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Google doesn't support Google???

onthefence

onthefence

Member
Does anyone else find it strange that many basic Google things aren't supported yet?

The first one I noticed was Google Earth after I drooled over someone's iPhone wielding it. Then I realized today that the web-based gCalendar is not supported through the native browser. It gave me a "not supported browser" message. I was able to see entries, but could not click on anything for more detail. Also, when browsing gmail contacts, you can't the notes section.

Okay, so their rational is that they gave us maps and integrated gmail/calendar, so that's enough, right? I dunno, this just plain irks me. It's like they put out a beta phone, but did not advertise as such. OK, it's 1st gen, so it's supposed to have glitches, right? Well, they're not charging beta prices...

This isn't like an email account where you can just discontinue it without any risk in trying it out. Yes, I could have returned it, but I'm still finding little things after almost 2 months. It just seems so irresponsible of Google. I guess the honeymoon period is over for me. Now for the marraige to begin...but will it end in divorce? They will have to make good on their product. Tune in for part 2 next week...lol

Anyway, now that the rant is out of the way...has anyone else found a way to access calendar or contacts from the browser in a fully functional way?
 
you paid for a full feature HTC phone with keyboard, 3.5mp camera, 1gb memorystick, etc, my friend. The phone is not in beta, its a done design.

the Android OS on the other hand, is a bit underdeveloped, but why are you complaining? Dont say you paid a high price for Android, because you didn't. Google's giving it out for free. (Probably a small royalty fee for developers?)

There are $600 windows mobile phones, and $60 dollar windows mobile phones. If theres a glitch in windows mobile, you cant say that because you paid 600, you shouldn't have the same glitch as the 60 dollar phone, because the operating system is the exact same either way.


They probably coulda released the HTC dream using Windows Mobile, and charge the same amount, would you rather have that?
 
HTC, you are right, there is no such thing as a perfect device. But the hardware has its own problems.

Google is not naive, IMHO. I think they know what they are doing. I don't think it's a conspiracy. I applaud their efforts and many of their projects. But, they marketed it as a Google Phone (in the fine print there was some mention of it being manufactured by a company called HTC). Again, it's just my opinion that they could have (or could be) spending a little more effort to get out the more popular Google services. For example, instead of trying to get into the browser market with Chrome, they could have devoted more energy to compatibility and development. Frankly, it seems slightly out of character for Google, although you could probably point to some examples where I am wrong.

Anyway, thanks justjimjpc, I tried Steel for the first time, it's pretty cool, even with some bugs and some getting used to it. It does display a little better actually, but it still doesn't function as if you were using Firefox. hopefully they will improve this in the near future. It's a real bummer for me.
 
I find that the Contacts and Calendar apps are enough for me that I don't need the web version unless I'm at my PC.

Then again, that's just me.
 
Google does have a problem. They take on too many projects and spread things thin. I don't think they fully realized the mobile phone monster they are going up against. While they have the intuition, money, and free thinking to be successful here, I don't think they have the drive to focus on a singular object.

Hell, Gmail is still in Beta. It works great, but the fact it's still called a Beta is kind of scary when you think about Android.

It's an amazing OS with a great future. I just think I'll be moving off Android (and then back to Android) before they get the things I want in there. I wish they really cared about this, but I'm not convinced. I'm giving it until March. If I don't have a fully functional smartphone with proper multimedia, I will jump ship.

Why March? 6 months is fair. I need stereo bluetooth. I HATE HATE HATE HATE wires. I hate untangling my head phones when I stick them in my pocket for 30 seconds.

I'm 55% happy with the G1. Stereo BT would jump me to 90% happy. I know we knew it wouldn't have it at first, but many said it would be out by phone release almost if not soon after. They have until March.
 
I'm pretty happy with the G1, but I've never found a phone I've thought was perfect.

Google didn't promise me anything with Android that they haven't delivered on, so I don't have any issues.

The other thing, with "Google Not Supporting Google" I think it's more that Google doesn't support mobile fully. I tried connecting to Google Calendar using the Steel browser and it gave me the same error. But it worked, although it looks like it has some errors. I also tried connecting to google calendar using WiFi on my old T-Mobile Wing (Windows Mobile) and it doesn't work there either. So to me, that means the regular Google Websites themselves don't work with mobile browsers at all. It seems to auto-detect that you're on a mobile device and switches you to a mobile version of google automatically.
 
Seriously I think people are making TOO much of a big deal on little things.... Honestly look at all the other gen 1 phones including the I-phone... In comparison the the flaws and issues that they had when they first launched this phone is WAY ahead but everyone needs to see it for what it is A NEW OP SYS for smart phones..... No op is going to be perfect and Google has even gone as far as laying out a time-line so people know whats happened and going to happen so why fight it let it grow up like all the others have already had the chance to do...
 
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