• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility

Metfanant said:
Im completely cool with liking AOSP for its inherent performance advantages...

However, your second point is worrisome for me...I harp on things like speed dial because its a very basic feature...the Motorola StarTac supported speed dial...

We are talking about a smart phone OS here...a lot of people try to beat up the OEMs for "ruining" Android with the UI skins and additions but frankly I don't think Android would have gotten as far as it did without them...AOSP is barebones and very plain (borderline ugly) as a UI and is missing some basic features you would expect from a smart phone...

UI skins like Blur, Sense, Touch Wiz etc are here to stay
Click to expand...

I agree that those UI's are here to stay, and I would be fine with that if they were added in a way that they could be easily removed if not desired by the user.

The speed dial absence in not worrisome to me as I don't use it, and I don't think I know anyone that still uses it (well unless they have a "dumb phone, then they do). But, if it's a function you use I can see the concern; personally I just don't see speed dial as being a big concern (to me anyway), it's obvious it is to you, and that's fine too.

I'm actually more concerned about the graininess of incoming/outgoing caller id pics, and nothing has been done to correct that.

On your point that Android wouldn't have gotten as far as they have without the additional UI skins by the manufacturers, that may be true, but I think Google would have done something about improving their own skins if the manufacturers had gone Vanilla Android. This leads me back to my original point, Google doesn't worry about it too much because Manufacturers will make certain changes for them.



This is getting a little of topic, I think I will stop before I get in trouble again ;)
 
bouchigo said:
I agree that those UI's are here to stay, and I would be fine with that if they were added in a way that they could be easily removed if not desired by the user.

The speed dial absence in not worrisome to me as I don't use it, and I don't think I know anyone that still uses it (well unless they have a "dumb phone, then they do). But, if it's a function you use I can see the concern; personally I just don't see speed dial as being a big concern (to me anyway), it's obvious it is to you, and that's fine too.

I'm actually more concerned about the graininess of incoming/outgoing caller id pics, and nothing has been done to correct that.

On your point that Android wouldn't have gotten as far as they have without the additional UI skins by the manufacturers, that may be true, but I think Google would have done something about improving their own skins if the manufacturers had gone Vanilla Android. This leads me back to my original point, Google doesn't worry about it too much because Manufacturers will make certain changes for them.



This is getting a little of topic, I think I will stop before I get in trouble again ;)
Click to expand...

its not so much speed dial in particular...its the idea that such a small feature is not included...and Google obviously doesn't care...

its more worrisome to me that as you said...

"Google doesn't worry about it too much because Manufacturers will make certain changes for them."

personally that is not really an acceptable approach to creating and maintaining a smart phone operating system..
 
Why is speed dial so important? Its a smart phone as you say, so why not use voice dialing or bluetooth? Speed dial is so 90's.
 
Metfanant said:
its not so much speed dial in particular...its the idea that such a small feature is not included...and Google obviously doesn't care...

its more worrisome to me that as you said...

"Google doesn't worry about it too much because Manufacturers will make certain changes for them."

personally that is not really an acceptable approach to creating and maintaining a smart phone operating system..
Click to expand...
One of the great things about Android is if you don't like what is there, you can change it. For example, if you really want speed dial, you can get Go Contacts (or some other app) which comes with its own dialer with speed dial support.

The point being that "Android" should, IMO, be a foundation that the user can build upon. The OEMs can provide their own built up tweaks to help the user experience straight from the factory (for the majority who don't tweak stuff themselves), but it should be removable/replaceable in pieces or in its entirety. If the OEMs were really smart, then they would also sell their tweaks on the Android market so, for example, a Moto user could buy pieces of the Sense UI for their phone.
 
ylexot said:
If the OEMs were really smart, then they would also sell their tweaks on the Android market so, for example, a Moto user could buy pieces of the Sense UI for their phone.
Click to expand...


With the amount of R&D that goes into these UIs, I doubt these OEMs would sell their work at a reasonable price.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom