6 ms·

The moment flash was announced for the Android I realized that my next phone won't be an iPhone, but a nexus one. Sad. History is repeating itself.

by axiom 16y ago

sshumaker 16y ago
Really? You miss flash that badly? Other than the occasional restaurant website, what are you missing? Most flash apps are very awkward on a phone, having been designed for a mouse. And most flash games apparently don't perform remotely acceptably on Android (not enough horsepower in the phone). The remaining reason would be Hulu - but they won't stream to your phone, even with flash - since they don't have mobile distribution rights to the content.
- freddier 16y ago
  Have you actually tried Flash Player 10.1 on an Android phone? I have, today, on Google I/O. It works very well and it's not how you say at all. There are lots of videos showing it as well. Please, try before you judge.
  - WiseWeasel 16y ago
    "Very well" is apparently relative. The Engadget review was less stellar: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/20/android-2-2-froyo-beta-hands-on-flash-10-1-wifi-hotspots-an/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/20/android-2-2-froyo-beta-ha... The videos they have of the device playing Flash videos also seem to confirm that the performance is rather poor. Also note the 'significant dent' to the battery charge from playing Flash videos mentioned in the review.
    - tensor 16y ago
      That is simply a lack of hardware acceleration. Something that HTML5/JS apps do not have either. At least for flash, you can expect it to have hardware acceleration eventually. The bottom line is that you have the option to use flash, or not. On the iphone, you have no option. There is no losing here.
      - WiseWeasel 16y ago
        "Something that HTML5/JS apps do not have either." Actually, HTML5 video playback on mobile devices is hardware-accelerated. That's the reason it works well, as opposed to this, which does not.
        vetinari 16y ago
        Flash is not only video. Canvas+JS is not accelerated on mobile devices.
- jasonlotito 16y ago
  "The remaining reason would be Hulu..." except, most people can't get Hulu anyways. But what are you missing? Flash apps and games that do work just fine. Kongregate has a mobile game site: http://m.kongregate.com/ http://m.kongregate.com/ where apparently the games run really well. Then you have a LOT of streaming content you can view in flash (and not restricted to just the US). Let me ask you this? Why wouldn't you want the above?
  - ugh 16y ago
    Why wouldn't you want the above? If you never really used it anyway? As you showed there are plenty of valid reasons for wanting Flash on your phone, it's just that those might not be important reasons for everyone.
    - robryan 16y ago
      Would would agree though that even though you don't really use it, it would be nice to have there? Sure it's valid to say you find enough iphone positives that you are willing to live with the lack of flash.
      - ugh 16y ago
        I’m not actually so sure about that. There are definitely people who are like that but I don’t think I’m one of them. I don’t really like to buy stuff with features I know I won’t be using.
- mixmax 16y ago
  I wouldn't be able to live without flash and here's why. If I visit 100 sites a day maybe 5 of them will be dependent on flash in some way. Menus, slideshows, etc. Without flash the site is worthless. I won't remember the 95 sites that work, but each and every one of the sites that don't will annoy me endlessly. Maybe I needed that quote on a new Dewalt powerdrill from the local website programmed in flash. Maybe I really wanted to see the funny link someone posted on twitter. But I can't. Not without flash. The problem is a lot like spam: False positives are a serious problem. If 5 e-mails a day were mistakenly labeled as spam my spamfilter would basically be useless. This is exactly the same. I don't endorse flash, and think it's annoying as hell but until 99.5% of the sites I visit work without flash not having it simply isn't an option.
  - extension 16y ago
    5% would be a conservative estimate of the sites I find completely unusable on my phone for reasons that have nothing to do with Flash: text too wide and tiny to bother, centered popups that are bigger than the screen (so I can't close them), essential functionality based on mouseovers, random failures of over complicated JS/CSS, neglected mobile sites that mangle content or don't show it at all, mobile sites that break hotlinking and just take you to the home page, and so much more. The point is, Flash is just a small part of a big problem. Web design still has whiplash from the mobile explosion. But it's going to recover real quick, and when everyone starts making mobile friendly sites, they won't be using Flash. It's on death row and Google is just dragging it out for a cheap shot at Apple. Just grit your teeth and bear it for a little while longer. You'll have to do that anyway, with or without Flash.
- watty 16y ago
  The same thing can be said about HTML4. If the website was designed for mouse-hover and not rewritten... guess what? The bottom line is that the end user should be able to choose. Arguing against that is just silly. Shouldn't Apple block HTML5 since it will waste more CPU than normal sites? Other than the occasional restaurant website, what are you missing?
- xiaoma 16y ago
  I'll tell you what flash-based site is missing. It's grooveshark. Without doubt it would be an awesome site to be able to access from a mobile device.
- Qz 16y ago
  > Most flash apps are very awkward on a phone, having been designed for a mouse. Have you actually used a legacy flash app on a touchscreen or are you just repeating the non-facts that Jobs has seeded on the internet?
megablast 16y ago
They better put in a way to switch it off, similar to noflash plugin for safari, or I may never get an Android device. One of the huge advantages for Apple, is that the iPhone OS does not run flash. I, and a lot of other people, do not want flash. I understand a lot of people do, but let me switch it off in the OS, and we can have the best of both worlds.
- jpcx01 16y ago
  Agreed. I'd like to have it for some of the video sites I use (like giantbomb.com), but I'd rather avoid the bullshit flash sound enabled banner ads if I can help it.
perokreco 16y ago
You could have been using a Nokia phone during all this time.

The moment flash was announced for the Android I realized that my next phone won't be an iPhone, but a nexus one. Sad. History is repeating itself.

by axiom 16y ago

The moment flash was announced for the Android I realized that my next phone won't be an iPhone, but a nexus one. Sad. History is repeating itself.

sshumaker 16y ago

Really? You miss flash that badly? Other than the occasional restaurant website, what are you missing? Most flash apps are very awkward on a phone, having been designed for a mouse. And most flash games apparently don't perform remotely acceptably on Android (not enough horsepower in the phone). The remaining reason would be Hulu - but they won't stream to your phone, even with flash - since they don't have mobile distribution rights to the content.

freddier 16y ago
Have you actually tried Flash Player 10.1 on an Android phone? I have, today, on Google I/O. It works very well and it's not how you say at all. There are lots of videos showing it as well. Please, try before you judge.
- WiseWeasel 16y ago
  "Very well" is apparently relative. The Engadget review was less stellar: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/20/android-2-2-froyo-beta-hands-on-flash-10-1-wifi-hotspots-an/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/20/android-2-2-froyo-beta-ha... The videos they have of the device playing Flash videos also seem to confirm that the performance is rather poor. Also note the 'significant dent' to the battery charge from playing Flash videos mentioned in the review.
  - tensor 16y ago
    That is simply a lack of hardware acceleration. Something that HTML5/JS apps do not have either. At least for flash, you can expect it to have hardware acceleration eventually. The bottom line is that you have the option to use flash, or not. On the iphone, you have no option. There is no losing here.
    - WiseWeasel 16y ago
      "Something that HTML5/JS apps do not have either." Actually, HTML5 video playback on mobile devices is hardware-accelerated. That's the reason it works well, as opposed to this, which does not.
      - vetinari 16y ago
        Flash is not only video. Canvas+JS is not accelerated on mobile devices.
jasonlotito 16y ago
"The remaining reason would be Hulu..." except, most people can't get Hulu anyways. But what are you missing? Flash apps and games that do work just fine. Kongregate has a mobile game site: http://m.kongregate.com/ http://m.kongregate.com/ where apparently the games run really well. Then you have a LOT of streaming content you can view in flash (and not restricted to just the US). Let me ask you this? Why wouldn't you want the above?
- ugh 16y ago
  Why wouldn't you want the above? If you never really used it anyway? As you showed there are plenty of valid reasons for wanting Flash on your phone, it's just that those might not be important reasons for everyone.
  - robryan 16y ago
    Would would agree though that even though you don't really use it, it would be nice to have there? Sure it's valid to say you find enough iphone positives that you are willing to live with the lack of flash.
    - ugh 16y ago
      I’m not actually so sure about that. There are definitely people who are like that but I don’t think I’m one of them. I don’t really like to buy stuff with features I know I won’t be using.
mixmax 16y ago
I wouldn't be able to live without flash and here's why. If I visit 100 sites a day maybe 5 of them will be dependent on flash in some way. Menus, slideshows, etc. Without flash the site is worthless. I won't remember the 95 sites that work, but each and every one of the sites that don't will annoy me endlessly. Maybe I needed that quote on a new Dewalt powerdrill from the local website programmed in flash. Maybe I really wanted to see the funny link someone posted on twitter. But I can't. Not without flash. The problem is a lot like spam: False positives are a serious problem. If 5 e-mails a day were mistakenly labeled as spam my spamfilter would basically be useless. This is exactly the same. I don't endorse flash, and think it's annoying as hell but until 99.5% of the sites I visit work without flash not having it simply isn't an option.
- extension 16y ago
  5% would be a conservative estimate of the sites I find completely unusable on my phone for reasons that have nothing to do with Flash: text too wide and tiny to bother, centered popups that are bigger than the screen (so I can't close them), essential functionality based on mouseovers, random failures of over complicated JS/CSS, neglected mobile sites that mangle content or don't show it at all, mobile sites that break hotlinking and just take you to the home page, and so much more. The point is, Flash is just a small part of a big problem. Web design still has whiplash from the mobile explosion. But it's going to recover real quick, and when everyone starts making mobile friendly sites, they won't be using Flash. It's on death row and Google is just dragging it out for a cheap shot at Apple. Just grit your teeth and bear it for a little while longer. You'll have to do that anyway, with or without Flash.
watty 16y ago
The same thing can be said about HTML4. If the website was designed for mouse-hover and not rewritten... guess what? The bottom line is that the end user should be able to choose. Arguing against that is just silly. Shouldn't Apple block HTML5 since it will waste more CPU than normal sites? Other than the occasional restaurant website, what are you missing?
xiaoma 16y ago
I'll tell you what flash-based site is missing. It's grooveshark. Without doubt it would be an awesome site to be able to access from a mobile device.
Qz 16y ago
> Most flash apps are very awkward on a phone, having been designed for a mouse. Have you actually used a legacy flash app on a touchscreen or are you just repeating the non-facts that Jobs has seeded on the internet?

megablast 16y ago

They better put in a way to switch it off, similar to noflash plugin for safari, or I may never get an Android device. One of the huge advantages for Apple, is that the iPhone OS does not run flash. I, and a lot of other people, do not want flash. I understand a lot of people do, but let me switch it off in the OS, and we can have the best of both worlds.

jpcx01 16y ago
Agreed. I'd like to have it for some of the video sites I use (like giantbomb.com), but I'd rather avoid the bullshit flash sound enabled banner ads if I can help it.

perokreco 16y ago

You could have been using a Nokia phone during all this time.