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Is Choice a Problem For Android?
New submitter mjone13 writes "Dave Feldman, in a blog posts, says that the problem Android faces is giving consumers too much choice. He cites several studies which state that consumers generally are unhappier when they have too much choice. 'Catering to all individual preferences creates a bloated, bland product. Not to mention a UI that’s impossible to navigate. Furthermore, people are notoriously bad at identifying what we want. And what we do want is influenced heavily by what we know — our expectations are constrained by our experience.' He then goes on to talk about Android fragmentation, app developer problems and bug issues. Finally he says the people who general prefer the choice Android provides are tinkers similar to gear heads who love tinkering with their car. 'I think many who extol Android’s flexibility fall into the tinkerer category, including some tech bloggers. They love all the ways they can customize their phones, not because they’re seeking some perfect setup, but because they can swap in a new launcher every week. That’s fun for them; but they’ve made the mistake of not understanding how their motivation differs from the rest of us.' Is choice really a problem for Android?"
Whether it's a problem depends on what the goals are. Providing a satisfying experience to a bunch of tinkerers is a very different thing from providing a satisfying experience to the multitude of non-tinkerers who buy smartphones.
You can have a highly customizable UI without making the default bland and impossible to navigate. Having more customization does make some things more difficult, since you can't assume all users will have the same setup, but it's still compatible with a decent default interface.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Dave Feldman, please speak for yourself only, ok? Please continue to use your fruity device, choice is good for us, I like it that way, thank you.
I stopped reading at "Not to mention a UI that’s impossible to navigate."
My bullshit detector went off the scale.
For those who don't want/like to tinker, there's iOS. Not too mention that a lot of the stock Android skins are quite simple, it just takes getting used to (as with everything else in life)
Ignoring the premise that Android is "impossible to navigate" (which is false), as for this specific quote:
No, I understand perfectly well, it's just that I don't care about your needs. Why should I put your needs first? Are they more important than mine? What's the end game here? If Android copies iOS then it's called out for that by people like you ("no innovation!"). If it doesn't then it's "impossible to navigate because it's not exactly like iOS".
Is there a middle road where tinkerers and "normals" can coexist on one OS? Perhaps. But maybe it's okay that to have the existing distinction between the OSes. Or maybe iOS should be more open to tinkerers? Why don't you head over there and suggest that they simply don't understand that iOS is too hard to tinker with.
(Again, I don't think there's acutally anything major that'd make Android hard to use. In fact, I recommended an Android phone for my mother, knowing full well that I risk being the designated support (which I don't want to be).
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Some of us get their phone, install it the way _we_ want it, and then leave it like that (unless something spectacularly new comes along).
I don't change my keyboard weekly - but I did change it a couple of times, find one that suited me, and leave it that way.
Same with SMS, email client, and web browser. I haven't changed any of these in months, but they're all different to the stock version.
My Journal
Betteridge law applies.
Not everyone wants to mess around with their devices 24/7. It's just a goddamn phone with internet, get a life.
Doesn't the trend of "cutting the cable" partly stem from having too many channels to choose from? When my dad recently considered buying a television (they haven't bought one in 15 years) the choices are bewildering and even the terminology befuddles him -- and he was one of RCA's first television installers and service-men back in 1948. I have never had cable T.V. and when I tried to find the local PBS channel on a friend's set, channel 7 isn't on channel 7 and there's a bazillion buttons on six remotes, and somehow every channel change seems to result in either Twiggy people or sumo wrestlers (what the heck is broken with aspect ratios? Aaargh) -- after ten minutes of frustration I just gave up. Maybe that's why television viewership is dropping like a stone?
Life under Stalin in the old USSR was safe and orderly too. Just like the experience of the "other" smartphone.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
"theyâ(TM)ve made the mistake of not understanding how their motivation differs from the rest of us"
I think we understand all too well the rest of you, who don't care about anything. The problem is: we don't care about you. There, you have it. We don't want a device that's dumbed, locked, tailored to noob-level, without a way to customize it. We have a lot of examples for such designs, and they are all too idiotically dumb. You want "simple"? Find one that is dumb enough for you, but do not try to ruin the one mobile OS that' actually usable for power users as well as average joes who are only a bit smarter than a shoelace.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
"Providing a satisfying experience to a bunch of tinkerers is a very different thing from providing a satisfying experience to the multitude of non-thinkerers who buy smartphones." I kept reading "thinkers" all the way through...
Mr Feldman .. may be you should take up a different subject for your wise comments ... I suggest gardening ....
Guy expresses personal opinion...
Look at Miui, they've gone and copied iPhones layout but made it look much nicer. This is how Google was expecting oem to work with Android and they would compete on simplicity and quality, instead we got touchwiz and htc sense. :/
Ignoring the fact that Android has something like 85% market share so consumers are obviously not unhappy, how is this different to Apple? Android and Apple steal so many ideas from each other that the differences are now mostly cosmetic.
As for the large choice in phones, isn't this is like saying motorists have too many kinds of cars to choose from?
Choice is immoral! Life begins at purchase!
"Not to mention a UI that’s impossible to navigate." At least try a Nexus device rather than a Samsung one... You will see how easy to navigate to and nice is the real Android UI !
I'm a minimalist, I like simplicity and leanness, and dislike clutter and bloat.
Love Function, hate Style.
I dream of being able to buy a computer where every software function was a module which I could load if I needed it.
Or not, if I didn't.
Reducing the complex economics of Global Mobile Telephony to a simple "too much / too little choice" metric is just a little bit fucking stupid...
Seriously that is all I see in this article. Flaming for the sake of clicks/views. Android fragmentation was a problem back in the version 1.5~2.1 days. Back when OEMs were experimenting and the software was maturing. Nowadays, save for a handful of tweaks, all decent Androids devices are pretty much equal. As for the UI tools, maybe not having tons of options will make that guy happy, but removing them will make a lot more people angry. What does he want? A Google branded iPhone?
Even though I subscribe to the Apple/BlackBerry/GameConsole idea of one optimal OS for one or two device types, I'm still mostly a windows and android user. Trying to make everybody happy with the "one OS for them all" strategy is just impossible plus there are many marketing and development problems associated to it for platform providers, OEMs, developers and users. However to say that the Android(and by extension windows) experiences are crap, is pure BS. Like it or not, Android gets the job done, and the experience is without a doubt what I would call very reasonable . At least that is from my experience with Galaxy and Xperia phones as well as a Transformer Tablet. If you got a $0 chinese phone with a shitty firmware that is your problem, not Android.
Sure if I could get my way, each company would have it's own OS and ecosystem, assuming that all tech companies had a interesting and unique vision for themselves. Too bad that is just unrealistic plus there are plenty of practical problems associated to this philosophy as well, but that is a discussion for another time.
Android offers choice only to tinkerers. Everybody else simply walks in a store and buys a phone that looks shiny. iPhones are having a bit of a problem in that they offer almost a single choice which was the same as that from a few years ago. You can't have a bigger screen for example. Mobiles have achieved appliance status. Who cares about fragmentation ? There is fragmentation in car models as well and fancy cars that have weird ways to switch on. After you master it, you run with it for years. You don't care if the car in the opposite traffic works differently. Fragmentation affects developers, who now have massive budgets to overcome it. There are hundreds of thousands of apps, most people use only a few and the rest they simply forget to delete after they are downloaded. So there are enough that work well out there.
The problem with Android is carrier- and manufacturer-initiated fragmentation. Vanilla Android has been great since ICS, but when the manufacturers and carriers insist on reskinning and lockig down the system you do get difficult to navigate and use handsets that don't actually deliver Android.
I'd rather have too much choice instead of barely any.
I'm well aware of that famous TED talk where the presented talked about the paradox of choice (http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html), and it does have some merit. But the way I see it, appealing to the masses means that those who don't fit the mold are generally left in the dust because it's not "economically viable" to cater to them. Keeping things open and keeping choice available means that there's something for everyone.
Choice requires a greater level of personal responsibility. You can't (and shouldn't) rely on some corporation to make all your decisions for you without being able to change them if they aren't suitable for you. It might be easier to just go with a monoculture of decision-making, but you'll pay for it once you realize that you aren't like everyone else.
Except Android phones are fliphones; projectors; remote controls; FM radios or transmitters; Consoles with Real Controls; or conputers with full keyboards and trackball Fingerprint readers; at all price ranges; made everywhere around the world...including America. With different screen sizes/ Dimensions Battery Life; even with extra smart paper screen; dual screen; or curved screen. Including extras from dual sims...even triple sim slots to sd readers and full sized USB
Ironically Apple is sacrificing market share for profits with its limited product line whatever you think of that. Microsoft really hurt themselves by using the software to limit the hardware, even advertising itself as much...buyers went elsewhere, and Microsoft are suddenly really flexible.
"I told you."
Everything should be as customizable as possible. That doesn't mean that the config menu needs to be complicated, it only means there needs to be a normal settings menu (sufficient for 90% of the users) and a "pro" menu with all the other settings.
Firefox (among some others probably) has this worked out perfectly. The settings in the normal options are sufficient for most users. Power users can use about:config to change other stuff. That it's not usable for 90% of the users doesn't matter. They don't need it.
And for those things that are to complex for about:config there is a plethora of plugins. Joe blow does not need them, but the 10% advanced users are very happy with them.
My opinion: If I can't switch it off it's a bug. Not a feature.
Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
"Not to mention a UI that’s impossible to navigate." At least try a Nexus device rather than a Samsung one... You will see how easy to navigate to and nice is the real Android UI !
The Troll is Apple copied most of Androids OS functions with 7, catching up with many severely lacking features, although most people who have used one would be quite comfortable with the other. The real difference is the first party applications, and currently Google are simply the best.
I'm really glad i have the choice. To buy a reasonable cheap phone (199 euro or so) with a recent version of Android, and stick my prepaid sim card in.
The alternatives are an overpriced phone, possibly with non-recent software (yes, android 2.3 still being sold here by the 'telco branded' phones), or a monthly plan that is more a rip-off scheme than a fair deal - like 2 years for 60 euro/month for plan with 1.5GB data for an S4, and still having to pay excessive fees if you use more data or phone minutes.
My wallet does the choosing for me. I'm not nuts. All i care is a recent version of the OS, and preferable 'bare' - so no extra software layers like HTC and Samsung are doing. The rest of the choice is irrelevant and dictated by the pricing & value for money. I realize some people do not want choice, and that they want the most expensive product from the most popular brand (read: Apple). I'm not one of them. I have more fun in life wasting my money on different things, whilst still having a pretty good phone.
The reason I switched from iOS was because personally, I *want* control over my smartphone. I want the options and customisations, and the ability to decide what keyboard to use and where my music sits. My advice to those who can't handle a few options is "get an iPhone".
Though really, I can't see why both user groups can't be catered for - have sensible defaults and basic options, and put everything else inside an "Advanced settings" button somewhere - no one is forced to tap it.
I agree that there is simply too much "crap" in the Android markets all over. The amount of good, quality, useful stuff is a seemingly small ratio of what's out there. But I get by just fine and enjoy a good quality experience. How?
Just like with Windows computers and the like, you simply have to limit what you do with your machines. Limit the resource consumption. Limit the amount of apps you run. Limit tweaks and [animated] wallpapers and all that junk. Do the things which are useful and stop trying to entertain yourself with a new toy every 10 minutes. I take advantage of the fact that people out there are dumb enough to try every app available. I get to read reviews and comments to assist in the choices I make. Good for me, bad for them when things don't work out.
Maturity is required. The market of available crap is not to blame for consumer behavior. (This statement is in sharp contrast to my position on the food we have available to us in the US... the market *IS* to blame and especially when they fight consumer choice and knowledge by preventing information from being available to consumers so they can make their own decisions.) The users are making all the choices... and they always will.
Make good, informed choices. Give favor to software makers with good reputations. It's not that hard.
The problem that the PC faces is giving consumers too much choice....
Clearly that hasn't worked for the PC, or it would be the 100% dominant platform, rather than just the 99% dominant platform...
And for PCs the be able to run OS-X, Microsoft or Linux operating systems? Clearly wayyyy to much choice...
GrpA.
Enjoy science fiction? "Turing Evolved" - AI, Mecha, Androids and rail-gun battles. What more could you want?
That's an issue that comes from not having enough choice. Also adding the ability to customize the device means you don't have to cater to my preferences out of the box (something that's impossible without my direct input).
A)Get an iphone and be trapped in the walls.
B)Get a Windows phone and be trapped in the walls with less to play with.
C)Get an android phone with unlimited possibilites and no walls.
I think it's a no brainer.
Betteridge law applies.
Its a pro-Apple/anti-android propaganda. The title could have easily read "Choice is a problem for android".
For those who don't want/like to tinker, there's iOS.
There is also Android for those who don't want/like to tinker, and unlike iOS comes with some incredible first party applications. Although you have the option to tinker.
Finally he says the people who general prefer the choice Android provides are tinkers similar to gear heads who love tinkering with their car."
Tinkers is something you do. A tinkerer is someone who tinkers. Shesh
Most of the Android fans that I've bumped into choose their device in exactly the same manner as iOS fans: they choose whatever is in fashion at the moment. They also deal with downloading apps in the same fashion as iOS fans: they choose whatever their friends are raving about. They also have a handy way to deal with customization: they usually leave the device as it shipped (perhaps changing wallpapers along the way).
Choice is not making people unhappy, because they usually made up their minds before they ever went shopping.
To be fair, Android is harder to navigate. There are desktop pages (similar to IOS app pages). Then there's a list of apps under the apps button. You can also copy stuff from the apps list to the desktop list.
I find this paradigm very confusing. I've seen Android users get confused on this too.
But, I desperately miss configurability in IOS. Absence of settings has my life very hard in the past... So has the conduit called iTunes. iTunes really sucks when it doesn't work properly, and is clunky when it does work.
Itunes is a nightmare that should have been burned with fire, on Android you do not have this extra layer of complexity at getting content onto your devices.
You talk about reconfigurability and settings...or the absence of them. Ignoring the irony of arguing for additional complexity at the cost of customisability, or that Apple copied the look of this with iOS 7 from Android, you argue that having a desktop(sic) that you can only add applications to is better than one you can add widgets to.
I don't think you really understand your own argument.
So random blogger posts that there's a fundamental problem with giving consumers choice. Yeah year by year Android gains more marketshare at a higher rate than any other platform.
His examples are comical too. I actually know someone who setup their phone with every app the same on the one screen. That way when the kid picks it up he ends up opening Angry Birds just by pressing randomly on the screen. The image sharing example? Actually that doesn't happen. When an image is received it goes into a pre-determined folder. What the user appears to have done is clicked "Share" or tried to perform some other file operation in which case choice is exactly what he wants.
But hey this guy is an "expert" who's had positions in user experience and product design.... at AOL and Yahoo! ...
Seriously, this is a load of bullshit.
The choice that consumers don't like are the 20 permutiations of the Ford Focus. That there are 300 different car manufacturers therefore at least 300 different cars that all do identical jobs IS NOT A PROBLEM.
What pisses customers off is when you've decided "I want a Samsung, it must have IM, YT, FB and cloud storage and at least 16GB of memory" and are then shown 30 colours, with/without LTE, 3G,EDGE,WiFi,... to choose from after they've already made their mind up KNOWING that the salesman cannot be relied upon to draw the correct for the customer conclusion about which one to buy, preferring instead to upsell to things that are either going to cost a shitload to use (e.g. "cloud storage plus") WITHOUT saying that they'll cost or are wasted money (EDGE in the USA) or WiFi when there are few free hotspots and the contract includes wireless data plans that make WiFi mostly redundant.
THAT is the "choice" customers don't like. Choice of things they don't like that they KNOW will be chosen for them by the seller to make more profit at their expense, therefore yet more BS they have to wade through or risk getting reamed.
Most of the Android fans that I've bumped into choose their device in exactly the same manner as iOS fans; they choose whatever is in fashion at the moment
Except most people aren't fans(sic) they are consumers, and they are choosing their devices based on a variety of reasons, based on obvious things like screen size and price...as well as less obvious things like a rugged device. Samsung may be the most popular of Android...it got there with crazy nice phones. We all like to joke Apple is just a brand...but they built creating incredible mind-share and media support by being early with great product, the fact that is expensive and behind has cost them a large chunk of market share.
Dismissing anything as just fashion...especially on cutting edge technology is simply foolish.
Read the first para, read the last, know it wasn't worth reading.
If someone can't get why you need to read it in the first few sentences, it's not worth reading. Even if the content is good, it's badly written and you'll need to work at filling the chasms. Moreover, on the internet, someone else with better skill will tell you the same stuff, without the need to work at working out what's said.
On the one hand there are advocates who want it to be used by as many people - ordinary people who neither know nor care about "open" software - as possible. On the other hand, the whole product line is completely dependent on people writing code, who's primary motivation is to show to their peers how clever they are.
Sadly these two groups have little in common. Users don't care about options, flexibility, "free" (of either variety), choice, source code or customising. All they want is TO GET STUFF DONE. For them an operating system is an annoyance and a UI a necessary evil that's difficult to navigate, keeps changing and is badly documented. Both of those layers are seen as stuff that gets in the way of them having the results want.
For developers, users are a pain in the arse. They report bugs, they're resitant to upgrading, they ask stupid questions (which they could answer for themselves if they ever bothered to check the source code) and they complain that features change between releases and they want backwards compatibillity - sometimes all the way back to last year. Worst of all, they don't appreciate the leegance and completixty of the software the developers have written.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
I agree that there is simply too much "crap" in the Android markets all over. The amount of good, quality, useful stuff is a seemingly small ratio of what's out there.
Really that seems like a simple lie. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=lp_2407748011_nr_p_n_feature_keywords_0?rh=n%3A2335752011%2Cn%3A!2335753011%2Cn%3A7072561011%2Cn%3A2407748011%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A7107988011&bbn=2407748011&ie=UTF8&qid=1381921202&rnid=7107987011 here are a list of "no contract" best-selling android phones, they all look pretty good to me some are as much as 10x cheaper(larger screens; more cores; more memory; extra storage etc etc) than the latest Apple phones, yet have better specifications than the phone in my pocket which I am still very happy with. Now if these phones required proprietary software and hardware, locked down to one store, Breaking hardware and software standards. Like say the iPhone...I would argue that they would be "crap"(sic)
Perhaps iOS needs more hardware choices.
A cheap product, from food to consumable goods to durable goods to electronics, will always win. Nothing else seems to matter. Android is cheap. But it's better than the old custom stuff which electronics used to have that makes Android look like a great user interface. Remember trying to program a VCR?
> Catering to all individual preferences creates a bloated, bland product. Not to mention a UI that’s impossible to navigate.
Fixed that for you.
The cutting the cable can be seen illustrated over at basicinstructions.net.
The discovery channel "discovers" ghost hunters, country folk and antiques.
The history channel "discovers" game shows.
SciFi channel is now syfi and shows sit coms. (a geek bugbear)
and out of those 300 channels, 150 are game show/cooking and 100 are home shopping.
Most of the 50 remaining are payperview.
Cars that can go straight, to the left and to the right, that can go at different speeds, that have a reverse gear simply offer too much choices. Thousands of accidents per year are proof that we need simpler vehicles. Maybe a sofa, people rarely get into traffic accidents driving a sofa.
"Nothing of the Kind"
Gnome still is the best (of some great) Desktops, and its choice of sensible defaults, and removing redundant controls are very sensible. What is wrong is Gnome shell. The bottom line is like Android this can be replaced with mate or Cinnamon, or Replaced entirely with KDE or XFCE, and that is something to be proud of...
"Too much choice" might be a real argument in some contexts (such as Linux desktop) but certainly not in the world of Android phones.
Most people don't flash a custom ROM or change the launcher. Literally everyone I know just accepts (and grumbles about) whatever configuration the vendor burnt in at the factory. The more adventurous ones just possibly might create a custom wallpaper or ringtone but that's it.
Unbelievably some don't even know they can install apps, or do know but avoid doing so "in case I mess anything up". Quite rightly they understand that they hold in their hand a complex computer for which they will get absolutely no assistance to fix anything they do which stops it working.
"Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace." V.Stone, Microsoft Corporation
when the manufacturers and carriers insist on reskinning and lockig down the system you do get difficult to navigate and use handsets that don't actually deliver Android.
Except vanilla Android is always a choice. In fact its interesting to notice that manufacturers are increasingly offering a "Dev" or Google Play edition, although you are exaggerating that reskinning Android makes it difficult to navigate, when in reality they often offer compelling features, not yet in stock android.
Agree with the locked down, but then if you don't want that...Android is your only choice, and you can choice a device that offers it.
It's the job of the UI/UX developer to apply experience and taste to arrive at something friendly. All of this BS from idiots who think "oh the UI hasn't changed in years, so we HAVE to change it" is crap. The new iOS UI isn't better than the old look. If anything, the lack of contrast makes shit hard to read. Even with enhance contrast on, it looks shitty. The same goes for android phones with pastel color scheme.
People who push for "change for change sake" are assholes. If it isn't broke don't fix it. There's so many real problems to fix, why don't they focus their energy on that instead!
Android offers choice only to tinkerers.
Not to people want low priced phones; Large screen phones; Ones that take great Pictures; Lots of storage Phones; Robust Phones; Ones that double as Consoles; projectors; ebook readers; Remote Controls; Radio receivers and transmitters; Made in the USA rather than students and children. Marketing to local needs "Gold Clamshell" not a problem.
Android got to be 85% of the market by hitting every price point, and hardware need geared toward that market, most users never think of tinkering...its kind of weird you think they do.
I am one of these guys that finds android 'too complicated'. My wife just bought the new S4 mini. Incredible device: beautiful screen, fast, great camera and good battery life. It's only the 'hey what's this' and 'Hey, how do I do this?' kind of stuff I hear all the time that keeps me running back to the safe simplicity of my trusted nokia N9.
Yes it doesn't have the application support and that sucks. I'm not going to tell you I don't care about apps. If there is anything that will get me to switch to android ever it will be that.
But for now I hold on to it. The reason? The swipe. Want to see your start screen? Swipe. Want to start an app? Swipe. Want to see what apps you have open? Swipe.
It's so simple.
Having too many choices in this case is not the same as having too much choice.
This sounds like nonsense but what it means is that I can look over a huge range of Android devices and immediately reject out of hand probably 95% of them. Too big, too small, wrong shape, wrong color, wrong brand, wrong OS version, wrong features, wrong ROM options, lack of aftermarket cases, etc. The pruning is fast and brutal and ends up with a couple of models on the short list and easily down to one for the final. I had no trouble at all picking my last Android phone and tablet.
So there's a lot of choice. But a lot of it is irrelevant, and thus has no meaning. Same as there are lots of car choices but if you want a specific type, you can eliminate nearly all the others. Most people do not put all the subcompact cars on the same list with pickup trucks, vans, big rigs, or motorbikes.
I had no trouble picking the last car I bought. First, I found out which models offered some specific features I wanted. ALL the others immediately dropped out of the running. Then it was price, and again the list pruned. Very quickly the list narrowed down to one model that met what I wanted and I ordered that car online without even test-driving it. Why bother when the pruning had already determined this car we the best option? And, I was right.
Sig for hire.
A cheap product, from food to consumable goods to durable goods to electronics, will always win
Then you don't understand "cost" and "price" and users will pay for features that they need...and that includes brand. What they want is good value. Android currently offers phones hitting every "price" from low to high, as lower mark-ups and margins than competing products with a range of innovating features....its capitalism at its best.
Apple for instance produce a cheap Chinese phone at a high price! which is why outside countries that hide this through massive subsides. Its a failure.
in the above article and I think that pretty much sums up re: "The Year that Linux comes to the Desktop"...
(and my personal feelings re: Linux).
Suck it up boys, the truth is difficult to hear at times.
The real question is: Is anyone man-enough to do something about it?
On the one hand there are advocates who want it to be used by as many people - ordinary people who neither know nor care about "open" software - as possible.
Except that is not even remotely true...Although I am not sure of the relevance to this choice. Ignoring your offensive comments. Its interesting no note...suddenly everybody...those ordinary people(sic) are suddenly concerned about "open" they don't use those words, they use words like "privacy" and "human rights" and "government" and "company" "abuses". We don't talk about open source here because we are clever we are just good at this...I personally would struggle with brain surgery....hell I struggle making food more complicated than pizza, but because we understand the underlying technology more than "cooks" "doctors" "lawyers"...or "brain surgeons", we talk about open source as being part of a possible solution,, as well as it being a great development model, teaching aid, cost saving....Maybe because we know a little bit about it out words matter.
What pisses customers off is when you've decided "I want a Samsung, it must have IM, YT, FB and cloud storage and at least 16GB of memory" and are then shown 30 colours, with/without LTE, 3G,EDGE,WiFi,... to choose from after they've already made their mind up KNOWING that the salesman cannot be relied upon to draw the correct for the customer conclusion about which one to buy, preferring instead to upsell to things that are either going to cost a shitload to use (e.g. "cloud storage plus") WITHOUT saying that they'll cost or are wasted money (EDGE in the USA) or WiFi when there are few free hotspots and the contract includes wireless data plans that make WiFi mostly redundant.
You are talking about the problems being the carriers/salesman, that does not change regardless of phone or operating system.
Apple and new Windows Metro - lets force users to use our blessed design, with no way to configure.
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
Choice is neither a good, nor a bad thing. Apple touts a very eclecting thing that works very well for many people. But if it was the only choice available, people would be unhappy. Android promises choice but is basically the same thing in a million guises.
The thing is, there is no real diversity in the market, for much of the choice we think we have really isn't much of a choice at all. Apparently the people trying to put offerings in the market have but a very few, very bland, generic "persons" in mind. This is only natural as they're trying to shift millions of devices. But it does mean the choices offered are equally bland.
What we really need, both with phones and with laptops, actually, is a few different visionaries that put different visions in the market. They don't even have to compete that much. There just needs to be recognition that different people have different needs, and that a single device oughtn't even try to cater to them all.
As for the large choice in phones, isn't this is like saying motorists have too many kinds of cars to choose from?
For a while, each Android phone's physical buttons (back, home, menu, search) were in different places on the bottom row. It's as if not all cars had the accelerator on the right and brake in the middle.
I dream of being able to buy a computer where every software function was a module which I could load if I needed it.
Then you'd like something like Debian: start with bare bones and apt-get install what you need.
In fact its interesting to notice that manufacturers are increasingly offering a "Dev" or Google Play edition
Provided that your carrier chooses to offer such a phone. Some parts of the United States still can't get a good signal on T-Mobile, the only major U.S. carrier that embraces bringing your own device.
Went to a presentation on a project that's released its web tool as an app (iSpot - a nature spotting community tool). the project leaders said that at the point they decided to develop an Android app version, they asked the technical team to identify how many different versions/configurations of Android were out there that they'd need to make sure the code presented well on, to ensure a good user experience for all (you really don't need your first reviews on Google Play to say it sucks on their device in their preferred configuration). Apparently the technical team identified 123 versions/configurations of Android (approximately early 2012).
The project leader said this makes it a nightmare to test for a small development team (about 4 employees on the project). I am not sure what the solution is but it sounds like it causes them a lot of pain and requires a lot of management to ensure the majority of users get an equitable and positive experience of the app.
C)Get an android phone with unlimited possibilites and no walls.
Unlimited? Find me replacements for these 15 iOS-exclusive apps and I'll believe it.
Then let me try to reword AC's comment: People flock to iPhone because iPhone restricts the salesman's role in screwing the customer.
Remember trying to program a VCR?
Yes, and I don't think it was really any harder than using a calendar app on a PDA or phone. If you know when a show will come on, just put in the channel, date, start time, and duration, and leave a tape in the drive. What made it hard was 1. lack of support for wired remote controls so that the VCR can operate the cable box and 2. the end-to-end copy protection added to digital cable and satellite signals, especially in high definition.
In every one of these threads you claim Apple phones are expensive when they're priced on par with the competing Samsung Galaxy devices.
Also you're a hypocrite, how many times have you dismissed Apple as fashion, look at your bloody comment history you troll.
In a state the fact that Apple is a cheap Chinese phone on cost and an expensive on price, what Samsung offer is Better Value Phones. Although personally I will be looking at the LG Nexus this time.
I don't discuss fashion although it is related. I discuss Brand and Mindshare which Apple spend a lot of time and trouble cultivating, and it worth more than any other brand on the planet. http://www.interbrand.com/en/knowledge/blog/post/2013-10-08/Apple-Tiger-Woods-and-the-burden-of-brand-expectations.aspx
I have met a Android users that launch everything from the app draw and some that don't know what the draw is and rely on what their supplier put on the home screen. But it doesn't seem to confuse most.
More important: if you want the iOS approach it's just an app install away, with a dozen or more suitable replacement launchers on the Play store. I won't choose fighting my way through a home screen with hundreds of launch icons any time soon! Notable that iOS style launchers are so much more popular than Winphone ripoffs ;)
Consumers buy the one phone at a time and stick to it.
"Finally he says the people who general prefer the choice Android provides are tinkers similar to gear heads who love tinkering with their car"
So by that logic 80% of mobile users are tinkers
People flock to iPhone
Worldwide the iphone sells at 13%. That is not what I would call flocking to anything. Although the irony of the iPhone being the most expensive choice and The Poorest Value with little to no compelling hardware features infared...No!; Waterproof....No!; etc etc All that the salesman can sell if carrier services. At least you can get last years model in plastic for $100 less.
Austin October 14th, 2013
What a complete load of bullshit nonsense.
I’m just going to go down your post and call out everything I see that is false, bad logic, or just plain misleading.
First off, no one selects phone by carrier. That’s a ridiculous way of thinking. Nearly every phone manufacturer makes devices for every carrier. So you pick from a manufacturer that you know and trust and select a device that works on your carrier. For every manufacturer there are flagship phones and there are budget phones. I guarantee you that the vast majority of users have only heard of perhaps half the devices on that list.
Next, are you really going to suggest that having multiple homes screens AND an app drawer is to complicated? Or that the ability to have multiple copies of the same app is a drawback? How dumb do you think the majority of users are? I guess in your eyes we should all go back to using brick phones.
Next you take issue with the app linking that is native in Android. This isn’t an issue, it’s a feature. It’s one of the things that has no copy on the Apple side of the house. If you have a picture, you are presented with a list of apps that can take pictures as input. Either to transfer, save, post, etc that picture. It’s a coordination between apps that doesn’t exist on iOS, where you can only share inputs between stock apps.
* Custom Lock Screens
* Launchers
* Replacement Phone Apps
* Different Fonts
All of the above are way outside the “normal” user experience. They are options that exist solely for the “tinkerer” individuals you so kindly mention further down your article. Soccer Mom Sandy isn’t going to spend time downloading and trying out different launchers and fonts. She is going to stay with the default launcher, font, most of the default apps, etc. Your point here is moot.
Next. Ah, finally. SOURCES. Is there a link between choice and buyers remorse? Definitely. But it’s not limited to Android. It’s the reason that BMW, Ford, Audi, Samsung, HTC, Sony, Microsoft, any many others (including Apple) advertise. It has nothing to do with getting the word out, it has everything to do with combating buyers regret. Any time you make a large purchase like this, you are going to experience buyers regret. So yes, it exists, but please don’t try to pretend it is a solely Android problem. As soon as someone buys a Windows Phone, or an iPhone, or an Android, whatever, they are going to experience buyers regret. Unless of course they are completely deluded in to thinking that their brand is the end-all-be-all of phones/TVs/Cars/etc.
* I think many who extol Android’s flexibility fall into the tinkerer category
I disagree. Of course, neither of us has any way to back our opinions up. I however think that most people are tired of companies making decisions for them.
* But if they’ve punted too many times — resolving tough decisions with a checkbox here, a slider there — then they’ve shifted that responsibility onto you.
No no no. Android devs haven’t shifted the responsibility to anyone. The devs make design choices – good ones IMO – but they also realize that their tastes do not reflect those of everyone else. So they make it possible for a user to change certain parts of the product. But don’t act like Android devs just shrugged and said “Fuck it, let the users decide”. They made decisions, implemented them in the defaults, and left a choice in some menu somewhere in the settings to alter that choice if the user desires.
And your restaurant analogy simply does not apply. When you order, if you are at a reputable restaurant, you are offered an array of options (not to mention the menu itself). How do you want your steak? What sides would you like with
Slashdot is not the right place to ask this question, since we are, by definition, tinkerers...
comes with some incredible first party applications.
On Windows, I believe that's called "crapware".
"crapware" is what Microsoft called preinstalled competing programs. "crapware" is what manufactures use to reduce costs. "crapware" is what makes my linux machines so "cheap";Secure boot will put the end to that which is real crapware.
By First party applications I mean "Google Maps" which Apple replaced to worldwide ridicule. OR YouTube which Microsoft is bitching about to goverment about monopolistic abuse for Google not supporting their pitiful platform. You know the ones that built on Google services.
Dave Feldman appears to be out of touch, or has an agenda. I don't know which. I see no one whining about the overwhelming choice of cars available. If Apple made cars, they would all look the same, the only option would be engine size, and you would only get a couple of colors. Sure, there is the old joke that women just want to pick from red or blue, but it's a joke. Hmmm...that joke says a lot about the men that choose iPhones, doesn't it.
I modify my Android interface quite a bit. Only one desktop page, bunches of folders. Never rooted it, don't want to spend the effort or take the perceived risk of ending up with a brick. I play around a lot and explore all the various features, and use the ones I want to.
My wife, on the other hand, is happy to let new programs drop on her desktop, she just remembers where the icons are. She has never added or removed desktop pages and rarely reorders. She sometimes uses my phone and wants to know why it does something, but rarely asks me to show her how to do it. She has never complained about it being too difficult to navigate to find the stuff she uses and feels she needs.
Two people, two different wants of using the same product. Or rather, two different phones and two different tablets running the same OS because my wife has different preferences than I have in both features (for example, she likes bigger screens and has a Galaxy Note and 10" tablet, I prefer more compact and have a Samsung S4 phone and 8" tablet.)
Thanks Android and Samsung and all the other Android manufacturers for giving us choices.
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
That 80% market share hasn't translated into more profits for app developers, or more apps being available for Android than the iPhone.
Actually App downloads and App availability are unsurprisingly higher on Android. In fact in markets like China(The largest Market worldwide) where the iPhone is 1% its even worse with few applications being developed for it. The world is now Androids.
It has almost 80% of the market because it costs much less to make a phone and the manufacturer
Actually with curved screens; FM radio transmitters and receivers; waterproofing; real keyboards; large high definition screens produced in smaller quantites they cost more to make the just sell for less price which maked them better market, Those extra features make them more appealing to consumers as well as the better value.
Being the cheapest in the market usually gets you the most market share. That doesn't mean people *want* to use it.
Ironically *expensive* features like high resolution; large screens and waterproofing is why android is 80% of the market, The iphones low cost low resolution; small screen water adverse with massive mark-up is why its profitable but unpopular.
when it's choice between your own products. If you sell 30 different types of device, all at different price points and all aimed at slightly different consumers, customers are going to be confused (Do i might a Galaxy S4, a cheaper S3, a smaller s$ Mini, a bigger Galaxy Note, a bent Galaxy Curve etc etc). Apple had the same issue in the 90's with their plethora of almost-identical mac options. The point is, if you make a few well built, fully featured phones (like Apple, or Googles badge-engineered Nexus devices) instead of cheap plasticky shit that's virtually identical to every other manufacturers cheap plasticky shit, people will buy your products.
Manufacturers: There's enough low-end devices out there, make a decent (ie iPhone/Galaxy S killing) phone, and not an easily-dentable heap of high-end crap like the HTC One. (Which IMHO still beats every other Android phone available on aesthetics)
If you gave me a choice between a printer and a giraffe with explosive diarrhoea, i'll get my ladder and my raincoat
Sounds like a senior citizen type of complaint. "too much choices I'm just so confused, why can't all things cost $0.05 like they used to" I think apple has made their products more limited to accommodate old people and stupid people which is exactly why I hate them.
Had Loki show up at WWDC and give his little speech. They'd all be on their knees groveling immediately.
yes it is.
For iPhone users, that's it.
I have an Android phone. I don't find the UI confusing in the least. It does all I want it to do (including calls, mind you) and then some.
Uh, I almost forgot. It's probably a problem for all Nokia owners in Redmond, too.
So far there's you with that pointless tripe and everyone else.
If you're on the lunatic fringe (and you are) then a position different from yours is not "in the middle of it all", it's where everyone else is.
And one that is the "cause" of all the "consumers are less happy with more choice". The choice made available isn't between cars that look different or have different things for you to choose from, but that when you've decided what you want and found something to do it, there's more "upselling" to choices you don't care about and are ignored by the seller in order to part you from more money, as opposed to being chosen because from what you've made available to be know, you will like or want these features.
Therefore these EXTRA choices are sold to you not for your benefit but the marketing chain's benefit and therefore you have to investigate or go without (and worry you've missed out).
What everyone accepts as acceptable choice vary a lot on the fringes, but "so many brands of cars" is NOT one of them. Just like "so many brands of Android phone" isn't.
RTFS. It says:
"He cites several studies which state that consumers generally are unhappier when they have too much choice"
And I was pointing out that the "choice" people DO NOT WANT isn't the "choice of many different things" but the "choice to upsell me" and therefore NOT RELEVANT PROOF that there is any problem of choice in Android. And proof that despite choice being limited by iStuff, there STILL exists the "upsell", except this is often defined for you as tied to some feature you may actually want (hence being WORSE).
I.e. if you wanted WiFi you needed the 16GB expensive version of the first iPad. If you wanted WiFi but only needed 4GB, you had to pay for the "upsell" of an unwanted 12GB of expensive tablet memory. Working from memory here, so details may be slightly wrong, the gist is about right.
Kindle do it too: if you want a keyboard or tactile buttons, from v3 onward, you have to get the bigger more expensive one with "free 3G downloads" included in the price.
With android, if some carrier puts biggeer memory with a tri-band you don't want, then you don't have to go with that carrier and pick a supplier who doesn't bundle bigger memory with tri-band.
Have gnu, will travel.
Just because "there's an app for that" doesn't mean I have to install it. I may even choose to write my own applications rather than installing something I don't trust. Having that option illustrates the precise value in Android over anything else. Your choices are not prescribed for you in a pre-bundled ultimatum of vendor lock-in.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
Sorry, this seems to be too much like the government's claim that we have too much freedom.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
You got that right. For me - a person who never even owned a cell phone before - it took a whole week to figure out how to ditch crappy vendor-grade bowdlerized Android and load cyanogenmod. Then a day or two to master the Cyanogenmod UI, that offers more choices (like, for example, it lets me remove "airplane mode" buttons since I'm not in the frequent air travel socio-economic bracket).
If you need to know something about the Android UI just ask the nearest 13-year-old and you're good to go. It's really like the Apple UIs - completely non-intuitive, yes, but consistent and simple enough that it "feels" intuitive as soon as you learn a few simple concepts. There are no truly intuitive interfaces; even the nipple is learned. Android's UI is reasonably user friendly.
Last weekend I helped my father look for a new phone. He was overwelmed looking at the Galaxy S4, Moto X, and HTC One all with different interfaces. I told him I recommended the Moto X due to it being close to pure Android and possibly more likely to get upgrades to Android 4.4+. He didn't care about all that, he did like the Galaxy S4 screen the best but said it felt to big.
In the end, he ended up getting an iPhone 5S, he has heard good things about from everywhere besides me, and wasn't so "confusing". Sadly, I couldn't blame him.
Meanwhile I'll sit in my corner and eagerly await the Nexus 5 and hope that it addresses all of Android's problems (and supports all carriers for once).
I can get one from t-mobile for the same or less than a Samsung S-4. I agree you can't do as much. I wrote a little Android program (Shameless Plug) that pops up a contact's picture (sadly the cute girl in the screenshots is a stock pic from the Creative Common's main image site) and keeps it there because I got tired of not noticing the itty bitty missed call notification. It's only pretty recently that I could distribute it to others on the iPhone without jumping through a _lot_ of hoops.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
and MSFT was thinking, why are we even talking about problems, we have 90% of the market. until they didn't.
marketshare size doesn't mean everything is dandy.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Users will pay for features they need, but most users don't need much from a phone.
...that explains the rise of smartphones. I think you have to start excepting that users are demanding a lot from their portable computers that just happen to have phone functionality.
If you are a mechanic you have to work with hundreds of different car models. If you have a parts store you must stock thousands of different parts. The market for cars works like that, why cannot phones be like that?
Remember the Model-T? It offered very little choice, the customer couldn't even pick a color different from black. It dominated the market for a while, but then the public started demanding something better.
The problem is that too much choice will always let the Cheapskates win. That is EXACTLY the problem Microsoft has with Windows right now. Nobody can sell a machine with $50 extra buck in quality improvements except Apple. That means every device has its own special "hellish" bugs.
People have been used to Windows fragmentation for years. There are still 1/3 or more XP users that just don't run patches out there.... People got used to not having their out-of-date system supported, or getting terrible experience from RAM, CPU, GPU so much they STOPPED BUYING SOFTWARE ... Note how there's no WINDOWS software at stores anymore and there are still millions sold every year. People got used to just stealing what they wanted from online... Which was even cheaper than learning Linux.
Fast forward..... All those things about Windows are starting to come true with Android. As the mobile industry moves 5x faster than the desktop world Android has already skipped to the "browser app" model on Google Play because the system is already too difficult for devs to navigate at the same speed iOS Eva can churn out bits.
The push for "everybody to have android" is working... Except that means most people are buying 3 year old handsets rebadged.. Kind of like Windows users buying rebadged Core 2 Duos or WORSE as the MAJORITY if units sold at retail now.
Google fell for "Android everywhere" versus Android ALWAYS being good. Eventually, people live with a minimum functionality but they don't spend time looking FORWARD because they CANNOT.
So yea, Android is everywhere and it won! So now its just like Windows...
Apple: Freedom from the tyranny of choice I can certainly understand the frustrations people feel when having too many choices and not knowing what they want, but I personally prefer having more options. It seems that a lot of people get offended when someone does not make the same choice they do... it must be some sort of validation of their choice.
"About the Author
Dave Feldman is a product designer with a background in user experience, product management, and front-end development. He’s the co-founder and chief product officer of Emu. He’s held positions at Yahoo! and AOL." is the biopic given at the bottom of his article.
Well, Dave's "research" is astounding reading. He quotes, as far as I can find, only one old study on consumer choice in retail. The rest is conjecture and hearsay "... every body knows someone who tinkers...", "... some of my friends say ...". I think the article is not overly well researched and must have an ulterior motive.
Dave, being the chief product officer of a new Internet start-up needs visibility for his new site.
As the saying goes "controversy brings visibility"! How better to get visibility cheaply than to lash out at an established and highly successful product like Android. If consumers would really like their choice restricted, why isn't Apples iOS or Redmond's new wonder the market leader?
Well the controversy obviously worked! I for one at least now know about Emu and that was the point, wasn't it?!
Wow this truly is a tied trope. It's amazing how often this is trotted out by paid and unpaid apple fanboys.
If manufacturers are making life hard for developers with fragmentation, couldn't developers fight back with a standard? If they agreed on one, then they could publish the standard and start labeling their apps "Works with any phone that supports appTastic" (or some other advertising friendly standard name) If enough popular apps jumped on that bandwagon, then phone manufacturers would make phones that comply and start advertising "Supports appTastic!" so that consumers would know that their favorite apps would work on that phone.
the explosive international rise of Subway restaurants
I never understood this. Subway makes the worst fresh sandwiches I've ever had the pleasure of consuming. Actually, I'd even say that pre-made shrink-wrapped sandwiches that can sometimes be purchased at chain convenience stores are oftentimes clearly superior to the garbage peddled by Subway.
How is it possible that a fast food restaurant chain like Subway could be so successful? Clearly it is not the quality of their product. Have you ever tried their roast beef? I remember the first time I did, I was disappointed by the amount of meat on my sandwich; it was but a single layer of thinly sliced, overcooked roast beef. My next time around, I asked for double meat. Big mistake. There's a reason there's only a pinch of meat on there by default: you can't quite taste it in small quantities. Double meat was sufficient to inform my taste buds that this wasn't roast beef, at least not in the traditional sense of "roast beef". Additionally, the overwhelming veininess of the meat became impossible to ignore at this scale. That was the last time I got meat on a Subway sandwich, ever.
I live in NJ, where you're never more than a mile from a pizza place (figuratively). Any pizza place will make subs that are actually edible, if not outright delicious. Yet there's still Subway restaurants everywhere. I see many of my coworkers munching on crappy Subway meals all the time, and I can't help but think... WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!
Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
You the ADD/Autistic/Aspergers/OCD/nerd subculture are exactly the crowd that Android caters to, and does so spectacularly. Confirmation bias is pretty rife here too. Remember that Android can be found on "Smartphones" priced from $20 upwards, whereas iOS only appears on 5 or so devices which are all in the $700+ sector of the market (Maybe iPod touch is less? You get the picture though). You're deluded if you think the total sum of Android activations is a meaningful figure. Android comes on netbooks too, and those Rockchip-based "Android sticks", Cubieboard/Beagleboards/etc, cheap Chinese media players, Smart TVs, and who knows what else.
The secret ingredient of iOS and the devotion of a herd of cow-like users who can't handle something like the omission of a start button in Windows 8, even though it takes less effort to run programs from the start screen. Consequently Android defragmentation is a hit-or-miss proposition that is dependent on regional tech culture where iOS is not so much because it appeals to the lowest common denominator. To me, iOS is like a drug for lazy users who don't know what they're missing because herd mentality. Stock Android devoid of customization would be ideal but that isn't going to happen soon with the current model. http://wirthconsulting.org/2013/10/16/windows-8-gets-a-raw-deal-and-lenovo-and-others-by-extension/
So tired of hearing this one. I'll rant a bit here and might go seem to go off-bit but trust me it is all relevant.
How much of an effort is it to read a review or two about a purchase you are going to cough up hundreds of dollars for? Everything (software, devices, games) keeps getting dumbed down because this mythical "layman" is f*king clueless and apparently has less neurons than a worm.
Folks need to wake up and smell the koolaid. This argument is used to justify:
A. Laziness (we don't want to spend effort making a good interface. reduce the number of features and tell people to like it 'cuz it's better)
B. Walled gardens (users are too dumb and they don't know what is good for them so we are going to have this list of "approved" apps they can have)
C. Poor products (our product doesn't have features and no variety but hey who wants all that complication in life anyway)
You can have any color as long as its black because come on, variety and choice just confuses your little brains and make you unhappy. And remember this when there's only the one true (communist) party to vote for, which gives you the only food you want (soylent green) while wearing the only clothes you'll ever need (the gray party overalls) as you read the only newspaper guaranteed not to confuse you with more than one viewpoint.
I'll say about Android what I say about desktop Linux: It does what I want it to do. Why should I care if someone else doesn't want it?
The Gospel according to lolcat
Dave Feldman fuck your mother up her worm infested cunt. MotherFuckers like you will have us be slave to rich bitches telling has what we can have and more over what what we want. Fuck you and your fucking family I hope they all get butchered by and evil fuck. Choice is amazing and I love having it. Why the fuck should Android not have choices if you don't want choices go with Apple you fucking cock sucker. Fuck your mother up her bloody ass. I hate motherfuckers like you so fuck you in the ass to death. Haven't you had enough of corporations running our lives. If you don't want to to be free to choose then tie yourself up, you mom, your wife and your wife and kids and have go have youselves fuck in the ass by an elephant. Fuck you and your fucking mother I hope she get's fucked to death. Fuck you!!!