Android is an Immature OS. Obvious functionality is missing.

[mehrvarz]

Here are the issues I am having:

1. Can't lock screen while in a call. Red button just hangs up the call.
2. Apps cannot be installed to sd card. Internal Phone Storage after a device wipe shows about 136MB free. I downloaded about 5 or 6 apps and the phone ran out of room. I deleted the apps, but the space was not reclaimed. This is why I had to reset the device. Now I am afraid to install apps without filling it up again.
3. Bluetooth does no always connect back to my headset. sometime I have to turn on/off bluetooth on phone. Sometimes I have to reboot phone. One time I installed Pandora and bluetooth would not work until I figured out that removing Pandora would fix it.
4. Camera is no good.
5. WIFI cannot connect to an N router running in mixed mode (a,b,g,n). You must "dumb" down the router to b,g mode in order to connect the phone. This means hat other users who have no issues with N have to suffer the reduced speed of b,g.
6. No way to "EXIT" an app to reclaim RAM.
7. KB not as accurate as the iphone.
8. I have disabled HTC Sense and it is still slow. For example, often when I load favorites, nothing displays for about 3-4 seconds. This is not acceptable.


Overall, not a very tested or mature OS. I feel like I should not be starting from scratch like this. The folks at Android are guilty of using the consumer as a guinea pig. This is not acceptable. We are not reinventing the wheel, so why are obvious features missing?

 

[pdragon]

Here are the issues I am having:

1. Can't lock screen while in a call. Red button just hangs up the call.

This is a limitation of the HTC Hero not having a proximity detector, not Android. I do agree that this is an annoyance, though, and hope someone can create an app to fill in the missing feature somehow or maybe HTC will provide a fix.

2. Apps cannot be installed to sd card. Internal Phone Storage after a device wipe shows about 136MB free. I downloaded about 5 or 6 apps and the phone ran out of room. I deleted the apps, but the space was not reclaimed. This is why I had to reset the device. Now I am afraid to install apps without filling it up again.

Agreed that the space is limited. But again, this isn't an Android limitation, it's a hardware one. But it's got no less RAM than any other smartphones out there at the moment from what I've heard. As for filling up your memory with only 5 or 6 apps, that's hard to believe. I've installed over 20 now and still have plenty of room. Many games, RDP apps, SMS apps, time management apps, mileage apps, etc.

3. Bluetooth does no always connect back to my headset. sometime I have to turn on/off bluetooth on phone. Sometimes I have to reboot phone. One time I installed Pandora and bluetooth would not work until I figured out that removing Pandora would fix it.

Not a bluetooth user so cannot comment

4. Camera is no good.

No flash for the camera does upset me a little. The picture quality has been good enough for my personal use, but not what I'd expect from 5mpx honestly. Again, though unless there's something wrong with the imaging processor in Android, I think this is either a hardware or kernel/driver issue, not Android.

5. WIFI cannot connect to an N router running in mixed mode (a,b,g,n). You must "dumb" down the router to b,g mode in order to connect the phone. This means hat other users who have no issues with N have to suffer the reduced speed of b,g.

Don't have an N router so cannot comment.

6. No way to "EXIT" an app to reclaim RAM.

There was another excellent post by someone about how memory is managed differently than you would expect since it's running a Linux kernel. I'll edit and link it if I can find it again, but basically Linux uses as much memory as is available most of the time and will dynamically free what's needed when it's needed. I personally haven't noticed any performance differences between when I have over 100MB free or only 20MB free. Now when it's completely filled because you've got too much running, that's a different matter. I haven't run into that myself yet. And the Advanced Task Killer application is great for a one-click-clear to remove unneeded apps from RAM.

Edit: Here's the link: http://androidforums.com/sprint-htc-hero/12195-properly-close-app.html#post69632

7. KB not as accurate as the iphone.

Matter of opinion here I think. I've seen many other posts claiming the complete opposite. Have you run the calibration tool?

8. I have disabled HTC Sense and it is still slow. For example, often when I load favorites, nothing displays for about 3-4 seconds. This is not acceptable.

I haven't disabled Sense so I don't know how it may perform differently. I'm coming from a 3.5 year old Samsung A900 flip phone, so this thing is blazingly fast compared to what I used to have. Again, I think this is a matter of opinion

Overall, not a very tested or mature OS. I feel like I should not be starting from scratch like this. The folks at Android are guilty of using the consumer as a guinea pig. This is not acceptable. We are not reinventing the wheel, so why are obvious features missing?

And this is different than what any other mobile phone provider has done how? Or different from any OS or application manufacturer at all? The iPhone OS was a completely new concept and I do congratulate Apple on being one of the first companies to get this style of phone out to the public at large. But their phone OS was completely closed source and no one but Apple had any input into vetting it. Android is an open source and public OS that has been out for the public to play with for over a year now. It's gotten more testing done to it than ANY mobile phone OS has ever had yet!

And it's open for people to make any applications that they wish to fill in missing features. Don't see something you want the phone to do? Try and make one yourself!

 

[les anderson]

The great thing is that there are plenty of other OSs for you to choose from. If you don't like it leave.

 

[Fake Name]

Here are the issues I am having:

4. Camera is no good.


Overall, not a very tested or mature OS. I feel like I should not be starting from scratch like this. The folks at Android are guilty of using the consumer as a guinea pig. This is not acceptable. We are not reinventing the wheel, so why are obvious features missing?

Like I said a milion times, this is a phone, not a professional camera.

as for the OS, like pdragon said, how is this different from any other OS? when vista came out it sucked, now its usable.

 

[Kenotic]

Let the FUD and hatred begin! I am really sick of hearing this from some people. Most of what I hear is hyperbolic at best and down right nonsensical at worst. This reminds me of the guy that posted on a blog that an app for hero would not run on a G1. So he said that Apple would only be where devs go so they could write one version. I think stuff like this is from people that do not know what they are talking about or just want to complain about something.

 

[nathanotis]

I'll let others argue the points about performance and what not... I have found the camera to take excellent photos and (no offense intended to the op) those who complain it can't simply need to acknowledge the cam's short comings (no flash... its not gonna be great in the dark), and work on their technique. A guy I work with had issues with it. I basically taught him simple photography tips and he's taking great shots now...

 

[jlachesk]

1. Not Android's fault.

2. I highly doubt 5 or 6 apps maxed you out. Like pdragon, I have at least 20 and I haven't had any issues with storage space.

3. I haven't had any issues with using BT to connect to my headset, car, or laptop. I also highly doubt Pandora was breaking it as I have Pandora as well.

4. Has nothing to do with Android

5. Might be your router. I haven't seen this behavior in two different N-router "mixed mode" environments.

6. Read up on how Android manages memory (or Linux for that matter). Lots of discussion about this.

7. I disagree, and even if I didn't, I'm fairly sure that this would be at least as much an issue with the handset as with Android.

8. Display what Favorites? I'm also not sure if this is really Android's fault. The OS has a marginal impact on how fast something loads. That's like saying "Windows sucks because my 533MHz processor doesn't play HD video smoothly".

None of your complaints really have anything to do with how mature Android is, let alone anything to do with Android at all. The overall argument about the maturity of the OS bothers me. Think about the iPhone OS when it launched, or new versions of WM, or webOS, etc. There is only so much testing that can be done before a device is released and it's a very small fraction of what real world users do. On top of that, there are tremendous trade-offs that occur, especially in the mobile arena. If you never want to encounter a bug, issue, deficiency (be it real or perceived), you should give up on technology now. Otherwise, you keep the phone for it's benefits, or decide on something new.

 

[Michel Dover]

Here are the issues I am having:

Overall, not a very tested or mature OS. I feel like I should not be starting from scratch like this. The folks at Android are guilty of using the consumer as a guinea pig. This is not acceptable. We are not reinventing the wheel, so why are obvious features missing?

I agree with some of your comments and I could add more to your list; I already wrote that this is not a mature OS. Maybe 2.0 will perform better. Other OS are even worst, so maybe the problem is in our level of expectations and hardware not suitable to carry out basic computer tasks.

 

[pdragon]

To everyone complaining about new smartphone devices sucking... all I have to say to you is this

YouTube - Everythings Amazing & Nobodys Happy

 

[Deleted User]

If you have owned smart phones over the years you would agree android is a very mature OS. I will compare it to arguably the most developed phone OS to date the iPhone. MyTreo could do more than the iPhone 2G at launch and many posts verified this. However it was not as flashy and the web browser was lacking compared to the iPhone. Palm was a mature OS. Windows mobile was not in my opinion. The Android OS in its current state is defiantly less refined apps wise then the iPhone. I would not classify it as a immature OS. Also consider that it took 1.5 years to the iphone where it is today. Which was also very mature from a stability standpoint at launch. There are a couple quirks with the Hero. I have only owned the phone for a week so that is to be expected. I have seen plenty of flame posts on the Apple support forums so it was never a perfect device.

Also Sprint and Best Buy have a 30 day return policy. As a consumer it would be wise to only port your number after that time. If you like the phone keep it otherwise take it back to the store. No harm no foul. I was going to wait closer to a month but in 4 days I decided the Hero was for me overall.

Example total cost of apps for Android = $1
Example total cost of apps for Iphone = $137 apps (off the top of my head).
beejive $10
Docs to Go $4
Pedometer $3
PDA Net $30
TomTom $100

Sprint Hero Pros/Cons: Removable Battery, SD card (root to install apps), tether without rooting, cheaper sprint plan. 24 hour Apps store return policy. Install non verified apps without rooting. Standard USB charging. Smaller more sleek design. Feels like a phone not a like brick. Better predictive typing in my opinion (keyboard size vs iPhone prediction = similar accuracy).

ATT Iphone Pros/Cons: Faster hardware, pretty apps, bigger screen, more accessories, expensive plan, jailbreak to tether (apple is trying to actively stop jail breaks) Closed App system with no return policy. Bigger keys/screen annoying predictive type. No trigger to turn alarms off when locked – only snooze.

I would rather tinker with and tweak a phone to save $$$ some folks would rather pay extra for hassle free factor. At the end of the day buy what you like. People wear different shoes, underwear, and hats so get the phone that suits your life as well J

 

[mehrvarz]

To everyone complaining about new smartphone devices sucking... all I have to say to you is this

YouTube - Everythings Amazing & Nobodys Happy

Well done!

 

[quentinfisher]

I think its ridiculous to even compare the Hero with an Iphone. Do not forget that the first gen of Iphone's had a multitude of problems that took them years to address. The developers have had years of customer feedback to work with to make the Iphone what it is today. With the implementation of the Sense UI, the Hero is practically a brand new OS, so problems are expected and fixes with happen. To say it's immature is a bit bias, has I remember when the Iphone 1g and 2g were out you had to jailbreak it to get basic features that non-smartphones came standard with. No phone is perfect, even the holy grail that is the Iphone.

Edit: However I am disappointed that many of the business apps I'm use to on blackberry and even the Iphone are unavailable and/or poorly supported on the Android OS. Hopefully the business use potential of Android will increase with the popularity among consumers in the near future, thats the only thing I would say Android is immature in compared to other smartphones.

 

[Deleted User]

I think its ridiculous to even compare the Hero with an Iphone. Do not forget that the first gen of Iphone's had a multitude of problems that took them years to address. The developers have had years of customer feedback to work with to make the Iphone what it is today. With the implementation of the Sense UI, the Hero is practically a brand new OS, so problems are expected and fixes with happen. To say it's immature is a bit bias, has I remember when the Iphone 1g and 2g were out you had to jailbreak it to get basic features that non-smartphones came standard with. No phone is perfect, even the holy grail that is the Iphone.

I truely believe the Android is close to the Iphone 3G target out of the box. In some ways is even better. Being able to say this as a owner of both phones is a true testimonial to the Hero. My co-workers are all sneering at me but they can keep the rotten apple LOL.

 

[Slug]

Immature? Ffs, Android is barely a toddler compared to the iPhone's OS, and is still in nappies/diapers in comparison to Symbian. To get to this stage in barely two years since Google filed the first patents is imho frankly astonishing.

 

[itsaddison]

I love my Hero. It amazes me that such a wonderful product is still largely under the radar of your average citizen. I'm probably the ONLY person I know with an Android phone (maybe a few G1's here and there). Every chance I get to show them this phone and all the functionality/customizability it has they are blown away.

I prefer Android + Sense UI + Hero because:

EVERYone has an iPhone, it's no longer cool in my eyes
I like being on the cutting edge
It's significantly cheaper than Verizon or ATT
I find Sense UI to be far more visually appealing and intuitive than iPhone OS
I know Android has a more mainstream future 2-3 years from now, so I'm happy to be on the bandwagon early
And heck, I think the hardware of a Hero blows away an iPhone in terms of looks. Can only get Hero hardware with Android

 

[LTZguy]

Like I said a milion times, this is a phone, not a professional camera.

as for the OS, like pdragon said, how is this different from any other OS? when vista came out it sucked, now its usable.

I'll chime in on the camera. Even though its not a professional camera it should be leaps and bounds better. The camera simply sux. My original instinct took better pics and the instinct HD I brought back to get the hero, quite frankly SMOKES the hero's camera....and what????they are BOTH 5mp cameras. I dont even like taking pics with the hero camera...at all. Its so dang blurry...its useless....heres a example...i was holding still leaning on the counter while taking this.

5MP???? maybe is size....but what good does it do if it this crappy?

 

[quentinfisher]

The camera directly falls on HTC, in fact 9/10 people I know who have had HTC phones will tell you they suck. HTC uses terrible autofocus technology in all their phones and why they haven't changed this is beyond me. You'll notice better picture quality with a different camera app, which I would invest in a paid one if your a avid user of the camera on the phone.

 

[pdragon]

The camera directly falls on HTC, in fact 9/10 people I know who have had HTC phones will tell you they suck. HTC uses terrible autofocus technology in all their phones and why they haven't changed this is beyond me. You'll notice better picture quality with a different camera app, which I would invest in a paid one if your a avid user of the camera on the phone.

If you or anyone could recommend one, I think we'd all greatly appreciate it!

 

[rockstar]

The great thing is that there are plenty of other OSs for you to choose from. If you don't like it leave.

Agree'd

 

[pdragon]

Here's the great post romeosidvicious did about memory management and closing out apps on Android:
​

http://androidforums.com/sprint-htc-hero/12195-properly-close-app.html#post69632

 

[LTZguy]

The camera directly falls on HTC, in fact 9/10 people I know who have had HTC phones will tell you they suck. HTC uses terrible autofocus technology in all their phones and why they haven't changed this is beyond me. You'll notice better picture quality with a different camera app, which I would invest in a paid one if your a avid user of the camera on the phone.

I would gladly pay for one...but i havent found any camera apps that are aimed at making the camera function better....just different "effects" cameras....care to point us in the right direction?

 

[Fake Name]

The camera directly falls on HTC, in fact 9/10 people I know who have had HTC phones will tell you they suck. HTC uses terrible autofocus technology in all their phones and why they haven't changed this is beyond me. You'll notice better picture quality with a different camera app, which I would invest in a paid one if your a avid user of the camera on the phone.

This is my pic, I held it perfectly still as well
You can even see hair on my hand, which isnt even noticeable to naked eye
sorry dude, I just had to, I hope you can forgive me

 

[pdragon]

Lmao!!

 

[jlachesk]

This is my pic, I held it perfectly still as well
You can even see hair on my hand, which isnt even noticeable to naked eye
sorry dude, I just had to, I hope you can forgive me

I actually laughed out loud at this. Bravo, sir. Bravo.

I agree with the "for a camera phone, it's pretty damn good" sentiment. I used it to take some pictures at sporting events (granted they're not macro shots) and I'm pretty damn impressed. If I can find the motivation, I'll throw some up on here.

 

[Deleted User]

I do not have high hopes for any smart phone camera lacking a flash. A good portion of the photos I want to take are the lowest of quality at night/overcast regardless of the mega pixels. I guess I don't care so much about mobile photos but I do feel like the software could be improved upon.

I'll chime in on the camera. Even though its not a professional camera it should be leaps and bounds better. The camera simply sux. My original instinct took better pics and the instinct HD I brought back to get the hero, quite frankly SMOKES the hero's camera....and what????they are BOTH 5mp cameras. I dont even like taking pics with the hero camera...at all. Its so dang blurry...its useless....heres a example...i was holding still leaning on the counter while taking this.

5MP???? maybe is size....but what good does it do if it this crappy?