Sick of Android

Number29

Number29

Number29

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Is anyone else out there getting really sick of Android and it's pervasive stranglehold on the mobile market? With so many manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon (presumably because it's cheap and easy for them to do so) we are seeing a market being slowly strangled of innovation because there isn't anything significantly different between an Android device from one manufacturer and an Android device from another. The only (viable) resistance we have against this market deadening effect is Apple and Microsoft. However, in a market where money talks, and it's the cheapest devices that determine the overall path of the industry, do we have any means of effectively stopping this creep? We seem to be witnessing the PC market over again.

Thoughts welcome!

#29.
 
Android doesn't stifle innovation, as the manufacturers can tweak it as they see fit. Samsung have been pretty innovative with their additions to Android and the split screen functionality on their devices is fantastic for example.

I hate most of their "bloat" but a lot of people heavily utilise their additions and Google seem to regularly nick their ideas and incorporate them into stock Android.
 
Kreeeee said:
Android doesn't stifle innovation, as the manufacturers can tweak it as they see fit. Samsung have been pretty innovative with their additions to Android and the split screen functionality on their devices is fantastic for example.

I hate most of their "bloat" but a lot of people heavily utilise their additions and Google seem to regularly nick their ideas and incorporate them into stock Android.
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I'd say Android stifles innovation in that it's the same OS, over and over, rather than distinct and innovative OSes from each manufacturer. Android distracts manufacturers from making innovating operating systems and ecosystems.
 
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Number29 said:
I'd say Android stifles innovation in that it's the same OS, over and over, rather than distinct and innovative OSes from each manufacturer.
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As opposed to IOS or Windows phone?

I dont want individual OSs as when i buy a new phone i do not want to have to buy apps again or indeed find out (like windows) that half of the apps i like arent available to buy on that platform.

I am actually bored of android myself just because it always looks/feels the same to me even when i constantly change roms. But the other OSs are just as boring so i have nowhere else to go.

Waiting for new ubuntu phones or something :P
 
Surely a lot of manufacturers don't have the time or resources to implement their own O/S? As Kreee had mentioned, they can tweak android to implement specific features. Similar model is applied for desktop computers, the likes of HP, Dell, Asus, Lenovo etc don't create their own O/S for use on these systems, they generally always use Windows.
 
jubei said:
As opposed to IOS or Windows phone?

I dont want individual OSs as when i buy a new phone i do not want to have to buy apps again or indeed find out (like windows) that half of the apps i like arent available to buy on that platform.

I am actually bored of android myself just because it always looks/feels the same to me even when i constantly change roms. But the other OSs are just as boring so i have nowhere else to go.

Waiting for new ubuntu phones or something :P
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Android is the same OS over and over again in that it's the same OS over and over again on phones from many different manufacturers. Windows Phone would be exactly the same in the same position. iOS obviously isn't because there's only one manufacturer of iOS devices.

I can understand that convenience is a big factor as to why people like that Android is so pervasive, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking that one OS dominating is remotely healthy for the market given that that leads to less choice of smartphone OSes overall. Just imagine how ultra crazy competitive the smartphone market would be if each manufacturer had their own OS and ecosystem? Manufacturers would then have to wow us with their software as opposed to just their hardware, which I'd surmise would lead to more innovation on the software front than we currently get.

Surely a lot of manufacturers don't have the time or resources to implement their own O/S? As Kreee had mentioned, they can tweak android to implement specific features. Similar model is applied for desktop computers, the likes of HP, Dell, Asus, Lenovo etc don't create their own O/S for use on these systems, they generally always use Windows.
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Really, that's precisely the problem with the market as it stands. Manufacturers take the easiest and cheapest route to getting their products to market. However, that doesn't translate into what is best for us consumers, which would be more competition.

Whoop! Posting in a troll thread!

But yeah, it makes me sick you can a high quality smartphone for £100.
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This isn't a troll thread, it's a thread to ask whether anyone else is concerned with the stifling of the mobile market by Android, and potentially what can be done to prevent further harm being done.
 
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Number29 said:
Just imagine how ultra crazy competitive the smartphone market would be if each manufacturer had their own OS and ecosystem?
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And how much of a mess it would be. Devs picking and choosing which platform to place apps on, waiting for the "killer" apps to be on the OS, syncing software over different platforms. The list is endless.

What is it that you want from a new OS anyway? Some specific feature or just the choice to move around?

They all do pretty much the same only in a slight;y different way.
 
I don't see the "harm" you're alluding too, the market would be a downright mess if every manufacturer were to produce a OS as the app choice and quality would be non-existant. The benefits of having only 3 main mobile OS's rather then 20 different ones where non of the apps are inter-compatible are clear.
 
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You could argue a homogeneous operating system would actually encourage innovation, not stifle it, as manufacturers seek to differentiate.

Not that I think Android dominance is a good thing, but is it really putting the brakes on the industry? I'm not so sure on that point.
 
Even then, Symbian was the 'dominant' OS, found on Nokia, Sony and Samsung devices.

And it was turd* really.

*by comparison
 
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wow... this thread is retarded!

android is arguably the most innovative mobile OS about.
 
My last three phones have been iPhones but I have no problem with Android.

I would agree that Android hasn't been particularly innovative - it started as a Blackberry clone and then transitioned into an iPhone clone. However, I think that it's great that someone is providing the manufacturers with a flexible and fairly decent quality operating system for free. Phone manufacturers tend to be hardware-focused and don't particularly understand software.

And it's not like there aren't other operating systems out there if the manufacturers fancy a change. Tizen, Firefox OS and Sailfish are all viable and cheap alternatives.
 
Why would you want a market in which every manufacturer uses a different OS? First, as manufacturers consistently show when they tinker with Android, they are incapable of developing a better OS - you're simply adding to manufacturers' costs, and would drive up prices.

Secondly, the current smartphone is built around apps. If there were, say, seven or eight mainstream platforms (rather than Android and iOS and, to a growing extent, W8), app developers would have to do an awful lot of work to make their apps cross-platform. We'd end up in a world where every app was HTML5, so you'd end up living in your browser. Not exactly innovative either, is it?
 
Instead of slowing down innovation it's actually started a more interesting scene, sure it's still based on Android but the top manufacturers heavily modify it to stand out from other Android based OSes (TouchWiz, Sense, Optimus UI, etc...). The fact that it's open source allows manufacturers to do as they see fit, to the point where it's no longer stock Android any more.
 
manic111 said:
app developers would have to do an awful lot of work to make their apps cross-platform.
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App developers largely get a free pass on this point and they really ought to pull their finger out. If the market never grows out of the current duopoly (arguably monopoly) then devs and their employers are partially to blame.

Companies worth literally hundreds of millions, in some cases billions, of dollars continually neglect the smaller platforms which is blunting their competitiveness. I don't buy the notion that it's a significant drain on developer resources when independent hobbyists can crank out unofficial apps that are in some cases better than the first party ones.

So if we all end up in an Android quagmire like the PC market then there is plenty of blame to go around, but we can hardly say it was unprecedented.
 
Number29 said:
Android is the same OS over and over again in that it's the same OS over and over again on phones from many different manufacturers. Windows Phone would be exactly the same in the same position. iOS obviously isn't because there's only one manufacturer of iOS devices.
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But have you tried Le Frog or MIUI or how about Color OS?
 
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