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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.
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.
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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.
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.
"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.
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?
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.
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! ...
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.
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.
"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.
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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.
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.
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.
What? Their definition of 'Must-Have' is rediculous. You must be able to apply textures to your photos? You must be able to browse KickStarter without using their website? You must play Plants v Zombies 2? You must have information regarding airport lounges?
Maybe these specific apps aren't available on Android, but suitable alternatives certainly are for most of them. I have absolutely no use for most of these, so I don't know, for example, the best Android twitter app or photo manipulation app. Cool Reader has a completely customisable interface, as a replacement for MegaReader. Also the main 'feature' of 'iA Writer' seems to be that it has punctuation keys on the main screen so you don't have to change keyboard modes - Android allows you to use a different keyboard anywhere you want, so just choose one with punctuation visible on the main screen and use it with any text editor you like.
I can't be bothered to search for the rest, but I've seen many apps that can scan business cards like the LinkedIn one, and there are several KickStarter apps.
The only thing on their list which offers something unique and novel seems to be IFTTT.
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.
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.
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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.
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