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GMail and Google Maps were my go to apps on Android for years (since 2009 in fact). They both suck now. Combine that with the brick-like interactivity of my l
by varelse 13y ago
GMail and Google Maps were my go to apps on Android for years (since 2009 in fact). They both suck now. Combine that with the brick-like interactivity of my less than 2 year-old Galaxy Nexus and I'm abandoning Android for iOS as soon as my contract expires despite the fact I actually prefer a lot of Android's look and feel.
To be fair, my Nexus 7 hasn't quite given up the ghost yet, but now that its successor has been released, I'm counting the days until it too becomes as responsive as Karen Ann Quinlan.
And that's a shame because Android's interface has really come a long way in that time. Paul Stamatiou's article showcases some really cool design advances that have happened since Android 4.0.
For me it all comes down to Google seeming to not care one bit about anything except the latest and greatest devices. Yes I know that Android 4.3 is supposed to address that - good luck shipping that one out to all the major carriers.
In closing, the same brickification that hit my Galaxy Nexus this year happened to my original droid in 2011 - fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...
- firekesti 13y agoYou can put the factory image for 4.3 on your own Galaxy Nexus – I was having the same problems, running LagFix every night, and 4.3 cleared 100% of that away. The same problem (same cause, same fix) exists on the Nexus 7. Good luck!
- smokinjoe 13y agoApple has the same issues where they slowly taper off the iOS versions that an aging iPhone can run. What about the updated GMail and GMaps don't you like? The user experience has been beefed up significantly - going between user accounts and organizing mail in GMail has never been easier. The Google Maps interface is really pleasant to use and doesn't clutter up the screen when all you want to do is view the area. Obviously those are two quick personal observations, but I'm very curious as to what recent features may have introduced friction to long-time users.
- raphaelsaunier 13y agoCould you elaborate on the 'brickification' of your Galaxy Nexus? I've owned a Galaxy Nexus pretty much since it came out and, I have to say, it is as good as the day it came out. Also – and I don't mean to sound like a fanboy – I personally think that Google Maps and Gmail even better than they were two years ago. At which point did they start to suck in your opinion?
- null_ptr 13y agoI have a Galaxy Nexus with 4.3, and it's been getting progressively laggier with each update. Changing screen orientation, doing text input or moving the cursor inside a body of text, and opening the running apps list are all mildly frustrating. It's as close to a stock install as you can get, too. It's so disappointing to see perfectly good hardware be so incompetently misused. This phone should fly. So I wonder if this is on purpose to force people to buy new hardware every few years, or if the people working on Android are either understaffed or just not very good developers.
- workbench 13y ago> not very good developers Probably this judging by how many years the UI ignored the GPU on that platform.