> When you look at all those apps people install, like 5 different IM apps, 5 social network apps, 10 games, 5 productivity apps... like what the hell?
I agree, this is so wrong, broken. It shouldn't be like that.
> A typical person installing 50 apps themselves is utter nonsense also. I know zero people who have done this, and it would be utterly opposite iOS behavior (where most people install 0-1 apps per month).
I just counted, and I have 128 apps on my Android phone (none are games). Some of those were pre-installed, but I installed the vast majority of them.
It wouldn't surprise me if this is something where iOS & Android users are opposite one another: iPhones are smart phones, whereas Android phones are computers with calling capabilities. The whole point of iOS is to communicate; the whole point of Android is to be a computer which fits in your pocket.
> Every app update was a risk of the app rearranging itself, or features appearing/disappearing.
This shit drives my parents insane. Me too, when I have to help them. I've had to spend tens of seconds looking at a major screen in the phone app, of all things, to figure out WTF I'm looking at so I could help them figure out what was up. Re-arranged every update (or new phone) for absolutely no reason, terrible affordances, poor use of their own design language. Ugh.
I'd get them on iOS but they need larger screens and the $400 small iPhones (what I have) are already more expensive than they think a phone "should" cost, so they keep buying $200 Android phones about once a year (hoping the next one will be better) and not being able to use them because the UI is garbage.
>Anything telling me to install an app whose mobile experience is fine already is very fishy to me.
Facebook is my #1 example of this.
The app bloated up like it's primary purpose was to take up space on your phone. So I removed it and used the mobile website.
At first you had to refresh the page to get new messages. No big deal, but a bit annoying.
Then they updated and didn't even need to refresh the page to get an update to the thread you were in.
Then a few years back they decided you can't get messages in the mobile website, you must use their app. Later I learned about mbasic.facebook.com and have to switch to that when friends message me.
Do you actually have an Android phone? Because this is totally not true at all. Like for example I just installed the imgur app and it's fantastic. I have 1password and it's great. Hearthstone? Yup, amazing. Just like every app I have I'm happy with. I just don't think you have any idea what you're talking about. I know an Android engineer who works for Square and they've got a huge Android team that is doing amazing work.
> Convenience and necessity are two different things. You want conveninece, and you're not wrong to want it, but you don't need it, and your want...
> Somehow, I have been using the same app without any of those features. So, the idea that the app is not functional or useful without them is bullshit.
Different people might have different needs and wants and other criteria to consider it functional? I think this is not up for you to decide.
>I feel that mobile got software distribution correct.
It's more like mobile got package management right.
Windows is terrible as an example to use for installing/removing software as it has extremely crude (almost non-existent) package management system (referring to Windows Installer here -- .msi files). [0]
I like to think of the App store (and equivalent) as a Linux command-line beautified by a GUI shell in a mobile form-factor.
> The real problem people are running into is app overload.
Honestly, they don't. In your previous post you went through your scenario of having to check a bunch of apps. You are a developer, not a typical user, so the typical user has way less. Also, all apps have notification icons, so you don't have to open them to figure out if there's anything there, you can take one glance at a screen on your phone, and you know which three had something. Or take a look at the notification area in your phone, which has the same info.
You're building an app for yourself, great! But you have to realize that everyone is not you. :-)
> What I could not stand on Android is the constant display of ads, just everywhere, in every app.
Huh? I have used Android phones for over 5 years and almost never see ads.
Yes, some free apps have ads but you just need to spend a dollar or two to remove them. Developers don't work for free you know. An app doesn't give you that option? Uninstall it. I have two exceptions to that rule because the apps in question are great and the ads are non-intrusive.
> But what if Android were just as lawful-evil malevolent a force?
Unnecessarily hyperbolic.
I don’t see it as “malevolent” that there aren’t multiple app stores of questionable quality, where I have to go hunt for apps I need. I don’t begrudge anyone who chooses not to use an Apple device, who chooses not to publish their program on an Apple device, or who prefer a device they can change anything on.
But I would think we don’t need every single phone to be identical to satisfy a small number of Android users who don’t want to understand any use case but their own.
>This is a lot less exciting than it seems to be at first glance. Opening apps from my phone on desktop: yes, I can see utility at that. But opening standalone phone app installations on my desktop? Why? There is almost no phone app I can think of that doesn't have a much better desktop equivalent - save, maybe, for games, but this doesn't seem to be aimed for that.
People are raving about being able to use iOS apps on M1 Macs - but then again native iOS apps are usually better than Android.
> Another is that Android is very successful at content consumption while falling short at more complex workflows
No shit, it's a telephone OS. I'm pretty sure 'complex workflows' weren't one of the design goals for Android - nearly everyone has devices much more suited to that task.
> Multitasking is a prime example: I end up using my girlfriends iPad Pro about once a week, and for the past year I have not managed to internalize how to reliably manage split screen modes and the like.
I'm still shocked that they haven't done anything to solve or improve this. I love the idea of side by side apps but it's always so hard to remember the voodoo needed to summon it. There's also the problem that I can never remember which apps don't support it.
I agree, this is so wrong, broken. It shouldn't be like that.
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