Google's increasingly prickly Android perception problem
Apple's convincing an entire generation of phone-buyers that Android is behind the times — which couldn't be much further from the truth.
For those of us who live in the land of Google Pixel products or even the higher-end Samsung Galaxy gadgets, let me illuminate you on what these low-end Galaxy A-this-and-that models are all about:
They are, to use the technical term, steaming hot piles of garbage — truly terrible all-around user experiences with bloated software, subpar performance, and virtually no ongoing software support.
And when the vast majority of people in the world are associating Android with those types of devices, combined with Apple's artfully forced perception of Android being the lesser platform that can't keep up with its magical messaging standards, it's no wonder folks think Android is awful. Honestly, can you blame 'em?!
The irony of talking about Apple snobbery, when high-end android snobbery is just as bad. You see it all the time around /r/android.
You know why those phones are "popular"? They're affordable and do what those people need them to do. I know it's hard to understand but not every person that buys a phone is an enthusiast. They don't care about any of this, they just want something that works.
The central thesis of this article almost comes off as blaming android's perception on poor people or people that don't use Pixels. In fact that's almost explicit:
With no disrespect to anyone who genuinely enjoys Samsung's approach to Android, I've heard from countless people who have made the switch from a Galaxy phone to a Pixel over the years, and virtually every single one of 'em has sung the same tune: "Wow! I had no idea Android could be this good. I had no idea what I was missing."
That's the Android experience Google needs ordinary tech-totin' people be aware of. But when the term "Android" is associated with so much bottom-of-the-barrel, godawful garbage, it's damn-near impossible to break free from that and create a positive perception.
If he's actually heard from "countless" people that "I had no idea Android could be this good" after using a Pixel, I'll eat this Motorola phone im holding.
You know what the actual beauty of Android is? Choice. The worst thing that could happen is every Android user just starts using Pixel.
I used high end android for a long time. The note series, mainly. When I had to step away from that, I switched to LG. I fucking loved LG. They were awesome. Half the price, and damn good.
Since they've stopped, I've had the pixel 6, and an A53. The pixel 6 was glitchy AF, and Google won't allow HDMI over USB, which is a major use case for me, and the A53 just sort of sucks.
I miss high end android. :( but I won't switch to iOS. I hate how locked down it is, and I've never liked the feel of the OS. I'm considering the pixel again, but no HDMI is really fucking with me. :(
I think it wasn't about low end phones in themselves. The Moto G series is an example of a cheap phone that doesn't include a lot of bloat. Really it would be easy for cheap phones to just leave the OS alone, keep it open so that users could update it if they wanted. That's what the Nexus program did as well. But they don't sell nearly as well as the base Samsungs. Samsung has more marketing and carrier relationships to fall back on, but that means more corporate shenanigans adding unnecessary nonsense to the OS like Facebook installed by default and non-removable, etc. And no updates, plus no way for advanced users to install updates
Google has a Google problem. Seemingly no one is steering the ship. They have a bunch of internal teams doing their own thing. How many messaging apps have they killed now, 3, 4? Allo was great. It worked on Android and iOS. I had all my friends on it and then Google canceled it. All they had to do was add sms fallback for android users, spent some money on marketing, and it could have rivaled iMessage by now. Before that, it was hangouts and regular people didn’t know about it. How many times do they think they can burn customers before people catch on?
Their pixel phones still don’t get the same amount of updates that iPhones do and iPhones retain their value for a lot longer than Android phones. Financially, it makes more sense for a parent to buy an iPhone. They can pass it down to their kid when they upgrade and know it’ll still get updates for a long time. Yes, Google can patch and update parts of the phone from the play store but good luck explaining that to regular people.
I have a lamp with two smart bulbs in it and I can’t combine them into 1 light in the google home app. The light bulbs are controlled independently. It’s infuriating.
I could rant for a long time but I’ll end with this; I don’t enjoy using iOS but my only other option is death by a thousand papercuts.
Before that, it was hangouts and regular people didn’t know about it.
This is their biggest problem, They themselves fragment their user base. We were on hangouts, you could even get your google voice calls on it, we didnt' switch to allo or duo, till they announced they were retiring hangouts. And now all three are gone.
We stay away from Google now.
I have a lamp with two smart bulbs in it and I can’t combine them into 1 light in the google home app. The light bulbs are controlled independently. It’s infuriating.
I have multiple lights in my living room and when I say "Ok Google, Turn on all lights in living room" it turns on all lights. The key is to have them in same room in Google Home app.
Yes, but what happens when you have one room with multiple light fixtures, each with multiple bulbs, and you want to manage them separately? This is relevant to me because I have a very long attic loft bedroom. If my wife is in bed at one end of the room and I'm on the computer at the other end, I want the lights at dim at my end and off at hers.
There are workarounds involving "automations" or tricks with naming conventions but they're very tedious and spotty. The ability to group bulbs together (which Phillips Hue offers) would be much cleaner.
I hear what you are saying but what if I want to use the app because I’m trying to be quiet and not wake anyone?
What if I only want to turn on the lamp and not other lights?
What happens when I tell Google Assistant to turn on the lamp and for some reason, only 1 light bulb turns on?
What do mute people do if they can’t speak to the assistant?
You don’t have to answer any of that. My point is that, sure, there are workarounds but none of them really solve the issue and it ends up being just another papercut. For all of Apple’s faults, of which there are many, it feels like their engineers actually use their phones.
you can also say "turn on the lights" and it will toggle all the lights in whatever room it is in
This is such an american thing, I don't even.
Do you odd?
Only every other time
Can someone TLDR it? How do we summon the TLDR not?
Basically: American teenagers/kids think Android is backwards and uncool, even though this is false; Android historically and presently more capable than iOS etc. But big problem for Google in this market. Partly driven by fact that most popular Android phones are cheap and full of bloatware. Some optimism in the Pixel sales and Google should push their own hardware more to address the problem /end
Omg its another android apple article. Its been so many years dont know why people can't move on. Time to discuss pinephone also Thanks for the TLDR bro.
Oh great bot of bots, who saves us much time...where are you in our time of need?
I hear what they are saying and it definitely has merit. Because the iPhone is so expensive and has a strong brand, and because they love to say "the best iPhone yet" all the time, people get conditioned to believe that the iPhone is better.
Normally in life the better products are the more expensive products. Having said that, from my observation regular people don't really put lot of thought into phones.
As long as it works and let's them so what they need they are happy. In talking mostly people of 40+ years old. Only techy people like us watch GSMArena videos, compare specs, watch keynotes etc.
It's gen Z that seems to be a little more aware of brand, status and care about being in the iMessage group.
But even that seems to be US only. Here in Europe everyone I know except for 1 couple, have Android phones and when they upgrade they choose Android on purpose. Because we use WhatsApp and Viber, we don't have the iMessage issue, yet.
It will probably change because Apple has been working with mobile carriers to push the iPhone at incredibly low monthly prices. And sadly it's working because I'm seeing more iPhones around, especially amongst those who care about status, be it because they are rich or because they are businessmen and want to convey they are upper class.
I imagine their children will also grow up with iPhone but I think it will take 1 generation before Apple has a decent market share.
But then again, this is an island, people don't have a lot of money, so that might keep things in Android's favour for longer.
Maybe google could make a thing where they give users an pixel for less in exchange for their old iphone (newer -> more price reduction)
With a 30 day guarantee to give the phone back (data purge and stuff only happens after) the user is not going to really risk anything
But it could be interpreted as weak, but if a bunch of users stays they can really use it as good publicity so maybe the move would not be that bad.
I am sure that google could loose a lot of money this way but they are one of the largest companies so they could afford it.
Google actually does this already with trade-ins, they gave me $300 for an iPhone SE worth $100 on the second hand market.
Still waiting for the article about non-apple people thinking apple people are sheep