tech

Google unveils Android's latest technological tricks

16 Comments
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

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16 Comments
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You gotta walk before you can run. Android, before you roll out all this fancy stuff, please first do these fixes:

-- make my clock work. Since my clock sometimes doesn't update, I can't use any of your calendar, scheduling apps with any degree of trust.

-- Allow me to open email attachments. This happy little glitch prevents me from using my handset for much of my business.

-- Stop the gallery for routinely crashing. This prevents me from using the camera and all of the photo/video media apps. It also blocks me from most of my social network activities.

-- make the GPS connect sooner than 15 minutes. By the time I wait for the GPS to get a fix, I'm late for my appointment anyway, defeating the purpose of mobile maps. Instead, I check locations at home before heading out, just like I did 20 years ago

My Android device is ok for phone calls and reading news. For everything else, I need to carry around a netbook .

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

The problem with Android is that Google does not provide updates or fixes. The device's manufacturer supplies them, so if the manufacturer does not want to or cannot be bothered to, the only way you can get an update or fix is to buy a new device.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

JeffLee

All of your problems do not seem to be Androids fault. GPS strongly seems to be your phone makers fault. Also all of your other problems seem app related. Try using different apps. How about K9 mail for example. Or Quickpic gallery.

Are you using a japanese smartphone? They are inferior in almost any way especially preinstalled software. Android is very powerful but unfortunately it often gets crippled by providers. Japanese carriers are huge offenders.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

"Try using different apps."

For the first six months, I was constantly downloading and testing different apps. I finally gave up. For example, Office, Google Docs and Polaris all refuse to open my Word/PDF,XL, etc. attachments, from both K9 or web-based mail. This problem is intermittent, but it means I can't rely on Android.

The problems are probably a mix of carrier, app developers and OS. But hey, Google is the one that created the eco-system and set the specs and standards, so it's ultimately responsible.

Handset is Stream X from e-mobile.

Thank god for netbooks running Windows!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

JeffLee.

I own a Xperia Z2. I dont have any of the the problems that you talk about. -Avoid automatic clock update (since providers are crazy).

I usually Open, PDF, TIFF, JPEG, DWG, etc attatchments without any problem. Gallery Crash? I have like 3000 photos and it has never crash, but beware of any gallery folder that is connected to a service. GPS WORKS OUTSIDE, not inside. (you have to see the sky, or at least see some of it.
0 ( +1 / -1 )

I love Android, but I hate how it's usually deployed. Many problems that people report about Android is actually no fault of Google or Android, but of the manufacturer of the device.

Since the underlying system is Google's Android, they catch all the blame when something doesn't go right.

Here's a bit of advice for anyone with an Android phone. If you're having problems with your phone, then look at the manufacturer. If it's Samsung, they use inferior components for their Japanese lines. I initially bought a Galaxy S3 thinking it would have the quad core super fast processor that the rest of the world got, when in reality, it had a dual core processor and couldn't run intense apps at the same pace with the same phone from different countries. Also, the apps that are preinstalled from manufacturers usually have more bugs and cause more problems that are not usually problems in a native Android environment. Samsung's Mail app was a good example of this. So many problems connecting to mail servers on the S3. Tie this with the manufacturer neglecting to update the phone after getting your money, and you're stuck with these problems indefinitely.

Since then, I've bought a Nexus 5 and threw my Docomo SIM into it, and it works really well. Updates come in a timely manner, and continue to support devices that are up to two years old. Apps all work really well. Crashes are extremely rare, and when they happen, the data is usually easily recoverable. The hardware is split into two categories (US and International), but differ only in the radio wavelengths they support. It's not a perfect phone by any means, but it is so much better than any other phone I've ever had. The best part of it is that it was a $400 SIM free phone. I can take it anywhere in the world that supports GSM and get at least 2G service, 3G in most places. It was infinitely superior to the $800 Galaxy S3 that I bought a year before (the phone that was supposed to be the top of the line phone, but due to the differences in the hardware in Japan, was really just a cheap block of plastic).

One final thought,

JeffLee: Google is the one that created the eco-system and set the specs and standards, so it's ultimately responsible.

Google created the underlying system, but it's open source, which means that anyone can change anything they want in the system. It's not like Windows, which is only editable by one company. Most of the manufacturers make many changes to the system that end up breaking the services that otherwise work perfectly. This is no fault of Google's and they shouldn't receive the blame for it. Honestly, I believe that the blame should be placed on the people who continue to buy devices without researching the problems associated with them. This enables the companies who make inferior broken products, while simultaneously taking little to no blame for their problems.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

@JeffLee

Handset is Stream X from e-mobile.

That pretty much sums up your problem. Inferior Chinese maker and inferior carrier. It has nothing to do with Android OS. I don't know how E-mobile stacks up against Docomo/Softbank, but at least get a phone from a top Japanese or Korean maker.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The problem of Android has two different reasons:

It's made by Google. The hardware it runs on is not made by Google.
-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The problem of Android has two different reasons: 1. It's made by Google.

Google makes excellent software, so I'm not sure what you are referring to here.

The hardware it runs on is not made by Google.

I could see this being a problem.

Also, as others have mentioned, Android is open source, which means Google puts out the software to use, and anyone who wants to use it is free to do so, and modify it as they like, within the limits of the license under which it is released. I think that you'll find (if you look) that if/when an implementation of Android is done poorly, it was the modifications that screwed it up, not the base software.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"The upgrade will give Android’s personal assistant, Google Now, expanded powers of intuition that may be greeted as a great convenience to some and a tad too creepy for others."

It won't get too creepy until it becomes Skynet.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@JeffLee Just buy an iPhone. That is exactly what I like with Apple, set maker is the same as OS maker. You don't need to rely on the skills or willingness of a different manufactured to properly implement the OS. It not an open world, but it is a world that simply works.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I think that you'll find (if you look) that if/when an implementation of Android is done poorly, it was the modifications that screwed it up, not the base software.

Or, in Jeff's case the hardware is poor as well.

That is exactly what I like with Apple, set maker is the same as OS maker. You don't need to rely on the skills or willingness of a different manufactured to properly implement the OS.

If he wanted to spend enough for an iPhone, then he could have gotten one of the many android phones done right, too. You get what you pay for.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Strangerland: I think that you'll find (if you look) that if/when an implementation of Android is done poorly, it was the modifications that screwed it up, not the base software.

Noticed some quirks in Android Kitkat, 4.1.4 or so, that I expected would have been fixed by a release numbered 4. The ones I remember are: Couldn't browse photos in order (Gallery presented them randomly, not ordered by name or date, and couldn't find a way to sort them). Moving files on an external memory chip were executed as copy_file_then_delete, rather than move_directory_entry_for_file (Linux Debian doesn't have the same problem, so wondering why Android needs to do it that way). While copying or moving a file on a chip, the screen blank sometimes times in. And a few others I forgot.

These don't seem like problems a cut-rate table maker would introduce. I don't have other tablets to compare to, though, to see if they're vendor-specific.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"Or, in Jeff's case the hardware is poor as well."

The maker, Huawei, is the the 2nd biggest seller only after Samsung, with 10s of millions of shipments a year. If the "hardware" is so bad, how did it get to be so popular?

"not the base software."

My software is about as pure Android as can be found. There is a basically no carrier proprietary from what I've encountered. Among its other list of failings is Google servers regularly being "unavailable" during voice searches and the Chrome browser always crashing within 2 seconds of being launched.

Getting Google apps and services to run on an Android device can be quite a challenge!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

JeffLee: The maker, Huawei, is the the 2nd biggest seller only after Samsung, with 10s of millions of shipments a year. If the "hardware" is so bad, how did it get to be so popular?

Pushed by China, in a telecom market that's still relatively closed despite WTO membership?

http://www.freit.org/WorkingPapers/Papers/TradePolicyMultilateral/FREIT619.pdf (note this file seems to be misnamed, you may need to download it then change extension to .doc then open with a MS-Doc-capable reader.)

China’s Telecommunications Service Sector and Its Implications for World Economy, Dr. Anil Kumar Kanungo

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I like ASUS as a maker, they made my Nexus 7 and those are tough and no problems over 3 yes(2 models).

Android does updates but will be interesting on the new features.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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