

Stross on: why my Android tablet experience sucks - cstross
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2012/06/gadget-patrol-why-android-tabl.html

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nicholassmith
Interestingly titled 'why _my_...', as it heads off the trolls at the pass,
decrying "yeah but it's great for MY needs".

But Stross makes some really good points, proprietary connectors are a relic
of a long time ago and part of the reason why Apple is still hawking them is
that they don't want to do something silly like Samsung have, and break
compatibility. Which isn't a good idea on Apples part as the dock connector is
still crap, but I'd wager they'd have a lot of upset customers if they killed
it.

I only just recently bought an iPad, it took time to convince me I needed one.
I did look at Android for a while though, mostly for the price point. My
experience was much the same, I found at the name brand manufacturers quality
was excellent but the software was terrible, and the off brand was vice-versa.
Apple has the market stitched up at the moment by having a) excellent hardware
and b) excellent software (which even if you don't _like_ iOS you can't argue
it's very good at what it does).

~~~
larsberg
> part of the reason why Apple is still hawking them

I've always assumed a large part of the reason Apple uses proprietary
connectors (other than any potential circuit real estate savings) is that it
significantly reduces their testing matrix. If you have to have a license to
plug it into their system, they don't have to test it unless you paid the fee.

If you saw the terrible, horrible things that hardware vendors do to the USB
specification just because "it doesn't crash when attached to a Windows <N>
box" you would cry bloody tears.

~~~
nicholassmith
You know what, that's a super smart idea that I hadn't even considered. I just
assumed it was to not upset consumers and/or because they've already got an
entire production chain geared for producing them for absolutely nothing, but
forcing it down that route does ensure Apple has a slightly easier life.

------
padobson
Reasons why Android sucks: OEM's installing crapware, no unified hardware
strategy, lots of crappy apps

Reasons why iOS sucks: App store monopoly, crappy memory management, no
hardware freedom, read-only devices

That's really it. If you're a power user, like most of the HNers, then Android
tends to be much more attractive. My ASUS Transformer Prime with keyboard dock
might be the the best piece of hardware I've ever owned. I think ICS
multitasking is the best I've ever seen. I've owned no less than 3 iOS
devices, and I can see how they're great for the layperson who is maybe just
learning to use computers for the first time, but I can't use one for 10
minutes without being frustrated with a thought like "Is that app still
running in the background?" or "Why can't I customize the way this works?"

But then, that just proves I'm not 90% of the Tablet market. I don't fault
Apple for going after the lowest common denominator, but doing so means there
devices are of no use to me.

~~~
freehunter
_"Is that app still running in the background?"_

My Android experience has been on par with this, except with "how can I make
that app stop running in the background?"

If there's a way to easily just close an app and have it be done with, I don't
know of it. Task managers I've found to be cumbersome and people tend to frown
on them saying the system runs more efficiently on its own. So why is this
background app listed above Bluetooth in the power manager?

~~~
kingrolo
Yeah, this has been a paid. It's fixed in ICS. Hold home button, see list of
running apps, swipe left any you want to close.

~~~
jsight
AFAIK, this doesn't actually kill the task. I believe that it just removes it
from the displayed list.

~~~
StavrosK
You are correct, it doesn't kill the task.

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mattwdelong
Should be titled: "Why my experience with one Android tablet sucks".

While his reasons are sound, I don't think these reasons are entirely
encompassing of all Android tablet experiences. I for one have been using Asus
Transformer for a while now and I am entirely satisfied with the experience.
While I am entirely capable of rooting the device, the thought has never even
crossed my mind. Asus has done a great job of actually bundling apps that I
use (Polaris Office and MyCloud) and the few other applications that they've
bundled are not even noticable.

Perhaps we could talk about standardizaton of connectors, but I think this
problem transcends the Android Tablet experiece and even the "Android
Experience". It would be nice to have one cable fit all my devices (tablet,
phone etc), but alas I don't ever see this happening. I think the problem is
less about conformity and more about proprietary hardware design and that's a
whole bunch of issues I know nothing about.

I could easily write "Why my ASUS Android Tablet experience is awesome". With
freedom comes choices, and Google has left it up to the hardware manufacturer
to make the right software choices for their hardware. Asus has made good
choices while Samsung has chosen poorly. With freedom comes
responsibility..and all that. Shouldn't we be talking about this instead?

~~~
StavrosK
I will second that. I _love_ that my Transformer Prime has an (almost?) stock
ICS experience, I think ICS is beautifully designed and very usable.

I'm trying to decide which phone should replace my Desire HD, and I'm leaning
towards the SGSIII, but the custom UI is really putting me off. Too bad
there's no stock-ish phone in the top contenders, I might have to go with the
One X if it's less customized.

------
technoslut
This is sort of an odd article. He is calling out Samsung for their walled
garden approach yet yearns for a 7" iPad. Secondly, he is critical of the dock
connector but, if rumors are to be believed and it looks increasingly likely,
that Apple will adopt a new, smaller dock connector for iOS devices.

I can't blame Samsung in wanting to reduce their dependency on Google when
they control over half of the Android phone market and sell as many, if not
more, smartphones than Apple.

~~~
cstross
You missed the key angle: ecosystem size.

Apple has first-mover advantage: an 8 year legacy of dock-connector-compatible
third party peripherals.

Samsung does not, and if they keep changing proprietary connectors like
underpants nobody in their right mind will even _think_ about producing
compatible hardware peripherals for their devices.

Similarly, Apple has a pre-existing, pre-iOS market of loyal OSX customers who
can be coaxed into embracing iOS as a portable extension of their desktop,
with Calendar and Mail and Address book syncing. Samsung doesn't have such a
captive audience, and won't build one by going about it this way.

You're right about Samsung having reason to reduce their dependency on Google,
but my point is they're going about it the wrong way from a UX point of view.

Per Drucker, the job of any successful company is to acquire customers.
Preferably loyal repeat customers. This is not how to do it.

~~~
Tloewald
And mail doesn't restrict you from emailing non iOS users (indeed, it supports
Exchange and gmail), etc. etc.

~~~
DeepDuh
Did Samsung really restrict an E-Mail application to one maildomain? Yes I
read the article, but I still can't believe it... why would anyone want to use
such crapware? Are they even asking themselves this question?

~~~
Tloewald
"chat to other Galaxy Tab users, mail via walled garden servers, share photos
with other Samsung owners, and so on" so this is all incorrect? (I genuinely
don't know.)

Consider the way iOS Messages works — it bypasses SMS when possible to save
you money, but transparently supports SMS. The point stands even if the
particulars are slightly incorrect.

------
tatsuke95
Much more balanced look than the article floating around yesterday. Although,
the 7" form factor seems even less practical too me. When I was purchasing a
tablet, I had my mind set on the Blackberry Playbook, until I went and played
with it. So small! Not enough differential from my phone screen to warrant a
new device.

> _"Why does Samsung insist on trying to steer users towards Samsung apps that
> duplicate their functionality but miss out key features that make them
> useful, like, oh, being able to share stuff with folks who don't own a
> Samsung device"_

I don't understand this either. In fact, when I'm phone shopping, I refuse to
buy a product that has applications installed, either by the service provider
or manufacturer, that I can't remove. How naive are these companies to think
that, of all the ways to mimic Apple, creating a "wall-garden" on an inferior
eco-system is the choice?

First build an awesome tablet. If it takes off, invest in having some good
apps developed. Or rely on the Market to sort it out. Applications should
_add_ to the experience, not give you coronary every time you use your device.

------
AndrewDucker
And this is why I will only buy Nexus phones. I cannot be arsed rooting my
phone (and potentially bricking it), and I don't want to have to deal with
crapware being forced on me.

(I understand that even then you're not entirely safe - with the Verizon
version of the Galaxy Nexus _still_ having Verizon software on top. FFS.)

------
ben1040
He doesn't even yet get to experience what will happen when Google releases a
new version of Android and you expect to see it on your tablet in a reasonable
time frame.

I gave up on my Galaxy Tab 10.1 when Android 4 came out and Samsung chose to
first announce and release a brand new line of tablet products running Android
4, and then slack on updating the ones that weren't even a year old at the
time. The message they're sending was "oh, you want a tablet running a current
OS? Why not ditch the one you just bought, and buy one of these?"

As of December, maybe three weeks after the source was released to Android 4,
there were custom firmware builds for the Tab 10.1 that were 80% functional -
no camera support and power management could be flaky at times. If some
hobbyists coding at home at night can get a tracer bullet in a couple weeks,
Samsung has no excuse for the fact that there still has been no official
update released.

I prefer Android to iOS in general, but only on a Nexus device with less of a
gap between Google as the software vendor and me as the end user.

~~~
gizzlon
Are the iPads updated with new OS releases? Do they autoupdate?

~~~
cstross
Yes and yes. As of iOS 5.x, iPads can update their own OS over wifi without
requiring a complete nuke-and-reinstall-from-backup (as was needed in previous
iterations of the OS).

------
ccozan
He should have said: "why my Samsung Android table experience sucks". What he
says does not apply to my Xoom. Yes, they are a few apps loaded that you can't
uninstall, but most of them I was using anyway. The rest is all google stuff,
or whatever you wish to use.

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spydum
While not a fan of the OEM crapware, I have found it completely harmless on my
Tab2. Yes, it takes up some space on the internal flash, but I would be
surprised if it was much more than 200mb.

------
jsight
Also, keep in mind that ICS offers the ability to disable unwanted builtin
apps:
[http://blogs.computerworld.com/19435/disable_system_apps_and...](http://blogs.computerworld.com/19435/disable_system_apps_android_ice_cream_sandwich)

This removes them from the applications menus and prevents them from ever
running in the background.

------
darkstalker
Didn't see any real argument about the supposed bad user experience. Just
another blog review that says "this sucks because isn't done the apple way"

------
mtgx
While the things he talked about can be a bit annoying, that's far from the
biggest problem with Android tablets. The biggest problems are that Google
needs to:

1) improve the tablet experience _dramatically_. It shouldn't just be similar
or slightly better than iPad. It should be _much_ better, while also easy to
get by most people. I suggest going the direction of the Chameleon UI, where
your "widgets" can be a lot more useful and functional than Microsoft's
"tiles" and of course than Apple's "icons" on the homescreen. Also make the OS
a lot better at multi-tasking, so you can use at least 2 apps at once for
example.

2) get more tablet apps. A lot more. They've wasted 1.5 years not giving a
_crap_ about Android tablet apps. For crying out loud Google - take this issue
seriously before you lose the tablet ecosystem forever. The _least_ you can do
is get top 100 apps to have a tablet app. But you really need to give an
incentive for all devs to do it.

I suggest lowering the fee you get from devs by 10% out of the 30% or whatever
you're charging them now, for those who are willing to adopt the Holo design
style. Apple had a style guide and resources from the beginning, so the vast
majority of devs are already using the iOS style for apps, while Microsoft is
forcing Metro on all developers.

So you go the "incentive" route, and have a "special" category of apps, or
give them a certain badge on the Play Store, for those that use the Holo
style, and also reduce the fee from 30% to 20% for those who are willing to do
it. Also put them through a more rigorous approval process. And give them
higher visibility in the Play Store. This way they have plenty of incentive to
follow your style guidelines, _and_ to make a tablet version (ask for that,
too).

~~~
jcromartie
> It shouldn't just be similar or slightly better than iPad. It should be much
> better

That's easy for you to say. Google has a lot of the world's smartest people
working for them, but beating iOS in design and usability is not something
they are geared to do as an organization.

