The last year to 2 years in cell phone technology has been really disappointing. Software and Hardware. While both have shown promises 2015 and 2016 have just been meh compared to the past.
I've spent the last 3 years on android and the 3-4 years before that on IOS since 2008. I remember when myself and others were actually excited a new device was coming out with crazy possibilities. The last 2 months I've been shopping for a android and every time I limit my choice down. I find something bad to talk me out of the buy. OP2 as of recent, constant issues from software to hardware all over the community so I shipped it back. Than I might target another phone, LG G4 but the year long boot loop issue still isn't fixed. Than I find a Honor 5X and find that emui gives issues and development is miniscule. My roommate, a nice guy. Likes electronics but hes not a researcher/tweaker. Bought one of those $170 to $200 pre-paid phones from BestBuy I think after he left his HTC "###" of 2 years. After looking at his phone settings yesterday his new phone is a 1.5 GB Ram, Snapdragon 410 8916 that 2-3 year old HTC was a snapdragon 400 with 1GB ram. Its been about a month since he bought it. Like most people they get excited to purchase new things like that. He said the HTC seemed more responsive/faster. This is a shame, most phone buyers don't know the specs and assume because they are getting it at the store that its a upgrade and its gonna perform. Hes a likeable guy to be honest, doesn't ask for much but always helps people. I can't bring myself to tell him he bought a rebadged 2-3 year old phone for $200
All these manufacturers are so involved with lets just make 30 different phones every year, rush out the designs and almost all usually have that one issue. Whether its a fingerprint scanner that goes dead, battery, cpu burning hot, something. Google does 1 version of a phone every 12 months with one tiny update not to long after that 1 time big update and that's what we get. Bugs, or whatever are left up to devs to a hope of a carrier update. Usually everybody is just stuck with what they got. 2015 was probably the worst year for Ios and Android software. Original Ios9 and Android 5.0 were horrible compared to previous and future software versions. Its safe to say Lollipop was a rushed, not finished ROM. ios9 just seemed to like quality control that Steve Jobs wouldn't have allowed.
Now on to Apple and ios. ios from 2008 to ios 7-8 was great every year. Great software, optimized feature packed and not much issue jailbreaking. Real features were implemented. But the last 12-18 months Apple got complacent it seems. Like there isn't competition with each other. Google, Android manufacturers, Apple all know they are gonna make their money as people buy new phones every 6 months, 12 months, and 18-24 months no matter what. Apple has basically stuck to their same scheme and you can tell Android/Google went with the Apple/ios feel to their skin/theme of the OS. Settings side by side with Apple and all versions of Apple you can easily tell Google with 5.0 - 6.0 even though they call it Material, looks IPhone. Toggles, the setup of settings. The simplest, minimalist but functional look. Material is just adjective. Now they are concentrating on feature rick notifications/settings finally like ios did. That part they caught up with. KitKat and below was horrible in 2014 and below with functionaility of settings compared to their counterpart.
Open Source vs Jailbreak - I've been in both worlds, experienced 3+ full years modding ios or android each since 2008. Android has more freedom we all know that. The android OS just doesn't allow that freedom to expand the modding of the phone. Not much as changed, you have CM or the other ROMS, xposed, a few other things. The whole process is a bunch of work to achieve very small tweaks. Just look at the process of android modding. Root the device, install recovery, unlock bootloader, now wait for a rom. Could be 1 week or could be 6 months. One ROM might require this TWRP but this rom might require a custom twrp but only if its this variant. That variant has to be on a downgraded version. Flash this, reboot. So on and so on. You guys know what I mean. Now the phone is fully open. We unlocked all the doors to the new house but we haven't went inside yet. Now on to the iPhone. 1 process to jailbreak and it could be a quick website jailbreak or a plug into a computer and do a couple things. Whatever the process its that 1 step process.
ios - Cydia - All apps are in 1 repo and tested. The repo is like a jailbreak google play store.
Android - Rooted and Open - Open Sourced mods other than some tweaked hidden settings and skins that's basically a custom rom. Kernel with maybe a feature here or there. The ROMS for android have that themed new launcher feel over stock when comparing. Xposed is probably the best part of the Root world. Still a lot of stuff is either not functional or its the invisible mods. Apple ios Cydia tweaks are more UI major change oriented. Quick Reply and Quick Compose is something everybody almost always wants or uses. This has been a Apple jailbreak thing since ios 6 I think. I know my IPhone 4 had it. Reply to text from notifications or anywhere and that was 2010-2011. Over 5 years ago but we are just not really getting this type of feature implemented stock android starting not to long ago. I don't know if the android system is just lacking with its potential and what can be implemented in it. Google and Apple have no reason to not just implement all the known features everybody wants from years of rooting, flashing and dev projects. 2011 I think was the first year of the finger print scanner and Apple implemented it on their phones in 2013. Even now in 2016 half the phones don't have one. Or it just does 1 thing. Unlock the phone. Its a shame that we have to wait 12 months for a completely new OS version and the selling point is enhanced notifications, material design, google on tap. I mean really in 2016 this is what technology has to offer us. The features they act like are new are just retitled in their own words from stuff we've already had in the root/jailbreak world.
I'm really not saying ios is better than droid at all. I'm on android and refuse to pay Apple prices. But Android development with so many people out there in 2016 is minimal at best and horribly slow. The technology available can produce amazing quality. Apple proved this with the IPhone especially. Make 1-2 phones a year. Concentrate on a proper os, updating that os and half the year making the next year version bigger and badder. LG fired their CEO on poor G5 sales but after the G4 and G3 who would throw that kind of money at a LG. OnePlus can be that break through company that brings us the $700 phone for half the price but their R&D is horrible, Customer Service is horrible. Makers like Samsung want to produce 20 phones within 1 inch of each other with the same cpu/ram and title them S8, S8+, S8 Note, S8 Edge, S8 Note Edge, S Note Edge Plus. Than make 5 variants on each of those 8 phones. Than make 30 other "new phones" with the same processor type and ram as all the other phones the 2013-2016 have gotten.
It does seem like I'm venting. I moved and my Sprint service is horrible where I live. I have to get a new phone as I'm missing half my calls and texts. Like I mentioned earlier 2 months now trying to find that phone that costs less than a flagship new version, has development and doesn't have a major bug with it.
I could go on and on. Both OS's need to really step it up. I know I've downed Android more in this, but they deserve it. The potential has always been there. They aren't managing it right. There is no innovation, research, ambition currently in android OS development. I don't know if they have way to many Indians working on 1 project and nothing can get accomplished. Its just a huge disappointment to pay $200-$700 for something that seems like a themed version of a 2013 phone with some xposed tweaks implanted stock. Everybody should really take note of all this. Consider how much we pay for these devices and phone plans. Than think about what we are getting out of our money year after year with minimal features they could have implemented with KitKat in 2013. Everybody is buying and buying and not caring about development. I never thought the phone world would get as boring as it is now. And guys that immediately say android is great and Apple sucks because we can access more inside android, just think about it. Yes its true but the outcome isn't anymore than a few jailbreak tweaks from Cydia in ios. Apple is so complacent now they could care less about being innovative anymore because the competition isn't doing anything either. There is no reason why each manufacturer or Google can't do os updates through the year. Real updates. 6.0 to 6.0.1 to 6.1 to 6.2 and so on. Its ok to implement a major feature in the middle of the year. To go along not make a group with Phone X wait 9 months for a new OS to be rolled out right before the new yearly OS comes out. Its all wasteful and it is truly disrespectful to all of us, the consumers who work hard for the money we give them. Sorry for the spelling mistakes. I imagine some will flame me. Really nothing is gonna change unless we all put a voice out there. Think about what I've written. Even if you hate ios, look at android, google, and what we get and how slow and bad the process is.
I've spent the last 3 years on android and the 3-4 years before that on IOS since 2008. I remember when myself and others were actually excited a new device was coming out with crazy possibilities. The last 2 months I've been shopping for a android and every time I limit my choice down. I find something bad to talk me out of the buy. OP2 as of recent, constant issues from software to hardware all over the community so I shipped it back. Than I might target another phone, LG G4 but the year long boot loop issue still isn't fixed. Than I find a Honor 5X and find that emui gives issues and development is miniscule. My roommate, a nice guy. Likes electronics but hes not a researcher/tweaker. Bought one of those $170 to $200 pre-paid phones from BestBuy I think after he left his HTC "###" of 2 years. After looking at his phone settings yesterday his new phone is a 1.5 GB Ram, Snapdragon 410 8916 that 2-3 year old HTC was a snapdragon 400 with 1GB ram. Its been about a month since he bought it. Like most people they get excited to purchase new things like that. He said the HTC seemed more responsive/faster. This is a shame, most phone buyers don't know the specs and assume because they are getting it at the store that its a upgrade and its gonna perform. Hes a likeable guy to be honest, doesn't ask for much but always helps people. I can't bring myself to tell him he bought a rebadged 2-3 year old phone for $200
All these manufacturers are so involved with lets just make 30 different phones every year, rush out the designs and almost all usually have that one issue. Whether its a fingerprint scanner that goes dead, battery, cpu burning hot, something. Google does 1 version of a phone every 12 months with one tiny update not to long after that 1 time big update and that's what we get. Bugs, or whatever are left up to devs to a hope of a carrier update. Usually everybody is just stuck with what they got. 2015 was probably the worst year for Ios and Android software. Original Ios9 and Android 5.0 were horrible compared to previous and future software versions. Its safe to say Lollipop was a rushed, not finished ROM. ios9 just seemed to like quality control that Steve Jobs wouldn't have allowed.
Now on to Apple and ios. ios from 2008 to ios 7-8 was great every year. Great software, optimized feature packed and not much issue jailbreaking. Real features were implemented. But the last 12-18 months Apple got complacent it seems. Like there isn't competition with each other. Google, Android manufacturers, Apple all know they are gonna make their money as people buy new phones every 6 months, 12 months, and 18-24 months no matter what. Apple has basically stuck to their same scheme and you can tell Android/Google went with the Apple/ios feel to their skin/theme of the OS. Settings side by side with Apple and all versions of Apple you can easily tell Google with 5.0 - 6.0 even though they call it Material, looks IPhone. Toggles, the setup of settings. The simplest, minimalist but functional look. Material is just adjective. Now they are concentrating on feature rick notifications/settings finally like ios did. That part they caught up with. KitKat and below was horrible in 2014 and below with functionaility of settings compared to their counterpart.
Open Source vs Jailbreak - I've been in both worlds, experienced 3+ full years modding ios or android each since 2008. Android has more freedom we all know that. The android OS just doesn't allow that freedom to expand the modding of the phone. Not much as changed, you have CM or the other ROMS, xposed, a few other things. The whole process is a bunch of work to achieve very small tweaks. Just look at the process of android modding. Root the device, install recovery, unlock bootloader, now wait for a rom. Could be 1 week or could be 6 months. One ROM might require this TWRP but this rom might require a custom twrp but only if its this variant. That variant has to be on a downgraded version. Flash this, reboot. So on and so on. You guys know what I mean. Now the phone is fully open. We unlocked all the doors to the new house but we haven't went inside yet. Now on to the iPhone. 1 process to jailbreak and it could be a quick website jailbreak or a plug into a computer and do a couple things. Whatever the process its that 1 step process.
ios - Cydia - All apps are in 1 repo and tested. The repo is like a jailbreak google play store.
Android - Rooted and Open - Open Sourced mods other than some tweaked hidden settings and skins that's basically a custom rom. Kernel with maybe a feature here or there. The ROMS for android have that themed new launcher feel over stock when comparing. Xposed is probably the best part of the Root world. Still a lot of stuff is either not functional or its the invisible mods. Apple ios Cydia tweaks are more UI major change oriented. Quick Reply and Quick Compose is something everybody almost always wants or uses. This has been a Apple jailbreak thing since ios 6 I think. I know my IPhone 4 had it. Reply to text from notifications or anywhere and that was 2010-2011. Over 5 years ago but we are just not really getting this type of feature implemented stock android starting not to long ago. I don't know if the android system is just lacking with its potential and what can be implemented in it. Google and Apple have no reason to not just implement all the known features everybody wants from years of rooting, flashing and dev projects. 2011 I think was the first year of the finger print scanner and Apple implemented it on their phones in 2013. Even now in 2016 half the phones don't have one. Or it just does 1 thing. Unlock the phone. Its a shame that we have to wait 12 months for a completely new OS version and the selling point is enhanced notifications, material design, google on tap. I mean really in 2016 this is what technology has to offer us. The features they act like are new are just retitled in their own words from stuff we've already had in the root/jailbreak world.
I'm really not saying ios is better than droid at all. I'm on android and refuse to pay Apple prices. But Android development with so many people out there in 2016 is minimal at best and horribly slow. The technology available can produce amazing quality. Apple proved this with the IPhone especially. Make 1-2 phones a year. Concentrate on a proper os, updating that os and half the year making the next year version bigger and badder. LG fired their CEO on poor G5 sales but after the G4 and G3 who would throw that kind of money at a LG. OnePlus can be that break through company that brings us the $700 phone for half the price but their R&D is horrible, Customer Service is horrible. Makers like Samsung want to produce 20 phones within 1 inch of each other with the same cpu/ram and title them S8, S8+, S8 Note, S8 Edge, S8 Note Edge, S Note Edge Plus. Than make 5 variants on each of those 8 phones. Than make 30 other "new phones" with the same processor type and ram as all the other phones the 2013-2016 have gotten.
It does seem like I'm venting. I moved and my Sprint service is horrible where I live. I have to get a new phone as I'm missing half my calls and texts. Like I mentioned earlier 2 months now trying to find that phone that costs less than a flagship new version, has development and doesn't have a major bug with it.
I could go on and on. Both OS's need to really step it up. I know I've downed Android more in this, but they deserve it. The potential has always been there. They aren't managing it right. There is no innovation, research, ambition currently in android OS development. I don't know if they have way to many Indians working on 1 project and nothing can get accomplished. Its just a huge disappointment to pay $200-$700 for something that seems like a themed version of a 2013 phone with some xposed tweaks implanted stock. Everybody should really take note of all this. Consider how much we pay for these devices and phone plans. Than think about what we are getting out of our money year after year with minimal features they could have implemented with KitKat in 2013. Everybody is buying and buying and not caring about development. I never thought the phone world would get as boring as it is now. And guys that immediately say android is great and Apple sucks because we can access more inside android, just think about it. Yes its true but the outcome isn't anymore than a few jailbreak tweaks from Cydia in ios. Apple is so complacent now they could care less about being innovative anymore because the competition isn't doing anything either. There is no reason why each manufacturer or Google can't do os updates through the year. Real updates. 6.0 to 6.0.1 to 6.1 to 6.2 and so on. Its ok to implement a major feature in the middle of the year. To go along not make a group with Phone X wait 9 months for a new OS to be rolled out right before the new yearly OS comes out. Its all wasteful and it is truly disrespectful to all of us, the consumers who work hard for the money we give them. Sorry for the spelling mistakes. I imagine some will flame me. Really nothing is gonna change unless we all put a voice out there. Think about what I've written. Even if you hate ios, look at android, google, and what we get and how slow and bad the process is.
. At least I can go from room to room 
.
