I have read a lot of reviews on Android 2.2 (Froyo), but they are all mostly the same and does not cover the bad/irritating things about the OS. So I will write about some of the things that I find bad about Android (There are plenty of reviews covering the good things).
If someone should be wondering, my knowledge of Android is based on the 2.2 version installed on an HTC Desire. I know that the UI on HTC Phones differs from the original Android UI, but that should not matter. My review is not about the UI.
root access
One of the things that I love about Linux based Operating systems is the freedom and control. Unlike other OS's like OS X and Windows, you have 100% control and access to do what ever you feel like.
I was not very pleased to find out that google had locked me out from the root account. Sure you can crack the account, but if I have to crack stuff to get the options I want, then I might as well just run IOS or Windows Phone (When it get's released). I want google to want me to have full control. I'm not saying that the phone SHOULD be unlocked by default (perhaps it should), I'm just saying that google could provide a way for me to unlock it.
Instead they do the opposite. They do extra work to try to keep others from finding ways to unlock it, like the 2.2.1 patch.
Task Killers
Yet another freedom killer from our dear friend google.
People say that task killers are evil. That is bullshit. They might however be useless, since in most cases, there are no need for them. But they are not evil because they do no harm. They don't destroy your phone or make it run any worse. They just give some people the wrong exception of how the memory is handled by android.
But there are good programs to like Watchdog that does a great job. But this app is now also locked out from being able to kill the real bad apps that really does use to much system resources.
Also there is the matter of the users freedom. If someone would like to install and use task killers, then why is it googles job to stop them? It's not like the OS is not able to kill an app at all. You just need to use the Android build-in task killer.
It's to much of a Microsoft and Apple concept (Our way or the highway).
Internal Storrage
This is a really big problem if you ask me.
I don't know who came up with the partition table for this system.
While I am running out of memory on the /data partition, I still have 75mb of memory I can't use (Unless you root your phone which I have) on my /system partition. I also have 200mb of memory on the /dev partition. Why in gods name does someone make 200mb of space available on the /dev partition. It only contains device maps which does not take up any space at all.
Sure, android 2.2 has a fix for this problem. The option to move the apps from the /data partition to the sd-card. Only this option is made as an developer option which means that it's up to the app developer whether to provide this option or not. And most developers don't provide this option, so my space problem continues.
App Update Problems
Android 2.2 has an app update manager build into the Market app. This is great, if it worked as it should. The problem comes when you try to update apps that is placed on the /system partition. This is a virtual read-only partition that even Android can't change outside the recovery area, which means that if you would like to update, lets say, the pre-installed Google Maps app, it will fail. What should a non-technical person using a non-rooted phone do in this case?
Who came up with idea to install regular apps on the same non-writeable partition as the main system? And why, when it can be installed into the /data partition like apps installed from the market.
Build-in Task Manager/Switcher
Press and hold the Home key, and you will get a Task Switcher, or will you? What I get is a Task History that displays the last 8 apps I have been using. What I was expecting was a list of currently opened apps. Since I didn't get it, I looked for an option in the settings to enable this but still nothing.
When I work on my phone I want to be able to switch between the apps I am currently using and not the once I have been using at some point.
Until now, google have been working hard to copy things from apple (Access and Control restrictions, read above), why did they stop here?
Android Market
Google is mostly known for one of the most advanced search engines in the world. You would think that some of this search engine experience was used in the Android Marked, but it isn't. The Android Marked has one of the worst search engines I have ever seen. It is almost impossible to find what you are looking for unless you already know the specific name of the app.
Also the Marked could use some grouping and a group specific search option. It bugs me when ever I have to find a tool and have to scroll through a lot of themes, games etc.
Perhaps some better cleanup would be nice as well. Some developers is starting to put their apps on the marked more than once using different names.
Well, that was all I could think of right now. Besides these things, Android is a great OS for phones. It works great and I have a lot of fun playing around with it.
If someone should be wondering, my knowledge of Android is based on the 2.2 version installed on an HTC Desire. I know that the UI on HTC Phones differs from the original Android UI, but that should not matter. My review is not about the UI.
root access
One of the things that I love about Linux based Operating systems is the freedom and control. Unlike other OS's like OS X and Windows, you have 100% control and access to do what ever you feel like.
I was not very pleased to find out that google had locked me out from the root account. Sure you can crack the account, but if I have to crack stuff to get the options I want, then I might as well just run IOS or Windows Phone (When it get's released). I want google to want me to have full control. I'm not saying that the phone SHOULD be unlocked by default (perhaps it should), I'm just saying that google could provide a way for me to unlock it.
Instead they do the opposite. They do extra work to try to keep others from finding ways to unlock it, like the 2.2.1 patch.
Task Killers
Yet another freedom killer from our dear friend google.
People say that task killers are evil. That is bullshit. They might however be useless, since in most cases, there are no need for them. But they are not evil because they do no harm. They don't destroy your phone or make it run any worse. They just give some people the wrong exception of how the memory is handled by android.
But there are good programs to like Watchdog that does a great job. But this app is now also locked out from being able to kill the real bad apps that really does use to much system resources.
Also there is the matter of the users freedom. If someone would like to install and use task killers, then why is it googles job to stop them? It's not like the OS is not able to kill an app at all. You just need to use the Android build-in task killer.
It's to much of a Microsoft and Apple concept (Our way or the highway).
Internal Storrage
This is a really big problem if you ask me.
I don't know who came up with the partition table for this system.
While I am running out of memory on the /data partition, I still have 75mb of memory I can't use (Unless you root your phone which I have) on my /system partition. I also have 200mb of memory on the /dev partition. Why in gods name does someone make 200mb of space available on the /dev partition. It only contains device maps which does not take up any space at all.
Sure, android 2.2 has a fix for this problem. The option to move the apps from the /data partition to the sd-card. Only this option is made as an developer option which means that it's up to the app developer whether to provide this option or not. And most developers don't provide this option, so my space problem continues.
App Update Problems
Android 2.2 has an app update manager build into the Market app. This is great, if it worked as it should. The problem comes when you try to update apps that is placed on the /system partition. This is a virtual read-only partition that even Android can't change outside the recovery area, which means that if you would like to update, lets say, the pre-installed Google Maps app, it will fail. What should a non-technical person using a non-rooted phone do in this case?
Who came up with idea to install regular apps on the same non-writeable partition as the main system? And why, when it can be installed into the /data partition like apps installed from the market.
Build-in Task Manager/Switcher
Press and hold the Home key, and you will get a Task Switcher, or will you? What I get is a Task History that displays the last 8 apps I have been using. What I was expecting was a list of currently opened apps. Since I didn't get it, I looked for an option in the settings to enable this but still nothing.
When I work on my phone I want to be able to switch between the apps I am currently using and not the once I have been using at some point.
Until now, google have been working hard to copy things from apple (Access and Control restrictions, read above), why did they stop here?
Android Market
Google is mostly known for one of the most advanced search engines in the world. You would think that some of this search engine experience was used in the Android Marked, but it isn't. The Android Marked has one of the worst search engines I have ever seen. It is almost impossible to find what you are looking for unless you already know the specific name of the app.
Also the Marked could use some grouping and a group specific search option. It bugs me when ever I have to find a tool and have to scroll through a lot of themes, games etc.
Perhaps some better cleanup would be nice as well. Some developers is starting to put their apps on the marked more than once using different names.
Well, that was all I could think of right now. Besides these things, Android is a great OS for phones. It works great and I have a lot of fun playing around with it.
