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Long-time Android user considering switching - An editorial

dan330 said:
Time will tell
Click to expand...

From where I am that's already happened. Android has gotten way bigger than Google. I see Android everywhere but just don't see much of Google, apart from what I and a few other expats use. It'll be forked and it may not necessarily be called "Android", but it's still an open source OS. It's not like Palm OS, BlackBerry OS, Symbian, iOS or Windows, where there's just one company controlling the whole thing and no one else can. If a manufacturer wants to use Windows Phone, they have to pay Microsoft lots of $$$ and they license it. Google keeps control of their proprietary apps and services that run on Android, like the Play Store, Maps, G+, Youtube, etc. Amazon are doing their own things with Android outside of what Google dictates, and that's a US company.

BTW I saw a phone the other day that apparently was Android, had "OS 4.0" in the device info and looked rather like ICS. However doing the easter egg thing and triple tapping on "Kernel version" revealed it to be 2.3 Gingerbread. I've also seen knock-off iPhones where they've made quite a convincing iOS out of Android, even down to a fake iTunes Store.
 
i should mention there IS an Open Source Google Search widget but it's forever stuck in FroYo land as far as the looks and functions go. my despise of Play Store isn't alone either, as there are countless how to's online on how to get the original Android Marketplace to load on a Jelly Bean device.
 
I had a boss who followed the apple model, he had a folder for word docs, excel files, etc. if you needed info for project xyz you had to tell him if it was a spreadsheet or PowerPoint, etc.

even though we don't like the direction Google is going I don't see the point in switching as the other platforms are far worse and the reason Google is going the way they are is because those platforms have market share they want to get so going to other platforms will just make it worse. we need to be sure to let Google know we don't want our devices turned into iPhone.
 
I get that android is open source and i love what non-google devs do with it but does anyone think aosp would be as "healthy" and evolve so nicely without google (and all their resources) at the start of the stream?
(Im open minded lol, i honestly dont know) :beer:
 
if google dropped development for android... the OS will be stuck in that version.
it takes a lot to create new updated OS... man power and $$$..

devs are great.. they can take the android OS and modify.. change here and there.
tweek and play around.
but creating and OS.. updating to new version with new features... that is NOT easy.

other OS will keep going and growing. leaving android in the past.
and customers like you and me.. will want the latest greatest.
 
dan330 said:
if google dropped development for android... the OS will be stuck in that version.
Click to expand...

That assertion is so unliklely that I'd go so far as to say you are wrong rather than just saying that i disagree with you.

It is extremely unlikely that an Open Source OS as useful as Android would stagnate simply because the originator abandoned it.

it takes a lot to create new updated OS... man power and $$$..
Click to expand...

There are a lot of both already involved outside of Google and the numbers are getting bigger every day :-)
 
none of those.. actually create or develop part of the OS.. they only modify it.

modifying and creating.. there is a big difference.
 
dan330 said:
none of those.. actually create or develop part of the OS.. they only modify it.

modifying and creating.. there is a big difference.
Click to expand...

Modifying is creating. An OS is the sum of its parts. How would you define an OS? It's not like every major version of android is entirely rewritten. Each consecutive release is modified from the one before it.
 
And you don't have to create the os as a whole. remember its linux based so its modular, the kernal is always being updated, the network packages being updated, etc. Android is similar to a linux distro in which you update a bunch of different parts and test interoperability and release.
 
android versions:
1.x
2.x
3.x
4.x

going from x to x.. is not much.. just addon stuff... small changes.
going from versions 1, 2, 3, 4,... are huge changes to the OS.

modifying does not even count as and x change. that is more a tweak.

also.. getting hardware vendors/manufactures to build to your specs.. as needed for new features. testing and development.


but I guess we will NOT agree... everyone has their own opinion.
and only time will tell.
if google ever drops android... what will happen to android OS.
 
Even with major version numbers your still not re-writing the whole thing from scratch. Doesn't matter if its Android, Linux Windows, etc. You take sections of code and change them, rearrange modules, remove some old, introduce some new, etc. I have a SQL server myself which does analysis against firewall rules that I have created from scratch but I haven't created any code, I've gone to google and search for "how to do x in SQL" and used code snippets I found, just arranged to fit my needs. Very little is written from scratch these days.
Android itsself is on top of linux and others are developing the kernel and the rest of the core OS then you just work with the dev manufactures and tell them you are going to move from kernel 3.2 to 3.4 for your 3.0 to 4.x release of Android and they test their drivers and adjust as needed and give them back to you and you put them into your major release.
Besides Google has customers in the carriers and the carriers need it for a product so if Google didn't want it they would put it up for sale.
 
dan330 said:
android versions:
1.x
2.x
3.x
4.x

going from x to x.. is not much.. just addon stuff... small changes.
going from versions 1, 2, 3, 4,... are huge changes to the OS.

modifying does not even count as and x change. that is more a tweak.

also.. getting hardware vendors/manufactures to build to your specs.. as needed for new features. testing and development.


but I guess we will NOT agree... everyone has their own opinion.
and only time will tell.
if google ever drops android... what will happen to android OS.
Click to expand...

Going from 1, 2, 3, 4,... are not exactly huge changes to the OS. Only when compared directly to one another.

1 was the first commercial release.
2 was about extending functionality and performance.
3 added the tablet UI.
4 has been about unifying android and polishing it up.

And between every major release there has been many small releases. And every release has added/changed APIs, features, and optimizations.

When enough changes were made to accomplish whatever set goal, they increased the number. When the major goal changes, they change the major release number.
 
chanchan05 said:
Not really sure on the bloatware considering you are getting a Google product. That's like arguing why iPhones come with iMessage instead of just a simple SMS app. And also considering that the services are now getting tied together (your Google+ account is also your Play account and your Youtube account). Plus you can still remove them via root. We've always done so before anyway.
Click to expand...
I agree that Hangouts doing SMS is somewhat like iMessage, but you can be sure that the AOSP SMS app is now going to be left to stagnate. So in that respect I think it is retrograde.

I think that the main difference between Apple and Google here is that Apple want iMessage to lock you into the Apple ecosystem, to keep you buying Apple hardware. Google don't especially care what hardware you use, but they do want to maximise data collection, which is why they want everything you do linked to a Google+ profile, and my feeling is that moving all messaging into Hangouts is just part of this.

Fortunately there are many SMS apps, and manufacturers seem so far to be maintaining their own message apps rather than leaving it all to Hangouts, so there will be alternatives for the foreseeable future (and indeed I do uninstall Hangouts). But I do share this dislike of the tying together, and I'm awkward enough that each step Google take in that direction reduces my Google usage. But the OS is still open enough that you can use alternatives ;).
 
I don't like using hangouts for SMS n I'm not sure why, I just see them as separate things so I use the aosp messenger for sms .
I am a fan of all the g+ integration but then I'm a fan of g+ ☺
 
Hadron said:
I agree that Hangouts doing SMS is somewhat like iMessage, but you can be sure that the AOSP SMS app is now going to be left to stagnate. So in that respect I think it is retrograde.

I think that the main difference between Apple and Google here is that Apple want iMessage to lock you into the Apple ecosystem, to keep you buying Apple hardware. Google don't especially care what hardware you use, but they do want to maximise data collection, which is why they want everything you do linked to a Google+ profile, and my feeling is that moving all messaging into Hangouts is just part of this.

Fortunately there are many SMS apps, and manufacturers seem so far to be maintaining their own message apps rather than leaving it all to Hangouts, so there will be alternatives for the foreseeable future (and indeed I do uninstall Hangouts). But I do share this dislike of the tying together, and I'm awkward enough that each step Google take in that direction reduces my Google usage. But the OS is still open enough that you can use alternatives ;).
Click to expand...

As I see it, it's simply Google streamlining their service, and will not be a factor in me choosing an Android phone, considering that, as you said, you can choose not to use it or uninstall it. It's like Windows IMO. It comes with IE which ties well to several MS services, but if you don't like it you can choose to get something else. IOS on the other hand forces you to use their stuff. Personally speaking, what Google is doing now has no bearing at my choices, as I see it.
 
dan330 said:
android versions:
1.x
2.x
3.x
4.x

going from x to x.. is not much.. just addon stuff... small changes.
going from versions 1, 2, 3, 4,... are huge changes to the OS.

modifying does not even count as and x change. that is more a tweak.

also.. getting hardware vendors/manufactures to build to your specs.. as needed for new features. testing and development.


but I guess we will NOT agree... everyone has their own opinion.
and only time will tell.
if google ever drops android... what will happen to android OS.
Click to expand...

Someone else will take it on, and already have. Something with more clout than Google, much larger than Google, has lots of money, has many developers and manufacturers their own devices...

China Inc. :thumbup:
 
i prefer Samsung's messaging app (colors are easier on my eyes) and i prefer their email app (supports more than one account--including Gmail. Gmail seems an extra waste of space to do just one account). as for being able/not able to develop Android without Google, keep in mind that major distributions of Linux are kept up and release versions each season or so without any major company backing them up--Linux is a community effort. i would expect Android would be kept up in much the same way, by the likes of Cyanogen, Paranoid, etc. remember, there is still development in OpenWebOS, a variant of WebOS itself with a good following, despite it being abandoned by its original company. then you have FreeBSD, and don't forget also, that even if an app or such is 'abandoned' does not automatically mean it's broken. sometimes, an app works for its intended purpose, no bugs are left, and there is no need for it to change. an SMS app that is both stable and does its job (sending/receiving text messages) does not need improvements. the adage, if it ain't broke, don't fix it applies.
 
I didn't see any answer to what the OP is going to switch to. Which currently available phone OS is not worse than Android.
I don't like the direction Google is going either so I'm working on separating myself from them. I no longer use Pic as a or gdocs/drive and have successfully tested my own calendar server.
 
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