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Google Anroid... aka: a 'clusterfsck'.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=clusterfuck

Jan 11, 10 - 01:10 pm Comment from: iPhoneEnvy

*BOOM*

cue the google fanboys....

That last paragraph is fantastic, a great explanation of the difference between Apple and most other companies that most geeks and pundits just don't get…

Boy Genius writes, "Here’s another issue on why for the foreseeable future Android won’t be anything like what Apple or another company can offer: Coders aren’t designers. It’s really as simple as that and anyone in the business will know exactly what I’m talking about. That’s why Apple’s entire developer ecosystem is different, because believe it or not, Apple’s developers are amazing designers that make beautiful things, and they happen to know how to code. That’s entirely different from someone who’s the best coder in the world and trying to create something that looks, works, and feels great. And so, this is my issue with Android and why you won’t see applications of iPhone-quality on Android aside from any SDK and programming hurdles."

Jan 11, 10 - 01:25 pm Comment from: hannes_47

If you read the comments of the Google fanboys on this BGR posting, those make Taliban, Al Qaeda, Hamas & Hizbollah look like the vienna boys choir

If you take Google's Picasa as an example of how well Google can design an application or an OS for that matter and compare that to iPhoto or OS X, you quickly realize how badly Google is lacking in the user interface department.

Picasa is great, if you've never used iPhoto or a Mac. Like Windows, it's fine, until you use another OS for a while.

Man, what a bunch of tools commenting over there.

Let me summarize:

-They want wallpaper behind their icons.
-They want "cooler" ring-tones
-They want Multi-tasking, yet most do not know why other than it was fed to them as a talking point
-They like to point out that iPhone didn't have copy and paste for two years.
-They have serious control issues
-They cannot spell
-They dismiss the fact that Not ALl droid apps run on each phone, yet complain that Apple doesn't just let anyone put any craptacular apps in the app story.

In short, they are all paranoid, dellusional, tin-foil hat wearing kooks!!

Good Riddance, I don't want to share any common ground with them. Idiots...
All in

Google designing user applications is like a land developer being allowed to design buildings. Yes, you can have an engineer and a developer design a building and have an architect stamp the drawings. But will anybody be happy with the product?

Apple designers seem to be the only "architects" in the industry. Everyone else is just trying to make money.

By the way, to be called an "architect" one should be required to go thru design school. Not just a programmer with a fancy name.

Kinda funny watching a Blackberry fanatic get reamed by the Google crowd.

The comments are more entertaining than the review! These guys are complete losers.

I'm sure Google has modified the Picasa UI, but didn't they buy Picasa?

I wonder if it isn't time for Eric Raymond to update his discussion of Cathedral vs. Bazaar as models of software development. Of course, back then (1997) he didn't have Apple as exemplar of the Cathedral model.

Jan 11, 10 - 02:14 pm Comment from: DLMeyer

Not being able to spell reasonably well does not make you a "paranoid, dellusional, tin-foil hat wearing kook". It just makes you appear to be either illiterate or ESL. Sometimes you can tell which is which, not always.
Need I point out that more than a few denizens of this 'Blog (or whatever it is) are willing to make similar demands of various products, only to fall silent when Apple does something similar? The world is full of folk spouting the party line - whatever that may be. Don't be TOO hard on them, it might come back at you.

Google made a great search engine...PERIOD !!!
Everything else is like Honda making furniture. Stay at what your good at.

From now I, I think we should call boy genius, Big boy genius.
He has made us geniuses so proud

David Pogue had a great response in his NYT column... seems Google fanboys are even worse than Apple fanboys from the feedback he got after he posted his Nexus review (great read regardless):

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/technology/personaltech/07pogue-email.html

The beauty of Android Market and why we should be thankful to Apple for approval process:
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001852.html

Jan 11, 10 - 03:01 pm Comment from: Jose

The author writes: "I just can’t see why you’d want to run Android over the iPhone OS?"

Everyone I know, who's gotten a Google copycat phone has said it was because they can't or won't use AT&T;.

If and when the iPhone becomes available with other carriers (hopefully soon), then there will be more market share growth for the iPhone in the U.S which will supersede Droid's adoption. AT&T;at this point has become a hindrance to iPhone adoption.

Except for some hackers, everyone wants an iPhone.

Jan 11, 10 - 03:01 pm Comment from: thethirdshoe

@DLMeyer
Yes, Karma can be a bitch. OM.

I suppose, I may have been a little heavy handed with my comments. I am just so tired of the "chorus of dumb parrots" and the FUD they spread.

iPhone is a game changer, to-date Android is an "Also Ran". Is iPhone perfect? No, but it is a revolutionary device with more upside than *ANY* consumer electronics I've ever owned. I cannot wait to see what they do next.

I couldn't care less about putting a picture behind the app icons. I would never put an obnoxious ring tone on my phone and annoy everyone around me every time it rings. Multi-tasking is coming and I don't want it until it is done in a way that ensures my phone doesn't die from some app running in the background draining the battery while it's in my pocket all so someone can text me. No really, let's be real. Their arguments are overwhelmingly underwhelming in their importance. The 8 pages of apps on my phone (and growing) says to me their platform is lame. My multitouch smacks their multitasking right in giblets.

I've been using it since the day it shipped, and couldn't be happier. Is there room for improvement? ALWAYS. Is anyone else close? Not that I see.

I've long said that Mac OS X is what Linux wants to be when it grows up. Meaning the desktop os. How many of you would put it on your Mother or GrandMothers computer and feel good about what you just did to the? A Mac on their desk, absolutely, in a heartbeat.

Droid is no different, they are ignoring the lessons learned from WinMobile and the lack of standardization across the phones means customer confusion, developer compatibility and support issues and other than being a linux fan-boys dream has nothing innovative or exciting for the consumer.

Linux belongs in the server closet and in propeller head's parents basements with it's masters. Droid can go with em as far as I'm concerned.

The only person at Google that knows how to design is the guy(?) making the different Google logos on their main web page for special days.

Jan 11, 10 - 03:13 pm Comment from: hannes_47

And the complaints don't stop there. Beleaguered Android developers are voicing their annoyance that end users have received the 2.1 version of the operating system before they did, with no SDK having been released as yet. This means devs are unable to test their software against the latest update without buying a Nexus One, and this is already proving an issue with developers receiving complaints that their software is having issues on Android 2.1 - and they're unable even to test it.

http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/browse_thread/thread/4361cc5e2ca44969

I have an android phone. I find AT&T;' service lacking in comparison to T-Mobile. So I have stuck with T-Mobile. That said, I also have an iPod touch and use it whenever I have wifi. I have the G1. It's a nice phone. I really like it. However, it is not in the league of the iPhone. iPhone can currently serve both in the enterprise and consumer worlds. Android can't. Android's enterprise tools are sorely lacking. So Android is going to have to beef up it's phone and that means integrating with exchange and being able to use VPN and remote connection via, ssh, vnc, and rdp. It is also going to have to compete with Apple at the consumer level, something even MS is having issues doing these days.

I originally thought that Android and iPhone would repeat the MS/Apple wars of the eighties and nineties. I may have to rethink that as I am not sure where Google is going with their phone strategy. Unless they get better at the execution, they are a threat to everyone but iPhone.

One thing that android has over iPhone is that I can run any app I want on the droid, I can even run my own apps on it without paying for certificates like iPhone/iPod. Of course that only benefits a small section of the consumer market namely developers. These are probably the guys who spoke up about the review.

Yes and you can download apps that steal your banking info from the android app store too I hear.

So tell me again what is so great about running anything? How exactly do you come to the conclusion that this is something "Android has over iPhone" Doesn't sound like much of a feature to me. As a mater of fact, I do online banking safely and SECURELY on my iPhone. droid don't...

http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001852.html

Jan 11, 10 - 04:10 pm Comment from: Islandgirl

Of course that only benefits a small section of the consumer market namely developers. These are probably the guys who spoke up about the review.

Have you read the comments? There are 1,243 of them!
I'm pretty sure those aren't all developers. It's more like a pack of hyenas snarling and snapping at a hapless antelope.

Such a shame that the HTC Eris doesn't get any mentions anywhere. It has multitouch. It has full copy-and-paste functionality throughout the entire phone. Simply reading this comment and shrugging off the Eris proves my point. The phone is great for people who are fed up with AT&T;.

Jan 11, 10 - 05:39 pm Comment from: toby

Personally I don't need the other devices to SUCK for me to love my iPhone.

I've messed around with an Android and frankly, I don't hate it. It's an OK phone. And for some people, a very good phone.

And even still, it doesn't change my opinion of the iPhone.

@truth
I can run something I built at home without going through the iPhone process. For hobby and r&d;development that is a nice to have. For those buying online banking as yourself, not so much.

Jan 11, 10 - 05:44 pm Comment from: jimhoyt

All the money in the world cannot buy good taste:

http://unusual-architecture.com/experience-music-project-seattle-wa-usa/

'There are 1,243 of them'

Small potatoes compared to iPhone's install base. I did not say they were all developers, but my guess is a lot of them probably are.

I'm pretty sure if you have the iPhone SDK, you write all the apps you want and load em up on your phone or in *GASP* the emulator.

http://developer.apple.com/iphone/program/

Of course you have to pay for it, so I am sure that is the next complaint. Then again if you are serious about your hobby, $100 shouldn't stop you. I know I have hobbies that I spend more on.

My point isn't to say other phones suck, it is to point out that the FUD being spread about the iPhone is BS and most of the "Feature" complaints I am hearing and reading are trivial matters in my opinion. Apple didn't start running ads with a misleading "iDon't" campaign.

The only valid complaints I hear are "I want a different carrier" I get and understand it. It's a non issue for me, I had a smart phone with Verizon and I hated it (TREO) the web sucked, multimedia sucked, reception sucked, it was big, heavy and other than replacing the Palm I used to carry with a phone it really brought nothing to the table. I even hated the fact that I had to pay a third party for sync software that still was slow and buggy. I also didn't like Verizon nickle and diming me to death and charging a fortune for crappy stripped down web access. I get that some places have no or poor AT&T;coverage. I also get that where I live and most of the places I travel to regularly get a better signal than on the other major carriers I have used in the past. Hands down the iPhone is the best phone I have ever seen, hell it beats computers I've owned.

I believe that the iPhone represents the most advanced, best supported, most secure, stable platform for the foreseeable future and am tired of the droid hype and that droid types feel the need to spread fud in order to advance their platform of choice. When I speak of my iPhone to people I don't sit and say my phone can do this does yours? Instead I put it in their hands and talk them through some of the features and they come to their own natural conclusion: this thing is awesome..

If Android is so damn good STFU about iPhone and let your platform stand on it's own merits. Lets talk about it as it is. Google/Verizon/Motorola started the fight by bringing the iPhone into their advertising from the get-go, I'm simply not obliged to sit by and listen to and take the crud.

BTW, the one thing I haven't read about is syncing with a mac - just how is that experience on a droid? What works, what doesn't?

@truth

I agree with your statements except for one.

"If Android is so damn good STFU about iPhone and let your platform stand on it's own merits. Lets talk about it as it is. Google/Verizon/Motorola started the fight by bringing the iPhone into their advertising from the get-go, I'm simply not obliged to sit by and listen to and take the crud."

We all agree that in advertising you go after the bigger competition. This is normal for them because the iPhone is unstoppable. This is by no way different than what I see Apple doing with their Get a Mac campaigns...

I just hope they release it to at least one other carrier. (Hopefully to Sprint since it is what I am on and prefer.) They have outgrown ATT here in the US and like you also said, if more people can just get one and use it then they will truly understand why they are selling so well.

I will just continue to use my iPod touch in the meantime...

Take that Nexus!! You call yourself "superphone"? Well the phone industry changed a long time ago bro. Since 2007 and iPhone came out. And we all want apps on our iPhone, not something that gives you headage when you use it. Way to go Boy Genius!! ^_^

@truth
"I'm pretty sure if you have the iPhone SDK, you write all the apps you want and load em up on your phone or in *GASP* the emulator."

"Of course you have to pay for it, so I am sure that is the next complaint. "

I have done some development for both platforms and I can tell you testing in the emulator does not match developing on the physical device. And if you are trying to recoup your investment or even trying to have fun with the platform, it is a pain in the butt to pay $100 and then go through a process of setting up certificates. I am sorry, but Android is easier in this respect.

So signing your software to ensure security is too much of a pain? Glad I don't use software you develop. It's not hard to setup certificates in my experience.

Pay the hundred bucks and put your apps on your iPhone for testing if you don't like the emulator.

Like I said, trivial arguments...

Sherman,

The difference is subtle, but there. The Get A Mac ad's reinforce real experiences people have, in a fun lighthearted way. No one is mislead by this. They work so well because they align to peoples own experiences with windows and talk up the strengths of Apple vs Windows.

The Verizon and Droid ads are intellectually dishonest and mislead uninformed consumers.

I don't have a "real" keyboard? Seems pretty real to me and works like a champ on my iphone.

i don’t run simultaneous apps, err wrong. I run ipod and safari at the same time, i lookup contacts and use the calander while talking on the phone. Third party apps, yeah not there yet, but they didn't say that did they, implying it wasn't possible.

I Don't have interchangeable batteries. Nope, not by me, can have it replaced by applecare and get a loaner while it is fixed. Doesn't really matter as it's never been an issue to me. As a matter of fact in ten+ years of using cellphones I've never carried around spare batteries. How many people really do? Whats the battery life of the droid vs the iphone? They do not want to focus on that I guess, must mean it is not good.

i don't allow open development? WTF does that mean exactly? You mean Apple doesn't allow phishers to post their malware unchecked and dupe customers into giving away their bank accounts, yep I guess.

i dont customize? Again, in what way? Seems pretty configurable to me. Ohh thats right droid-heads want wallpaper behind their apps..whatever..

You see my point now? misleading, not very accurate.

@truth
"So signing your software to ensure security is too much of a pain?"

Compared to not having to do that, yes. You can keep hammering away, but it does not change the fact.

On signed software..

A good read on the subject:

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/03/18/iphone-20-sdk-how-signing-certificates-work/

Symbian has been doing it since 2005, Rim does it with critical API's, and Apple does it. Sounds as if it is becoming the industry norm, not the exception. Why do you suppose that is?

Your contention is that it makes it harder and is therefore bad, Brings to mind a phrase my Parents taught me long ago:

"Anything worth doing is worth doing right."

All one has to do is look at the bank app fiasco from this past week with the android store and unsigned "OPEN" software. This begs the question: Open to who? Easy for who? At what price? Customer confidence? Customer data? Loss of business, Loss of money? and on and on..

@ Truth

I've played with the Droid. It's a nice phone, but I don't think it quite matches the overall ease of use of the iPhone. However...I do detect more than a little fanboy-ism in your dismissal of the Droid ads as misleading.

"I don't have a "real" keyboard? Seems pretty real to me and works like a champ on my iphone."

-- Physical keyboards (even the crappier ones) are faster and more accurate to type on that virtual keyboards. Sorry, but it's true. I'll grant that you can learn to type on a virtual keyboard really fast - almost as fast as the real thing. But it's just not the same. By now I'm sure we're all familiar with the 'iPhone typo' - when a wrong word gets inserted as a result of the iPhone over-zealously trying to fix a perceived spelling mistake that probably would have been avoided using a physical keyboard.

"i don’t run simultaneous apps, err wrong. I run ipod and safari at the same time, i lookup contacts and use the calander while talking on the phone. Third party apps, yeah not there yet, but they didn't say that did they, implying it wasn't possible."

-- Yes, the iPhone can run native apps. But what is considered a native app? Can the iPhone do turn-by-turn navigation, Pandora/iPod/media player, and make calls at the same time? No? Then it's a limitation. Today, you cannot do that on your iPhone, so how is that misleading?

Saying you can use your calendar and contacts while making a call isn't exactly something to brag about: Treos could do that 7 years ago. Heck, a lot of dumbphones could do that.

"I Don't have interchangeable batteries. Nope, not by me, can have it replaced by applecare and get a loaner while it is fixed. Doesn't really matter as it's never been an issue to me. As a matter of fact in ten+ years of using cellphones I've never carried around spare batteries. How many people really do? Whats the battery life of the droid vs the iphone? They do not want to focus on that I guess, must mean it is not good."

-- The iPhone's battery life is not great, though it appears to be slightly better than some of its closest competitors. Maybe you haven't had to carry around spare batteries, and maybe your iPhone always lasts through an entire day without needing a recharge. That's not the case for a lot of iPhone owners I know.

I do agree with you on one thing: I'm willing to bet the Droid's battery life blows.

"i don't allow open development? WTF does that mean exactly? You mean Apple doesn't allow phishers to post their malware unchecked and dupe customers into giving away their bank accounts, yep I guess."

-- Pointing out that people have been phished with Android malware does not refute the claim that Android allows more open development than Apple does. Nor does the banking scam prove that Apple's development rules make it completely immune to this type of scam. Hackers and scammers have this annoying habit of breaking into systems that are supposed to be hack-proof.

By the way, people can be phished using e-mail as well. Heck, people can be phished using snail mail. If someone gets phished through their Yahoo Mail, does that mean Yahoo Mail is to blame?

"i dont customize? Again, in what way? Seems pretty configurable to me. Ohh thats right droid-heads want wallpaper behind their apps..whatever.."

--Not being able to set individual/group ringtones/messaging tones or set up contact groups are in fact limitations on information management (I haven't used an iPhone very recently, so this might have changed). I am pretty anal with how I set up my contacts and notifications...and the iPhone's notification system is terrible. And I know that is still the case today because a decent number of iPhone users are annoyed by it.

As for the background, why shouldn't I be able to do something that even dumbphones have done for over a decade?

Look - the iPhone is an amazing, even revolutionary device. It built on (and at times perfected) various features of a variety of predecessors, added some new capabilities, and created a package that is accessible to the masses. It is a pinnacle of electronic accomplishment.

But it is not without its flaws, and people don't need to get all defensive when someone -- or some company -- comes along and points them out.

"Coders aren’t designers. It’s really as simple as that and anyone in the business will know exactly what I’m talking about. That’s why Apple’s entire developer ecosystem is different, because believe it or not, Apple’s developers are amazing designers that make beautiful things, and they happen to know how to code."

This statement is a paradox. The vast majority of popular iPhone apps have been ported to Android by the original developers. So if you're looking for a scapegoat for poor quality Android app UI experiences, the iPhone coders are just as guilty as everyone else.

At the end of the day this entire argument seems to be about apps. Android doesn't have xyz app, Android apps look like ass. iPhone apps are made by God and have their UI dipped in gold.

Remember that Apple doesn't make apps, Google doesn't make apps, We make apps. So if you can't find a "fun twitter experience" for iPhone/Android, try getting off your ass and making one. If you can't find an Android UI that arouses you, try designing one half as good.

Maybe after trying to do what is supposedly "so simple", you'll understand what a bunch of whiny little bitches you are being.