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.
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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.
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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.
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Understand I dislike Samsung devices because of the bloat and their wanting to be Apple for Android, so I'm a harsh critic of Samsung.
I'm someone who HAMMERS a phone. Screen is rarely off. I run hard sync jobs (Resilio and Syncthing) all day long, hundreds of apps, multiple simultaneous actions, "watching" PiP stream while copying files to my home NAS, and navigating. My phone never gets a break.
Years ago the S4 was OK, but it ate battery for me (combination of screen tech and Android version), form factor was great but the power wasn't yet there, plus Samsung bloat.
My current preferred device is a 2018 Essential Ph1 running Lineage, rooted, with some kernel tweaks that make it blazing fast while minimizing battery consumption as best as can, for an IPS screen.
When my last Ph1 died I switched to this A505. Honestly not a bad phone at all. It can't quite keep up with my abuse, which means 98% of users would find it a fine device.
The author of this article is an idiot, hypocrite, or something else. He should go back to digging ditches, though he probably can't do that right either.
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. :(
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