Gripes about Android, and where it could be improved


Prometheus

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EDIT: This thread was actually split from this thread, so as not to cause further off-topicness there.

It fails (at least on the basis of what I had in mind, haha :lol: ) (EDIT: For context, this, from the thread this was split from, was what I had in mind) due running Android, having a bunch of useless features (GPS, etcetera) and a two-hour battery life when using them, having no buttons, and needing to be "rooted" to use it, though. :p Still, it *is* awesome that that sort of hardware is small enough, now - I thought that was a few months out, yet!


If this turns up in something of actual use, with proper buttons, an accurate screen, and a usable OS, I'd be rather tempted to buy such a thing.
 
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It fails (at least on the basis of what I had in mind, haha :lol: ) due running Android, having a bunch of useless features (GPS, etcetera) and a two-hour battery life when using them, having no buttons, and needing to be "rooted" to use it, though. :p Still, it *is* awesome that that sort of hardware is small enough, now - I thought that was a few months out, yet!


If this turns up in something of actual use, with proper buttons, an accurate screen, and a usable OS, I'd be rather tempted to buy such a thing.

.... really???


you don't see the benifit of having a GPS with a map on your wrist? Especially when we're talking about *looks at top of page* ... "overfuncitonal watches"... you ma'am are trolling... no other reason behind it. But whatever I'll humor you anyway.


ok... so, sure YOU may not find having a gps on your wrist useful, but I'm sure others do. I don't even do a lot of "out-doorsy" stuff but on occasion I'm out on the town and need directions from here to there... find a address... lost on foot... hell I don't know there's too many situations where this could be usefull... but ok... I'll give ya that one along with the wifi... check my email on my watch... ok .. kind of gimmicy.


bluetooth is useful for wireless file transfer with the internal 8gb storeage... headphones, although this has a headphone jack I don't want a wire running up my arm, but if you did want wired, you can use that too.


your two hour battery life thing is only if the screen is constantly on and useing the gps and wifi... since they are useless... just turn off the gps and stuff when not in use and it will last ya those 8+ hours ;) here's some more "real life reviews" not just a guy not happy with his purchase.


https://forums.motor...5ba6da3&start=1


it has 5 hardware buttons... 2 on top .. 3 on right side... it has more on it than my casio watch I'm wearing right now does... sorry it's not a full qwerty :blink: but it does also have a touchscreen.... and you can always connect a bt keyboard or whatever if those 5 + forms of input are not enough


"rooting" is not even remotely difficult if you can follow simple instructions... at least nowhere near as hard as some of the "simple instructions" i've seen on... well.. the pandora for example... setting up a gps (something not supported directly out of the box) http://www.pandorawiki.org/GPS


EDIT: i've seen entire manuals for some watches just to set the time and date and stuff that were more complicated than rooting this thing... just saying


and agian... if android is too useless.... I'm sorry.... I can't even fully understand this objection... you say the operating system this watch is running is not to your likeing? OK... so the options are... a shit load of embeded sytems that just tells time and have an alam, 1 that plays mario brothers, a bunch that does math, some that have accurate count down timers, and just one that has an actual operating system... but it's android... and you chose anything but android... sorry.. I wanted to lay that out there just so we were clear and I can understand what we're talking about here.


so... it fails this little game.... none of the other designs exist.. or are as functional... what am I missing here?


EDIT2: you can also just put the arm variant of ubuntu or angstrom on it if you really wanted to... the kernel source is here


http://sourceforge.net/projects/motoactv.motorola/
 
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.... really???


you don't see the benifit of having a GPS with a map on your wrist? Especially when we're talking about *looks at top of page* ... "overfuncitonal watches"... you ma'am are trolling... no other reason behind it. But whatever I'll humor you anyway.
If you think I'm trolling just because I have a different opinion to yourself, I really don't know what to say to you.


I'll quote a highly relevant part of my post;

(at least on the basis of what I had in mind, haha :lol: )

I was referring to it all purely in reference to the idea I outlined in my earlier post. ;)


But, I'll humour you.

ok... so, sure YOU may not find having a gps on your wrist useful, but I'm sure others do. I don't even do a lot of "out-doorsy" stuff but on occasion I'm out on the town and need directions from here to there... find a address... lost on foot... hell I don't know there's too many situations where this could be usefull... but ok... I'll give ya that one along with the wifi... check my email on my watch... ok .. kind of gimmicy.
I never said that others didn't - that's a strawman. Again, I was speaking purely in reference to my earlier post, as I stated.


As far as GPS goes - as well as most other things, actually - I'd rather have a dedicated device that does what's supposed to do well, rather than a device that does a ton of stuff but none of it well. "Jack of all trades, master of none", as they say. :p

bluetooth is useful for wireless file transfer with the internal 8gb storeage... headphones, although this has a headphone jack I don't want a wire running up my arm, but if you did want wired, you can use that too.
Good to know it has a proper headphone jack!


I'd rather use removable media - most likely a microSD Card - in something like this, and omit Bluetooth altogether. Then if there were ever any problems with it, the card can be replaced.

your two hour battery life thing is only if the screen is constantly on and useing the gps and wifi... since they are useless... just turn off the gps and stuff when not in use and it will last ya those 8+ hours ;) here's some more "real life reviews" not just a guy not happy with his purchase.


https://forums.motor...5ba6da3&start=1
Saying it's "my" "two hour battery life thing" is misleading - all *I* did was look it up, and I found people mentioning it was an issue if you were using the watch's features. It's someone else's "two hour battery life thing". Someone who bought one and found that it inhibited their use of the product. :p

it has 5 hardware buttons... 2 on top .. 3 on right side... it has more on it than my casio watch I'm wearing right now does... sorry it's not a full qwerty :blink: but it does also have a touchscreen.... and you can always connect a bt keyboard or whatever if those 5 + forms of input are not enough
Once again, that was something I said in reference to my earlier post. :p


As an aside, it's got less buttons than the watch I tend to wear has - the Starwing watch, which my earlier post was modelled around, has six buttons and they're arranged for playing the game.

"rooting" is not even remotely difficult if you can follow simple instructions... at least nowhere near as hard as some of the "simple instructions" i've seen on... well.. the pandora for example... setting up a gps (something not supported directly out of the box) http://www.pandorawiki.org/GPS


EDIT: i've seen entire manuals for some watches just to set the time and date and stuff that were more complicated than rooting this thing... just saying
I just find it really sad that anyone thinks that "rooting" is something they should have to do, that's all.

and agian... if android is too useless.... I'm sorry.... I can't even fully understand this objection... you say the operating system this watch is running is not to your likeing? OK... so the options are... a shit load of embeded sytems that just tells time and have an alam, 1 that plays mario brothers, a bunch that does math, some that have accurate count down timers, and just one that has an actual operating system... but it's android... and you chose anything but android... sorry.. I wanted to lay that out there just so we were clear and I can understand what we're talking about here.
Yet again, I was referring to my earlier post. My experience of Android is that it is sluggish, highly buggy and crashy, and bloaty (at least the 3.x version on a 1GHz tablet), and I gather that for the next version it's getting even bloatier - it's noteworthy because even its earlier versions are too heavy for what I related in my earlier post.


I would have gone with something lighter, myself, like a slim Linux distribution. :p

so... it fails this little game.... none of the other designs exist.. or are as functional... what am I missing here?
You seem to have missed that I was referring to the hypothetical design in my earlier post. ;)


EDIT: I should add, I did not say that Android is useless. I said I wanted something usable. There's a big difference. I fully believe that Android has uses and potential, but I personally find its bugs and interface design to be detrimental to being usable. Others' mileage may vary, of course. :)
 
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said you were trolling because you directly responded to my post that wasn't directed twoard you or your post at all (didn't even read your post untill after you responded) saying something something I listed had useless features in a topic about stuff that was over the top with functionality.... regardless of side comments... still think that approach is pretty trollish.


I'm aware of your bitterness to android in general... and a lot of other forum members... but even with it's flaws it's still a lot more open than the vast majority of embeded systems... in fact the truely open embeded systems are such a minority they are almost not even worth mentioning. If something is wrong, or if it is lacking something you want or need, it is completely possible to fix or customize it yourself to your liking ... but on the other hand it's easier just to look at it form the outside and point fingers and make fun of it's flaws.


from looking at it although biasly I would say this does everything better than any other option out there... so to say "Jack of all trades, master of none" when comparing systems with EXTREMELY limited or specific functionality (the basis behind embeded systems) I would say.. yea if a system that is desinged to do x and nothing other than x is compared to a system that can do a-z that system is going to win. But trying to make the one that can only do x try and make it even do y and you would be worse off than the a-z solution.


rooting isn't something you have to do... I'm sure what it was designed for (basically what we were just talking about) it's great at (gps tracking for sports and crap) it's enabling the jack of all trades thing that makes rooting required. It gets great reviews for what it was designed for.


http://www.cmw.me/?q=node/55


I know you were unhappy with your transformer, read all about it... but the core apps like maps and email and stuff are solid... i've never ran into a single bug or force close even once... and have been useing android since 08' 3rd party apps sometimes crash heavily because of flaws in the independant developers and homebrewers code, I wouldn't blame the OS for some app programmer's failings. Even if it was an OEM app that was crashing out, it's not a good representation of the operating system as a whole. The transformer was ASUS's 2nd swing at android... and the version it was running wasn't even open sourced because it was so hacky... but this whole paragraph is O/T and talking to a wall I'm sure.


my last little edit on my last post gives you the freedom to port whatever OS you could want to it anyway so if android wasn't your ideal solution port yourself something better on a very decent miniture platform with tons of great hardware features.
 
said you were trolling because you directly responded to my post that wasn't directed twoard you or your post at all (didn't even read your post untill after you responded) saying something something I listed had useless features in a topic about stuff that was over the top with functionality.... regardless of side comments... still think that approach is pretty trollish.
Once again, it certainly wasn't trolling.


My apologies that I thought that your post, which came after my post, and the content of which bore stunning similarities to some of the content in mine, was in any way a response. I didn't know that you hadn't read my post before yours was posted. :lol:

I'm aware of your bitterness to android in general... and a lot of other forum members... but even with it's flaws it's still a lot more open than the vast majority of embeded systems... in fact the truely open embeded systems are such a minority they are almost not even worth mentioning. If something is wrong, or if it is lacking something you want or need, it is completely possible to fix or customize it yourself to your liking ... but on the other hand it's easier just to look at it form the outside and point fingers and make fun of it's flaws.
It's not "bitterness" or "pointing fingers and making fun of its flaws" - that's easy to say, I know. I can't speak anyone else, but in my case it's actually a legitimate concern and gripe about the product.


I *really* want to see Android do well - we need more options in a computing ecosystem that has been a virtual monoculture for far too long, as well as in fields where it's in some slight danger of becoming one, and I fully support Android for that reason. After all, we used to have lots more options, and those times were not only much more interesting, but much more competitive, as well, which from my perspective had good results.

rooting isn't something you have to do... I'm sure what it was designed for (basically what we were just talking about) it's great at (gps tracking for sports and crap) it's enabling the jack of all trades thing that makes rooting required.
I know it's not something you have to do, but it seems that it's the first thing that gets mentioned with regard to trying to use Android-based devices, just about anywhere it comes up. The impression it leaves is that to get the best out of most hardware that gets shipped with Android, you need to "root" it.


When the OS wasn't misbehaving, I felt no need to "root" it on the Transformer, so I know that it can be quite good without the need for that. :)

I know you were unhappy with your transformer, read all about it...
The hardware was great, and I still believe that. The software - the OS and especially Google's applications for it, specifically - are where my legitimate gripes were and are. :p I really hope this improves. If it does, I might be inclined to give it all another look a couple of years down the line*.


*I personally feel that Android is not *quite* mature enough for commercial use yet, though it is astonishingly mature for an OS that's only been around for a few years (this is something that really impressed me about it, actually) - I would imagine if I wait a couple of years, the gripes I have now could be long gone, as long as they don't fall into the trap of pursuing bloat for the sake of being able to have flashy high-spec hardware as a bullet-point. If Amazon takes as long to introduce the Kindle Fire here as they did the Kindle itself, that might be long enough! :lol:

but the core apps like maps and email and stuff are solid... i've never ran into a single bug or force close even once... and have been useing android since 08' 3rd party apps sometimes crash heavily because of flaws in the independant developers and homebrewers code, I wouldn't blame the OS for some app programmer's failings. Even if it was an OEM app that was crashing out, it's not a good representation of the operating system as a whole.
Lucky. They were incredibly frequent for me. :lol: Only with Google's "core" applications, though. I especially didn't appreciate the way the web browser crashes all the time and doesn't restore the tabs you had open, I must say. :( Above all the other issues I encountered, that one is highest on my "I wish they would fix that" list.


Have they fixed that issue where the icon for Spam in the e-mail application is an angry alien face, yet? :lol:

The transformer was ASUS's 2nd swing at android... and the version it was running wasn't even open sourced because it was so hacky... but this whole paragraph is O/T and talking to a wall I'm sure.
I had heard about that. Regardless, said version got tons of praise with no constructive criticism that I could find, and I went in with expectations for the software that had been tempered by that praise... :p It's a mistake I won't make again, of course (and oddly, it's one I usually don't make - I'm not sure what was different this time...).


Why the "talking to a wall" comment, anyway? If you're thinking I'll ignore the text because I have legitimate gripes with a product that I don't believe is ready for commercial use yet, you're quite wrong, I assure you. ;) I mean, if I thought Android wasn't worthwhile, 1: I wouldn't be talking about it and expressing where I would like it to be improved and would like to see it do, and 2: I wouldn't have bought Android doodads from Google in order to put some money back into developing it further. One can support something whilst still not liking all aspects of it - that's the case with my views on Android right now.

my last little edit on my last post gives you the freedom to port whatever OS you could want to it anyway so if android wasn't your ideal solution port yourself something better on a very decent miniture platform with tons of great hardware features.
Ah, neat - that should be interesting, and I'm going to give that a look (assuming the watches aren't ludicrously expensive here, if they're available at all). Thanks much! :D


EDIT: If you don't mind, I'm going to split out the discussion that I inadvertently started here into its own thread, so as not to drag this one off-topic any further.
 
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you can probally just delete this split conversation... I don't have much to add to it anymore and we identified where the communication break was at... could have been handled though PMs if it wasn't for my android fanboyism


EDIT: well maybe except for the transformer thing, upgrade it to the latest firmware updates, they came out with some good ones in Q3 of this year


EDIT2: havn't "fixed" the angry spam icon, think that's a feature and the tabbed browser is ASUS OEM not AOSP honeycomb browser
 
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Oh, ok. :p


I won't delete it, though - I reckon it could still be interesting if anyone else has anything to add, so I'll leave it be. If it dies, it dies. :lol:


EDIT;

EDIT2: havn't "fixed" the angry spam icon, think that's a feature and the tabbed browser is ASUS OEM not AOSP honeycomb browser
It is? I thought that everything was pretty much stock on the Transformer, except for the added applications like that office suite whose name annoyingly escapes me right now and a couple of other Asus-branded things. That's what all of the reviews and information I could find said, at any rate, as it seemed to be considered a selling point that they hadn't customised it except for adding a couple of applications. :blink: How odd!
 
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Not that this advances the conversation at all....


I'd give one internet if ANDROID changed his avatar to Dr. Wily. This thread would be filled with much win then.
 
71178_128428520269_487214_n.jpg



dancingy.gif



That is all.
 
seriously though, get a PM you two!


+1 internets for Dr Wily
 
the browser for honecomb isn't AOSP, it's google... so that's kind of a half truth, it's not open sourced like the rest of android. OEM as in google contributed heavily to motorola for the xoom and asus for the transformer for their browser but it's not open sourced and you can't modify it... I don't count a lot of honeycomb in what I consider AOSP


there is always firefox and opera if you like either of those among many many others


The next version ice cream sandwich uses a lot of what is in honecomb and fixes it and makes it open and is a lot better. I am looking forward to the update when it comes.


gogole doesn't make an office solution for android just yet. (maybe in the future with "google apps" when they kill... err combine chromeOS with andorid it will make it over I'm sure.


the bundleware from asus is a licenced polaris office I think ... I don't use it because it's crap... but I dont do much editing, I use google docs for simple stuff... but agian I don't really use office in my line of work... (just fix it... or fix the users that break it) But look at the xoom, what comes with that tablet... and what comes with the transformer... most of what they have in comon is the core apps.
 
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