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Last post Author Topic: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone  (Read 34377 times)

justice

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Seeing the basically useless state of the phone on initial boot, I told my mother that I’d take the phone for an hour or so and give it back to her “cleaned up.” I deleted apps. I configured notifications. I set up accounts. None of it was easy, and every step of the way I ran into really bizarre problems. The elegant Google widgets that come with stock Android were stripped out of the phone. The camera app, besides looking like it had been designed in 1995, just wouldn’t rotate when I turned the phone on its side. Apps that worked on my Droid Incredible crashed as soon as I opened them on the Charge. After about an hour of poking and prodding the battery had dropped from 95% to 50%. Completely frustrated, I turned to the internet, where confused users were posting questions with titles like “Should my battery last more than 6 hours?” and “I think my phone is broken…”



2011-08-02_105923.png



from http://www.betabeat....t-and-got-an-iphone/

mitzevo

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2011, 05:04 AM »
Androids for geeks. iPhone for newbies. Kinda like Linux for geeks, Windows for.. point and clickers.

edit: Didn't read the OP link or anythin; Just sayin'.  ;D
The clock is running. Make the most of today. Time waits for no man. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present.
« Last Edit: August 02, 2011, 06:23 AM by mitzevo »

Deozaan

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2011, 05:21 AM »
I hate it when carriers create their own custom UI and change it from the standard Android interface.

I really like the Stock Android experience. If the carriers would just compete on hardware and leave the software to Google and app developers, I think that the experience would probably be a lot better.

tomos

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2011, 05:31 AM »
well,
the message is confusing, article a bit contradictory - says his XYZ (Android) phone is fine, so the problem is not with Android, or is it...

As often the comments are where it gets thrashed out
Spoiler
   
Analog File 16 hours ago
Interesting. I keep hearing that the Android market is not fragmented and keep reading about Android fans that bash Apple for wanting to be in control instead of being open.

However when someone (an Android fan) writes an article about troubles with an Android phone, the responses are that this is not "an Android Phone" but "Samsung's Android Phone sold by Verizon" and there is much cheering the idea that Google should exert much more control on the hardware and software configurations.

I have neither an Android nor an iPhone and do not plan to buy a new phone for the next 3 or 4 years so, as far as I'm concerned, you can flame away as much as you want but please, whatever your "side" is, try to be minimally consistent and avoid contradictions.
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Capn and 27 more liked this
   
Vera Comment 9 hours ago in reply to Analog File
when the OS is open you need to expect contradictions. The OP's experience with the nexus is great, but it's not with a Sammy, Verizon, customized skin.

if google were to dictate standards,  it's not open.
   
holycalamity 6 hours ago in reply to Vera Comment
So "open" leads to a fragmented market where users can't expect even reasonably decent experience, where software compatibility is essentially "buyer beware" and there isn't any sort of threshold for quality of the experience. It seems to me, at least for the mass consumer market, "open" is a terrible idea.
2 people liked this.
   
JG 4 hours ago in reply to holycalamity
Yep.  This is the fatal mismatch Android has with the current majority phone/tablet market which is Late Adoption: the majority are "mom" type customers not geek customers who actually like, let alone can, do hardcore hacking to get things working to a baseline level.  The majority rules because the size of the demographic and their wallets.  It's not hard to predict how this will end.

I am a "Mac/Ios" but competition is necessary.  Sadly, Android is mismatched and misfiring on absolutely all cylinders as a competitor.  Make a list of all the things you could do wrong and Android HW+SW +distributors are doing them all in exactly the worst-case way.  Very sad.  I'd love to have two (or more) vendors in the market that simply execute on the user experience as well as Apple does.  No problem at all with that.
   
shawnde 4 hours ago in reply to Vera Comment
I think you missed the point entirely .... the poster is pointing out the inconsistency or double-standards in the Android fan arguments ....  On one hand, they want selection and choice and variety, and on the other they want homogeneity and uniform experiences.  These two ends of the spectrum are juxtaposed and mutually exclusive; i.e. YOU CAN"T HAVE BOTH.  We didn't have it the PC world, and that is far more mature compared to smartphones.  You're never going to have it on Android .... especially when you have a third player in the game .... namely the carrier :-)
   
NetscapePizza 4 hours ago in reply to Vera Comment
So "open" leads to a clusterfuck where the user has to be enough of a nerd to understand what version of Android hasn't been butchered to fuck? Otherwise they risk wasting their money on trash that barely works.

Yeah "open" is great

Tom

wraith808

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2011, 08:27 AM »
I saw this one comment, and had to re-post:
"When technology delivers basic needs, user experience dominates" - Don Norman, The Invisible Computer.

Does everyone understand this now?

That sums it up, IMO.

CodeBoy

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2011, 09:08 AM »
Androids and Iphones are the same to me. They could be converse shoes or adidas trainers, you still put them on your feet to walk round town. A phone is for calling and texting, and with these two as long as you can have a browse on the net thats what matters. Of course, IMO.... :-\
« Last Edit: February 13, 2014, 05:25 AM by CodeBoy »

Renegade

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2011, 09:50 AM »
Androids and Iphones are the same to me.

They're almost the same to me. :)

One is made by an evil company, while the other is partially made by a company that professes to not be evil. :P ;D

But functionally, they're pretty similar.

Apple has much better standards when it comes to UI design though.

I mostly use my phone for reading news though... Not much more.
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

justice

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2011, 10:07 AM »
258troll_spray.jpg :P ;D

Renegade

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2011, 01:28 PM »
(see attachment in previous post) :P ;D

Dude, you know that like, Apple, Google, OS warz and whatnot are all like, totally troll bait, eh? :P
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

wraith808

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2011, 02:05 PM »
I mostly use my phone for reading news though... Not much more.

When it comes down to it, I mostly use my phone for reading books.  A few other things, but when you boil it down, all of that extra stuff to most people is just window dressing.  One, maybe two functions other than the basic.  But we get so caught up in all of that other stuff that we've done just find without before- and that's what they build their business model on.  :huh:

Renegade

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #10 on: August 02, 2011, 02:24 PM »
I mostly use my phone for reading news though... Not much more.

When it comes down to it, I mostly use my phone for reading books.  A few other things, but when you boil it down, all of that extra stuff to most people is just window dressing.  One, maybe two functions other than the basic.  But we get so caught up in all of that other stuff that we've done just find without before- and that's what they build their business model on.  :huh:

Phone = consumption.

Desktop/laptop = creation.

The limiter? Input. We need good speech to text before anything changes.

However, the current STT business models are stifling it.

e.g. With MS Office you can create infinite documents, but with STT business models, they charge you per word. Not a good way forward.
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

Stoic Joker

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #11 on: August 02, 2011, 02:47 PM »
I mainly use my phone to make phone calls ... because, it's a phone.

I have used it to browse the web (well here actually), on the odd occasion. Ad I'll even admit to sending a text message now and then. But to me - Bells & whistles aside - It's a phone.

Renegade

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #12 on: August 02, 2011, 02:51 PM »
I mainly use my phone to make phone calls ... because, it's a phone.

Yeah... I'm just not that popular. :)
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

wraith808

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #13 on: August 02, 2011, 03:09 PM »
I mainly use my phone to make phone calls ... because, it's a phone.

Yeah... I'm just not that popular. :)

Me either.  The only reason that I have a cell phone is for emergencies.  Most people just aren't important enough to need 24/7 connectivity that a cell phone brings.  It's more for convenience than a need, truthfully.

Stoic Joker

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #14 on: August 02, 2011, 03:44 PM »
I mainly use my phone to make phone calls ... because, it's a phone.

Yeah... I'm just not that popular. :)

Me either.  The only reason that I have a cell phone is for emergencies.  Most people just aren't important enough to need 24/7 connectivity that a cell phone brings.  It's more for convenience than a need, truthfully.

 :Thmbsup: :D :Thmbsup:

For me it's a work issue; I got my first cell back when I was freelancing. Now it's just for clients and the office to run me ragged.

The wife calls now and then too ...  Or send the occasional how's your day going text. That's about it.

Renegade

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #15 on: August 03, 2011, 12:44 AM »
...Or send the occasional how's your day going text...

We use Skype for that. Or Facebook. :)
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

mahesh2k

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #16 on: August 03, 2011, 02:07 AM »
I've a touch screen phobia and i'm trying to avoid touch-screen based phones for next few years. (thanks to blackberry and sony erricsson and all those Quturee phones :D ). I guess 2012 will be the year when i'll not be touch-screen virgin.  ;)

4wd

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #17 on: August 03, 2011, 04:57 AM »
When it comes down to it, I mostly use my phone for reading books.  A few other things, but when you boil it down, all of that extra stuff to most people is just window dressing.  One, maybe two functions other than the basic.  But we get so caught up in all of that other stuff that we've done just find without before- and that's what they build their business model on.  :huh:

Same here, I think I've read close to a hundred books on mine over the last 4 months I've been in the UK.  I'm finding I can rip through them quite fast on the small screen, (320x240).

About the only other things I use it for are a couple of games and positioning, (not navigation).

Renegade

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #18 on: August 03, 2011, 05:17 AM »
Doesn't anyone use their phone for pron?  :huh:
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JavaJones

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #19 on: August 03, 2011, 02:56 PM »
The problem with anecdotal arguments like this (aside the mis-quoting of a linked article about return rates on *some* phones being 30-40% - think about how that could even be possible for all Android phones for a moment), is that there are always many counter anecdotes. In fact I have a friend with an iPhone 3GS who has been pretty frustrated with it for a long time now and is about to sell it and get an Android phone. He is *not* terribly technology savvy, in fact he sounds less savvy than this guy's mom (she uses Tumblr, has more devices than my friend). He's seen my phone (Samsung Epic 4G) and has looked at a lot of others in local stores and can't wait to switch. He's taking his time to get the best device he can, which only makes sense, and I'll agree that's an issue with the Android landscape right now - there *are* some legitimately crappy devices. But this is not the first anyone has heard of frustrating cell phone experiences, often due largely to carrier limitations, bundled apps, etc. Even on old "feature phones" I saw this quite a lot. Some phones would just have a terrible reputation, yet users would struggle with them for years sometimes, maybe in part because they expected less of them, in part because there were fewer options. Android definitely needs to tighten things up but if anything high(er) return rates on *specific* phones like the Charge should help signal to carriers and phone makers alike that these issues won't be tolerated. Hopefully that's the case. Meanwhile the *overall* Android market is strong, outselling iPhone and taking over some 50% of the worldwide smart phone market. Make of that what you will.

- Oshyan

daddydave

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #20 on: August 03, 2011, 03:13 PM »
Sort of off topic, is there a good Android equivalent to an iPod Touch yet? (I'm not ready to give up my $15 a month NET10 plan yet)

Cloq

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #21 on: August 10, 2011, 05:54 PM »
Doesn't anyone use their phone for pron?  :huh:

OMG! Is that what the freak in the next aisle was jiggling to!??   :'( ;D

Though that thought has always bothered me when I seem people squirming in their seats while squinting in to their i/android phone... scary!.

Deozaan

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #22 on: August 10, 2011, 09:04 PM »
Sort of off topic, is there a good Android equivalent to an iPod Touch yet? (I'm not ready to give up my $15 a month NET10 plan yet)

AFAIK that's basically what an Android Tablet is, since an iPod Touch is essentially an iPhone without the phone.

So just go for a small Android Tablet/Non-phone and you've got an Android Touch. :Thmbsup:

Cloq

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #23 on: August 10, 2011, 10:47 PM »
A Dell Streak might be an option for android ipod touch type.

daddydave

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Re: Why My Mom Bought an Android, Returned It, and Got an iPhone
« Reply #24 on: August 16, 2011, 06:26 AM »
A Dell Streak might be an option for android ipod touch type.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out.