
Google closes its $1.1B deal with HTC Corp - ehllo
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-30/google-is-designing-more-in-house-phone-chips-to-take-on-apple
======
elvirs
after being an iPhone user for 6 years and recently switching to android
(first a pixel, then one plus) I can say with confidence Google's hardware
approach sucks. Android can do a lot more than iOS but it does most of the
simple things in a user unfriendly way

~~~
ariwilson
For a contrasting perspective, I went Android to iPhone and I can say it sent
me running back to Pixel as fast as I could for basic usability.

~~~
PierceJoy
Funny, I've never had a problem using my iPhone. Care to elaborate?

~~~
colordrops
Android has three buttons rather than one, reducing menu fatigue. System
settings are more customizable and generally easier to and more intuitive to
use. Launcher screen be replaced by 3rd party app. Keyboard can be replaced by
3rd party app. Browsers can run any engine they want. Apps can host code.
Terminal is a first class citizen. Phones can have the bootloader unlocked
legally. Supports launch screen widgets. Better integration with Google
services.

Sorry if iPhone now supports any of these. It didn't when I switched over from
a 4.

~~~
lukealization
> Apps can host code.

You say that like it's a good thing.

~~~
colordrops
It is if you are a programmer. Must everything be locked down and controlled
by a corporation for our safety? Are you aware of any issues this has caused
on Android?

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thisisit
I don't understand, how is this different from Google acquiring and then
selling off Motorola Mobility?

~~~
puzzle
I was at Google during the Motorola years. There was no integration
whatsoever, by design. The Android team bent over backwards not to give
Motorola any special access.

~~~
otterley
Why was it designed that way? Can you elaborate?

~~~
thomasfortes
I remember reading somewhere that they did not integrate to not alienate other
phone manufacturers, they were trying to avoid making the manufacturers feel
like second class citizens.

~~~
eanzenberg
That strategy worked out really well for them.

~~~
samfisher83
It did. The have a majority of the market. They don't make money selling
phones. They make money selling ads. As long as all the phones are using
google search and ads they do well.

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eanzenberg
Google doesn’t understand least-friction products like apple and HTC isn’t
going to get them there.

Their customer first and formost are ad-buyers and what they sell is your
data. Apple’s customers are users, and it shows.

------
scriptingnerd
Apple comes across as people friendly, a hardware company who provides a
tangible, usable set of products. Google comes across as what they are, an ad
company with a semi-decent search engine and an OK web mail and docs platform.
I stick with my i-devices and Fastmail.

~~~
Yetanfou
What Apple or Google or any other company comes across as is mostly in the eye
of the beholder and can be influenced by many, sometimes trivial things. As an
example my perception of Google has changed in recent years, not so much due
to them shedding projects but more due to the intense politicisation of the
place and the censorship which followed. I don't use the search engine
directly, preferring to go through a third party to gain a semblance of
anonymity. The Android project still gets my vote as long as AOSP remains
viable, as soon as that road is cut off I'll jump ship to something else. To
me Apple seems to be more in the business of herding their flock of users,
trying to extract as much profit from them as feasible. They know which
strings to pull to make keep most users from leaving the flock but recently
more and more have strayed to the edge and beyond.

------
cpeterso
Why would HTC sell 2000 engineers to Google if they plan to still make
smartphones? This move suggests HTC management felt they would be unable to
produce $1.1B value with those engineers (which should be a warning to
investors).

~~~
bitmapbrother
HTC has been losing money each quarter and needed an infusion of cash to
sustain their operations.

------
nicetime
For sure, the only reason I’ve been on Apple devices these past few years is
because Ubuntu is such an abomination. Windows is plainly unthinkable. And if
you have my laptop, the mobile devices fall like dominos. I don’t love
iPhones, but even at premium prices it’s worth it to integrate with OS X.

Android really makes me sick though. Touted as free and open, but you still
have to root your phone with shady exploits, payloaded over some sketchy USB
shell. And then when you do, the custom roms are trash. And I wouldn’t even be
rooting these devices if I could just efface some of the stock brand and
bloatware, but no, every mobile provider wants me to sign into their analytics
package, and billboard their logos all over the place. It’s a wasteland in all
directions.

~~~
feikname
That's the mobile provider fault, not Android's... And no custom ROMs are
necessary for root usually.

Also, what makes you prefer macOS UX than Windows or Ubuntu? They surely have
their downsides, but I don't think they're THAT bad to the point of not even
touching one.

~~~
genghizkhan
Not OP, but for me it's the apps. While a good number of apps I use
professionally can be used on both Windows and Linux, I prefer using OSX
simply because Omnifocus, Fantastical and Spark exist on it. I'm sure there
are other people who can use the Todoist/web/web trio or make do with Outlook
(if you're in an all-Exchange shop with no CalDAV stuff), I'm just not one of
them.

An alternative view is that Linux lacks good GUI apps and Windows blows at the
command line (despite Bash on Windows). Windows apps also don't have great UX
chops in the areas I'd like them to. 1password on Windows sucked the last time
I used it, there's no native equivalent to Omnifocus or Things, there's no
great calendar app like Fantastical, there's no great indie devs like
Readdle[1] or Nucleobytes[2].

This comes from someone who's used all these OSes as well as FreeBSD and
OpenBSD for both work and home.

[1][https://readdle.com/](https://readdle.com/)

[2][https://nucleobytes.com/](https://nucleobytes.com/)

------
coliveira
Another me-too from Google. It doesn't matter how much money they put on it,
it won't work until they do something innovative. Apple had to do it to get
where they are.

~~~
ac29
> Apple had to do it to get where they are.

Apple aquired a lot of companies to get their "innovative" features. Siri was
aquired (I know, its not great, but it was novel when it came out), PA-Semi
was aquired (boosted their in house SoC development), and the original Kinect
team for the iPhone X face recognition sensor suite come to mind.

A much bigger list is here:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Apple)

~~~
genghizkhan
All that proves is that ideas can come in from anywhere. Google has a similar
list:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Alphabet)

It's impossible to say how much input/influence each of these mergers had on
the products of these companies. Some of these started products, some of these
enhanced them, some of these even replaced them.

------
guhan_ganesh
Though Apple is lagging behind in innovative features in recent times, I think
they are at a higher level because of the excellent hardware that complements
their software and vice versa. I think Google feels let down by the other
mobile manufacturer's hardware and hence wants to bet big on improving its in
house hardware expertise.

~~~
lostmsu
Yeah, the battery story shows how excellent their hardware is.

~~~
murukesh_s
That could be the sales department at work there..

------
r00fus
Gotta say as an iPhone user throughout (I own a nexus5 v1 ), I'm pretty
impressed with HTCs design. However it's not clear that google will integrate
them well.

I see this as more of a sign that Google doesn't care about scaring the
hardware manufacturers anymore.

------
aphextron
I wish Google would just buy HTC already and put out a Fuschia based phone so
I can be done with iOS.

~~~
on_and_off
Fuchsia looks like it is at least 2 years from release (probably more. No
wonder O was presented as `the technical foundation of the next 10 years of
Android` (from the last IO): it is possible that Google plans Fuchsia as an
Android replacement (maybe only at the technical level, as long as they add
ART, it can be the next version of Android) but it is not going to happen
overnight.

------
paulcole
Apple has built a brand that’s cool and stylish. Google’s got a long way to go
to get there. More brains aren’t the answer to this problem.

~~~
dcow
But tailored hardware might be.

------
fnord77
Google has always been tone-deaf when it comes to how they treat their users.
Apples treats their users as something special. Apple delights - google, well
it's fast, but it sometimes creeps you out.

throwing more bodies at the problem isn't going to fix it - this is a top-down
issue.

~~~
jk563
Fairly subjective to be fair. I'd wager that the same features that creep you
out are some of the features that delight me.

------
sparkie
How come the title was changed? Original title from the article was "Google
Bets a Billion Dollars More Brains Can Help Take On Apple".

My thoughts when reading this title:
[https://i.imgur.com/Y6Js3Ju.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Y6Js3Ju.jpg)

------
freeOpenBloat
For sure, the only reason I’ve been on Apple devices these past few years is
because Ubuntu is such an abomination. Windows is plainly unthinkable. And if
you have my laptop, the mobile devices fall like dominos. I don’t love
iPhones, but even at premium prices it’s worth it to integrate with OS X.

Android really makes me sick though. Touted as free and open, but you still
have to root your phone with shady exploits, payloaded over some sketchy USB
shell. And then when you do, the custom roms are trash. And I wouldn’t even be
rooting these devices if I could just efface some of the stock brand and
bloatware, but no, every mobile provider wants me to sign into their analytics
package, and billboard their logos all over the place. It’s a wasteland in all
directions.

