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Android. Truly horrible platform where I cannot even find a clock app that just works. I mean there is one shipped with a phone, but it has inconvenient timer a

by ordu 6y ago

Android. Truly horrible platform where I cannot even find a clock app that just works. I mean there is one shipped with a phone, but it has inconvenient timer and I do not like how time selection is done -- a lots of movements to scroll numbers to find one I need, -- but I cannot configure it to my convenience and I cannot find another clock app that works. And all this "Google phone wants to have an access to calendar" after each call. I do not know why it needs an access to calendar, I'm not going to give it one, so just stop pecking me. But it will never stop, it seems. And a lots of useless stuff I cannot delete. I stopped it from popping up with stupid messages, but I cannot delete them. It seems that I will be forced to replace Android with PostmarketOS.

raymond_goo 6y ago
Quote: "I want to talk about the Nokia N9 alarm clock application because it’s a really nice example of thoughtful, functional design – and because it’s only on the N9, so a lot of people won’t have seen it. There are more important things in life than getting excited about an alarm clock app, but it's nice when simple things are done well." From here: http://nition.momentstudio.co.nz/2014/08/the-nokia-n9-alarm-clock/ http://nition.momentstudio.co.nz/2014/08/the-nokia-n9-alarm-...
tenuousemphasis 6y ago
The useless stuff, can you uninstall updates and disable?
greggturkington 6y ago
> I do not like how time selection is done -- a lots of movements to scroll numbers to find one I need One of the worst things about iOS is the time picker. The numbers spin like a slot machine. I think Android nailed it in this specific app widget.
- johns 6y ago
  I believe this has been redesigned in iOS 14.
  - nikisweeting 6y ago
    They just removed it in favor of the normal numeric keypad.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  It was certainly fun to spin, though!
aasasd 6y ago
> how time selection is done -- a lots of movements to scroll numbers to find one I need That's the worst way to pick a time that I've seen and used. It requires a lot of swiping, combined with looking for the precise moment to stop the scrolling and not overshoot. Thankfully in some Android variants it's replaced with much better alternatives. Google Pixel's stock apps in Android 9 and 10 use a round watch face for time points—where you pick first the hour, then the minute with one tap each. However, this still requires rather precise finger work (and has animation in the middle). The best interface IMO is what Pixel and Philips' phones use in the timer: you just type the minute and the second (or the hour and the minute) in four digits, with a huge number pad on the screen. Philips did better here because its pad occupied most of the screen so the tap targets are larger. The benefit of this interface is that you easily develop muscle memory for it, practically no aiming is required. ‘Simple Mobile Tools’ make pretty good apps which are open-source and are present in F-Droid (https://www.simplemobiletools.com https://www.simplemobiletools.com). Alas their ‘Simple Clock’ uses scroll spinners in the timer, but perhaps you could ask them to reconsider. I can help with screens from the better interfaces.
- aasasd 6y ago
  What really annoys me about the timer is that there's no option for it to chime for ten seconds or so and stop, instead of making me fumble with it and press the button. Because I use the timer every day when cooking, and my hands are often busy and dirty during that—while I can hear the timer loud and clear (especially if I'm listening to audiobooks).
  - icebraining 6y ago
    "Hey google, stop" Voice commands really shine for cooking.
- bennettfeely 6y ago
  Microwaves have a perfectly usable and quick timer input method. Is there anyone who thinks swiping and scrolling up and down to pick a time makes things easier? I have no idea why they think a smartphone timer should be any different.
andrei_says_ 6y ago
I zoom with my mom every week. Her old tablet cannot upgrade to newer android version, which prevented zoom from updating, and caused zoom to refuse to work. I bought her a new tablet. A friend set it up and was able to do a call. Everything was working. That was last week. Today, I spent 40 minutes on the phone with her because after boot the tablet was showing a black screen. No possibility for interaction. Eventually, after many reboots, she noticed some kind of google security warning which instructed her to swipe up. I had to train her to swipe up over the phone. We had the call, eventually, and I still have no idea what her tablet is asking of her.
hnick 6y ago
I was going to say Android, but it's hard for me as a user to know which issues are hardware and which are software. Common problems, for me: - Camera stops working, it seems some apps take over it and it won't work again until I close all apps - Can't hang up on phone calls because the proximity detection that locks the screen bugs out and won't unlock until after the other person hangs up - Occasionally gets stuck in a loop where it unlocks then locks again instantly, and I have to power cycle - General UI lag on apps that should be simple like the clock - Sometimes it just seems to get stuck on a black screen but eventually it wakes up after a number of minutes As for the timer/clock there are two features I'd like, maybe there's a way to get them. 1) Have a small counter running under a timer after it expires, so I can tell at a glance how long it's been since then (useful when setting a follow-up timer for cooking after fussing with stuff) 2) Let me set an alarm for a time on a day without having to select it as a repeat, which means it'll run again the next week if I forget to unset it.
f1refly 6y ago
This comment looks very bizzare to me. The clock thing has been changed years ago, nowadays it's a timeface where you tap the hour in the first stage and the minute in the second, after that you're done setting the time. > And a lot of useless stuff I cannot delete Well yes, the os is made by a monopolistic ad company that tries to get your every last bit of sweet, sweet data through its services, but there's an extra step in the distribution chain where the hardware vendor can throw as much garbage into the system rom as they want. I deem android phones without lean cfw pretty much unusable.
- helentoomik 6y ago
  The "tap hour, then minute" UI is for setting an alarm. But for timers ("please beep in 5 minutes and 30 seconds") the app still has the old stupid scroll interface.
  - huffmsa 6y ago
    My timer UI is a T-9 pad. On vanilla Android 10. Has been for quite a while.
- ordu 6y ago
  > The clock thing has been changed years ago My previous phone (ASUS ZenPhone 2) had nice UI like you described. I don't remember really, maybe it was not the stock app, but the clock from Simple Mobile Tools. My new phone (Xiaomi Redme 8) has this stupid slots machine instead of UI and the clock app from Simple Mobile Tools works unreliable.

by ordu 6y ago

raymond_goo 6y ago

Quote: "I want to talk about the Nokia N9 alarm clock application because it’s a really nice example of thoughtful, functional design – and because it’s only on the N9, so a lot of people won’t have seen it. There are more important things in life than getting excited about an alarm clock app, but it's nice when simple things are done well." From here: http://nition.momentstudio.co.nz/2014/08/the-nokia-n9-alarm-clock/ http://nition.momentstudio.co.nz/2014/08/the-nokia-n9-alarm-...

tenuousemphasis 6y ago

The useless stuff, can you uninstall updates and disable?

greggturkington 6y ago

> I do not like how time selection is done -- a lots of movements to scroll numbers to find one I need One of the worst things about iOS is the time picker. The numbers spin like a slot machine. I think Android nailed it in this specific app widget.

johns 6y ago
I believe this has been redesigned in iOS 14.
- nikisweeting 6y ago
  They just removed it in favor of the normal numeric keypad.
saagarjha 6y ago
It was certainly fun to spin, though!

aasasd 6y ago

> how time selection is done -- a lots of movements to scroll numbers to find one I need That's the worst way to pick a time that I've seen and used. It requires a lot of swiping, combined with looking for the precise moment to stop the scrolling and not overshoot. Thankfully in some Android variants it's replaced with much better alternatives. Google Pixel's stock apps in Android 9 and 10 use a round watch face for time points—where you pick first the hour, then the minute with one tap each. However, this still requires rather precise finger work (and has animation in the middle). The best interface IMO is what Pixel and Philips' phones use in the timer: you just type the minute and the second (or the hour and the minute) in four digits, with a huge number pad on the screen. Philips did better here because its pad occupied most of the screen so the tap targets are larger. The benefit of this interface is that you easily develop muscle memory for it, practically no aiming is required. ‘Simple Mobile Tools’ make pretty good apps which are open-source and are present in F-Droid (https://www.simplemobiletools.com https://www.simplemobiletools.com). Alas their ‘Simple Clock’ uses scroll spinners in the timer, but perhaps you could ask them to reconsider. I can help with screens from the better interfaces.

aasasd 6y ago
What really annoys me about the timer is that there's no option for it to chime for ten seconds or so and stop, instead of making me fumble with it and press the button. Because I use the timer every day when cooking, and my hands are often busy and dirty during that—while I can hear the timer loud and clear (especially if I'm listening to audiobooks).
- icebraining 6y ago
  "Hey google, stop" Voice commands really shine for cooking.
bennettfeely 6y ago
Microwaves have a perfectly usable and quick timer input method. Is there anyone who thinks swiping and scrolling up and down to pick a time makes things easier? I have no idea why they think a smartphone timer should be any different.

andrei_says_ 6y ago

I zoom with my mom every week. Her old tablet cannot upgrade to newer android version, which prevented zoom from updating, and caused zoom to refuse to work. I bought her a new tablet. A friend set it up and was able to do a call. Everything was working. That was last week. Today, I spent 40 minutes on the phone with her because after boot the tablet was showing a black screen. No possibility for interaction. Eventually, after many reboots, she noticed some kind of google security warning which instructed her to swipe up. I had to train her to swipe up over the phone. We had the call, eventually, and I still have no idea what her tablet is asking of her.

hnick 6y ago

I was going to say Android, but it's hard for me as a user to know which issues are hardware and which are software. Common problems, for me: - Camera stops working, it seems some apps take over it and it won't work again until I close all apps - Can't hang up on phone calls because the proximity detection that locks the screen bugs out and won't unlock until after the other person hangs up - Occasionally gets stuck in a loop where it unlocks then locks again instantly, and I have to power cycle - General UI lag on apps that should be simple like the clock - Sometimes it just seems to get stuck on a black screen but eventually it wakes up after a number of minutes As for the timer/clock there are two features I'd like, maybe there's a way to get them. 1) Have a small counter running under a timer after it expires, so I can tell at a glance how long it's been since then (useful when setting a follow-up timer for cooking after fussing with stuff) 2) Let me set an alarm for a time on a day without having to select it as a repeat, which means it'll run again the next week if I forget to unset it.

f1refly 6y ago

This comment looks very bizzare to me. The clock thing has been changed years ago, nowadays it's a timeface where you tap the hour in the first stage and the minute in the second, after that you're done setting the time. > And a lot of useless stuff I cannot delete Well yes, the os is made by a monopolistic ad company that tries to get your every last bit of sweet, sweet data through its services, but there's an extra step in the distribution chain where the hardware vendor can throw as much garbage into the system rom as they want. I deem android phones without lean cfw pretty much unusable.

helentoomik 6y ago
The "tap hour, then minute" UI is for setting an alarm. But for timers ("please beep in 5 minutes and 30 seconds") the app still has the old stupid scroll interface.
- huffmsa 6y ago
  My timer UI is a T-9 pad. On vanilla Android 10. Has been for quite a while.
ordu 6y ago
> The clock thing has been changed years ago My previous phone (ASUS ZenPhone 2) had nice UI like you described. I don't remember really, maybe it was not the stock app, but the clock from Simple Mobile Tools. My new phone (Xiaomi Redme 8) has this stupid slots machine instead of UI and the clock app from Simple Mobile Tools works unreliable.