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iOS user here, so bias acknowledged, but I am a mobile security guy and I get new phones quite often. Just last week I fired up the new Google Nexus device fro

iOS user here, so bias acknowledged, but I am a mobile security guy and I get new phones quite often. Just last week I fired up the new Google Nexus device from LG and tried to spend a full week on it--for the purpose of being more familiar with Android as a user. I couldn't make it a full 24 hours. This was a fully stock Android experience, on the latest and greatest phone, and Chrome crashed six (6) times on me. Scrolling in the browser was markedly inferior. And the overall experience of reading on the device just felt far worse. I didn't want to read anything on it, honestly. I tried to account for my own bias towards iPhone/iOS, but I don't think it makes up even half of the bad experience I had. In short, I think Android phones discourage, from a UX standpoint, the activity of browsing. And I think that's a much larger factor than that mentioned in the original post.

ImprovedSilence 14y ago
I'm an Android user, and I agree completely with this. Browsing the web on Android is a painful experience.
- dquigley 14y ago
  I've personally had a different experience. (Background: I've had an iPhone 3GS and 4, HTC EVO 4G, a LG Optimus from Sprint and Virgin Mobile, some dirt cheap Android-based Samsung smartphone, and now the Samsung Galaxy Note II. All of these devices I've used for a minimum of multiple days Other than the stock browser on the Samsung Galaxy Note II (which is easily replaced by Google Chrome's mobile browser) I haven't had issues with any Android device browsing the web compared to an iPhone. In fact in my experience, I would without a doubt say Chrome has been a better experience than Safari. Google Chrome's integration with their desktop browser has been awesome since I use Google Chrome on all my desktops. But this is personal experience, and you can't really base all of this off personal experience. Second, if you're used to the iOS interface, switching to Android will be a big adjustment, one that if you only give it 24 hours you won't ever enjoy.
- mtgx 14y ago
  What does that even mean? Are you talking about the browser itself? About using a low-end Android phone?
- sarvinc 14y ago
  Now I'm curious (I haven't used a newer Android phone). Is this common to Android phones or just the newest Nexus?
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - ryanhuff 14y ago
    I have a Nexus 4, and this is completely over-blown. Mind you, my experience with the iphone is infrequent (wife has one), but I find the browsing experience on the Nexus 4 to be fine.
    - sarvinc 14y ago
      I got a chance to play with a friends Nexus 4 and it's a pretty smooth experience. Thanks for the input.
  - cheald 14y ago
    Android 2.x is a far cry from Android 4.x (particularly 4.1+) - as of 4.1, the UX is phenominal, IMO.
cheald 14y ago
The scrolling difference is due to differences in how Android and iOS prioritize things. On iOS, putting your finger on the screen stops all processing on the page - no rendering, no animation, no Javascript, no downloading, nothing runs until you lift your finger off the screen. This lets the system devote 100% of its processing power to moving that rendered graphic around. Android, by comparison, continues to perform its tasks while you scroll. This means that the scrolling can be jerkier if things are loading, but you continue to get a full interactive page while you're scrolling. Speaking as a developer, iOS(/mobile Safari) gives me fits. It's the mobile generation's IE6.
- danielrm26 14y ago
  Well, given that a tiny fraction of users are developers, doesn't it seem like a poor decision on Google's part to have a poor user experience in order to help in some other area? Seems like UX should in fact be the highest priority.
  - cheald 14y ago
    The way that iOS does things prevents developers from doing things to help UX! For example, as an effect of this prioritization, iOS doesn't report scroll position while you're scrolling a page or scrollable div in a page, until the scroll has completed, and the scroll momentum has come to a full stop. This makes all sorts of app-like interactions impossible in an iOS webapp. I don't really think that the user experience is poor, per se. I think it's a matter of acclimation; I've been using Android since the Nexus One, and while it was certainly frustrating in the past, Android 4.1 really stepped things up, and it's a really nice experience now. I appreciate how iOS scrolling feels, but in general, Android's way of doing things seems to be a lot nicer to me. I actively use Android and iOS devices on a daily basis (my phone is an LG Nexus 4, the same one you disliked), and Android feels much, much better to me than iOS does, with the sole exception of scrolling smoothness. It's worth noting that there is one difference that might have been annoying you; iOS starts scrolling as soon as you start moving your finger. Android has a deadzone of a few pixels, so it might feel less responsive if you're used to the lack of deadzone on iOS. Once you're used to it, it's not an issue.
- 14y ago
Tichy 14y ago
Reading - really? What exactly was the problem with reading? I've read several very long ebooks on my Android phone without problems, and that was when I still had a Nexus One. For example I read Reamde which I think has almost 1000 pages.
- ceejayoz 14y ago
  You didn't read Reamde in the browser, though, did you?
  - Tichy 14y ago
    No, but I assumed his problems where with screen resolution or something. Last time I looked, the Android browsers could render text. I actually use Firefox on Android most of the time. There are choices.
lucian1900 14y ago
I've had my Nexus 4 for a week or so and I've had the opposite experience. No crashes, excellent performance. I like it so much I use it over my laptop much of the time.

ImprovedSilence 14y ago

I'm an Android user, and I agree completely with this. Browsing the web on Android is a painful experience.

dquigley 14y ago
I've personally had a different experience. (Background: I've had an iPhone 3GS and 4, HTC EVO 4G, a LG Optimus from Sprint and Virgin Mobile, some dirt cheap Android-based Samsung smartphone, and now the Samsung Galaxy Note II. All of these devices I've used for a minimum of multiple days Other than the stock browser on the Samsung Galaxy Note II (which is easily replaced by Google Chrome's mobile browser) I haven't had issues with any Android device browsing the web compared to an iPhone. In fact in my experience, I would without a doubt say Chrome has been a better experience than Safari. Google Chrome's integration with their desktop browser has been awesome since I use Google Chrome on all my desktops. But this is personal experience, and you can't really base all of this off personal experience. Second, if you're used to the iOS interface, switching to Android will be a big adjustment, one that if you only give it 24 hours you won't ever enjoy.
mtgx 14y ago
What does that even mean? Are you talking about the browser itself? About using a low-end Android phone?
sarvinc 14y ago
Now I'm curious (I haven't used a newer Android phone). Is this common to Android phones or just the newest Nexus?
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- ryanhuff 14y ago
  I have a Nexus 4, and this is completely over-blown. Mind you, my experience with the iphone is infrequent (wife has one), but I find the browsing experience on the Nexus 4 to be fine.
  - sarvinc 14y ago
    I got a chance to play with a friends Nexus 4 and it's a pretty smooth experience. Thanks for the input.
- cheald 14y ago
  Android 2.x is a far cry from Android 4.x (particularly 4.1+) - as of 4.1, the UX is phenominal, IMO.

cheald 14y ago

The scrolling difference is due to differences in how Android and iOS prioritize things. On iOS, putting your finger on the screen stops all processing on the page - no rendering, no animation, no Javascript, no downloading, nothing runs until you lift your finger off the screen. This lets the system devote 100% of its processing power to moving that rendered graphic around. Android, by comparison, continues to perform its tasks while you scroll. This means that the scrolling can be jerkier if things are loading, but you continue to get a full interactive page while you're scrolling. Speaking as a developer, iOS(/mobile Safari) gives me fits. It's the mobile generation's IE6.

danielrm26 14y ago
Well, given that a tiny fraction of users are developers, doesn't it seem like a poor decision on Google's part to have a poor user experience in order to help in some other area? Seems like UX should in fact be the highest priority.
- cheald 14y ago
  The way that iOS does things prevents developers from doing things to help UX! For example, as an effect of this prioritization, iOS doesn't report scroll position while you're scrolling a page or scrollable div in a page, until the scroll has completed, and the scroll momentum has come to a full stop. This makes all sorts of app-like interactions impossible in an iOS webapp. I don't really think that the user experience is poor, per se. I think it's a matter of acclimation; I've been using Android since the Nexus One, and while it was certainly frustrating in the past, Android 4.1 really stepped things up, and it's a really nice experience now. I appreciate how iOS scrolling feels, but in general, Android's way of doing things seems to be a lot nicer to me. I actively use Android and iOS devices on a daily basis (my phone is an LG Nexus 4, the same one you disliked), and Android feels much, much better to me than iOS does, with the sole exception of scrolling smoothness. It's worth noting that there is one difference that might have been annoying you; iOS starts scrolling as soon as you start moving your finger. Android has a deadzone of a few pixels, so it might feel less responsive if you're used to the lack of deadzone on iOS. Once you're used to it, it's not an issue.
14y ago

Tichy 14y ago

Reading - really? What exactly was the problem with reading? I've read several very long ebooks on my Android phone without problems, and that was when I still had a Nexus One. For example I read Reamde which I think has almost 1000 pages.

ceejayoz 14y ago
You didn't read Reamde in the browser, though, did you?
- Tichy 14y ago
  No, but I assumed his problems where with screen resolution or something. Last time I looked, the Android browsers could render text. I actually use Firefox on Android most of the time. There are choices.

lucian1900 14y ago

I've had my Nexus 4 for a week or so and I've had the opposite experience. No crashes, excellent performance. I like it so much I use it over my laptop much of the time.