

My Very Own Protocol Droid - mh_
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3468-my-very-own-protocol-droid

======
Irregardless
There's no doubt Apple is playing catch-up with Android these days. Siri was
their only real innovation in the last 3 iPhones, and Google leapfrogged it
within months.

Meanwhile, Apple is still trying to implement a decent notification system,
their auto-correct is garbage, there's no file manager, you can't set a
default browser (or default anything, for that matter), there are no widgets,
no app shortcuts, no custom keyboards, managing settings is a nightmare, and
you can't side-load apps without jailbreaking. That last one is especially bad
thanks to their cryptic app approval rules and the fact that their app store
is the least intuitive to navigate -- if what you want isn't in the top 10 and
you don't know the exact name, forget about it.

But hey, at least you get the privilege of spending a fortune on chargers and
adapters. And other people with iPhones will think you're cool for owning one,
right?

~~~
xauronx
> "their auto-correct is garbage"

The last three people who switched from iPhone to Android asked me what was
wrong with Androids auto-correct and why it didn't "work". They ended up
having to install a third party keyboard to get anything they could stand to
interact with.

~~~
warrenmiller
yes, but they could install a 3rd party keyboard.

~~~
xauronx
Yes, but that they needed to was my comment. Personally, even as a mobile
developer, customizing my phone is not my hobby. I'd prefer a new foreign car
that has certain limitations to a used Jeep that I can extend in any way I
want.

~~~
ChrisClark
But you need specific skills to customize your Jeep. On Android it takes 30
seconds and no skill to install the keyboard you want.

It's not a very hard thing to do, I'm sure as a mobile developer you don't
mind installing apps other than the ones that come with your phone. A
different keyboard is just another app to fulfil a need, go to the Store,
click install, new keyboard. Done.

~~~
xauronx
Not really. Parts are cheap and most are bolt on. It's just a matter of
preference, which is why all of these droid vs apple discussions are circle
jerks.

------
parfe
> _Twenty years of using Macs conditioned me to think, “well, that’s the Apple
> way.” It’s such a small price to pay for such a user-friendly device._

Another Stockholm-syndrome patient cured! I recently took over a prototype
project targeting the Mac. XCode is garbage. OS X itself actively works
against improving your workflow. It's Apple's way or, well Apple's way. iOS is
built to keep the user in a padded cell (aka Walled Garden) and OS X is moving
in that direction.

Use Cyanogenmod. Be Free. Google Now is amazing by the way. Unfortunately I
had to turn my google search history back on, but it was worth it.

~~~
M4v3R
> XCode is garbage

Once in a while I see an argument like this and I wonder - does this guy
really do mobile development? For the better part of last year I was into
Android development, in Eclipse. If XCode is garbage, I don't know what
Eclipse is. Resource-hogging, buggy monster with seven heads with shit on
them, probably. I could list annoyances of Eclipse that got me for hours. On
the other hand, in last month I jumped in to iOS development. And XCode was a
breeze. Sure, it has its own gotchas, but many of them either have fixes or
workarounds, and the start/build speed is just fantastic, compared to slow
Eclipse and Android emulator.

~~~
Taylorious
Well there's your problem. Use Intellij IDEA. It makes every other IDE you may
have used look like garbage.

Also, the ADT bundle that Google now has works way better than downloading
Eclipse and installing the plugin.

Although, I agree with you, I think Xcode works quite well. But, there are
improvements that could be made...

~~~
M4v3R
As a matter of fact I tried IntelliJ. It was nice, but it had it's own set of
problems. Two of them: \- compilation times of bigger Android projects sucks
hard. It's just not fast enough. I even feel that using word fast in this
sentence is a misuse. \- one of the selling points of the IDE (from their
website) is Jabber integration for team coding. Tried for several hours,
didn't get it to work. Even filed a ticked for it, which is still unsolved
(the package is unmantained for years).

------
whichdan
"With Android (and T-Mobile) I killed my contract. Now I pay just $30/month.
For $30/month I have unlimited texts, unlimited data, free tethering, and 100
minutes of talk"

Anyone else have experience doing this? My monthly bill for an iPhone with
AT&T is $76.40 which includes 300MB of data, 1000 messages, and a whopping 450
minutes (I do have ~2700 rollover minutes though).

I don't feel strongly about Android vs iPhone, but $550/yr is nothing to laugh
at.

Edit: For comparison,

T-Mobile <http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans>

$30/mo: 100 minutes, Unlimited text/web (first 5gb at 4g)

$70/mo: Unlimited everything

Verizon [http://www.verizonwireless.com/wcms/consumer/shop/share-
ever...](http://www.verizonwireless.com/wcms/consumer/shop/share-
everything.html)

$100/mo: Unlimited minutes/text, 2gb data ($10/mo per 2gb data extra)

AT&T [http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/plans-
new.html#fbid=hfBE29q...](http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/plans-
new.html#fbid=hfBE29q87kr)

$70/mo: 450 minutes, 1000 texts (plan not listed), 300mb

$90/mo: 450 minutes, unlimited texts, 3gb data

~~~
jrajav
I have had the same T-Mobile plan for a while. I'm not sure what kind of
information you want about it, but it pretty much works as advertised. The
coverage and uptime is not as great as Verizon, but it's faster than AT&T
(AT&T's network has been saturated since the iPhone lock-in). It's definitely
not the worst choice for 4G data, and the price is obviously very competitive.

Note that unlimited data is, as you probably suspected, not actually
unlimited. The $30/month plan gives you 5gb free over 3G or 4G, and then it
downgrades to 2G for the remainder of the month unless you refill. It never
actually cuts off data, but 2G is too slow for pretty much anything but
(slowly) getting your HN fix.

~~~
masonhensley
Data point- I never have hit the limit on the $30 T-Mobile plan and use about
~3gb during an average month. I'm connected to wifi at work, home or friend's
place ~18hrs a day.

Most iPhone users are limited to 2Gb right?

------
timrichard
I've been true to the Droid since the G1, and recently offloaded certain
duties from my Galaxy Nexus to an iPod Touch 5 (needed for Facetime, popular
with the family).

When using iOS, I really miss the Intent subsystem. It seems like every app
seems to offer different and restricted sharing choices (implicitly asking why
I possibly wouldn't be using Instapaper...) [1]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the next Android feature to make it over to
iOS, after multitasking and a sane notification system. On the other hand, it
would be churlish to not mention that Android took a boatload of inspiration
from iOS. :-)

IMHO, Android got the OS basics right with the much maligned early models, and
are now adding polish. iOS obsessed over a slick UI, and are now revisiting
some of the basics.

[1] Apologies if there's something I'm missing here. I'm fairly new to iOS.

~~~
myko
Any chance to convince your family to move to Google+ Hangouts? They work
great on iOS devices and having multiple people in the chat is great.

~~~
timrichard
Thanks, will try out the iOS client.....

We tried chatting with the Google+ Hangouts browser plugin, but at the time
the performance didn't quite match Facetime on one-to-one chats when bandwidth
was scarce.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
My experience of hangouts is video is slightly jerkier (though in a controlled
way if that makes sense - it felt like a deliberately lower frame rate rather
than just breaking up), audio is more solid.

On a poor connection I'd go with hangouts over the alternatives at the moment.
It's not perfect but I prefer the trade offs.

------
mberning
They are still in the honeymoon phase. I've been through it twice before with
Android phones.

Also, in regards to point #1, I never have this problem with my car. Sounds
like more of an integration issue with the headunit in the car rather than the
phone.

~~~
maxerickson
Still, having good integration with a wider variety of vehicles/head units
seems like the sort of thing that could reasonably be described as an
advantage.

~~~
adestefan
Some units work better with iOS and some with Android. It's really hit or
miss.

~~~
mberning
I agree. To me it really seems to depend on the age of the head unit vs the
age of the phone. If they are significantly different then the chances of
issues seems to be higher.

------
danso
Once you get past the disparity in app ecosystem, the top of the line Android
phones (4.1+) definitely have the features to make switching easy.

For me, the killer feature is typing. I cannot get past how goddamn primitive
the iPhone autocorrection is compared to even the default setup of Droid
phones. The state of text input is just absolutely abysmal on iOS.

------
wangweij
Just reading the title I thought the guy created his own C3PO.

~~~
RexRollman
Me too. I feel disappointed.

------
SonicSoul
the "Evangelist" bit about this post irks me. So you've found the light, stop
trying "Evangelize" saying things like "I’d like you to switch too".

I've used the ipod since the beginning, but i've also used windows until it
made more sense to me to start using OSX. today i still use the ipod touch and
an android, and windows. each has it's upsides (love the battery life on the
touch) and downsides (there is a ton on Android). I'm not in any "camp" or
going around telling people why they should switch to my phone. definitely
hate the "apple way" even though i love my macbook pro.

------
eloisant
Wow, 37signals is pretty lagging.

In my company I've seen the ratio iPhone/Android reverse as it reversed in the
global market share.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
37signals are primarily North American so North American market share is more
significant than global. They're also pretty well paid I'd imagine so you're
likely looking at high end market share.

High end, North America, Apple is still kicking butt. Also worth noting that
for North America over the past 12 months Apple's market share grew faster
than Android's and Android's market share dropped in both January and February
this year.

Installed user base overall still favours Android (about 70m to 50m against
iOS) but I'm not sure it's reasonable to say that there has been a "reverse".

------
Kylekramer
A common thing I have noticed in these recent Android switcher posts (and
despite the disclaimer this is a fairly typical one): a shift in perceptive of
who the phone should serve. Apple tends to make opinionated choose that works
amazingly for the vast majority. Switcher tend to stop arguing for the norm
and realizing that some people are different. When I used iOS and ran into a
problem, I usually found that I just wasn't the typical user in that edge
case. Which is fine to a point, but not when I rarely run into similar
problems on Android.

------
justinph
I guess android works pretty slick if all you do is stream from the cloud.
But, if you want to sync music with the phone it's a disaster. The Google-
supported way is for me to put MP3s in a folder? Really? And some of the
android phones (like the flagship nexus 4) don't support transfer via USB?
Really? I have to do it via slow-ass WiFi and a third-party program like
doubletwist? Total disaster.

~~~
Semaphor
> And some of the android phones (like the flagship nexus 4) don't support
> transfer via USB?

What? I have the Nexus 4 here and I'm 99% sure I transfered files over USB in
the 1h before I installed a custom ROM. Additionally I've never heard that
complaint before.

~~~
justinph
The android file transfer app does not work with the Nexus 4. At least, it
doesn't if you're on Mountain Lion. Same goes for doubletwist. The Nexus 4
only supports USB MTP mode, not USB MSC (mass storage) mode. I think other
newer phones are this way too.

~~~
teek
It works in OSX Lion so your comment is a little misleading.

I do however think the Google transfer app is somewhat annoying as it tends to
popup every time I connect my device to my computer.

------
xauronx
"Meh." <\- This article and all of the comments in this thread.

The Apple vs Android thing is pretty played out.

------
jnazario
probably one of the better lists of concrete "here is where android is
innovating better than apple" examples i have seen yet. well put together.

------
tristan_juricek
What's interesting to me here is that I don't see anything but the "Android"
brand being mentioned. Several people on this thread mention having several
Android phones, but not several "Samsung" phones, for example. This, despite
the fact that Samsung seems like the only manufacturer "killing it" with the
Android OS.

[http://www.asymco.com/2012/05/03/the-phone-market-
in-2012-a-...](http://www.asymco.com/2012/05/03/the-phone-market-
in-2012-a-tale-of-two-disruptions/)

This seems like a Google win and a Samsung loss.

------
petercooper
For what it's worth, issue 1 has proven to be the opposite for me. I had an
iPhone 5 and it worked perfectly playing whatever app I had previously been
using and not reverting to the standard iTunes library as it seems to for this
guy.

Indeed, I switched to an Android phone (S III) and found the Bluetooth
experience so poor (quiet, poor quality audio) that I bought an iPod Touch
merely for listening to Spotify and podcasts in the car..

------
Symmetry
Ars Technica did a series recently on things that Android should borrow from
iOS and things that iOS should borrow from Android:

[http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/03/five-features-ios-
shoul...](http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/03/five-features-ios-should-steal-
from-android/)

------
nosecreek
I found it surprising that he thought his android was better at audio-on-the-
go, as this is the very thing that has been keeping me on iOS. Maybe its
because my car doesn't have built in bluetooth, but the ability to buy an FM
transmitter, iPod dock, etc. and just know that my iPhone will work with it is
a huge plus. In talking with my Android using friends, I've also never run
across anyone who thought that they could find a better music player for
Android than the built in iOS music player. Has the music experience on
Android been significantly updated in the most recent OS versions?

------
lttlrck
Nice, but nothing compelling. Match irritates me no end, but I don't need to
switch phone platforms to fix that. Showing me the way home is a neat trick,
but I know my way home thanks.

------
yuvadam
Makes you wonder if the iPhone 5 isn't the last device Apple ships under that
name.

~~~
snowwrestler
Apple is literally selling them as fast as they can make them. The iPhone 5
and the iPhone 4s were the #1 and #2 selling smartphones last quarter. So, I
kind of doubt they are on the verge of shuttering the brand.

~~~
at-fates-hands
Blackberry also did this and continued to sell the same technology through
slightly modified hardware.

Look how long it took them to come out the nose dive they were in. Apple could
very easily go down this path and never realize it until its too late.

~~~
snowwrestler
I think they would start to realize it if sales fell. The fall in Blackberry
sales was clear. iPhone sales are still rising.

------
jjsz
A good tip for new Android users now that I feel obligated to evangelize
Android a bit:

Get cyanogenmod [0] and cyandelta [1]. First off your get:

Android 4.2.2/3 and

the swipable lockscreen widgets,

the alternative top right swipe to access the notification toggles,

the new 360/panorama camera,

and updating is simple since cyandelta runs a scrip where it downloads a delta
file of the next cyanogenmod and automagically updates it in 2 minutes with
the push of one button-- no need to manually update the zip file.

Another great thing is Android ADB [2] and how quickly it is to get up and
running on a new Android device / Android ROM. iOS' Cloud sync is slow when
syncing contacts. I remember I was testing between Paranoid Android [3] and
it's expandable notifications [4]/ hybrid mode [5], Omega[6] with it's
standard TouchWiz two apps at once feature (multiview) [7] and all the other
TouchWiz features (gestures and popup browser--which I didn't really use), and
Super Nexus [8] with it's pure vanilla Android experience on my I9300 (Samsung
Galaxy S3) before sticking to CM and Android will sync my Google Contacts and
Gmail first and fast.

Google Now is great by being proactive like the author said but he forgot to
mention sports tracking for those who like sports.

Other than pushing apps from the market to the phone while you're at your PC,
the chrome to phone extension [9], and the share feature [10] he nailed this
list.

EDIT: Forgot about setting apps to default. On paper Android seems better but
it's still a matter of polished skuemorphism and flat UI / extra MB added from
HTC Sense, BLUR or TouchWiz. The low file footprint on iOS compared to these
added slow layers make up the difference so I understand if you don't want to
switch.

[0] <http://get.cm> [1]
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cyandelta&...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cyandelta&hl=en)
[2] <http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html> [3] [http://forum.xda-
developers.com/showthread.php?s=bbf7229560d...](http://forum.xda-
developers.com/showthread.php?s=bbf7229560df80c96b397380489d04ba&t=2172474)
[4]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VnC1Wc2UHos#at=10)
[5]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=iytFrPmbmeY#t=197s)
[6] <http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1663656> [7]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mjI1fDspHgU#t=19s)
[8] <http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2076672> [9]
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-chrome-
to-p...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-chrome-to-phone-
ex/oadboiipflhobonjjffjbfekfjcgkhco?hl=en) &
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.chrometophone&hl=en)
[10] [http://blogs.computerworld.com/android/21699/android-
killer-...](http://blogs.computerworld.com/android/21699/android-killer-
feature)

~~~
paddy_m
where is there a good overview of the jailbreak landscape for androids. I
don't know if I want a rom, root access or what. I find the forums that many
of the mods are described on to be scary, I don't want to get a drive by virus
or malware.

~~~
jjsz
If you're just starting out, you don't need to run any scripts, battery
tweaks, or do any overclocking. A ROM is just another OS for your phone. In
order to overclock, do mods, or run scripts you need SuperUser, in Linux that
means Administrator. In order to get SuperUser you need to root your phone. So
if you want Cyanogenmod the process goes like this:

Root phone->Check if SuperUser works->Check if you have a Custom
Recovery->Download a ROM->Go to Custom Recovery and Wipe Data and Cache then
Flash It (Install It)->New OS on your phone.

------
dreamdu5t
Give me a break. This is so vein. People want to read about how 37signals...
_gasp_ uses an Android phone!? Go outside people..

------
lifeisstillgood
Ok, (s)he lists four reasons why Android beats iPhone, my reactions to the
four were:

1\. Meh

2\. Meh

3\. Holy shit, they are going to take over! Hail our new overlords.

4\. Meh

The Android is _aware of it's environment_ and consequently can take
personalised action, and is allowed to by product makers.

I swear undying loyalty oh masters

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
1 and 2 are in the realm of bug fix / minor enhancement. 4 very much depends
on where you are in terms of both how much deals cost and how they're
structured and what that money means to you but in any case it's not killer.

3 is definitely the most interesting one though it still doesn't feel enough
like magic to sway me just yet. Basically it's worked out that he wants to go
home and at that point has behaved the way a decent Sat Nav does.

The Sat Nav bit is neither here nor there, that's established technology. The
interesting bit is how it worked out that he wanted to go home - get that sort
of thing beyond lucky (slightly educated) guess and that is a big deal but
without knowing how often it's making incorrect guesses it's hard to know.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
It's the idea that a computer has a comprehensive view of an environment -
location, personal owner, last purchase made, next appointment. At what point
will it remind me to take my pills, call the doctor, ring the lead I met who
just twittered something relevant.

Agent technology is going to be huge - as long as it can be standard interface
agreeed somehow

------
neya
At first I thought this guy really built his own protocol or something. But
upon reading, it seems like it's just a rant about his experience with
Android.

Disclosure: I'm an Android fanboy (4 HTC phones! 1 iPhone)

The sad part is, this is a heavily opinionated article fully about his own
experience and it doesn't actually explain why Android is better than iOS yet.
For example, he talks about integration issues with his car as an argument
over his iPhone, which is just his own opinion. It would have been really
great if he had pitched as to why Android is REALLY better than the iPhone. He
doesn't talk about the actual reasons why Android is superior -

1) Choice of various Filemanagers

2) Better Bluetooth connectivity between other phones

3) No need for the memory hogging iTunes garbage

4) Better navigation and integrated Maps support

5) Choices between browsers and functionality (Some browsers even enable Flash
even if your handset doesnt support it!)

6) Excellent Notifications menu and ease of access to important stuff

7) Better App. management (Move to memory card, etc) and true multi-tasking,
install Apps outside of Market

8) Freedom to do whatever you want with the phone - Install any ROM you like,
Root it, connect it to other electronic peripherals, etc.

This is just a short list, and I'm not sure if some of the features are now
available on iDevices, but the last time I checked, they weren't..

~~~
_Simon
Apologies for the following rant, but these topics annoy the absolute hell out
of me.

That list isn't a list "...as to why Android is REALLY better than the
iPhone." at all. It's a list of why _you_ think it is better. I have iPhone
and a Nexus S. I despise Android device. It's a Nexus S running Jelly Bean,
and I find it to be clunky as hell. I found it to be clunky as hell with
Gingerbread too. Why the hell should I have to simply to have a satisfactorily
functioning device? Reading into it, there is no guarantee that installing
Cyanogenmod will improve things for me either. Of course, these are my
opinions and they are worth little to anyone other than me, much like your
list of 'facts'. What happened to live and let live? What happened to use the
tool that works for you? Why do we have to endure the endless and meaningless
pissing contests?

