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Android is a mature, stable, and slick operating system. Jelly Bean truly made it a mobile OS to rival all others, banishing lag and unifying the system into something gorgeously usable. But it still sucks to be an Android user, and it truly shouldn’t. Here’s why.
Last night, Nike decided that it wasn’t going to continue developing an Android app for its awesome FuelBand. It’s had an iPhone app for the FuelBand for ages, and to be honest, Apple’s partnership with Nike probably had something to do with it. All that Nike+iPod stuff obviously gives Nike an incentive to get the iPhone app out first, and that’s fine, I guess, but to decide to just ditch Android solely for iOS…that plain sucks.
Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated incident. Time and time again, Android users are forsaken, or made to wait for an eternity for new apps. To be honest, apps that are standalone and aren’t required to make something else work, I can almost forgive. Android users simply don’t seem to break open their wallets as much as iOS users do, so market forces dictate that you’re more likely to make a return on your investment when you punt it in Apple’s direction. When it comes to apps that are written to support other things, like the Nike FuelBand, or other non-phone products, it’s simply crazy and infuriating not to support Android.
Put it this way. There are loads of iOS devices out there, but there are equally many millions of Android devices in the hands of punters too. In fact, it’s almost inevitable that there will always be more Android devices than iOS devices going forward, simply because there are more manufacturers and device categories using Android. So, by cutting that lot off, you’re reducing the market potential of your product, as those Android users aren’t going to buy whatever you’re trying to flog them.
Some companies like Nike obviously don’t see that as a problem — they’ll just sync it with their computers, right? But for Android users it’s absolutely infuriating. There’s no reason, especially with the current flagship Android phones, that you can’t do everything you can with an iOS device on Android. In fact, you can probably do a lot more on Android than you can on iOS, due to the flexibility of the OS.
It sucks that Android doesn’t get everything. It sucks that manufacturers of accessories and apps don’t see Android as a viable platform sometimes. And it sucks that even when they do, Android users have to wait for developers to finish and push an iOS app out the door before they get a whiff of an Android version. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon, and it’s through no real fault of Google, Android, or the legions of people buying Android phones, either. It’s just a fact of mobile life right now, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.
To unlock more Android news, tips, and features, check out Samsung’s Your Mobile Life over here.
All we can do is to sit tight and wait for people to open their eyes and realise that apple is selling the same shit every year(heck they hardly bother to change the packaging), and maybe when iPhone sales will go down, developers and accessories manufacturers will open their eyes.
Saying that, even with those shortfalls, I still would choose Android over iOS any time of the day (or night)
C’mon android sucks big time, what with fragmentation, varied user experience across devices, glitchy apps n all that… No big surprise here! iOS rocks. Good on Nike.
Not only iOS got a bit outdated lately but also iFan arguments need some refresh, otherwise Android will start to kill to much of Apple’s marketshare (even though it has so many problems and stupid OEMs)
Android doesn’t suck. It’s the manufacturers who keep making crappy phones, as well as making 10000000 different models, that’s causing this shit. Android (4.x) itself is perfectly fine on a decent phone
Taf trolling Android articles? Never!
I may be generalising a tad bit here but in short ios, locked down, less devices to test on, Android, open and slightly fragmented so much more testing effort.
(Sam, did you get a Nexus 4 as well?)
“Slightly” is good.
No, but I did get gifted a Kindle Fire HD though. Rooted, of course.
This article was spot on in 2009. Unless you want people to click on it just to get hits and make Giz look like The Daily Mirror or Sun…oh wait…
I meant Daily Mail
Nike showed it’s just as much an issue now, as it has been for the last 3-4 years. The thing that gets me is that it totally shouldn’t be an issue these days. Things are equal between iOS and Android at the very least at the moment, so why isn’t everything that’s available for iOS not available for Android? It gets my goat up, and hell, I’m not even an Android phone user.
Why isn’t everything available for Android also available for iOS?
Why isn’t everything on Windows available on a Mac. It has always been like that?
Why can’t I have some of the softwares from the Mac on a Windows?
Why can’t I get some Linux software running on Windows or Mac.
Companies might have a contract that won’t let them do it. They might be or the niche that they are catering for (Nike FuelBand)is too small to justify or afford a new development team. Truth be told, companies should angle to have their product on all platforms specially on the platform that dominates the market share. Kindle, Skype, WhatsApp and among many others have realised that.
I think very few people care about Nike+ and it seems pretty obvious Apple signed an agreement to keep them on iOS and off Android. So what ?
It’s because Android just doesn’t fuckin’ work
While yes, It’s lovely when implemented properly, it’s just not worth testing apps for all the different implementations and versions of Android.
(And it’s so much easier to develop for iOS)
Although the real reason I love iOS is the speeeed. I’m a DJ, and I use my iPad as a real-time MIDI controller and FX unit, which wouldn’t be possible without CoreMIDI and CoreAudio. I tried similar apps on android devices and the latency was UNBELIEVABLE.
Until Google stops pissing about with what is essentially incomplete software, I’ll refuse to accept Android as a serious contender in the market for Smartphone Operating systems.
/rant
(Holy fuck I sound like my IT tutor… sheeeeeeit)
Yeah it’s frustrating that there’s an element of imbalance there. I remember seeing all the marketing for Temple Run 2 and being frustrated that I had to wait a week longer for an Android release. But to be honest, Jelly Bean is sufficiently better than iOS 6 that certainly at the moment I don’t mind. Frankly, it is less and less of a problem too, nearly every app I could feasibly want is on Google Play. Having just owned an iPod Touch and now using a Windows Phone 7 (Lumia 800) in conjunction with a Nexus 7, the main irritant is lack of apps on WP7 and low quality when there are apps. Can’t really blame companies for not catering to a 3rd OS though I suppose.
Spot on, anything to gain hits.
It does suck being pushed into a direction!
Oh well at least you dont own a Blackberry!
as someone already said , as ios is locked down its so much simpler.
yes there may well be as many android phones , if not more , but how many are on version thats compatable with android apps ?
my wife still has a android 2.1 phone , but sod trying to install any apps on it .. right pain in the arse , let allone if they actually run
where as my youngest kid has my now old 3gs , and can run most apps / and simple to install
Matt
and how much did your wife paid for the phone?? 80%, 90% less than for iphone?? Buy device similarly priced and spec’ed as iphone and comment than.
Google release a reference device/s called Nexus (One, S, Galaxy, 4, 7, 10)
This is a device that devs should base their apps on. Its funny how most/all apps still work on nexus S or even nexus one.
My personal opinion is that devs should base their apps on nexus devices, if the app doesnt work on e.g Galaxy S3 it should be up to samsung to fix the problem, they placed darn skin and lower OS version they should deal with that. If they cannot people would not buy their phone…
One thing I dont understand is how devs cannot make apps compatible on various screens/resolutions. It bloody works on PC’s with OMG millions of different configs even 3 screens etc.
even if they cant make games on android apps shouldn’t be a problem, what do you need to do, to make it work?
What is more frustrating is when the iOS variants of Google’s own apps get a UI update first!
Ha, true dat.
You’re referring to Google Maps? There might be a legacy issue there. If Google suddenly switched the entire interface over to something similar to the iOS app, some users would complain.
I’m sure you know the type – ‘Why did they need to change this, it worked fine as it is? Why can’t I find the button that turns on that obscure feature I always use?’
Besides, they’ll always retain the Action Bar and its associated paradigms. That’s just good interface design – keeping the interface consistent with the modern Android UI.
That said, I’m sure there’s a few new tricks that could be integrated without much impact.
Some users always complain
I’m thinking more that they’ve overhauled most of the apps on Android recently, and Maps is the one that’s been left behind as far as UI is concerned.
With only a single button on iOS anyway, it’s not as if they’re having to code anything other than a full touch, Holo-themed interface anyway.
As reported google paid Apple $1 billion last year for being the default search on iOS, just think how much money google must be then making because of Apple, people should realise Apple and iOS is also big business for google. In the court case against oracle last year the figures Google themselves reported were truly staggering, google benefits from iOS, this is a FACT.
Anyone who uses Google services is big business for Google, and neglecting their iOS user base would be just stupid.
This is very true also… We all need and appreciate googles products such as its Maps and search engine, however the Android system is an exception. It’s not the best marriage in the world when google and apple come together but it’s beneficial to both.
I think what has been most beneficial to iOS users in recent months, and what has perhaps endeared Google even more to them has been Apple dropping the apps that they originally wrote as wrappers to Google’s services way back when, leaving Google free to actually provide the experience that everyone else gets.
As was noted with great astonishment by the more iOS-centred Giz US writers in the their reviews when Google released Maps in December last year, “This is how maps should be done”. With the exception of some UI alterations, it’s how maps was being done on Android for years previously.
Apple & Google work most profitably together where Apple provide the hardware, and Google provide the services.
it doesn’t suck to use android at all
so Nike doesn’t want to support android, that’s their loss,
but there are alternatives, so in reality its no big whoop
android users now have the option to ignore Nike if they feel strongly enough about it, there are plenty more companies that offer the same stuff Nike does
Spot on!
Yup. Everything worth using on Android is pretty much here. The ones who can’t be bothered to support the platform would probably deliver a P.O.S app anyway.
F**k ‘em
If I did that with Windows Phone there would be no companies that I could actually use anymore =(
I think you highlight the issue well. People who buy Andoird devices are not usually, people that select Android. They are people who want a cheap phone. They have no intention of buying apps and that is a huge difference compared to iOS users who ar ea lot more inclined to download free and paid for apps. Also even in the community of android users that do like apps, theres a massive % of those that just pirate them. So why would anyone target Android as a good market to develop for until the piracy issue is sorted and until people can be educated to purchase. Then you get the hardware fragmentation and having to test your app on 10 versions of the OS and it becomes a lot less lucrative than aiming it at the iOS market. Just how it is at the moment.
Also with regard to accessories – iOS phones are as stated, very similar in size, shape and accessory compatibility. I doubt I could count in a week all the different Android based phone form factors. So again, the fact that it isn’t only a choice of an S2, S3 and HTC something – but a plethora then what form should be targeted? All well and good saying S3 now, but at launch who knew it would sell so many. A big investment decision to make when you could just invest in an Apple form factor and know you’re going to hit a huge market off the bat.
Theres a huge amount of education needed for the basic Android user to get them to start using apps. As time passes this will change as the kids of today grow up and we live in a more device centric world but thats a way off yet.
Your first paragraph contains a large number of sweeping generalisations that I think are extremely questionable in their validity.
Nobody needs to be “educated” on using apps on Android either, that is complete nonsense. Android is largely as user friendly as iOS is.
True, this fellow also needs to know that it’s a free app on iOS. I also just found out
well I work in the mobile industry, and I don’t mean in retail.
Just because you, in the first world, a tech world, can’t see how anyone would experience this different to the way you do, it doesn’t mean hat you’re probably in the 10% of Android users that use their devices that way.
Education is as about building trust as it is offering goods in an easy to consume format. The Apple ecosystem is a lot more coherent and “feels” more trust worthy than the alternative at the moment, and I speak not for you in your tech bubble, but for the majority. If people didnt need to be educated then we’d see a lot more purchases of games and software on Android platforms.
I agree with mike. Your first paragraph makes a whole lot of claims. Even before I read his reply I was thinking
“gee you’d have to create some very well written surveys and do some proper analysis on massive samples of well-selected participants to really come to any of these conclusions”.
Claims like “the piracy issue” impacting sales on Android – this is such a meaningless load of conjecture.
That people who buy Android are mostly not selecting Android. Again, conjecture. I could just as easily say that most people who buy iPhones just buy it “cos it’s an iPhone” and they are technophobes who buy BRAND. Therefore they won’t buy many apps. Hence Blah blah blah.
“Huge amount of education needed to use Android apps”.
“I work in the mobile industry… and I speak not for you in your tech bubble, but for the majority”
What an arrogant statement. You don’t really speak for much at all, it’s all just hot air and everything you said is basically bollocks
Not changed much I see…
Tango Alpha Foxtrot, well at least I like your new name.
Is there anything you disagree with specifically in my post?
If it’s downloads of apps that verifies the need to educate people on how to use apps on Android, then the stats debunk your comment. In March 2012 iOS App store hit 25 billion downloads, Google Play then hit that mark just a short while later in September of the same year.
Two years ago, iOS App Store downloads were five times greater than Google Play, now it is more along the lines of 5-10%.
I WORK IN THE MOBILE INDUSTRY TOO…HONEST! You have very trollish opinions for a pro maybe you’ll be needing a new cleaning job soon for another mobile company.
Android is very user friendly, it’s just not idiot friendly… luckily iOS is :p
I think what Android actually needs are more users who are interested in using their phone as a smartphone rather than a souped up feature phone. This requires education.
Finally, someone understands!
“Look, I can change this, and this, and this! I can turn this icon into a little photo of a dog turd!”
NOBODY GIVES A SHIT, GUYS!
What brightonmonkey said and as to your uniform or similar shapes argument you are also wrong. Apple recently screwed all their older customers with a new plug, the iPhone 4S, 5, iPad and iPad mini are all different shapes. Android users have micro USB (industry standard).
I don’t think you understand the point being made. It’s easier and more profitable for an accessory maker to design and manufacture products for 100 million devices where there are only 2 variations in comparison to designing and manufacturing products for 100 million devices made up of 20 different variations. The same logic applies on the software side too.
It basically means iOS users get far fewer hardware choices but a richer ecosystem (apps and accessories) whereas Android users get loads of hardware choices but a poorer ecosystem. 2 completely different approaches to achieving the same thing.
I’m not for iOS or Android (owned 3 Android phones and 2 iPhones, liked them all) but in terms of accessories, the old 30 pin connector or the new connector are the real industry standard (if we’re talking about the mobile accessory industry). I’m sure that’ll change eventually but for now that’s the way it is.
i have spent more money on apps with android than i ever did with ios
and you seem to think piracy isn’t a problem on IOS i pirated everything when i had my iPhone
ditto
You have to remember, not everybody is the same as you. I did the opposite, I’ve spent a lot more on iOS apps than Android. Android apps don’t return so much money to developers and it is more difficult to create an app for Android as the different screen sizes produce many problems when developing (I created an Android app before for my dissertation and it was a pain). I’m not hating Android and just stating what I believe is a fact, it’s easier to develop UIs on iOS although Obj-C is more difficult than Java which is used on Android. I have used both OSs and like both, different OSs fit different people and all have their advantages and disadvantages. When it comes to opinions, nobody can win, as everybody is right in their own opinion.
dude i know whole families on one apple ID using the same apps, that technically is pirating
In terms of accessories – Phillips/Samsung released speakers for android (they fit all devices!!!) but price tag of £200+ for a speaker that im not going to use so often? I could just get a bluetooth dongle plug it in to my studio speakers and would have better sound and cheaper solution…
If you want to keep spending money on gimmicks like these that you’d probably never use, go right ahead. Let’s face it, this IS a gimmick and will end up in your sock drawer quicker than your New Year’s resolution gym pass.
Alternatively look:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.endomondo.android&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5lbmRvbW9uZG8uYW5kcm9pZCJd
Oh,… and it’s free. (OK. £3.99 for the pro version, but your ‘Free’ version is more than enough to last longer out of your sock drawer.)
Can’t fault Endomondo, and I’ve been using it since the days of WinMo!
Agreed. Also Sports Tracker. Both great products that make Nike irrelevant.
They probably stopped targeting Android because their product isn’t competing with Endomondo and the other top sports apps.
Android has come a very long way since it’s inception and Apple has already started to see decline in their sales margin for iPhones, even though they still made a big chunk of profit in the last quater, thanks to the iFanatics.
Going forward, most apps (apart from the odd few like Nike) will be on Android. Reason behind is very simple, market share. Apps need be sold, now if most users are on Android they are bound to change platform.
If Nike assumed that only iPhone users buy apps then surely that is a tragic mistake.
ps. Google glass will be a milestone
Thing is, the Nike FuelBand app is free. It’s simply meant to support the FuelBand, that’s it. It’s not a run tracker or anything like that, but it’s needed to use the FuelBand, otherwise you have to plug the damn thing into a computer to track your progress etc.
WHAT! Really? Sorry I hate running and thought it’s a paid app to track your running stats using gps.
How the heck they could assume that a person who buys FuelBand isn’t likely to be an Android user?
That is wrong on many levels.
Exactly my point! It’s bizarre.
Perhaps their market research shows that the majority of their customers have iPhones?
Or the product is not selling well so they are cutting?
Or get a life and use your memory !
But isn’t that entirely the issue at hand; Android users are far less willing to pay for apps? If you’re an app developer, you’ll go to the platform that offers you the biggest return for your investment.
What part of the app is free did you not understand. The Nike app developers don’t have to take into account any return, as that isn’t a factor.
It probably has more to do with who is on Nike’s board of directors and Apples long time obsession with protectionism.
One thing that really, really irritates me is the accessories.
The vast majority are interchangeable, they can be used with other non-Apple products. Take tablet sleeves for example, I’ve managed to get my Nexus 10 to fit comfortably in quite a few different sleeves originally intended for iPads.
I also notice that a lot of other accessories are similar. I do sort of understand why they are marketed as “iPad case” etc – but what would be useful with a lot of these products was that either they tested them with other popular devices (e.g Nexus 10 tablet, Transformer etc) or they at least clearly labelled what dimensions would fit.
There are thousands of accessories out there being marketed as “For iPad” or “For iPhone” that would work perfectly well with many other products, and all it would take is a simple clear label with the compatible dimensions.
I guess you could just take the dimensions of the iPad and work it out. But I know what you mean.
One thing you may have overlooked in this article is that because there are plenty of cheap androids but no cheap iPhone (except last year’s model and the year before’s) iPhones have that “reassuringly expensive” brand image that no other OEM has. Maybe Nike are just being a bunch of Hipster Snobs. If anyone is interested in an Android compatible alternative look at the fitbit flex.
Yeah, I certainly don’t think of Nike as a premium, snobbish brand, but you might be totally right.
Aha, I see that all it takes to bait you is a “poor Android me” post these days
Never underestimate the militant Android fan base. Darrell’s done a great job.
No Kat, it’s just the fact that we buried my boss yesterday so I am now ready to resume regular life.
Sorry to hear that; that’s really rough. Hope all’s ok over there, considering.
I only made my comment because since the 26th you’ve commented about three times (I checked when I wrote my previous reply to you).
You’re a big girl now Kat, you don’t need me to hold your hand anymore. Other people need me more, so will most likely be spending less time here.
I don’t really understand why your name keeps changing…
But I’ve missed seeing your comments about the place
Sam, the iO vs Android debate is now older and less interesting that Cliff Richard.
If you’re going to do another post about it, at least try and add something to the discussion…
Like Sam said above, it’s still an ongoing issue, and it’s one we’re still going to be opining about for as long as it takes companies to realise. Sorry if it didn’t interest you.
There are certainly some apps that I’ve heard about on iPhone that I can’t get on Android. The thing is, I just don’t care. And I think most people probably don’t care. Because they are non-essential, and reciprocal.
What must-have apps are really only on iPhone? I’m not sure using Nike’s accessory app as a generalisation of the state of mobile software development is particularly valid.
It was a click bait dude. The site was probably running low on comments or somehthing. It worked as a short term solution, it’s not very good for the blog’s credibility thou.
Kat, it wasn’t the topic that bored me, it was the fact that Sam’s post didn’t add anything new to the discussion. We already know that devs prefer making apps for the iPhone and that iOS devices have a better accessory market. We know…
If you want GizUK’s posts to keep my, and other people’s interest, you’ve got to start differentiating them. For this article some input from developers or Nike themselves about what Google would need to do to change the situation would have made it much more interesting. Perhaps some comments from Google themselves… Yes, I know it would have taken more time to put together but I don’t come to GizUK because I want to get the news first.
I know you know all about running a blog and increasing page hits, but I’m afraid I’ve been visiting GizUK less and less because it doesn’t seem to be providing the distinctiveness than it once did. If the current trend continues you’ll just end up as another regurgitator of press releases like Engadget and that would be very sad.
Well said sir.
Amen to that brother. I find if I want the latest news/PRs, I quickly scan Engadget, then hang out at GizUK for the feature articles. I really want to love GizUK but the features don’t draw me in as they used to.
Quality over quantity.
I do have to point out that Sam’s post did have the ‘Nike confirms not doing Android app’ news which he used as his hook to write the rest of the article so personally I think having a go about the article is a tad overboard.
Each to their own; you’re welcome to move on if you’re unhappy.
I will.
It’s been lots of fun in the GikUK comments, but if an attempt at constructive criticism doesn’t merit a constructive response I think you’re right that it’s time to part ways.
Look at it this way — if I don’t like a restaurant, I just don’t visit again. I certainly wouldn’t waste my time and the restaurant manager’s time by making idle threats about taking my custom elsewhere, when there’s a whole variety of restaurants on the same road.
I’ll be sorry to see you go, especially given we’ve actually met, but Giz UK’s MO has never been, and likely will not ever be, what you’re looking for in a site, so I’m not sure what else to say on this one.
Trouble is I used to like the restaurant quite a lot..
Kat, if the restaurant had been my regular and I’d met the manager I would most certainly say something if I thought the quality had started to decline. If their response was “Thanks for your past custom but if you don’t like it go somewhere else” then I would.
What I’d like is a tech blog that adds something new to stories that I’ve already seen elsewhere. If that’s too much to ask I’m sorry, but sites like The Verge seem to be managing it. However, if Sam Biddle’s animated gifs are driving GizUK’s traffic to dizzying new heights then keep on posting them.
I’m sorry to be so negative but I think it’s just a cumulative frustration that any criticism of posts is instantly dismissed. Unless they offer something special or unique, businesses that deal with customer feedback in that manner eventually come a cropper.
We’ve never been, nor do we want to be, The Verge. Like I always say, we’re not a straight tech site, and while commenters may complain sometimes about GIF posts, they’re actually surprisingly popular traffic-wise, which is why we keep posting them. Commenters and readers are two very distinct breeds of people, believe it or not.
I’ve got a pretty heavy workload on at the moment, so I’m going to make this my last comment on the matter. Best of luck wherever your tab navigates to next.
I’m not sure it’s wise to dismiss the oldest and most loyal commenters. They are the best part o Giz UK.
I’m not dismissing them; I’m simply suggesting that because we’re not able / willing to turn Giz UK into the site they might want it to be, it’s perhaps a better idea to find another site to read.
Look, I’m really appreciative of how loyal and passionate some of our commenters are, but if we’re not giving those few people what they want, then I really don’t know what else to say on the subject. As you can see, plenty of other people enjoy what we’re doing here — commenters and non-commenters, as our traffic shows.
I have to agree generally with this article.
I’ve been doing some Android development this week, and it’s reminded me what a MASSIVE PAIN IN THE ARSE it is.
Particularly if you’ve got a multi-platform codebase, or even just an iPhone one. The core of the app will likely be in C or C++, which means you’ll need to use the NDK, and development with that in Eclipse is awful. They’ve only had an official GUI for the debugger for about 6 months, and you need to choose whether you’re going to debug either in C or Java.
Plus you need to use JNI to communicate between Java and C, and Google don’t have their own version of the documentation for it. You need to read an incredibly obtuse document at Oracle’s Java website.
And that’s before any fragmentation issues.
Frankly it’s not difficult to see why they, or anyone else would just throw up their hands and not bother.
Ha, now that’s interesting. I had no idea is was more difficult to write apps for Android. I kinda assumed it was similar to iOS. Although, having downloaded the SDK for Android and iOS, I certainly found Apple’s variant easier to use as a complete novice, but then I thought that was simply down to my lack of experience programming anything other than HTML and VBA.
Totally agree Fragmentation is a massive issue we had a quote to port our app to only the most popular Android handsets from a base of 5 SKU’s for various screen sizes and it came in at over 30K and that doesn’t include updates, or indeed the majority of handsets and with Piracy rife on Android and sales low why would any developer want to put that money on the table especially with an unproven app.
What was the nature of the app? 30K doesn’t sound like that much, or it could be a lot, depending on what is involved in the app…
How much would the quote be to port the same app to iPhone
It was just a simple casual game, When I say port to Android I don’t mean code from scratch, rather take our SKU’s say the Galaxy S2 build and adjust the code to similarly screen sized handsets and test and iron out handset specific bugs and spec issues, we still have to build the base Android App at various base screen sizes and all the cost that incurs.
Not sure about the cost to port to iPhone we handle all that in house, its not a problem because of the limited screen sizes and the strict implementation of iOS on those devices. also xcode and stuff like the Sparrow framework handle all the different screen sizes with relatively little code.
It’s what I said earlier :p
I wasn’t part of the team that built it, but I was working at an agency that built an app for a large campaign last October to stop people from a bad habit (that’s as close as I can get without naming the organisations!) and the iOS version of the app was relatively bug free, but post launch, the amount of Android bugs due to the different versions of the OS/screen sizes, and different devices made it a nightmare.
My own experience. I recently was in between phones before I got my Nexus 4, and I had access to a HTC Desire and a iPhone 3GS, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the 3GS fared with newer iOS apps which I couldn’t really say for the HTC desire (though that could be due to the memory limitations of the Desire)
The question that needs to be asked is; what are Google doing to improve things for developers and accessory makers?
I had to do it for my dissertation, I’d got stuck with an Android development project and I absolutely hated it. I like Android but the way it works is so weird, because of the screen sizes you can’t just place UI elements wherever you want, they have to be placed a certain way depending on the type of app you’re making, then you have to make sure that the method will work for other sizes. You can use Java to program the app and it’s easier than Obj-C but it is definitely more difficult to make an Android app, as developers don’t get as much back for the app it just doesn’t feel worth it. I know exactly what you mean, compared to that, the drag and drop method for iOS is simple for designing UIs.
It’s a different UI paradigm, and it’s not ‘weird’ it’s just how stuff works when you have to worry about different screen sizes.
Back in the windows desktop app days if you wanted to make applications that resized properly you would have to build the UI in a similar ‘weird’ way, where UI elements dock and flow and are boxed away.
It’s not weird in the same way that building websites is not ‘weird’, it requires a different approach (and I suppose a bit more skill).
It’s not something that would be particularly easily picked up from having a go in a dissertation, no offence.
I don’t think we can seriously consider iOS as an actual ecosystem any more, if it’s literally that limited that app design is done using absolute positioning of UI elements. What a short sited way to go.
Android’s is trickier but built to last, if you ask me.
By weird, I mean in comparison to the XCode UI designer. And the reason I say weird is because there are so many different ways to design a UI and when you do use a certain method it doesn’t mean it will work on different sizes. It seems more complicated than it has to be, I hope there is an easier way to design UIs using the Android SDK soon for developers. Perhaps the newest version of the SDK is easier to design UIs with, I just haven’t looked at it yet. And I don’t find the way websites are built weird personally. And no I understand, it was my first time having to make a UI but I did have to do a lot of research for it and unfortunately it felt (back then) that the UI had to be designed around the SDK rather than being able to make a UI and make the SDK fit your needs. The newer Android apps I see however seem a lot prettier and faster so perhaps it’s getting easier for developers, it’s a win win for everyone. And from what I have seen, iOS doesn’t require you to use the drag and drop for all UIs, it’s just for simpler apps but it works well, it’s good to try both OS and just see what’s best for you. And it may not be built to last as apps are often updated to a new look and if it is difficult to redesign a UI, it would probably be more of a problem. (Sorry for the essay)
Some interesting and valid points, but the headline makes the article pure clickbait. And it worked. Have a payrise.
I was rather annoyed by Nike’s refusal to release an Android app until I saw a link to Nike’s board members which shows that Tim Cook is a board member with Nike Inc, so it is no surprise that Apple gets more love from them than anyone else: http://investors.nikeinc.com/Investors/Corporate-Governance/Board-of-Directors/default.aspx
I meant http://investors.nikeinc.com/Investors/Corporate-Governance/Board-of-Directors/default.aspx
Oh, good find.
Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good android bashing session!
BINGO there you go
This is exactly why “journalists” or “editors” if you will on blogs could write much better articles by just doing five minutes worth of research on the net before packaging up a whole pile of assumptions which just make the author a ……whatever it’s called.
There’s no Android bashing going on here. I’m just frustrated by the lack of support for Android. If anything I’m saying it’s not on, not right. And as you can see above, I stated that Apple has close ties with Nike, including the Nike+iPod range and a whole host of iOS specific gear.
But that doesn’t excuse the fact that Nike should be making its products like the FuelBand available to the widest audience possible. It’s pure marketshare — why would you cut out a whole swath of the population like that? Seems daft to me, even if Tim Cook sits on the board.
Most deals done like this are silly, but it seems obvious that Apple wanted an exclusive deal and got one. Apart from a niche thing like Nike+ I have not found a lack of support for Android, if anything it is easier to add 3rd party support for most things, maybe you should start writing your own app to hack into Nike+.
When I was on Android I never thought I had a lack of apps and tbh most of the time you don’t use many. I just found myself installing Emulators and playing classic games like Final Fantasy 7, 8 and 9 again, rather than playing the crap on the store. I mean when I see my Mother I always pick up her iPad to see what games and apps there are, I’m never excited by any of them, most of the games are like 2 years old at this point, hardly anything new that is worth playing.
The best thing about Android though was being able to install Flash, which you have to do externally from the store now as Adobe pulled it. Just being able to use the browser like I do on a Desktop PC is so much better than the experience on the iPhone. People say Flash is dead, try living without it, every bit of content isn’t available on the iPhone, you end up having to use mobile sites and shitty apps for everything. Even Youtube, most of the videos are still Flash and I can’t stream F1 from Flash sites so I don’t have to pay Sky on the iPhone either.
Android is a much better experience and IOS, sadly though Google are slowly moving closer and closer to the IOS model. I’m hoping something comes a long to take over the open OS slot like Ubuntu or something.
I’m using Belle FP2 on a Nokia 808 atm and it’s really good and open Source, the core experience is better than IOS or Android IMO. Sadly though Symbian has been left to die by Nokia, just when they finally got it right :\ It has no apps which makes it tough, though I’m not really missing many of them, I only miss Flash Player, however my upgrade is in a couple months so I’ll get a GS4.
Wow, I can’t imagine going to something like Symbian from say an HTC One X or GS3.
I’m sure the OS is much better than Symbian of old, but it would just feel sad going to a bleak and dying platform.
Well I broke my GS2 and I needed a new phone, I saw a 808 PureView for sale on ebay for £200 and put a drunken bid in and won lol. I get my upgrade in April so I’ll be selling it then but it’s much better than I thought. If Nokia release an updated 808 on Windows Phone then I might upgrade to that to see what Windows Phone 8 is like. I’m getting into programming (early stages) and there is lots of good tutorials of Windows Phone development using c# so it might be a fun adventure.
Symbian Belle FP2 came out in like October 2012, I’ve never used Symbian before but this version at least is amazing. It seems like Nokia finally got it right, sadly though their only bit of hardware in years that would interest the masses (Lumia 920) was released for Windows Phone 8 and Nokia announced Symbian is dead.
It is a really good core experience, it has everything you’d want, even a store and a music store. It functions like IOS mixed with Android, it’s open source so it is so easy to just transfer files from your phone to your PC and vice versa. There is even a theme page on the store where you can just change the whole look of the OS, there’s Android and IOS skins on it. It is so easy to use and every native app functions well, especially seeing as the hardware on the 808 is lackluster. The only downside is the browser, it sucks, but Opera Mobile (the only alternative browser on Symbian) functions very well.
Really impressed with Nokia’s build quality too, it is made from plastic and you can take the back cover off. Even so it feels very premium and solid, it is so easy to repair, only 8 screws hold the whole phone together, it’s built like a sandwich. It is the easiest phone I’ve had to repair, I love taking them apart to see the insides and this is the best made phone I’ve ever seen, even more so than the iPhone.
Very good phone and a very good OS, sadly though it has no support so it’s a sad experience. I feel like the little app selection it does have, wont last very long now Nokia said it is dead, I don’t think the developers who bothered with Symbian will support it any more. This annoys me, I don’t get why Nokia would do that so soon after releasing the 808… like, thanx Nokia….
What I really like as well is Nokia put a screen protector on like they all do when they’re in the box and you open it for the first time. However theirs never has to come off, it’s as good as if you bought one and got it put on by someone who knows what they’re doing. It isn’t like the iPhone where they fold it over both sides so you have to take it off. I’ve had the standard on on the Nokia for nearly 3 weeks now and no signs of it coming off.
Part of the problem I see is that smartphone stats are often talked about in terms of device manufacturers not platforms. But I think as we see Android even starting to win out even there with Samsung then we may see an Android first shift. And Nike is only one manufacturer.
With Samsung they might have a Samsung first shift not an Android first shift, fragmentation would prevent that scenario. Makes me wonder if Samsung will create its own ecosystem within Android forcing some kind of split. it would certainly make life simpler for developers, when targeting a specific platform.
I don’t see any fragmentation, all these devices now have similar hardware that they all can handle anything these days.
No fragmentation and theres me with 10 years mobile development experience thinking there was, so what your saying is all that time effort and cash Ive spent porting our Android apps to different handsets was just an illusion WOW thanks for the tip I’ll remortgage my house immediately and invest it in some more Android development. who needs an accountant and sales figures when I have you &_&
They’re all using the same ARM chips running Android, how can there be any fragmentation? It’s like complaining about the PC…….. like developers don’t have a problem, we’re all using x86 based CPUs and Direct X or Open GL based APIs on Nvidia or AMD GPUs, it doesn’t take much effort for them to get the software working, it’s pretty much all automatic these days.
People aren’t proper programmers these days, they’re all using C# and frigging pre made engines with all the code done for you. If you made your program from scratch using C then I’d be impressed. Everyone’s using templates now….
We don’t care if your impressed or not ! we only care about paying the bills ! The CPU has very little to do with the issue of fragmentation. Saying there is no such thing as fragmentation with regards to Android on an internet forum, in the hope that developers (who know better) will flock to Android, isn’t going to achieve anything more than annoy us.
im not too worried, there is always something out there for my Android if i need it, I think Samsung have become a great player in the phone market and HTC models will soon take the “teen” spot off Blackberry and tbh i really cant see the next iphone being a “wow” product now that the market is saturated with smartphones and i would even be as bold as to say i bet iPhone sales start dropping and droids start rising soon enough, when that happens there will be more Apps like Nike`s “Find the nearest child in a sweatshop” app…
Tbh, for all the reasons why iOS gets more love from developers stated in this article is the reasons why I opted for iPhone over an Android phone two years ago.
Simply put, iOS still gets the best apps.
There was a time when IOS was clearly better than Android. Not only more seamless and fluid but easier to use. Times have changed though and now Android arguably has an edge on IOS. Android is only getting bigger and more popular where is Apple for the first time seem to be struggling. I’m sure Nike will realise the mistake they have made.
Having recently gone from an iPhone user of many years to te Nexus 4 recently, I gotta say – Android isn’t all bad, but it isn’t all good either.
In some areas it does stuff brilliantly and in others it lags behind iOS. Admittedly, I was into some pretty niche apps for iOS (I LOVED Star Walk for astronomy) but the Android equivalent Google Sky is a buggy piece of shit which simply does not work for me.
On the flipside, I love the way Android’s camera app works and all the features it has. I love texting on the Nexus 4, its simply easier than on iOS. I can live with the layout. The default music app on the other hand is piss poor. I’ve switched to doubletwist which I think is as close as I’m going to get to an iPod like layout, but its still missing a persistent on screen volume control (which no Android music apps have as far as I can see) and the volume is rather poor across the board from the built in speaker too the aux port.
Also, yes, iTunes is proprietary but I’d be damned if it didn’t work great for transferring stuff too and from my phone. Airdroid is fantastic, but having to select files from a file browser each time I want to add music too it just seems inelegant.
I think i’ll be sticking with my Nexus 4 for the foreseeable future. After all the hardware is better than my old iPhone 4, and it was a hell of a lot cheaper than an iPhone 5 (which I agree does need a rather large overhaul in its UI to stay competitive). From my experience Android is an OS of extremes, you either have a really good experience or a really crappy one, whereas iOS and Apple provide you with what their good at – a solid medium which doesn’t need to excel to please you, but doesn’t necessarily fail either.
Excellent summary.
They’re different OS and they suit different needs, they work differently and I’ve also tried both, I tried Android first but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. iOS just suits me better but it doesn’t mean either OS is perfect or bad, it’s good to see somebody seeing it both ways rather than bashing one OS or the other or just simply stating ……. is the best and people who use ……. are stupid. It’s just an OS, it doesn’t change what kind of person you are, just use what you enjoy.
try a music manager like mediamonkey or songbird. they quite happily sync or transfer music to and from your phone with a lot more options than itunes ever could and they also don’t screw up the filing and naming system once they are sent across, so you can easily find the track on your phone for sharing or opening with any other app
Thanks Hoggleboggle. I’ll give them a go. I’m currently using Doubletwist’s OSX app to sync files wirelessly, so far that’s been pretty great for me (save for one instance where I had to delete its library folder because it kept crashing).
A very valid summary (have a like)
This may not meet all your requirements but have a play with Google Music for syncing and streaming.
Your can use Google to backup all your music on your main computer to the cloud and then stream to any Google device you have – tablet / phone etc. I’ve been incredibly impressed.
As for other types of documents, Google Documents works similarly to google music and the dropbox app both offer automated syncing so you never have to worry about messing around in a file manager.
I’ve done this, but I have a lot of single tracks from albums in my iTunes library stretching back years and years – and for *SOME REASON* the Google Music app/backup/sync liked to sync ALL my tracks which did not have albums listed as one giant album – so when I went to add 2 or 3 tracks it always added a couple of hundred without fail. Plus, for some reason it kept on splitting up albums into multiples (albums which do not have multiple discs) which DoubleTwist does not. Nor does it sync an entire album of unknown album.
Plus the interface was to me too different. Sure, It’s not overly bad, but I’ve spent 5 years with an iPhone and it got the music part right. Add in the fact the Google sync took *FOREVER* to sync to my phone (and lets not forget it kept adding shit I didn’t want on there) it just drove me insane. Doubletwist has a wireless sync feature more like iTunes. I should have mentioned up top that I use that more than airdroid for music these days.
I’m pretty sure that Android music apps don’t bother with an on-screen volume control because they expect you to use the phone’s volume buttons…
Also, have you given PowerAmp a try? It doesn’t have a built-in wireless sync, but the interface is highly regarded.
I’m sorry, but I just can’t deal with the volume buttons on their own. The iPhone has both for a reason – that being your thumb is not perpetually glued to the volume buttons, especially on a big phone like the nexus 4. Also add in the fact the on screen slider that comes up only works in large segments, covers up the track that’s playing and only stays on for a second and you’ve got a headache. A persistent on screen volume bar is faster, offers more control if implemented correctly and it doesn’t take up a lot of screen space.
That’s a matter of perspective I suppose. To me, single-purpose hardware buttons trump on-screen controls any day of the week.
They work while the phone’s in standby or locked, they’re easy to access in your pocket without needing to take the phone out to look at it, and their function is totally consistent across all apps.
Also, an app like PowerAmp has an EQ that effectively allows you to set a maximum volume. That allows you to choose between more precise control or a higher maximum volume. It can also automatically switch EQ presets depending on which output device you’re using.
That said, I do take your point that it wouldn’t do any harm to just put a permanent volume slider on the playing screen…
Nike’s loss. Plenty of other good apps out there
Thing is on android there is almost always a good app that is cheaper or open source for almost everything. So far I have never seen anything iphone I needed that I couldn’t find a version of on android. Most of the exclusive stuff is fads or junk I don’t really need. Occasionally there is the odd thing that launches on iphone first but most of the good stuff hits android.
Also since when is the fuelband considered good? I haven’t read any reviews of it that scream great, moat seem to run towards could be great. To be honest I don’t know how any fitness monitor that uses a totally made up set of units be great.
I can’t say I’ve ever thought I’d rather have an iPhone than my Nexus because of lack of apps, but I have more or less seriously considered getting an iDevice just because my share trading platform has an iApp, but nothing for Android. Thats all I’d use it for though
Also did find the lack of Nike app a little annoying, but I can certainly live without it
I understand your point but it strikes me as a non-issue.
Nike fuel-band is incredibly niche and having looked at the various fitness trackers, useless.
I can’t imagine any real number of android users ever wanting a fuel-band so there’s no point in developing an app to accompany it.
ios users will buy anything if they’re marketed to correctly so the ios app is definitely the right one to develop initially (more serious point here) to see whether their concept takes off.
Clearly Nike has not shipped anything like the number of fuel-bands which would make it worth developing the android app. Essentially the fuel-band is junk but worth a punt, but to minimise Nike’s exposure and loss risk they only initially developed one app and picked the operating system which they thought would most benefit early sales.
They’ve failed, the fuel-band will be canned and they won’t bother with further development of apps.
On the other hand as a technology reporter it’s probably extremely frustrating to be an android user with a piece of tech that you can’t review properly because they haven’t actually produced all of the benefits which they claimed they would do.
The reason this is happening less and less no is because the tide has turned or the swing has swung and there are now vastly more android devices than ios devices in the world and the fact that at one point there were a lot of early adopters (the kind of people who might be interested in tat like a fuel-band because of the novelty) on ios is no longer true to the same extent as a few years ago.
I strongly expect that in the next year or certainly couple of years you will find that (at least where developers are choosing to minimise cost and risk) new products will come to market with the android app ready at launch with an ios app only to follow if the product does well. In major launches expect both apps to be available immediately with windows / blackberry to follow depending on how their ecosystems continue to develop.
TL/DR. Non-issue; tide turning; expect prudent manufacturers to release android apps before ios apps in the near future.
Oh yawn! The only person who would write a title like this is an Apple fan boy, why is anybody listening to his opinion about Android. The only opinion worth listening to is an unbiased one, and those are as common as unicorn sh1t, particularly when it comes to the iOS / Android debate.
(And yes, my opinion is heavily biased by owning a Galaxy S3 which I think is a ruddy marvellous piece of kit)
I just ended my four year love affair with the iPhone in favour of a Nexus 4. There are things I miss, but nothing so day to day that I can’t cope. I do still have an iPad for the essentials.