3 ms·

shrug 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

by jpxxx 14y ago

shrug 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 ago
Then I suggest that you may have a problem with your short term memory.
- jpxxx 14y ago
  Sure. In the meantime, the world's most important new computing platform has some significant design issues that require attention.
  - untog 14y ago
    You appear to have mistaken anecdotal evidence (yours) with a widespread trend.
    - jpxxx 14y ago
      Well, 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 ago
      I 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 ago
  You missed the part where his 'short term memory issues' are not a problem with IOS devices.
  - jpxxx 14y ago
    I'm not sure if this is a slam or a support, but sure, let's talk about iOS. There is no affordance for switching homepages, summoning notifications, deleting an application, moving an application, creating a folder, destroying a folder, or moving folders between pages. All homepage editing is hinted by a talkative modal popup that happens at first launch, the worst imaginable time for educating users on a relatively insignificant feature. The blue (Done) button rules your world until black (Edit) is required. (Trashcan) icons get overloaded with filing tasks, (Send To) prints except when (Print) prints except when "Print" prints. I've watched normal, bright human beings slam into every one of them. I've met people who literally never realized there was a lock button on their phone and simply throw it in their bag when they're done. These problems are no more excusable and no less vexing to novice iOS users. The thing is that iOS has such an incredibly clean core interaction model of "Everything Is An App" and "Press Home When You Are Done" that it goes a long way to forgiving all the crippy crap nonsense added on after the fact. And most every question you have can reliably answered by another iOS user of the same technical skill and comfort because they're using, substantially, the same thing. iPod, iPad, 3.x, 6.x, whatever. When Android can mean any of 20 different skins, layers, versions, and loadouts, even fundamental questions like "is there even a back button" have to be asked. Is it on the phone? Is it a soft key? Is it hiding due to context? IDK. Unless you know someone who has a substantially similar device, good luck with network learning. All computers suck. Android sucks in some key areas, starting with "Where are the apps"? The answer "depends" isn't good enough.
    - chimeracoder 14y ago
      iOS sucks in some pretty key areas too. The only difference is what you're familiar with. I had been using an iPhone for two or three weeks before I discovered (by accident) that double-pressing the home button actually did anything. To my knowledge, this is the only time double-pressing anything is the correct interaction in iOS; I'm so trained at this point that you either single-press or long-press that this startled me. How anybody ever figures this out is beyond me. The same goes for navigating text - it also took me a while to find out that long-pressing creates a magnifying glass. I still prefer Android's version, which is consistent on all text fields (including the browser URL bar!) and faster. The browser forces me to scroll up all the way in order to navigate to a different page. The URL bar and search bar are inexplicably different, which makes no sense on a mobile device. I still couldn't tell you without looking which icons I can move on my homescreen and which I can't. Even if I look, I couldn't explain why I'm unable to move many of them. Settings - man, why does this have to be so complicated? Even Cyanogenmod, which offers a far greater level of customization, makes much more sense. Almost all relevant settings for a particular application are inside the application itself - this isn't split half-and-half arbitrarily. Taking a screenshot? I always forget that this requires pressing two buttons that are very awkward to hold down at the same time. On any ICS+ phone, I can just long-press the power button. Simple. Easy. The notification bar is completely superfluous. I receive a notification from Twitter, then tap that notification to go to Twitter to read it, and then I notice that I have to go back to the notification bar to clear the notification again. I've never had any problems with buttons. All Android phones have a back button; the only question is whether it is hard or soft, but I don't really care about that. Maybe that means I, the user, am just dumb. But I never have had any of these problems on Android.
- philwelch 14y ago
  That wasn't very nice.

by jpxxx 14y ago

untog 14y ago

Then I suggest that you may have a problem with your short term memory.

jpxxx 14y ago
Sure. In the meantime, the world's most important new computing platform has some significant design issues that require attention.
- untog 14y ago
  You appear to have mistaken anecdotal evidence (yours) with a widespread trend.
  - jpxxx 14y ago
    Well, 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 ago
    I 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 ago
You missed the part where his 'short term memory issues' are not a problem with IOS devices.
- jpxxx 14y ago
  I'm not sure if this is a slam or a support, but sure, let's talk about iOS. There is no affordance for switching homepages, summoning notifications, deleting an application, moving an application, creating a folder, destroying a folder, or moving folders between pages. All homepage editing is hinted by a talkative modal popup that happens at first launch, the worst imaginable time for educating users on a relatively insignificant feature. The blue (Done) button rules your world until black (Edit) is required. (Trashcan) icons get overloaded with filing tasks, (Send To) prints except when (Print) prints except when "Print" prints. I've watched normal, bright human beings slam into every one of them. I've met people who literally never realized there was a lock button on their phone and simply throw it in their bag when they're done. These problems are no more excusable and no less vexing to novice iOS users. The thing is that iOS has such an incredibly clean core interaction model of "Everything Is An App" and "Press Home When You Are Done" that it goes a long way to forgiving all the crippy crap nonsense added on after the fact. And most every question you have can reliably answered by another iOS user of the same technical skill and comfort because they're using, substantially, the same thing. iPod, iPad, 3.x, 6.x, whatever. When Android can mean any of 20 different skins, layers, versions, and loadouts, even fundamental questions like "is there even a back button" have to be asked. Is it on the phone? Is it a soft key? Is it hiding due to context? IDK. Unless you know someone who has a substantially similar device, good luck with network learning. All computers suck. Android sucks in some key areas, starting with "Where are the apps"? The answer "depends" isn't good enough.
  - chimeracoder 14y ago
    iOS sucks in some pretty key areas too. The only difference is what you're familiar with. I had been using an iPhone for two or three weeks before I discovered (by accident) that double-pressing the home button actually did anything. To my knowledge, this is the only time double-pressing anything is the correct interaction in iOS; I'm so trained at this point that you either single-press or long-press that this startled me. How anybody ever figures this out is beyond me. The same goes for navigating text - it also took me a while to find out that long-pressing creates a magnifying glass. I still prefer Android's version, which is consistent on all text fields (including the browser URL bar!) and faster. The browser forces me to scroll up all the way in order to navigate to a different page. The URL bar and search bar are inexplicably different, which makes no sense on a mobile device. I still couldn't tell you without looking which icons I can move on my homescreen and which I can't. Even if I look, I couldn't explain why I'm unable to move many of them. Settings - man, why does this have to be so complicated? Even Cyanogenmod, which offers a far greater level of customization, makes much more sense. Almost all relevant settings for a particular application are inside the application itself - this isn't split half-and-half arbitrarily. Taking a screenshot? I always forget that this requires pressing two buttons that are very awkward to hold down at the same time. On any ICS+ phone, I can just long-press the power button. Simple. Easy. The notification bar is completely superfluous. I receive a notification from Twitter, then tap that notification to go to Twitter to read it, and then I notice that I have to go back to the notification bar to clear the notification again. I've never had any problems with buttons. All Android phones have a back button; the only question is whether it is hard or soft, but I don't really care about that. Maybe that means I, the user, am just dumb. But I never have had any of these problems on Android.
philwelch 14y ago
That wasn't very nice.