Gripes about UI/UX of Android phones/tablets and so called "openness" that is nonsense to consumers.

If you also have an Android phone, you are welcome to email me your gripes as well. If you don't but you want to buy one, read this blog before you do it. :-)

-- A big fan of Google, not Android

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    Android fan: stop griping about Android; gripe about developers and handset makers

    No matter what you say, some people will disagree, even when Newton told people about gravity or Obama said that he was born in the United States. So I try to avoid debating with individual person who does not agree with Android Gripes. I don’t have time. But this post is an exception.

    It’s actually kind of ironic. A while ago, I wrote about an Android developer/designer, AbsoluteDesignz. I said I admire him because he is doing something good to Android community. I noticed him because he sent me a message. Recently he posted on xda-developers saying that Android Gripes blog pissed him off. His point is that all I griped about is not Android’s fault. They are either developers’ faults or handsets makers’ faults. I cannot agree with him.

    First, his philosophy is wrong. When Android advocators show off market share, they always use Android as a whole. They never mention there are many Android devices, some of them are relatively good but some of them are very bad. They tell people that Android’s (so called) “market share” is bigger than anybody else so everybody should buy Android devices. Do you ever see someone compares market share of Google Nexus One vs. iPhone or Droid X vs. iPhone? Now when people have complaints, they want to put the blame on developers or handset makers? This is absurd.

    Second, the problems AbsoluteDesignz mentioned in his post are in fact Android’s fault. Skype’s security leak is eventually caused by Android’s faulty design of file access control. Samsung’s scandal is because their Android tablets are so bad that they cannot sell them, so they chose to cheat. Developers don’t care about Android apps’ quality because Android does not give them right tools and its ecosystem cannot help them make money. These are all caused by Android, because they don’t care. All they care about is “market share” and people using Google to do mobile search.

    I’m also confused by AbsoluteDesignz’s inconsistent opinions. He sometimes says:

    I in no way deny the fact that iOS apps as a whole are better designed than Android apps…that’s a fact…an unfortunate fact, but a fact. 

    and

    I respected the blog (Android Gripes) when I first said it as I felt it was bringing to light a big issue about app quality.

    But he also disagrees with Android Gripe’s post about bad quality of Android apps:

    one post is entirely opinion based (Android looks like crap)

    But it seems to me that AbsoluteDesignz has the similar opinion. Anyway, regardless of his dissenting voices, I still admire AbsoluteDesignz, because he tries to make changes, and I hope that he indeed agrees that Android apps are in bad quality.

    The fact, “unfortunate fact”, is that current Android devices do not deliver good user experience. They are way behind competitors. Just admit it, especially when you call yourself a “designer”.

    1. android-gripes posted this