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>Now, Google is no Samsung, but they're a long way from Apple or even Microsoft on the UX front. Not sure I agree with this. I've been on android for a while,

>Now, Google is no Samsung, but they're a long way from Apple or even Microsoft on the UX front. Not sure I agree with this. I've been on android for a while, so I'm sure I'm biased, but stock AOSP Android is pretty much perfect for me. Very minimal and aesthetically beautiful, but still powerful and customizable.

buckbova 10y ago
Totally agree with this. Just got the moto g4 and for under $250. I have a really good looking color customized phone with stock android, that feels good in the hand, unlocked that I can take to any carrier. That is a killer.
kogepathic 10y ago
> I've been on android for a while, so I'm sure I'm biased, but stock AOSP Android is pretty much perfect for me. Very minimal and aesthetically beautiful, but still powerful and customizable. You can get AOSP on a lot of phones, you just have to be comfortable flashing a custom ROM. I don't understand why anyone would pay iPhone prices for an Android phone. Even if the hardware quality is similar (which it won't be, because Apple SoCs are at least a generation ahead of everyone else) Android app quality is much worse. I'm saying this as someone who has only ever used Android. I just can't see the justification to spending this much money on a phone Google will drop support for after 2 years, in addition to never fixing some issues that are present at launch (look up the Nexus 4 camera reset issue, which Google never fixed). I'm using a Xiaomi Redmi 2 I picked up new from AliExpress for $125 USD with free shipping to Europe, and I'm running Marshmallow via CM. Works perfectly, in fact most of the time it's better than $300-400 phones thanks to not being loaded to the gills with Google Apps crapware (seriously I have no use for Google Play Music, Books, News, etc) Edit: for people down voting this, could you explain why? I've left my opinion here and if you disagree with it, I'd love to hear why. I don't believe I've stated anything factually incorrect.
- noobermin 10y ago
  >(which it won't be, because Apple SoCs are at least a generation ahead of everyone else) Can anyone confirm if this is true? I thought the general advantage for i[a-zA-Z0-9]\+ is a well defined small N number of targets, which allow great optimization. Generally, the parts on apple things are a bit older than the competition but they pull off more (at least in user's eyes) compared with Android due to that optimization.
  - kogepathic 10y ago
    On a hardware level they're not. They are built on the same feature size as other mobile SoCs. But just look at the benchmarks. Apple SoCs slaughter Qualcomm and Samsung chips in mobile benchmarks. Yes, they're highly optimised for their workload, but the point is that Apple is much better at doing this than everyone else making mobile SoCs.
  - nissimk 10y ago
    http://bgr.com/2016/02/10/snapdragon-820-vs-apple-a9-iphone-6s/ http://bgr.com/2016/02/10/snapdragon-820-vs-apple-a9-iphone-...
  - rayiner 10y ago
    Recently, Apple has been about a year ahead. Compare the A9 (which shipped in the 6s in fall 2015) with the Snapdragon 810 (which shipped in the Nexus 6p at the same time). http://www.anandtech.com/show/9837/snapdragon-820-preview/2 http://www.anandtech.com/show/9837/snapdragon-820-preview/2 http://www.anandtech.com/show/9686/the-apple-iphone-6s-and-iphone-6s-plus-review/4 http://www.anandtech.com/show/9686/the-apple-iphone-6s-and-i.... Heck, in many cases the A9 leaves the Snapdragon 820 behind, and that hasn't even shipped in a Nexus phone yet (the Pixel will probably have the 821).
    - MBCook 10y ago
      The A10 smokes it even worse. The best Android phones are competitive in multi-core performance only because they have 2x many cores as Apple.
- jasonkostempski 10y ago
  That Xiaomi Redmi 2 seems to be exactly what I've been looking for. Maybe a little big but I'll take it if it means CM support, replaceable battery and swappable SD card. Any idea if it works on Project Fi? I can't seem to find a definitive answer.
  - kogepathic 10y ago
    > Any idea if it works on Project Fi? I can't seem to find a definitive answer. I am not in the US, so I don't know, sorry. I have the 2014813 model, which supports the same LTE bands used in Europe. I also had 4G service in Japan, Korea, and China on a recent trip to Asia. Overall I would definitely recommend the phone as a solid mid-range handset. The only thing that sometimes annoys me is lack of 5GHz WiFi.
  - x0x0 10y ago
    If you aren't aware (I wasn't), xiaomi phones run miui which is somewhat different than stock android. Google miui before you buy. Or you have to be comfortable installing an android distribution.
    - kogepathic 10y ago
      Yes, the original firmware sucks massively and I wouldn't wish it even on my worst enemies. That being said, it takes about 5 minutes to flash a custom recovery and the latest CM, so in the end it's a non-issue.
      - problems 10y ago
        Really? That's sad to hear, back in the Android 2.4 days I used to love MIUI and would flash it on my devices intentionally as it had so many features that weren't yet in Android. Quick settings, dial by letters, just generally nicer look and feel. I guess a lot of this has been integrated now, but damn, it used to be nice.
  - s3bast0m 10y ago
    Rather try 2GB Redmi Note 3 for 145$ or 3GB version for 180$...
- endisukaj 10y ago
  > Android app quality is much worse. Where are you basing this on? Out of some social media apps (Facebook and Snapchat) I have found that Android apps are on-par with their iOS counterparts.
  - 27182818284 10y ago
    Not the grandparent, but having used Android for years I would argue that's true too. Consider that Android apps are generally even made second for a lot of startups, so in a lot of cases Android forfeits by not even having an app in their ecosystem. Most YC companies are in that boat too--companies that make the iOS version first.
  - x0x0 10y ago
    I use both. Currently I have an ipad and an android phone. Android apps are neglected next to ios. Examples: * spotify is shit on android. They broke audio playback during system announcements (like google maps directions) and just didn't give a damn for two months. It's not like anybody uses spotify and maps in a car or anything. * most bank apps on android still don't take advantage of fingerprint auth to avoid typing long bank passwords. Four word passwords with punctuation are super fun to type on mobile. * fitbit: Until about 6 months ago, pushing back from various subscreens would take you out of the app instead of navigating back to the main screen. There's clearly no-one who matters at fitbit that cares about android. It also doesn't particularly reliably connect to the device. Graphs and data desync from each other. I have not seen this on ios. * there really isn't any reader on android as nice as GoodReader * games come second, if ever -- eg kingdom rush frontiers
    - sliken 10y ago
      This good reader? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Good.iWare.GoodReader.ebook.Reader https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Good.iWare...
      - x0x0 10y ago
        It doesn't look the same to me... pretty confident the good one (did you see what I did there =p ?) is ios only. https://www.goodreader.com/ https://www.goodreader.com/
- winter_blue 10y ago
  I picked up a used Nexus 6 (in excellent condition) recently, and it is an incredible device. I'm also on the bleeding edge OS-wise, as I get Android Beta/Preview releases. My primary device is an iPhone 6 Plus, and I have to say, Nexus 6 and Android N is really impressive from both a hardware and software perspective. That being, I wish Google decoupled device drivers from the Android image. If they adopted the Windows on PC device driver model, it would be so great for users, especially those with older and less supported phones.
  - criddell 10y ago
    Do you think they could decouple and still get decent battery life?
    - winter_blue 10y ago
      The battery-conserving mechanisms of Android are not particularly hardware-specific on most devices. Ideally, Android (or their patched version of the Linux kernel) would expose an API for each different kind of device. An general API for cameras, an API for audio, etc. The manufacturers would then write device drivers that implement / fulfill the functionality of these open/generic APIs. (This is how things are done on PCs.) Some phones have two CPUs or SoCs, one being energy-efficient and the other highly-performant, and the system switches between them based on the workload. But an update of the OS could simply add & expose an additional new API for dual-SoC systems. Decoupling device drivers and OS releases would be a huge win for everyone. We'd get the security update swith newer OSes, and even driver updates would be simpler. PC peripheral manufacturers often release updates to their device drivers, and for a Linux and Windows users its relatively straightforward to update a device driver. E.g., I just updated my Nvidia graphics driver on Linux to the latest version two days ago. I have several kernel modules installed, and apt-get handled everything seamlessly, and built a new kernel image in a jiffy. How often do you see device drivers updated on Android? Especially if there's a bug, how long before it's fixed? All of the drivers on Android are baked into this giant system image, and the system image contains so many disparate components, that shouldn't all be locked together. The Android system image release process is so broken. The Google -> Manufacturer -> Carrier approval & release is slow and dysfunctional. The best way to go would be to adopt standard Linux distro practices, use a good package manager (like NixOS) that'll manage and assemble all the disparate system components, instead of shipping one giant frozen-in-time system image.
- twblalock 10y ago
  > I just can't see the justification to spending this much money on a phone Google will drop support for after 2 years, in addition to never fixing some issues that are present at launch (look up the Nexus 4 camera reset issue, which Google never fixed). Plus, you can't just walk into a local Google Store and use the accidental damage insurance to replace your phone on the spot (or repair it within an hour or so) if you dropped it and cracked the screen. I don't want to mail my phone in to a repair center and be without a phone for a few days. I want it fixed or exchanged in a short time while I wait, and I won't pay iPhone prices for a Pixel phone if I can't get that level of service. Purchases of high-end items are not motivated merely the items themselves. They are also motivated by the level of service the buyer gets if something goes wrong. For example, if you bring your Toyota to the dealership for service, you'll be lucky to get a loaner car. If you bring your Lexus to the dealership for service, you'll almost certainly get a loaner car that's even nicer than the car you brought in. If you buy an Apple product, you get a pretty big network of retail stores with free support and fast service turnaround. If you buy a Pixel, what do you get other than the phone itself?
  - woodpanel 10y ago
    > I don't want to mail my phone in to a repair center and be without a phone for a few days. FYI: I've been a long time Android user and can tell you that the process works different. And is actually not as bad as you think. 1) You call the hotline, they send you a link via mail 2) Clicking this link will place you in their shop with a promo-code 3) You buy the replacement phone 4) Once you've got the replacement you send in the broken one (or if you feel like it earlier) 5) Once they recieved the broken one, you get a refund on you purchase Knowing this process so well is the reason I've bought me an iphone 7 now ;-)
    - massysett 10y ago
      I had an HTC One with a defective camera and HTC had no process like this. I would have had to send them the phone and wait. Verizon helped me out and sent a refurb phone without me having to return my phone first. The refurb camera was even worse. After that I went iPhone. No reason to pay the same price for Android and get crappy service, especially when the iPhone has resale value. A used Android has no resale value whatsoever. However, if the Pixel is like other Androids the list price is a joke and carriers will be discounting it shortly.
- problems 10y ago
  Yup, get a OnePlus, get a Xiaomi, but what's the gain in going from one of those devices to a Pixel or the latest Samsung or even an iPhone? Pretty much nothing, a different UI, maybe a slightly better camera. It still does almost everything the exact same. Specs are very often on par (this Pixel is pretty damn close to a OP3, less RAM and less ) and the phones are 40% or more cheaper! It's just plain stupid.
- SapphireSun 10y ago
  > Android app quality is much worse. Good thing that offline web apps will start making most native apps obsolete in a few years.
  - collyw 10y ago
    Careful what you wish for. I have an Ubuntu phone which is mainly web app based, and while its fine for most things, traveling abroad without a roaming plan renders the phone pretty useless.
    - SapphireSun 10y ago
      I didn't mean that they could do it literally today. Offline capability is already present in some browsers though and producing a polished web app allows universal deployment. It wouldn't have the same look and feel as native apps though and performance is an issue for some things, but not most things.
- nvarsj 10y ago
  > Google will drop support for after 2 years I agree with this as an Android user. The lack of device support from Google is appalling. And all my nexus devices (4, 7) have had major hardware flaws that never get fixed - once you're past the warranty, you're SOL. The 7 had many touch screen problems, and a very flimsy charger port (which broke under warranty, then broke again after - so I can't charge it anymore :|). If you want decent hardware on Android, you have to go with Samsung. But their support for devices is even worse than Google - my Tab S just got Marshmallow. And touchwiz really hurts the Android experience. Compare to Apple - I still have a first generation iPad that my kids use, and it's still going strong. It's a bit dented, but that thing is a tank.
  - simonh 10y ago
    I match your 1st gen iPad and raise you an iPhone 3GS. My youngest just upgraded to a hand-me-down iPhone 4 a few weeks ago, but my old 3GS is still working fine and even still works with the App Store. I can still download apps on to it that I bought back in 2009 and don't even show up in the store on modern devices, but they're still there for the 3GS. She used it for Whatsapp a lot. Gobsmacked.
    - vetinari 10y ago
      I match your iPhone 3GS and raise an 3G. That thing had last iOS release 4.x, which made it unusable and I was scrambling to return it to 3.x. It wasn't capable to download anything from Apple Store for years. It still works as a phone though, also most of the built-in apps work, (except for syncing with Google account, since Google disabled ActiveSync support). What a difference one year of device age can make.
      - simonh 10y ago
        I had a 3G as well. We got maybe 3 years of useful work out of it, but that's all. It ended up with my wife's sister in China. The 3GS looked the same and seemed like an incremental update, but the improvements made a massive difference. Then the year after they came out with the iPhone 4. Wow! Those 2 years look like 5 years or more worth of advances in retrospect.
cholantesh 10y ago
Agreed, and I personally like Cyanogenmod and OxygenOS a lot, too. In fact, I think Touchwiz is the only (major) Android iteration that I haven't enjoyed using. Frankly, I don't get all the hype about iOS' user experience - every time I've had to use an Apple device, I've found just about every task much more cumbersome.
- soylentcola 10y ago
  Having used both extensively (but Android more so), I find them both pretty straightforward to use for most common tasks. Both still have their more granular settings hidden behind menus but that seems to be the tradeoff for surface simplicity and aesthetics. That said, every so often there's something I need to do or want to do that's a little bit outside of the default setup. Little things that matter to me nonetheless. Things like keyboard layout, default apps, home screen layout, icon spacing, etc. On iOS the keyboard thing seems to be solved now with addon keyboards but even those other minor preferences or layout tweaks are often limited or impossible on iOS (unless you manage to jailbreak your device). On Android they're usually just a setting change, app install, or (rarely) an APK install from an independent developer away. This isn't meant so much as a critique of the Apple way of doing things. I'm well aware that my needs and wants aren't necessarily the norm or in line with the majority. Spending efforts addressing every possible use can cause just as much harm as good in a final product. That said, once I have multiple options that both "succeed" well, I start to choose based on which one "fails" better (ie: which one makes it easier for me to change or fix the rare thing that doesn't just work the way I want it to).
- kefka_p 10y ago
  Frankly a lot of people don't get the hype about having to install custom ROMs to make their phones behave in a tolerable way. People are always going to find computing on devices they don't normally use to be more difficult than computing on devices they normally use, yet to you this is proof Android is better?
  - givinguflac 10y ago
    THANK YOU! We are mostly techy folks here, and I don't understand how anyone could say to the average user "just install a ROM and it's a big improvement on the software that ships with it." As correct as that is in my experience, you seriously expect grandma or even just your average non-techie user to even give a shit? My wife can't be bothered to turn wifi on when she gets home because she doesn't even think about it, and you want me to have her unlock her bootloader and flash something? hah. Perspective folks.
robotresearcher 10y ago
> Very minimal and aesthetically beautiful, but still powerful and customizable. None of which is helpful when the battery is dead. The iPhone still wins on battery life. Maybe the new gen Androids will fix that. I hope so. Edit: I added some data for battery tests in a comment below. Looks like my Android experience is out of date.
- DannyBee 10y ago
  I think this is very user-specific. My wife has had two iphones (5, 6). Both die much faster than my androids (many many hours). We use them about the same.
  - robotresearcher 10y ago
    Anecdotes aside, let's find some data: http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/mobile-phones/1402071/best-phone-battery-life-2016-top-smartphones-tested http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/mobile-phones/1402071/best-ph... http://www.gsmarena.com/battery-test.php3 http://www.gsmarena.com/battery-test.php3 https://www.statista.com/statistics/280508/smartphone-battery-life/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/280508/smartphone-batter... Looks like Apple is middle of the pack among premium phones these days. My experience was with NEXUS 4 and 5, which would often be out of juice when I needed them.
    - DannyBee 10y ago
      "Anecdotes aside, let's find some data:" FWIW: I think it's pretty sad that almost all of these phones are certainly collecting this data (even if only in internal dogfood populations, etc), but then the stats we get are based on random things like "talk time" or ... I wonder if anyone started a public app project that auto-tracks and uploads battery stats that folks can participate in.
    - dannyr 10y ago
      Nexus 4 was released 2012 while Nexus 5 in 2013. Believe me, batteries and power management on Android has improved since 2013.
hitr 10y ago
I was a windows phone user for a long time currently switched to android.I checked quite few android devices and I think Windows phone has better feel and usability for apps like messages, dialer,recent call list,app list etc.I have never used a nexus device though.how is stock Android's basic apps like messages, dialer etc? Do we need to install apps to get basic features like nice threaded views, message search,recent call list which shows duration or simple call history search(instead of searching entire address book) etc?
- cableshaft 10y ago
  No message search in hangouts makes me angry to no end. I had message search on my old Windows Phone and got so used to it I don't ever want to go without it again, especially when my girlfriend and I talk about something and then want to refresh my memory later (We discuss ideas we have, preferences, etc. and I used to be able to search for them again, now I can't).
  - tluyben2 10y ago
    I find the search capabilities in most messenger apps appalling. I have to remember to copy/paste important things to somewhere else because a week later I cannot find them anymore. Whatsapp seems a good exception.
    - MichaelMoser123 10y ago
      >I find the search capabilities in most messenger apps appalling with whatsapp you can have better search that on the desktop: https://web.whatsapp.com/ https://web.whatsapp.com/ - allows you to setup the client for the web; here it is easier to search for messages.
  - ngcazz 10y ago
    you can search through your chats using Gmail IIRC.
anfogoat 10y ago
I've had the worst time since switching to the OnePlus 3 and from what I've read the OS on this phone is very close to stock Android. The only way to have a good experience with email, calendars and contacts is to use Google Apps – which I refuse to migrate to. The stock apps have no support for IMAP IDLE, CardDAV, or CalDAV. You have to resort to 3rd party apps for these and they are without fail either slow, buggy, very unappealing visually, or all three.
- x0x0 10y ago
  This is absolutely true -- I'm on a nexus 5/android 6. There's no native caldav. I use a paid client called caldav-sync which is mediocre. For a while on android 5/lollipop, you had to install a second app (free from the same author) to prevent settings being wiped during OS upgrades/patches. When I upgraded to android 6 I couldn't figure out why calendars weren't syncing until I discovered caldav-sync decided to sync every 6 hours instead of every 5 minutes. The whole thing feels and works like a hack. Using the gmail app as an imap client for fastmail is crap, particularly if you access the email account from a desktop. The Gmail app regularly desyncs from the state of your email. It has recently decided to announce old emails as new. If you move/delete an email in fastmail from the web client on your desktop, you have to manually tell gmail to sync or it won't notice, even hours after the fact. I was hoping for a cheap nexus replacement and was also looking at the OnePlus 3. Dual sims are nice too. That's too bad that you don't like it...
  - anfogoat 10y ago
    I should clarify. Except for Android's lack of support for good email/cal/contact syncing, I've got no major complaints about the OnePlus itself.
  - tdkl 10y ago
    I used Aquamail & Davdroid (paid on Play,free on F-droid) for that combo (before my hosting got ActiveSync, for which I another excellent client app called Nine), was working without issues you write about.
FussyZeus 10y ago
> Not sure I agree with this. I've been on android for a while, so I'm sure I'm biased, but stock AOSP Android is pretty much perfect for me. Very minimal and aesthetically beautiful, but still powerful and customizable. This is the go-to line for every Android fan. How many devices out there run stock Android? Is it possible to buy a device with stock Android? How much comp-sci experience are you going to need to make your device run stock Android? What difference does it make how good the OS is if Google gives it's OEM's free license to ruin it?
- livingparadox 10y ago
  I use the Nexus, which runs stock android by default. This new pixel phone will probably also do so, being a direct (ish) google phone. I think its because if the cruft 3rd party OEMs have been adding that google has been making these phones. So, yes, you can buy a device with stock android. It just has to be a google phone, not a 3rd party for the most part.
  - radiorental 10y ago
    > I use the Nexus, which runs stock android by default. Is this strictly true if google bakes their apps in (play music etc.)
    - viraptor 10y ago
      Sure. You get the extra apps baked in, but the system itself is not being changed.
  - Gorbzel 10y ago
    This was my understanding as well. Except now, two issues: 1) More a quibble, but I'd say that people around here pushing AOSP makes the term "stock Android" a bit less clear. 2) Article claims the new Pixels will have some other variant of Android, based on current stock Nougat but with additional support baked in for things like their new VR headset and Google Assistant. Which strengthens FuzzyZeus' point: determining which version of Android a given phone comes with (and which it can support, both now and in the future) is an extremely muddled game, with the OEMs and now Google itself not doing anyone any favors.
nextos 10y ago
For me perfection is not AOSP, but https://copperhead.co/android/ https://copperhead.co/android/. Sadly, they only support Nexus (now Pixel devices), and this new iteration is very expensive.
erikpukinskis 10y ago
Honestly, in terms of staff UI design cred Android is in better place than iOS right now. With the Sidekick, PalmOS, and then Material Design, Matías Duarte has been consistently at the forefront of mobile UI design. Jony Ive is probably the most brilliant consumer electronics hardware designer in the world, but I have yet to see any indication that he has any idea how to lead a platform UI design project. I had issues with Scott Forstall's style, but he was at least leading the charge somewhere. In my opinion, force click, Siri, 3D wallpapers, etc, have not been major coups in terms of UI finesse. At best Apple is in a holding pattern right now, I haven't seen any indication that they're pushing the state of the art outside of the hardware. The animations keep getting flashier and smoother, but that's not really UI design. I thought Ive's strong understanding of design methodology would be enough, but I think maybe software design requires a different way of thinking. I don't know.
- nipponese 10y ago
  It's hard to buy that argument. It doesn't appear Material ever attempted to be better than iOS, just different. And now Google Design is quietly backtracking (dialogs are transitioning to iOS action sheets, hamburger button is being phased out for bottom tab navigation). And now the phone even looks even more like an iPhone. Let's be honest, there are only two rules for design at Google: "Not Apple" and "good enough".
  - Larrikin 10y ago
    Honestly I notice more Android on my iPad than I notice iOS on my phone. iOS finally got custom keyboards so I can use a proper mobile keyboard like Swype, the notification panel isn't as useless as it was and is a lot richer like on Android. Its really only a matter of time until iOS introduces widgets on the home screen. I've convinced more than a couple people to switch to Android for their phone simply because you can have your calendar and todo list right where you can always see it. Were hamburger buttons an Android thing? I noticed them everywhere, including on the web.
    - ceejayoz 10y ago
deleted 10y ago
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mattmaroon 10y ago
I have both a nexus 5 and an iPad. I greatly prefer stock Android. Just yesterday my girlfriend was trying to figure out how to turn her ringer off at night while still being able to hear her alarm. Little tasks like that are trivial on Android but difficult on iOS.
- codeflo 10y ago
  Flipping the mute switch on the side of the phone is difficult?
  - richev 10y ago
    Easy to do != easy to discover
    - jolux 10y ago
      How is it not easy to discover? You flip the switch, the phone buzzes and shows you what happened. It's one of the few buttons on the phone, it's not like it's hard to find. Not to mention contextually it's right next to the volume buttons which is where it should be.
      - sjwright 10y ago
        (Not to mention that the mute switch has been consistently implemented on 100% of iPhones since the first model in 2007...)
      - benjaminwootton 10y ago
        When you do that it has a big crossed out bell, which worries you the alarm isn't going to go. I never sleep well if I have an early flight as I'm never 100% sure I haven't silenced the alarm!
        swift 10y ago
        I'm pretty sure it's literally impossible to silence the alarm from the built-in Clock app on iOS. Third party apps are subject to the usual notification settings, though.
mattmaroon 10y ago
I have both a nexus 5 and an iPad. I greatly prefer stock Android. Just yesterday my girlfriend was trying to figure out how to turn her ringer off at night while still being able to hear her alarm. Little tasks like that are trivial on Android but difficult on iOS.
mattmaroon 10y ago
I have both a nexus 5 and an iPad. I greatly prefer stock Android. Just yesterday my girlfriend was trying to figure out how to turn her ringer off at night while still being able to hear her alarm. Little tasks like that are trivial on Android but difficult on iOS.
zyngaro 10y ago
Stock Android is dumb, annoying.
cloudjacker 10y ago
I have a feeling that the repetitive series of Google Play Services on this device will be very far from stock android
ryanSrich 10y ago
Usable sure, but aesthetically pleasing? Material design is almost brutalist in its aesthetic. It's the opposite of beauty.
stormbeta 10y ago
Agreed. I tried iOS for six months this summer, and I found the overall UX very disappointing compared to modern Android at this point. Some things are still better - unified music controls, backups, and night shift especially. And the hardware/firmware is undeniably fantastic. But Apple's emphasis on poor contrast and lack of differentiation within the UI really hurts usability, and there's still a lot of unexpected behaviors, such as links opening with a web page telling me to install an app I already have. Going to back to only having two real notification modes - noisy or silent - felt like a major step backwards as well. But worst of all was the lack of consistency between apps. I get that some people think MD on Android leads to apps feeling too similar, but I prefer that. My phone isn't a piece of art, it's a functional communication device. I want my apps to use the same, practical design language that gets to the point and doesn't get in the way by trying to be "different".
notyourwork 10y ago
This is part of the problem though. Everyone's experience is different. You are on stock, not everyone is. Android market is fragmented whereas with Apple you and your Mom and neighbor are all on the same iOS. Its not hype its real. You showing off your stock android running smooth as butter doesn't help convince someone running a phone preloaded with bloatware and a different UI. I don't know what the right answer is but Apple has one phone and one OS, android has many phones and many looks to their OS. This could be part of why there will never be an iPhone killer aside from Apple themselves.

buckbova 10y ago

Totally agree with this. Just got the moto g4 and for under $250. I have a really good looking color customized phone with stock android, that feels good in the hand, unlocked that I can take to any carrier. That is a killer.

kogepathic 10y ago

> I've been on android for a while, so I'm sure I'm biased, but stock AOSP Android is pretty much perfect for me. Very minimal and aesthetically beautiful, but still powerful and customizable. You can get AOSP on a lot of phones, you just have to be comfortable flashing a custom ROM. I don't understand why anyone would pay iPhone prices for an Android phone. Even if the hardware quality is similar (which it won't be, because Apple SoCs are at least a generation ahead of everyone else) Android app quality is much worse. I'm saying this as someone who has only ever used Android. I just can't see the justification to spending this much money on a phone Google will drop support for after 2 years, in addition to never fixing some issues that are present at launch (look up the Nexus 4 camera reset issue, which Google never fixed). I'm using a Xiaomi Redmi 2 I picked up new from AliExpress for $125 USD with free shipping to Europe, and I'm running Marshmallow via CM. Works perfectly, in fact most of the time it's better than $300-400 phones thanks to not being loaded to the gills with Google Apps crapware (seriously I have no use for Google Play Music, Books, News, etc) Edit: for people down voting this, could you explain why? I've left my opinion here and if you disagree with it, I'd love to hear why. I don't believe I've stated anything factually incorrect.

noobermin 10y ago
>(which it won't be, because Apple SoCs are at least a generation ahead of everyone else) Can anyone confirm if this is true? I thought the general advantage for i[a-zA-Z0-9]\+ is a well defined small N number of targets, which allow great optimization. Generally, the parts on apple things are a bit older than the competition but they pull off more (at least in user's eyes) compared with Android due to that optimization.
- kogepathic 10y ago
  On a hardware level they're not. They are built on the same feature size as other mobile SoCs. But just look at the benchmarks. Apple SoCs slaughter Qualcomm and Samsung chips in mobile benchmarks. Yes, they're highly optimised for their workload, but the point is that Apple is much better at doing this than everyone else making mobile SoCs.
- nissimk 10y ago
  http://bgr.com/2016/02/10/snapdragon-820-vs-apple-a9-iphone-6s/ http://bgr.com/2016/02/10/snapdragon-820-vs-apple-a9-iphone-...
- rayiner 10y ago
  Recently, Apple has been about a year ahead. Compare the A9 (which shipped in the 6s in fall 2015) with the Snapdragon 810 (which shipped in the Nexus 6p at the same time). http://www.anandtech.com/show/9837/snapdragon-820-preview/2 http://www.anandtech.com/show/9837/snapdragon-820-preview/2 http://www.anandtech.com/show/9686/the-apple-iphone-6s-and-iphone-6s-plus-review/4 http://www.anandtech.com/show/9686/the-apple-iphone-6s-and-i.... Heck, in many cases the A9 leaves the Snapdragon 820 behind, and that hasn't even shipped in a Nexus phone yet (the Pixel will probably have the 821).
  - MBCook 10y ago
    The A10 smokes it even worse. The best Android phones are competitive in multi-core performance only because they have 2x many cores as Apple.
jasonkostempski 10y ago
That Xiaomi Redmi 2 seems to be exactly what I've been looking for. Maybe a little big but I'll take it if it means CM support, replaceable battery and swappable SD card. Any idea if it works on Project Fi? I can't seem to find a definitive answer.
- kogepathic 10y ago
  > Any idea if it works on Project Fi? I can't seem to find a definitive answer. I am not in the US, so I don't know, sorry. I have the 2014813 model, which supports the same LTE bands used in Europe. I also had 4G service in Japan, Korea, and China on a recent trip to Asia. Overall I would definitely recommend the phone as a solid mid-range handset. The only thing that sometimes annoys me is lack of 5GHz WiFi.
- x0x0 10y ago
  If you aren't aware (I wasn't), xiaomi phones run miui which is somewhat different than stock android. Google miui before you buy. Or you have to be comfortable installing an android distribution.
  - kogepathic 10y ago
    Yes, the original firmware sucks massively and I wouldn't wish it even on my worst enemies. That being said, it takes about 5 minutes to flash a custom recovery and the latest CM, so in the end it's a non-issue.
    - problems 10y ago
      Really? That's sad to hear, back in the Android 2.4 days I used to love MIUI and would flash it on my devices intentionally as it had so many features that weren't yet in Android. Quick settings, dial by letters, just generally nicer look and feel. I guess a lot of this has been integrated now, but damn, it used to be nice.
- s3bast0m 10y ago
  Rather try 2GB Redmi Note 3 for 145$ or 3GB version for 180$...
endisukaj 10y ago
> Android app quality is much worse. Where are you basing this on? Out of some social media apps (Facebook and Snapchat) I have found that Android apps are on-par with their iOS counterparts.
- 27182818284 10y ago
  Not the grandparent, but having used Android for years I would argue that's true too. Consider that Android apps are generally even made second for a lot of startups, so in a lot of cases Android forfeits by not even having an app in their ecosystem. Most YC companies are in that boat too--companies that make the iOS version first.
- x0x0 10y ago
  I use both. Currently I have an ipad and an android phone. Android apps are neglected next to ios. Examples: * spotify is shit on android. They broke audio playback during system announcements (like google maps directions) and just didn't give a damn for two months. It's not like anybody uses spotify and maps in a car or anything. * most bank apps on android still don't take advantage of fingerprint auth to avoid typing long bank passwords. Four word passwords with punctuation are super fun to type on mobile. * fitbit: Until about 6 months ago, pushing back from various subscreens would take you out of the app instead of navigating back to the main screen. There's clearly no-one who matters at fitbit that cares about android. It also doesn't particularly reliably connect to the device. Graphs and data desync from each other. I have not seen this on ios. * there really isn't any reader on android as nice as GoodReader * games come second, if ever -- eg kingdom rush frontiers
  - sliken 10y ago
    This good reader? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Good.iWare.GoodReader.ebook.Reader https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Good.iWare...
    - x0x0 10y ago
      It doesn't look the same to me... pretty confident the good one (did you see what I did there =p ?) is ios only. https://www.goodreader.com/ https://www.goodreader.com/
winter_blue 10y ago
I picked up a used Nexus 6 (in excellent condition) recently, and it is an incredible device. I'm also on the bleeding edge OS-wise, as I get Android Beta/Preview releases. My primary device is an iPhone 6 Plus, and I have to say, Nexus 6 and Android N is really impressive from both a hardware and software perspective. That being, I wish Google decoupled device drivers from the Android image. If they adopted the Windows on PC device driver model, it would be so great for users, especially those with older and less supported phones.
- criddell 10y ago
  Do you think they could decouple and still get decent battery life?
  - winter_blue 10y ago
    The battery-conserving mechanisms of Android are not particularly hardware-specific on most devices. Ideally, Android (or their patched version of the Linux kernel) would expose an API for each different kind of device. An general API for cameras, an API for audio, etc. The manufacturers would then write device drivers that implement / fulfill the functionality of these open/generic APIs. (This is how things are done on PCs.) Some phones have two CPUs or SoCs, one being energy-efficient and the other highly-performant, and the system switches between them based on the workload. But an update of the OS could simply add & expose an additional new API for dual-SoC systems. Decoupling device drivers and OS releases would be a huge win for everyone. We'd get the security update swith newer OSes, and even driver updates would be simpler. PC peripheral manufacturers often release updates to their device drivers, and for a Linux and Windows users its relatively straightforward to update a device driver. E.g., I just updated my Nvidia graphics driver on Linux to the latest version two days ago. I have several kernel modules installed, and apt-get handled everything seamlessly, and built a new kernel image in a jiffy. How often do you see device drivers updated on Android? Especially if there's a bug, how long before it's fixed? All of the drivers on Android are baked into this giant system image, and the system image contains so many disparate components, that shouldn't all be locked together. The Android system image release process is so broken. The Google -> Manufacturer -> Carrier approval & release is slow and dysfunctional. The best way to go would be to adopt standard Linux distro practices, use a good package manager (like NixOS) that'll manage and assemble all the disparate system components, instead of shipping one giant frozen-in-time system image.
twblalock 10y ago
> I just can't see the justification to spending this much money on a phone Google will drop support for after 2 years, in addition to never fixing some issues that are present at launch (look up the Nexus 4 camera reset issue, which Google never fixed). Plus, you can't just walk into a local Google Store and use the accidental damage insurance to replace your phone on the spot (or repair it within an hour or so) if you dropped it and cracked the screen. I don't want to mail my phone in to a repair center and be without a phone for a few days. I want it fixed or exchanged in a short time while I wait, and I won't pay iPhone prices for a Pixel phone if I can't get that level of service. Purchases of high-end items are not motivated merely the items themselves. They are also motivated by the level of service the buyer gets if something goes wrong. For example, if you bring your Toyota to the dealership for service, you'll be lucky to get a loaner car. If you bring your Lexus to the dealership for service, you'll almost certainly get a loaner car that's even nicer than the car you brought in. If you buy an Apple product, you get a pretty big network of retail stores with free support and fast service turnaround. If you buy a Pixel, what do you get other than the phone itself?
- woodpanel 10y ago
  > I don't want to mail my phone in to a repair center and be without a phone for a few days. FYI: I've been a long time Android user and can tell you that the process works different. And is actually not as bad as you think. 1) You call the hotline, they send you a link via mail 2) Clicking this link will place you in their shop with a promo-code 3) You buy the replacement phone 4) Once you've got the replacement you send in the broken one (or if you feel like it earlier) 5) Once they recieved the broken one, you get a refund on you purchase Knowing this process so well is the reason I've bought me an iphone 7 now ;-)
  - massysett 10y ago
    I had an HTC One with a defective camera and HTC had no process like this. I would have had to send them the phone and wait. Verizon helped me out and sent a refurb phone without me having to return my phone first. The refurb camera was even worse. After that I went iPhone. No reason to pay the same price for Android and get crappy service, especially when the iPhone has resale value. A used Android has no resale value whatsoever. However, if the Pixel is like other Androids the list price is a joke and carriers will be discounting it shortly.
problems 10y ago
Yup, get a OnePlus, get a Xiaomi, but what's the gain in going from one of those devices to a Pixel or the latest Samsung or even an iPhone? Pretty much nothing, a different UI, maybe a slightly better camera. It still does almost everything the exact same. Specs are very often on par (this Pixel is pretty damn close to a OP3, less RAM and less ) and the phones are 40% or more cheaper! It's just plain stupid.
SapphireSun 10y ago
> Android app quality is much worse. Good thing that offline web apps will start making most native apps obsolete in a few years.
- collyw 10y ago
  Careful what you wish for. I have an Ubuntu phone which is mainly web app based, and while its fine for most things, traveling abroad without a roaming plan renders the phone pretty useless.
  - SapphireSun 10y ago
    I didn't mean that they could do it literally today. Offline capability is already present in some browsers though and producing a polished web app allows universal deployment. It wouldn't have the same look and feel as native apps though and performance is an issue for some things, but not most things.
nvarsj 10y ago
> Google will drop support for after 2 years I agree with this as an Android user. The lack of device support from Google is appalling. And all my nexus devices (4, 7) have had major hardware flaws that never get fixed - once you're past the warranty, you're SOL. The 7 had many touch screen problems, and a very flimsy charger port (which broke under warranty, then broke again after - so I can't charge it anymore :|). If you want decent hardware on Android, you have to go with Samsung. But their support for devices is even worse than Google - my Tab S just got Marshmallow. And touchwiz really hurts the Android experience. Compare to Apple - I still have a first generation iPad that my kids use, and it's still going strong. It's a bit dented, but that thing is a tank.
- simonh 10y ago
  I match your 1st gen iPad and raise you an iPhone 3GS. My youngest just upgraded to a hand-me-down iPhone 4 a few weeks ago, but my old 3GS is still working fine and even still works with the App Store. I can still download apps on to it that I bought back in 2009 and don't even show up in the store on modern devices, but they're still there for the 3GS. She used it for Whatsapp a lot. Gobsmacked.
  - vetinari 10y ago
    I match your iPhone 3GS and raise an 3G. That thing had last iOS release 4.x, which made it unusable and I was scrambling to return it to 3.x. It wasn't capable to download anything from Apple Store for years. It still works as a phone though, also most of the built-in apps work, (except for syncing with Google account, since Google disabled ActiveSync support). What a difference one year of device age can make.
    - simonh 10y ago
      I had a 3G as well. We got maybe 3 years of useful work out of it, but that's all. It ended up with my wife's sister in China. The 3GS looked the same and seemed like an incremental update, but the improvements made a massive difference. Then the year after they came out with the iPhone 4. Wow! Those 2 years look like 5 years or more worth of advances in retrospect.

cholantesh 10y ago

Agreed, and I personally like Cyanogenmod and OxygenOS a lot, too. In fact, I think Touchwiz is the only (major) Android iteration that I haven't enjoyed using. Frankly, I don't get all the hype about iOS' user experience - every time I've had to use an Apple device, I've found just about every task much more cumbersome.

soylentcola 10y ago
Having used both extensively (but Android more so), I find them both pretty straightforward to use for most common tasks. Both still have their more granular settings hidden behind menus but that seems to be the tradeoff for surface simplicity and aesthetics. That said, every so often there's something I need to do or want to do that's a little bit outside of the default setup. Little things that matter to me nonetheless. Things like keyboard layout, default apps, home screen layout, icon spacing, etc. On iOS the keyboard thing seems to be solved now with addon keyboards but even those other minor preferences or layout tweaks are often limited or impossible on iOS (unless you manage to jailbreak your device). On Android they're usually just a setting change, app install, or (rarely) an APK install from an independent developer away. This isn't meant so much as a critique of the Apple way of doing things. I'm well aware that my needs and wants aren't necessarily the norm or in line with the majority. Spending efforts addressing every possible use can cause just as much harm as good in a final product. That said, once I have multiple options that both "succeed" well, I start to choose based on which one "fails" better (ie: which one makes it easier for me to change or fix the rare thing that doesn't just work the way I want it to).
kefka_p 10y ago
Frankly a lot of people don't get the hype about having to install custom ROMs to make their phones behave in a tolerable way. People are always going to find computing on devices they don't normally use to be more difficult than computing on devices they normally use, yet to you this is proof Android is better?
- givinguflac 10y ago
  THANK YOU! We are mostly techy folks here, and I don't understand how anyone could say to the average user "just install a ROM and it's a big improvement on the software that ships with it." As correct as that is in my experience, you seriously expect grandma or even just your average non-techie user to even give a shit? My wife can't be bothered to turn wifi on when she gets home because she doesn't even think about it, and you want me to have her unlock her bootloader and flash something? hah. Perspective folks.

robotresearcher 10y ago

> Very minimal and aesthetically beautiful, but still powerful and customizable. None of which is helpful when the battery is dead. The iPhone still wins on battery life. Maybe the new gen Androids will fix that. I hope so. Edit: I added some data for battery tests in a comment below. Looks like my Android experience is out of date.

DannyBee 10y ago
I think this is very user-specific. My wife has had two iphones (5, 6). Both die much faster than my androids (many many hours). We use them about the same.
- robotresearcher 10y ago
  Anecdotes aside, let's find some data: http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/mobile-phones/1402071/best-phone-battery-life-2016-top-smartphones-tested http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/mobile-phones/1402071/best-ph... http://www.gsmarena.com/battery-test.php3 http://www.gsmarena.com/battery-test.php3 https://www.statista.com/statistics/280508/smartphone-battery-life/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/280508/smartphone-batter... Looks like Apple is middle of the pack among premium phones these days. My experience was with NEXUS 4 and 5, which would often be out of juice when I needed them.
  - DannyBee 10y ago
    "Anecdotes aside, let's find some data:" FWIW: I think it's pretty sad that almost all of these phones are certainly collecting this data (even if only in internal dogfood populations, etc), but then the stats we get are based on random things like "talk time" or ... I wonder if anyone started a public app project that auto-tracks and uploads battery stats that folks can participate in.
  - dannyr 10y ago
    Nexus 4 was released 2012 while Nexus 5 in 2013. Believe me, batteries and power management on Android has improved since 2013.

hitr 10y ago

I was a windows phone user for a long time currently switched to android.I checked quite few android devices and I think Windows phone has better feel and usability for apps like messages, dialer,recent call list,app list etc.I have never used a nexus device though.how is stock Android's basic apps like messages, dialer etc? Do we need to install apps to get basic features like nice threaded views, message search,recent call list which shows duration or simple call history search(instead of searching entire address book) etc?

cableshaft 10y ago
No message search in hangouts makes me angry to no end. I had message search on my old Windows Phone and got so used to it I don't ever want to go without it again, especially when my girlfriend and I talk about something and then want to refresh my memory later (We discuss ideas we have, preferences, etc. and I used to be able to search for them again, now I can't).
- tluyben2 10y ago
  I find the search capabilities in most messenger apps appalling. I have to remember to copy/paste important things to somewhere else because a week later I cannot find them anymore. Whatsapp seems a good exception.
  - MichaelMoser123 10y ago
    >I find the search capabilities in most messenger apps appalling with whatsapp you can have better search that on the desktop: https://web.whatsapp.com/ https://web.whatsapp.com/ - allows you to setup the client for the web; here it is easier to search for messages.
- ngcazz 10y ago
  you can search through your chats using Gmail IIRC.

anfogoat 10y ago

I've had the worst time since switching to the OnePlus 3 and from what I've read the OS on this phone is very close to stock Android. The only way to have a good experience with email, calendars and contacts is to use Google Apps – which I refuse to migrate to. The stock apps have no support for IMAP IDLE, CardDAV, or CalDAV. You have to resort to 3rd party apps for these and they are without fail either slow, buggy, very unappealing visually, or all three.

x0x0 10y ago
This is absolutely true -- I'm on a nexus 5/android 6. There's no native caldav. I use a paid client called caldav-sync which is mediocre. For a while on android 5/lollipop, you had to install a second app (free from the same author) to prevent settings being wiped during OS upgrades/patches. When I upgraded to android 6 I couldn't figure out why calendars weren't syncing until I discovered caldav-sync decided to sync every 6 hours instead of every 5 minutes. The whole thing feels and works like a hack. Using the gmail app as an imap client for fastmail is crap, particularly if you access the email account from a desktop. The Gmail app regularly desyncs from the state of your email. It has recently decided to announce old emails as new. If you move/delete an email in fastmail from the web client on your desktop, you have to manually tell gmail to sync or it won't notice, even hours after the fact. I was hoping for a cheap nexus replacement and was also looking at the OnePlus 3. Dual sims are nice too. That's too bad that you don't like it...
- anfogoat 10y ago
  I should clarify. Except for Android's lack of support for good email/cal/contact syncing, I've got no major complaints about the OnePlus itself.
- tdkl 10y ago
  I used Aquamail & Davdroid (paid on Play,free on F-droid) for that combo (before my hosting got ActiveSync, for which I another excellent client app called Nine), was working without issues you write about.

FussyZeus 10y ago

> Not sure I agree with this. I've been on android for a while, so I'm sure I'm biased, but stock AOSP Android is pretty much perfect for me. Very minimal and aesthetically beautiful, but still powerful and customizable. This is the go-to line for every Android fan. How many devices out there run stock Android? Is it possible to buy a device with stock Android? How much comp-sci experience are you going to need to make your device run stock Android? What difference does it make how good the OS is if Google gives it's OEM's free license to ruin it?

livingparadox 10y ago
I use the Nexus, which runs stock android by default. This new pixel phone will probably also do so, being a direct (ish) google phone. I think its because if the cruft 3rd party OEMs have been adding that google has been making these phones. So, yes, you can buy a device with stock android. It just has to be a google phone, not a 3rd party for the most part.
- radiorental 10y ago
  > I use the Nexus, which runs stock android by default. Is this strictly true if google bakes their apps in (play music etc.)
  - viraptor 10y ago
    Sure. You get the extra apps baked in, but the system itself is not being changed.
- Gorbzel 10y ago
  This was my understanding as well. Except now, two issues: 1) More a quibble, but I'd say that people around here pushing AOSP makes the term "stock Android" a bit less clear. 2) Article claims the new Pixels will have some other variant of Android, based on current stock Nougat but with additional support baked in for things like their new VR headset and Google Assistant. Which strengthens FuzzyZeus' point: determining which version of Android a given phone comes with (and which it can support, both now and in the future) is an extremely muddled game, with the OEMs and now Google itself not doing anyone any favors.

nextos 10y ago

For me perfection is not AOSP, but https://copperhead.co/android/ https://copperhead.co/android/. Sadly, they only support Nexus (now Pixel devices), and this new iteration is very expensive.

erikpukinskis 10y ago

Honestly, in terms of staff UI design cred Android is in better place than iOS right now. With the Sidekick, PalmOS, and then Material Design, Matías Duarte has been consistently at the forefront of mobile UI design. Jony Ive is probably the most brilliant consumer electronics hardware designer in the world, but I have yet to see any indication that he has any idea how to lead a platform UI design project. I had issues with Scott Forstall's style, but he was at least leading the charge somewhere. In my opinion, force click, Siri, 3D wallpapers, etc, have not been major coups in terms of UI finesse. At best Apple is in a holding pattern right now, I haven't seen any indication that they're pushing the state of the art outside of the hardware. The animations keep getting flashier and smoother, but that's not really UI design. I thought Ive's strong understanding of design methodology would be enough, but I think maybe software design requires a different way of thinking. I don't know.

nipponese 10y ago
It's hard to buy that argument. It doesn't appear Material ever attempted to be better than iOS, just different. And now Google Design is quietly backtracking (dialogs are transitioning to iOS action sheets, hamburger button is being phased out for bottom tab navigation). And now the phone even looks even more like an iPhone. Let's be honest, there are only two rules for design at Google: "Not Apple" and "good enough".
- Larrikin 10y ago
  Honestly I notice more Android on my iPad than I notice iOS on my phone. iOS finally got custom keyboards so I can use a proper mobile keyboard like Swype, the notification panel isn't as useless as it was and is a lot richer like on Android. Its really only a matter of time until iOS introduces widgets on the home screen. I've convinced more than a couple people to switch to Android for their phone simply because you can have your calendar and todo list right where you can always see it. Were hamburger buttons an Android thing? I noticed them everywhere, including on the web.
  - ceejayoz 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

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mattmaroon 10y ago

I have both a nexus 5 and an iPad. I greatly prefer stock Android. Just yesterday my girlfriend was trying to figure out how to turn her ringer off at night while still being able to hear her alarm. Little tasks like that are trivial on Android but difficult on iOS.

codeflo 10y ago
Flipping the mute switch on the side of the phone is difficult?
- richev 10y ago
  Easy to do != easy to discover
  - jolux 10y ago
    How is it not easy to discover? You flip the switch, the phone buzzes and shows you what happened. It's one of the few buttons on the phone, it's not like it's hard to find. Not to mention contextually it's right next to the volume buttons which is where it should be.
    - sjwright 10y ago
      (Not to mention that the mute switch has been consistently implemented on 100% of iPhones since the first model in 2007...)
    - benjaminwootton 10y ago
      When you do that it has a big crossed out bell, which worries you the alarm isn't going to go. I never sleep well if I have an early flight as I'm never 100% sure I haven't silenced the alarm!
      - swift 10y ago
        I'm pretty sure it's literally impossible to silence the alarm from the built-in Clock app on iOS. Third party apps are subject to the usual notification settings, though.

mattmaroon 10y ago

zyngaro 10y ago

Stock Android is dumb, annoying.

cloudjacker 10y ago

I have a feeling that the repetitive series of Google Play Services on this device will be very far from stock android

ryanSrich 10y ago

Usable sure, but aesthetically pleasing? Material design is almost brutalist in its aesthetic. It's the opposite of beauty.

stormbeta 10y ago

Agreed. I tried iOS for six months this summer, and I found the overall UX very disappointing compared to modern Android at this point. Some things are still better - unified music controls, backups, and night shift especially. And the hardware/firmware is undeniably fantastic. But Apple's emphasis on poor contrast and lack of differentiation within the UI really hurts usability, and there's still a lot of unexpected behaviors, such as links opening with a web page telling me to install an app I already have. Going to back to only having two real notification modes - noisy or silent - felt like a major step backwards as well. But worst of all was the lack of consistency between apps. I get that some people think MD on Android leads to apps feeling too similar, but I prefer that. My phone isn't a piece of art, it's a functional communication device. I want my apps to use the same, practical design language that gets to the point and doesn't get in the way by trying to be "different".

notyourwork 10y ago

This is part of the problem though. Everyone's experience is different. You are on stock, not everyone is. Android market is fragmented whereas with Apple you and your Mom and neighbor are all on the same iOS. Its not hype its real. You showing off your stock android running smooth as butter doesn't help convince someone running a phone preloaded with bloatware and a different UI. I don't know what the right answer is but Apple has one phone and one OS, android has many phones and many looks to their OS. This could be part of why there will never be an iPhone killer aside from Apple themselves.