Google's increasingly prickly Android perception problem
Google's increasingly prickly Android perception problem
Apple's convincing an entire generation of phone-buyers that Android is behind the times — which couldn't be much further from the truth.
For those of us who live in the land of Google Pixel products or even the higher-end Samsung Galaxy gadgets, let me illuminate you on what these low-end Galaxy A-this-and-that models are all about:
They are, to use the technical term, steaming hot piles of garbage — truly terrible all-around user experiences with bloated software, subpar performance, and virtually no ongoing software support.
And when the vast majority of people in the world are associating Android with those types of devices, combined with Apple's artfully forced perception of Android being the lesser platform that can't keep up with its magical messaging standards, it's no wonder folks think Android is awful. Honestly, can you blame 'em?!
The irony of talking about Apple snobbery, when high-end android snobbery is just as bad. You see it all the time around /r/android.
You know why those phones are "popular"? They're affordable and do what those people need them to do. I know it's hard to understand but not every person that buys a phone is an enthusiast. They don't care about any of this, they just want something that works.
The central thesis of this article almost comes off as blaming android's perception on poor people or people that don't use Pixels. In fact that's almost explicit:
With no disrespect to anyone who genuinely enjoys Samsung's approach to Android, I've heard from countless people who have made the switch from a Galaxy phone to a Pixel over the years, and virtually every single one of 'em has sung the same tune: "Wow! I had no idea Android could be this good. I had no idea what I was missing."
That's the Android experience Google needs ordinary tech-totin' people be aware of. But when the term "Android" is associated with so much bottom-of-the-barrel, godawful garbage, it's damn-near impossible to break free from that and create a positive perception.
If he's actually heard from "countless" people that "I had no idea Android could be this good" after using a Pixel, I'll eat this Motorola phone im holding.
You know what the actual beauty of Android is? Choice. The worst thing that could happen is every Android user just starts using Pixel.
I used high end android for a long time. The note series, mainly. When I had to step away from that, I switched to LG. I fucking loved LG. They were awesome. Half the price, and damn good.
Since they've stopped, I've had the pixel 6, and an A53. The pixel 6 was glitchy AF, and Google won't allow HDMI over USB, which is a major use case for me, and the A53 just sort of sucks.
I miss high end android. :( but I won't switch to iOS. I hate how locked down it is, and I've never liked the feel of the OS. I'm considering the pixel again, but no HDMI is really fucking with me. :(
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I've been doing mobile device management at my last company and we handed out whatever the latest a series was, to our coworkers, for especially the cost and security factor.
And with the A52 I think, they have become really really decent phones in my opinion, I really don't know what the hell the writer is fumbling about.
I mean personally it's not my favorite UI and I would take my pixel any day over it, but it worked so well and was so fluid, for a simple midrange phone. Again, not my cup of tea, but for someone like my mom or whoever just needs a phone for basic social media, calls, texts, decent camera and the web... This is perfectly fine. Now I'd still get her a pixel a series over it because the cam is just perfect imo, but if someone prefers Samsung UI, the a series is incredible.
Plus idk what their current state is but Dex might already be there? Or is coming soon? Judging by the latest Xcover that got it, which also just sports a midrange processor.
I think it wasn't about low end phones in themselves. The Moto G series is an example of a cheap phone that doesn't include a lot of bloat. Really it would be easy for cheap phones to just leave the OS alone, keep it open so that users could update it if they wanted. That's what the Nexus program did as well. But they don't sell nearly as well as the base Samsungs. Samsung has more marketing and carrier relationships to fall back on, but that means more corporate shenanigans adding unnecessary nonsense to the OS like Facebook installed by default and non-removable, etc. And no updates, plus no way for advanced users to install updates
Google has a Google problem. Seemingly no one is steering the ship. They have a bunch of internal teams doing their own thing. How many messaging apps have they killed now, 3, 4? Allo was great. It worked on Android and iOS. I had all my friends on it and then Google canceled it. All they had to do was add sms fallback for android users, spent some money on marketing, and it could have rivaled iMessage by now. Before that, it was hangouts and regular people didn’t know about it. How many times do they think they can burn customers before people catch on?
Their pixel phones still don’t get the same amount of updates that iPhones do and iPhones retain their value for a lot longer than Android phones. Financially, it makes more sense for a parent to buy an iPhone. They can pass it down to their kid when they upgrade and know it’ll still get updates for a long time. Yes, Google can patch and update parts of the phone from the play store but good luck explaining that to regular people.
I have a lamp with two smart bulbs in it and I can’t combine them into 1 light in the google home app. The light bulbs are controlled independently. It’s infuriating.
I could rant for a long time but I’ll end with this; I don’t enjoy using iOS but my only other option is death by a thousand papercuts.
Before that, it was hangouts and regular people didn’t know about it.
This is their biggest problem, They themselves fragment their user base. We were on hangouts, you could even get your google voice calls on it, we didnt' switch to allo or duo, till they announced they were retiring hangouts. And now all three are gone.
We stay away from Google now.
I have a lamp with two smart bulbs in it and I can’t combine them into 1 light in the google home app. The light bulbs are controlled independently. It’s infuriating.
I have multiple lights in my living room and when I say "Ok Google, Turn on all lights in living room" it turns on all lights. The key is to have them in same room in Google Home app.
Yes, but what happens when you have one room with multiple light fixtures, each with multiple bulbs, and you want to manage them separately? This is relevant to me because I have a very long attic loft bedroom. If my wife is in bed at one end of the room and I'm on the computer at the other end, I want the lights at dim at my end and off at hers.
There are workarounds involving "automations" or tricks with naming conventions but they're very tedious and spotty. The ability to group bulbs together (which Phillips Hue offers) would be much cleaner.
I hear what you are saying but what if I want to use the app because I’m trying to be quiet and not wake anyone?
What if I only want to turn on the lamp and not other lights?
What happens when I tell Google Assistant to turn on the lamp and for some reason, only 1 light bulb turns on?
What do mute people do if they can’t speak to the assistant?
You don’t have to answer any of that. My point is that, sure, there are workarounds but none of them really solve the issue and it ends up being just another papercut. For all of Apple’s faults, of which there are many, it feels like their engineers actually use their phones.
you can also say "turn on the lights" and it will toggle all the lights in whatever room it is in
This is such an american thing, I don't even.
Do you odd?
Only every other time
Can someone TLDR it? How do we summon the TLDR not?
Basically: American teenagers/kids think Android is backwards and uncool, even though this is false; Android historically and presently more capable than iOS etc. But big problem for Google in this market. Partly driven by fact that most popular Android phones are cheap and full of bloatware. Some optimism in the Pixel sales and Google should push their own hardware more to address the problem /end
Omg its another android apple article. Its been so many years dont know why people can't move on. Time to discuss pinephone also Thanks for the TLDR bro.
Oh great bot of bots, who saves us much time...where are you in our time of need?
All the hot girls I know have androids so that's the only metric I care about
every hot girl i know has an android
/s
I hear what they are saying and it definitely has merit. Because the iPhone is so expensive and has a strong brand, and because they love to say "the best iPhone yet" all the time, people get conditioned to believe that the iPhone is better.
Normally in life the better products are the more expensive products. Having said that, from my observation regular people don't really put lot of thought into phones.
As long as it works and let's them so what they need they are happy. In talking mostly people of 40+ years old. Only techy people like us watch GSMArena videos, compare specs, watch keynotes etc.
It's gen Z that seems to be a little more aware of brand, status and care about being in the iMessage group.
But even that seems to be US only. Here in Europe everyone I know except for 1 couple, have Android phones and when they upgrade they choose Android on purpose. Because we use WhatsApp and Viber, we don't have the iMessage issue, yet.
It will probably change because Apple has been working with mobile carriers to push the iPhone at incredibly low monthly prices. And sadly it's working because I'm seeing more iPhones around, especially amongst those who care about status, be it because they are rich or because they are businessmen and want to convey they are upper class.
I imagine their children will also grow up with iPhone but I think it will take 1 generation before Apple has a decent market share.
But then again, this is an island, people don't have a lot of money, so that might keep things in Android's favour for longer.
Maybe google could make a thing where they give users an pixel for less in exchange for their old iphone (newer -> more price reduction)
With a 30 day guarantee to give the phone back (data purge and stuff only happens after) the user is not going to really risk anything
But it could be interpreted as weak, but if a bunch of users stays they can really use it as good publicity so maybe the move would not be that bad.
I am sure that google could loose a lot of money this way but they are one of the largest companies so they could afford it.
Google actually does this already with trade-ins, they gave me $300 for an iPhone SE worth $100 on the second hand market.
Claiming Android is more advanced than iOS in terms of software is laughable, the two are perpetually neck and neck and one leapfrogs the other year over year.
As for a perception problem, I’d argue Google’s ongoing advertising and data situation (eg the new development with Chrome spying on you for advertisers) is hurting opinions with tech savvy users. As for non tech savvy users, the perpetually awful skins from Samsung, HTC and the like detract from the brand. It’s fair to compare iOS with a Pixel’s Android experience, they are arguably on par. However, some of the pieces of shit that the OEMs ship are absolutely pathetic.
Come back to me when Apple openly let's you sideload apps on an iPhone.
Despite having an iPad Pro I would say my S23U is more advanced than my iPadOS. My S23U has better external monitor support for one, and file system makes it much closer to actually feeling like a computer over my tablet. Then there's not needing to use stuff like the Alt store to side load. And apps like syncthing make iOS/iPadOS limitations so apparent with how files sync seamlessly across my Linux, Mac, Windows, and Android devices while my iPadOS is the black sheep in that department with the limited file access when trying out syncthing equivalent apps.
Apple is a very restrictive mobile that just doesn't have great compatibility for anything that isn't Apple. That it doesn't let it be advanced despite the powerful chip becomes really apparent if you try to do anything more than try and use it outside Apple devices, use external monitors, or even want to split screen when it comes to iOS.
One thing it has going for it though is long term updates, but my iPad is pretty an expensive glorified comic book reader most of the time now. I found myself wishing iPadOS had the equivalent of edge panels and one hand operations+ so I could just navigate more easily without having to do full hand gestures.
As someone who's struggled with the iOS file system and sync issue, Möbius is an iOS Syncthing client. It costs $5,but so worth it.
Still can't auto-sync iOS images, because Apple doesn't consider them files until you move them to a folder. Even setting up an automation on iOS can't move them to a folder, since you have to select what to love. So stupid.
I'm genuinely curious, what can iOS do that Android can't?
Ignoring low hanging fruit answers like “iOS can use Apple apps” or “iOS gets more than 4 years of updates”; These are hardware specific but they work out of the box:
- I don’t know if this is still true and even if it is, it’s not true for much longer; satellite SOS
- LiDAR on the pro phones and faceID. Both can be used for 3D scanning
- this also may not be true anymore but I had a bitch of a time getting my WireGuard VPN to automatically turn on when I left the house on android. I remember a pixel OS upgrade breaking my tasker script. Works fine on iOS.
Edit: I know android can unlock with your face. That’s not what I’m talking about. The 3D scanning aspect is what’s cool
Edit 2: I know there are things android can do that iOS can’t. Just answering OP’s question
Technically, no new Android phone I know of right now capable of securely unlock the phone with your face. But then all iPhone user I know prefer fingerprint to face unlock and hope Apple would implement underscreen scanner
I think the point is rather the opposite, what can Android do that iOS can’t? And the honest answer is effectively nothing. It can’t side load unsigned apps. Literally nothing else. So to claim that Android is so super advanced in the article is disingenuous.
As power users we should be watching both mobile platforms closely and honestly, and demanding parity and improvements in both. The moment we declare one “better” and the other one trash is the moment we stop holding our own platform of choice to account for bettering itself.
They get wireless charging from 2015 yet?
Still waiting for the article about non-apple people thinking apple people are sheep