phone and found out they were *that* level of rubbish, I’d have returned it and abandoned any interest in the platform.
And that’s the difference between me and an Apple customer: I’m not buddies or lovers with any company I buy shit from, so I demand shit work right. Apple people find ways to accommodate Apple if their shit don’t work right and insist, always, that everything Apple is perfect and never has any problems.
It’s really like they never listen to themselves talking. I mean, would they believe it if I claimed my Windows PC was perfect and never did wrong because it didn’t have OSX on it? Or if I claimed my Android phone could not possibly have a routine software problem?
And yet, this is what Apple people routinely expect people to believe, and indeed, seem to deeply believe themselves. Or at least, they believe enough not to know what rude shits they’re being when a friend’s got computer trouble and they pipe up with “GET A MAC!”
That drives me a little less insane, these days, that particular annoying habit of theirs, because I finally realized it’s the only thing most Mac users can possibly contribute to a conversation about computer maintenance. Poor, deluded souls.
Well sure the browser could be better and occasionally the UI is a little slow but hey at least Android phones don’t blow up in people’s faces…
Oh and I guess my Hero is a fragment of my imagination then…
“Does this person realize that is most likely a result of the way the anchor tag in the HTML was written. Sometimes a web developer might specify the target attribute, and other times not”
Oh, who knows? I’ve actually seen Apple folks in the tech press complaining about the fact that Android allows you to collect icons in folders on the home screens. Of course, there’s no rational cause for anyone to snipe at that – it’s *better.*
But…you know, look at how Apple dorks attack the Android Market model: App Store, in theory, has this magnificent approval process that keeps everybody safe. In real life, they let malicious and hoaxy shit through, and pretty much only disallow software that might compete with their own offerings.
The Android Market has no approval process, relies on users to report abuse, and…has had no problems with scam stuff, most likely because of that 24-hour refund period, which renders anything of the sort pointless.
So how do the Apple faithful react to this set of facts? Well, (1) they just don’t talk about what’s wrong with the App Store (2) if you point any of it out, they get pissy and (3) they’re all speculating about the Great Danger of the Android Market and All That Freedom.
That’s how religious folks react when their…dogma…is challenged: evade, deny, accuse.
I had some doubts getting the g1 over the iphone….but a year later and I’m more than happy w it. (Hopefully g1’ers will get donut) even my friend who sighned up not long ago w at&t is no longer w them because of apple. He made another bad decision of switching to blackberry…I show all my friends the coolest stuff from the android markett and they all want it but can’t have it because they don’t have android hahaaha the writer of this article clearly has never utilized an android device for a lengthy time period as pointed out by all the hearsay he published…..long live the andy the android!
I do partially agree with those comments. I own a G1 and feel that it is slow compared to other smart phones out there. The UI isn’t very impressive and is sometime annoying to use. I do have to say though that Android has a lot of potential, the UI can be change… HTC sense for example, hopefully we’ll see more from Sony and Samsung when they get a good grasp on Android. Motorolla’s upcoming phones are something to wait for also. I hope Android 2.0 fixes some of the speed and locking issues. I also hope that these new Android phone get released soon because I’m getting a little tired of the same old repackaged phone from HTC.
I’ve been working with my HTC Hero for a week now, and as a former Symbian user i am delighted with the speed and functionality of most of Android/HTC Sense interface. Yes, sometimes, when the number of open applications is 15+ (multitasking, something (most) iPhones can’t do) you can notice a drop in smoothness of the interface… big deal. In fact, the only major pain with it and a unforgivable shortcoming imo is the horribly implemented bluetooth support when it comes to media/contact sharing. Only part of the article i can agree with is that, because of this and undoubtingly some other issues too on standard Android builds, it feels a bit unifished. However, it is only gaining momentum as we speak, and both the manufacturers and programmers alike are doing more and more impressive stuff with it interface and application-wise. What will be the major selling point imo is the possibility to build very cheap devices running it (perhaps first being HTC click) for the mass market which is now being dominated by non-smartphones, so that more people will be using Android then they even realize.
If Microsoft wants to underestimate their competition, let them. I actually doubt they truly even feel this way, but prefer slander of facts to promote their product.
and oh yeah… anyone complaining about mail app, browser, or phone speed google XDA…
Fuck apple! Android is da bomb yo!
I had a longer response, but I will trim it …
The G1, with all its shorcomings, is the best phone I have used. Not day one, but there is zero question about it now (and that’s still with the less-than-popular hardware). The only device and platform that is close is the iPhone and I refuse to bow down to Apple and AT&T. Not everyone feels that way about it, but there are enough that do to create a non-Apple market.
Naysayers had their time. Some still think that the window for dismissing Android entirely is more open than it really is.
Manufacturers, carriers, developers, and users get it. Android is stealing market share and is here to stay.
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! The writer is clearly an iPhone fan. Not objective at all. My G1 is perfect and gets better and better. Here in the UK there are four android based fones. And the Hero is sold as G2 on T-Mobile UK. Downloading apps are a breeze. There are no less than ten ways for me to access my email. My broadband is down and my G1 baby is coping well. And as for tech sentiment.
I had an iPhone. Android all the way baby
And what sets a tech geek from regular folks is they actually go for what works and is best on offer
While the g1 has been the best smartphone I’ve had, and I’m pretty damn happy with it and android os, I have noticed some stuff.
I recommended the G1 to a bunch of friends and family and I found out that you either LOVE it or HATE it. Usually the people that love it are tech savvy people, the rest, they just hate it.
Tech savvy people know how the phone works and what it can do and how to make it do nice things. Other non-techsavvy people don’t know. The phone, if using a stock firmware, can get sluggish or slow sometimes, the actual phone part, making calls and stuff, finding new contacts, is kinda hard to use (unless you open the keyboard). Again, I’m talking about a stock t-mobile firmware. I know there are some HTC roms out there that feature the HTC dialer (which is pretty nice) but the usual people will not root and install a custom rom.
There are many many things that the android os lacks, or can be improved, mainly for the regular user. As for me, I love it, I’m a developer and have a few apps in the market, I love the process, I love how I don’t have to be begging someone to approve my app and I can upload apps in minutes after testing it and it shows up right away in the market… I can go on, it’s certainly the best mobile OS I have tried, I used to have an iPhone, I got tired of it and its single-tasking “abilities”. Before the iPhone I used to have a blackberry, and while it’s a “social” machine (BB Messenger) and it’s email app is simple, yet, overall its too simple, and can get sluggish and dumb, I ended up hating those things.
We, as developers, community, users, need to contribute and help android become faster, better and easier to use for regular users. And we will get there, we will. Community power is bigger than any other company, like microsoft or apple, as someone said in a comment before, while apple took until iPhone OS 2.2 – 3.0 to do great things, the android os does the same or more on version 1.5.
the writer of that article is a noob. but then again i am delusional, as my HTC Magic doesnt even exist. lol.
OF COURSE THE iPHONE DOESN’T LAG!
It does NOT MULTITASK!!!!!
You’d be smooth too if you only were doing one thing at a time!!! No chewing gum and walking, you have to do one or the other — that’s the iPhone! Remember, it took 3 VERSIONS of the iPhone for them to finally FINALLY implement CUT, COPY & PASTE — yes, the iPHONE in 2009 was behind WINDOWS 95 until a few months ago.
Rob (and almost everyone who has posted here) be as fanboy as you want. Hell, its called PHANdroid. I don’t have an android yet, tempted by the magic, but i’m hanging for a few months to see what else comes out.
I come here for the news (and the rants). Keep up the good work.
i (like many other i’m sure) did some major research before finally settling for the g1. i must say im very happy with it and will be for the many months to come. i got it over the iphone due to the keyboard and also the stupid long wait apple puts us through for the iphone (its still not yet available in singapore). As a dev myself, i like the fact that android has an open source for us to play with and get flexible with creating apps. Though i must also point out that the touch sensitivty is not as strong as the iphone, so this may deter the impatient. Im sending this comment via g1 so this proves the keyboard is awesome! :) my two cents
So yeah, the author of the article is such a tool. I don’t currently own an Android device, but I will when Sprint gets their’s this Oct/Nov. However, my roommate has a G1, and it was an awesome phone to use to navigate a new city/state that we just moved to (If any of you know how confusing the freeways/roads that are in downtown Minnepolis Minnesota, you will appreciate how hard it is to get around here). We had no problems navigating with it, and I happened to believe that it was the best phone that I’ve ever used. Very intuitive and visually pleasing. I can’t wait to get the Hero personally.
i want to add, being familiar with it, the article in question sounded like propaganda. the loose association with facts, as well as meaningless interpretations of other peoples unknown impressions…i mean, who can take this seriously?
First, I wish you would’ve done some ranting. (lol) Though some may think it’s “immature”, “lame”, too much “fan boy” action, it’s one reason I come to phandroid. It makes me laugh. If people don’t like it they should, take the stick out of their rear or go read on another site. Doing both would work also. Hopefully, you will post a “rant” about this. ;D
Second, have these people used the G1? Not just toyed around with it, actually used it on a day-to-day basis? This is the best phone I’ve ever used. Though that isn’t saying much considering that my last phone was a T809. >_>; haha. But, it plays a pretty big role in my day-to-day life. From keeping track of family and school events, (with E-mail and the calendar) to keeping me in contact with my job at all times through my different E-mail accounts (One for school, one for work, one for everything else) with no complaints on the E-mail apps that come with the phone. I don’t see what the complaint is there.
The browser? It may be a little slow at times but are we really complaining about new windows being opened? Stated before, they obviously don’t realize it has to do with what the website’s developer tagged the links with. The browser being a tad slow is really the only problem I have with my phone but it really isn’t that big of a deal.
The market has already been talked about by others but I don’t see anything “unacceptable” about it at all. It’s pretty quick and easy.
Third, my friend has an iPhone and of course I have a G1. We used to argue(kind of in a friendly manner of course) about who’s phone was better by pointing out who’s could do what. Other then the games, and the memory, I could match and/or point out mine was better in that way. He finally stopped argueing and settled with “I like the iPhone better because the graphics seem more crisp and clean.” Even though I researched it and found that the graphics/resolution and what not(can’t really remember) were pretty close to the same. And so he doesn’t really talk to me about it anymore. lol.
Forth, again, DO SOME RANTING ROB! b(^_^)d
A few things…
1. I owned a sidekick, win mo, BB, and iPhone, don’t tell me the web browser is CRAP! I feel the only one-up iphone’s browser MIGHT have is multi-touch, and that is just a maybe. Personally, I just set everything to automatically size html in menu…i HARDLY EVER even need to zoom.
2. Shitty email??? First of all, we have a gmail app (suck it apple!). Secondly, we have a gmail app that gives me my email before my macbook receives them. Thirdly, the gmail app is AMAZING compared to the email app on the iPhone. Finally, USE SEVEN EMAIL CLIENT!!! I HAVE 2 GMAILS AND YAHOO WITH PUSH! (It’s in beta, but still AMAZING!.
3. Roms
4. Roms
5. Roms ( I think you get the point.)
6. Our Market might not have as many “cool” games, or “junk” apps, but we Google doesn’t try to cut off competing apps, they encourage it! only a FEW restrictions,(porn and tether).
7 and final. Google Voice (FTW!)
yeah, android has a lot of hope and I like it way better than iphone 1.0 and 2.0 and we aren’t even on android 2.0 yet! So give it time!
Ooooo! I also forgot to mention that I rooted my phone a couple weeks ago, thanks to phandroid for pointing out 1click, and it is awesome. I had been wanting to do it for awhile and recommend it to everyone. Of course do some research before you do it but you’ll be glad you did. It’ll will make your experience with the G1 even more amazing. haha.
I love my G1!
All these anti-Android articles are coming from Microsoft or Apple.
It is a common marketing tactic called Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt
I have to agree about the sluggishness in the browser, try opening a a big website with an animated gif (such as shacknews), its totally annoying. And ofcourse not to forget the limited internal memory issue, it’s killing bother users and developers, most of the games available on the market are ridiculous (ofcourse mostly due to being unable to develop large games)
Android is still 1st gen. The iPhone wasn’t all that good when it was 1st gen.
Apple also isn’t the biggest supplier of computers, despite having a slick and stable OS. So shinier and more user friendly isn’t the stuff it’s all about.
I’m currently working on Android development. Why? Because I can, I don’t own a Mac. Because I know my apps won’t be shot down for useless reasons.
Android is still in development and will get serious improvements, the iPhone will not untill the next generation is here.
For me this whole windows/Mac/Linux and now winmo/Symbian/iPhone/Android is highly religious.
I simply hate M$ and everything they make with a passion. Their methods are despicable. Just an example – does anyone remember the Snapdragon-powered Android netbook Asus presented at Computex and later withdrew? They are an evil Monopoly that should simply be crushed into non-existence.
Apple is slightly better, but only slightly. They’re control fraks and opposers of freedom. It’s a damn shame cause their products seem to be of high quality (never owned one, so I can’t say for sure), but their restrictiveness is a major blocker for me.
Android and Maemo are the future of mobile computing if you care 1 bit about freedom.
Just my $0.02.
Android is amazing! And I love my G1, of course it has its limitations, but mostly hardware. I think Android will be the biggest phone OS in a year or two. When it becomes more business friendly and the non tech savvy folks get there hands on it, it will take off!
As you guys mentioned Android can do a lot more as a 1.5 version then the iphone can do today after three years! I can’t wait to see what happens, loads of innovation and new exciting hardware coming out will only make it better! Android all the way!!
Here’s the thing, in the US anyway,. Many of the upcoming Android phone just aren’t here yet.. so in a way, from the US point of view, you have G1 and myTouch.. I don’t know what the hold up is, and personally I think the carriers and manufacturers are losing sales.. If other options had materialized, I might have gone a different way than I did., Just before the myTouch was relased Tmobile didn’t have G3 in my area.. however by the time it was for sale in stores it was up and running.. because of the 3G issue in my area I had intended to wait for some of the newer models on other carriers to come out.. but then I gave up on waiting.. 3G, Android, just went for it.. and it’s a great phone. It gets zero TV advertising, but I have sold a couple just using it, and showing people who asked what it can do.. Nobody said, that’s slow, or clunky, or hard to use, the only words I heard was that neat, or awesome, and I’m due for a new phone, I’m going to get one of those.. and these are regular people, not “tech geeks”
I read that article and find it either just poorly researched or vindictive. I an not a geek – I’m an a businessman and rely on my Hero for everything. Up to last month I was on Symbian (since 2002) and I can say that out of the box Android is great. No major issues. Yes I know the experience on the Hero is a lot more refined than stock Android.
Android is immature. Its got a ways to go but that will come with time. The market is a joke. I live in Ireland and along with many other countries we can’t purchase apps on the market. In 2005 this would have been unacceptable – in 2009 its a joke. If Google are serious about making Android maintstream they need to sort out the market.
All Andoid needs is a little more effort from Google and a couple more decent handsets in the market. The handsets will come later this year and will help push Android out to the masses. I hope Google is going to step up and put the resources into Android and make it a top class OS.
2010 should be an interesting year.
I used to own a iPhone 3g and left it for the HTC magic. Haven’t looked back. As a media/gaming device the iPhone is a little ahead of the curve, but that’s mainly a hardware issue. I don’t game, so I don’t miss it.
Getting music/podcasts on and off my HTC magic is much easier than the iPhone. The iPhone you have to load a whole seperate app (itunes) then sync to your library. My Magic is simple. I hook up USB, or go by Wifi (OnAir) and drag & drop. Done! No libraries to mess up. No seperate app to load. BTW. I’m on Ubuntu. Try that with a iPhone! I had to run a seperate VM just to work with it.
The UI is fine. download “spare parts” and turn the UI to “fast”. If you’re not comfortable with rooting or overclocking, “spare parts” does the job.
aHome is a great alternative desktop UI. Make it look like a iPhone if you want, customize to your hearts desire. Try that with the iPhone. All you can do is rearrange icons.
The only thing I’m jealous of are the guys who will be getting the new Motorola and Sony models in the next few months. Those handsets will have faster/better hardware.
I’m not sure why the author was having problems with contacts and mail. This was by far the easiest migration I’ve ever done. I love this phone. All my contacts just magically appears on my phone. And my exchange mail from work was easy to set up.
Widgets anyone?? The notification panel?? hold down home and switch between running apps?? This is a true smartphone. Heck. This is true mobile PC.
Ok. The software keyboard could be better, but that’s what TouchPal is for. It’s like it knows what I’m gonna say before I say it. It’s fast and easy to use.
The Magic’s Video res could be better, but it gets the job done.
I’m an Android fanboy and damn proud of it!
Had to add one thing. One click search pop up. I didn’t think I’d use it when I first got it. After a while it becomes instinctive to just press the hard search button and do your searches directly through the drop down panel. Plus it works in youtube and the market etc. That alone was worth the switch.
Clearly the author spent little to no time with it.
Some Facts.
The first Android, the G1 was first available in October of 2008. It did not become available in the US, countrywide until January of 2009. Today, August 27th, in the US, three Android phones are available. This number, per Google, will increase to 20 devices by December of 2009. My G1 is seamless with respect to GMail, contacts, maps, etc. Far superior to the IPhone. (My daughter has the Apple product) The Iphone too is a superb device although it has a different target market, e.g. the Mac. Remember we are comparing Apples and Oranges. The iPhone is a specialized product. Android is a platform.
meh i liked your fanboy rant, made me remember that there is someone out there that loves android as much as myself, picked up my magic yesterday, not a big jump from the G1 but enough to make it worth it
Google, lets show these people how its done. Speed up the development process so no one has the ability to point out small issues and make Android appear inferior.
The key element Re: Android is its open source nature. It starts out behind iPhone on some elements, ahead on others. But: because of open sourceness, it’ll evolve more quickly. So long as the Googlers don’t screw things up, which so far they are not (e.g., each new release gets better, so far anyways)
To the author….DON’T EVER BITE YOUR TONGUE.
These articles are nothing more than smear campaigns by fanboys. People stumble across them while searching and believe the crap they read before even trying the device in question. Rants back against them provide an opposing view so at least people can be forced to make their own decision. Bling Dogma is not selling these phones which seem to be moving quite well. Its also not causing phone makers to pick up and run with it but they are. The article is just fanboy BS like the many that came out when the G1 was released.
As for the review…I disagree. The browser may not be as fast as the IPhone but it certainly isn’t terrible and I use it and Steel quite often. I don’t know WTF people keep bitchin about UI’s for. They are a set up buttons and widgets and I think they look just fine…especially since 1.5. Somebody in the comments talked about the contact manager being a pain and I say thats PURE BS. My wife wants to drop her Blackberry after seeing how easy it is to manage my contacts. You can’t even save a new number to an existing contact easily. Its garbage.
On top of that I know folk leaving the IPhone for the G1 specifically because of the keyboard. Aside from that with the ability to multi-task and have third party apps completely replace the stock apps at any level Android is well ahead of the IPhone in technology. And thats not even talking about the Sense UI which people are starting to clone onto other phones before the phone has even dropped. The only thing Google and other vendors need to do is clean out any bit of remaining lag.
And its pointless to criticize Android anyway as its just a starting point for handset makers to make their own phones. Some phones have full Exchange support built right in so when talking about email is he taking that into account or just talking about the stock app? Its hard to try and paint all of Android with just one stroke.
Haven’t had any real problems with my adroid phone (mytouch 3g). Like it a lot. There is a nice app in the market called “Advanced Task Manager” that can auto kill apps running in the background that haven’t been used in awhile. Very nice addition.
Not sound Apple fanboy’ish, because I’m not, but the reason the iPhone doesn’t lag, isn’t because it doesn’t multitask. Anybody with a jailbroken iPhone can multitask, and it multitasks quite well. The reason it doesn’t lag is because the iPhone software communicates directly to the iPhone hardware. This can only be achieved if an OS is coded for one piece of hardware. Android was written to run on any hardware you could throw at it, so it can’t communicate directly with the hardware. Think of it as computers vs. console game systems. A console game system of considerably less hardware spec can run games a lot smoother than a computer. This is because computers games have to work with multiple sets of drivers, and graphics cards and processors and other hardware.
I’ve been a WinMo user for almost two years, and for the past year I have been following the progress of Android and gotten really excited about it. About 1 week ago I got tired of waiting for AT&T to decide where it was going with Android so I bought the iPhone 3GS. All the reasons I didn’t want an iPhone I was able to fix in 2 days by jailbreaking it. I can multitask, have a terminal window, don’t need iTunes for syncing, etc… It is a nice phone, but I hate supporting Apple, I hate the way they treat their Appstore developers, the way they limit apps, etc… However, until AT&T gives me an Android phone, I will use the iPhone. It is way faster than my WinMo phone, the onscreen keyboard is actually lightning fast and responsive and the amount of free apps is staggering. However, the potential for Android is much greater and I look forward to seeing its advances and can’t wait for the day that I can get one for myself. I’d switch carriers but I get great discounts on my plan and on phones through my old company.
i love most of the apps on my G1. I play snes, nes, genesis ALL THE TIME. And using my phone as a wireless keyboard, mouse for my computer is great! I have my pc set to display on my HD Tv so its awesome to lay in bed and watch movies.
Unfortunately, yes the email’s got problems (only when i did a full reset on my phone and wipe my data did my Yahoo email actually start to work through the mail app. and its a pain to get new emails to show up on the list) the browser’s a pain in the @ss because a lot of times it completely reloads a page i have in another window or if i leave the browser and go back, which makes me lose my place on a lot of larger pages.
Yes indeed, there’s a lot of frustrations with android, but i can say the same (and do often) of my pc. so we just need to wait for the bugs to get completely ironed out. Also, when a phone comes out with a hard keyboard and better specs than the G1, I’ll be in heaven!!!!
Well allthough most of this is incorrect it has a small amount of truth. (exept the G1 as the only android phone) What is described is about maby 10% truthfull and I hope that google/android dev reads that can makes changes accordingly.
android is still young
need many open source idea ..
don’t worry ..
i love android
although i don’t have Android Handset
i’m just developer ..
Viva Forever android
The T-mobile G1 to me is the best smartphone out currently. It’s funny that’s its compared to the iphone which can’t even send mms! That’s a shame to me. The person who made those comments obviously hasn’t tested a android powered device for more than a few minutes or he would understand the flexibility of the G1. I’m constantly amazed by the depth of the things you could do with this phone. From using my 3G connection for tethering, to printing pictures, word documents, emails, and text messages from my phone. I stay continually impressed with my phone, and find new and exciting ways to use it. Anybody worth their salt, would also realize that the iphone has had a what? two year jump on the android OS in terms of development? It’s not fair to compare the two. The android software as a whole is pretty close to the iphone’s OS and that’s making a statement considering that the android OS is still a newborn. Give it some time and then compare the two experiences. Each phone has drawbacks, but that’s to be expected. I personally like the iphone, and was considering buying it, but went with the G1. And I’m glad I made that choice, in spite of it’s flaws.
Wow.
That’s absurd. People fail to realize the lifeline of products. Android is a baby compared to the iPhone. The G1 doesn’t even display the ability Android has. The G1 merely shares it’s potential.
Can’t you see passed that? As suggested by others, throw in a larger screen, faster rom, more ram, etc. Soon you’ll see these beasts.
Also, speaking of the browser, you can always download other browsers such as Opera Mini or Steel. There are probably more than that. I can only assume that the iPhone would remove such an app from the App Store because “it does what the phone already does.” Ouch.
If not, then that just goes to show you how inconsistent the store is.
There have been a couple of times I’ve wanted to throw my phone into the wall and watch it explode into little peices. It allows multitasking and sometimes I push the phone to its limits trying to do 80 things at once with dxTop
The only thing that I believe would make Android completely superior is a native dxTop-type application. Why this didn’t exist to begin with I have no idea… let us change the color of the notification bar. Let us change the icons, and widgets. Give us an option for a dock. Implement something such as this into Android itself and that will do a hell of a job of speeding it up.
It’s a shame we have to download anything just to customize something. Having an app loaded over your whole phone is bound to slow down, as pretty as it is.
Anyone?
Agree or disagree?
All the nonhaters of android sum it up pretty well. Android is young. Every normal person that I show my g1 to says they want one. They ask when there will be one for their carrier. I tell them what is rumored, and they start getting android fever. To the point where some are switching carrriers because they don’t want to wait. I think apple is SCARED. Wouldn’t you be if you were them.
Only one response to this: HTC HERO !!!!
I’m not the average Smartphone buyer.
We currently have 45 Dash phones, 9 Iphones and 2 Androids, one of each HTC (T-mobile) version.
I’ve used all of these phones extensively but will report on Iphone vs. Android only (Dash is too old).
1. Iphone is a great Ipod!
2. My Touch is a bit under powered
3. AT&T has given me the worst customer service of the big 4 (Tmobile, Verison, Sprint, AT&T)
4. Tmobile 3g vs. AT&T 3G no notable difference in my area (St. Paul /Minneapolis)
5. Android needs activesync. For any business this is a MUST HAVE.
6. Android has very nice apps and more of them seem to be free!
7. Apple is tied to a provider that way too expensive almost 50% more than Tmobile.
8. Whoever comes out with legal, approve Bluetooth tethering will have a huge advantage.
9. Iphone needs to open its battery compartment and allow for extra memory!
Yes, HTC Hero – I’m delighted about this phone. UI is great, browser is very well implemented, mail notifications I receive soon as they reach the inbox, gtalk works perfectly, applications run in the background (something that iPhone doesn’t support), there are many features that user can easily add to the 7 user panels.
Your phone is recognized as external USB disk, music quality is very good, camera with 5Mp makes great pictures on daylight but doesn’t have blitz, sense UI is working perfectly.
If you open too many applications, as they are running in the background, your phone could become a little bit slow, but you can kill any task you want by using task killer.
Android Market can’t compare to Apple Store, but it offers so much good and free applications. However, it is still the weakest chain as there are only couple of dozens countries from which developers can publish priced applications.
However, as user and especially as developer I’m really happy to have such phone to develop applications for it. Maybe I’m blinded a little, but it’s not so hard to be, since Hero is really great smartphone.