5 ms·
Every time I pick up an Android based phone it's always the same miserable first five minutes. "Where are the apps? Is... Oh. Are these all of the apps or some
by jpxxx 14y ago
Every time I pick up an Android based phone it's always the same miserable first five minutes.
"Where are the apps? Is... Oh. Are these all of the apps or some of the apps? Where are all of the apps? Do I hit a button? Oh.. Oh, there's a browser. But why is it where it... do I drag this or something?"
"How do I stop making it putting squares on the faces in the pictures? Why would you do this? Is it in the Settings? Where is the settings? Is there one settings app? Is it in a menu? Do I tap something? Is it one of these hardware butto-OH where am I now?"
"How do I get this keyboard to go away? It shouldn't be up anymore. I hit enter. Didn't I? What the hell is this key with the arrow? Wait, is this "dismiss?" No.. do I touch the screen? Gotdamnit don't hit that I didn't want to hit that."
Even on a Galaxy S3 last week, it was the same experience. There's too much Old World UI in Android for my tastes.
- Tichy 14y agoWouldn't it be normal to learn those things after the first time? I think you are exaggerating a bit.
- drivebyacct2 14y agoSeriously, are you kidding us?
- untog 14y agoYou appear to be battling the highly technical concept of "familiarity". Anyone using an Android device for longer than a day has none of these issues, and someone that has never used an iOS device would have the same issues. For example: "Where are the apps? Is... Oh. Are these all of the apps or some of the apps? Where are all of the apps? Do I hit a button? Oh.. Oh, I swipe from side to side. Oh, but some of them are inside folders? What's going on when I go too far left?" I could go on, but really, what's the point?
- jpxxx 14y agoshrug Your indignance over my experiences won't change anything from where I'm sitting. From a no-name candybar running 1.6 to a dead latest Galaxy S3 running 4.0, I have had the same miserable first five minutes. I've watched a Google marketing executive thrash around on 3.0 before having to wade in on his behalf, I've finished whatever e-mail setup the Verizon rep didn't do a dozen times, and I've spent nice long chunks of my time trying to troubleshoot issues, set up MDM, and fix sync drama of whatever type. I've spent tens upon tens of hours doing my due diligence. But every time I pick up the device, it's the same five minutes. Whatever manufacturer, whatever device, whatever form factor, whatever. Edit: Here's another way of putting it. When I pick up an "Android" device, I don't know what I'm getting. Stock? Cyanogen? Sense? Touchwiz? Motoblur? No-Name? No-name without OHA support? Carrier modifications? Manufacturer pre-loads? 1.x? 2.x? 3.x? 4.x? This makes answering remarkably simple questions like "how do I set up e-mail" pretty difficult, because there are so many possible answers to that question (K-9? Mail? Maildroid? Gmail? Forward mail to Gmail?) -and- the ones that come before it like "how do I get to the apps" and "how do I unlock the phone" and "what button, if any, wakes the phone up". These thousand distinctions without a difference make it hard to make predictions, design workflows, or make recommendations to anyone about anything Android. It's just this ever-expanding morass of STUFF.
- untog 14y agoThen I suggest that you may have a problem with your short term memory.
- jpxxx 14y agoSure. In the meantime, the world's most important new computing platform has some significant design issues that require attention.
- untog 14y agoYou appear to have mistaken anecdotal evidence (yours) with a widespread trend.
- jpxxx 14y agoWell, I was only born one person. In the meantime, the world's most important new computing platform has some significant design issues that will probably require attention before we arrive at an era when "what's in your pocket" is your entire computing experience.
- RHSeeger 14y agoI have the exact same problem every time I pick up my wife's ipod touch; I can't remember how to do anything on it. I'd take it one step further, however, and say that it's a lot easier to use the buttons that Android presents and figure out what they do then... discover "oh, you just 4 finger swipe" on the iDevice. The iDevices just seem to have a lot of interactions that you just won't ever discover on your own. That being said, I really wish Android devices were as polished as the iPhone. I just don't think the ways that you interact with the system and their intuitiveness are a place where Apple wins out.
- seunosewa 14y agoYou missed the part where his 'short term memory issues' are not a problem with IOS devices.
- modernshoggoth 14y agoI feel the same way about iPhones. I can never find a damn thing on them. Though, got a new GS3 recently and agree with all you've said. I could harp on with Cyanogenmod, Cyanogenmod, Cyanogenmod... but really the issue is that they try to sell high-end phones to non-technical people, which you can't really blame them for. The big phone manufacturers really need to figure out a way to have two versions of their products: one marketed to technical people and one marketed to non-technical people. Hell, make the contract on the technical one come without a warranty for software so that people can flash whatever ROM on there with impunity. I've never given a crap about warranty's because I know that my intended use of pretty much every electronic device I've ever owned will break the warranty but not the device...
- w1ntermute 14y agoThat's how I feel using an iOS device - death by a thousand papercuts. All the apps are on the home screens, no dedicated back button...I can only use it for a few minutes before getting frustrated. And apparently iOS doesn't have any public transit directions in the maps app? In 2012?! Are you fucking shitting me?
- jpxxx 14y agoYep. If you go for public transit instructions, the Maps app will geolocate and prompt you to download a third party transit direction app that "might" be most appropriate. It's going to go over like a lead balloon next week - I find Google's transit maps invaluable.
- fpgeek 14y agoGiven the relative popularity of mass transit inside and outside the US, I'm wondering if we're going to see greater divergence between iOS's US and non-US market share after iOS 6. I'm also wondering if that's why this mistake was possible - too many suburban US decisionmakers who didn't understand in their gut why mass transit was a huge deal to a lot of people.
- taligent 14y agoGoogle Maps doesn't have ANY public transit directions in most countries. So you guys from the US need to stop acting as though this feature is somehow a game changer. It will almost exclusively affect US users only.
- ranebo 14y agoI'm an Australian living in Japan and this absolutely is a game changer for me. If anything I would think it affects many other countries more than the US.
- taligent 14y agoI am not saying it is useful only that it is not a game changer for most people. Even in Japan you can use apps like Hyperdia for the JR and subways. The iPhone predates the official launch of Google Transit and at the beginning didn't have many cities and so many providers have apps available.
- bsphil 14y ago"Where are the apps? Is... Oh. Are these all of the apps or some of the apps? Where are all of the apps?" Did you pick up someone else's phone? When you initialize an account for the first time (as someone who's done this a bunch with custom ROMs on Android), there will be tutorial overlays on the screen explaining the answers to those questions.
- jpxxx 14y agoYep. My job rarely has me setting Android up for the first time.
- darklajid 14y agoWhat is the issue in this case? I mean - if you pick up the device of someone else, without getting any introduction (and - a slight bias?), isn't that kind of expected? I'd argue that we could have similar reactions to iOS, Web OS, S60, S40 etc.. Or really in any interaction. If you didn't read about iOS or never used one of these devices, the home button is _not_ intuitive to figure out. Ignoring all the following warts and hidden features. So your recollection of your Android experience is probably spot on, but not surprising for me. I cannot imagine that, with the effort you invested in that example session with an Android device, you'd be able to 'grasp' any other platform. Especially if, as this comment I'm replying to seems to indicate, you just grab the customized device of someone else.
- jpxxx 14y agoI don't know if I have any grand thesis, I'm just complaining into a textbox. Bottom-basement minute-one functionality in Android still seems to be in flux, and it's bothersome to me. Hardware buttons become software buttons become contextual buttons become hardware buttons again. Launchers are now widgets are now resizable widgets are now autolayout widgets are now fixed. PIN unlock is now dot unlock is now swipe unlock is now picture unlock is now face unlock is now biometric unlock is now passcode unlock. It all depends on a matrix of Carrier, Manufacturer, Customization, and Major Version that makes it difficult to guess what you're going to expect when you up to a new phone, a new line, a new family, or pick up someone else's device and try to be productive. On one hand you've got a profound proliferation of designs targeted at a profound proliferation of markets, which is good. But on the other hand you've got these evolving fiefdoms of UI that impose their own vision on top of a platform that is increasingly under the control of Google's own vision. (for instance the end of theming and other 4.0 era mandates) The relearning costs are enormous for the tech-uninvolved and the UI-blind. We don't experience them because we're fluent. This gray goo platform is now shipping a half billion units a year and the market is still trying to figure out if there should even be a back button. It's unsettling.
- hiddenstage 14y agoThe entire iOS UI is an app picker. If you want an app picker in Android, click the menu button. If you want more than that, buy an Android.