How informed is the average Android user

[NJSmoke]

Android is kind of a very confusing ecosystem. A lot of people think that all android phones are droids, when I believe, that droid is nickname for all of Motorola's phones while Samsung is Galaxy.

My sister's and her husband both have Samsung S2 but their app drawers are pretty baron.

Most people I know with droid don't know what a skin is, what rooting is, what ICS is, that HTC is an android manufacture, that WP7 is a phone's operating system, what the Nexus line of phones is about, the difference between CDMA and GSM, ect........

I understand this is the main reason why so many companies do skins because it is the easiest way to look different from the device next to it. But a lot of phones would be a lot better if it was easier to remove the skins. And if you were able to get OEM updates supported by the manufacture even if you got rid of their skin.

Well there are a ton of things to be mad about about non-nexus and sometimes even nexus phones. Because of the carrier (VZW) or manufacture (Motorola's locked boot loaders). But if most of the customers don't know or don't care things won't change right. I mean there isn't enough people that are angry about Nexus not getting an update or Sense on HTC being ugly for these guys to care right?

 

[Omar Days]

If you're gonna mention wp7, then you should change the thread title to average phone user, because wp7 has nothing to do with Android, so why mention it?

Also, HTC don't just solely manufacture Android phones either.

Don't really know what point you're trying to get across.

 

[wxman2003]

Most smartphone users don't even know how to reboot their phones. Next time someone you know is having a problem, tell them to try rebooting the phone. 90% of the time they will say how do you do that. Many users have a smartphone that is beyond their capabilities.

 

[Logan47]

Perhaps you are missing your own point; everyday people do not often understand the devices and technology they use on a daily basis. Nearly everyone I know has a PC but hardly any of them know what defrag or scandisk is. Nothing special in the android system. It is simply another tech a lot of people use without fully knowing what it is capable of. Human nature I'm afraid.

 

[Rush]

It is simply another tech a lot of people use without fully knowing what it is capable of. Human nature I'm afraid.

^^ This should suffice your concern.

I have friends both with Android and iOS, and frankly neither of them knows anything about their phones other than sending texts and making phone calls. It took me about a week or so to fully understand how Android works.

 

[NJSmoke]

To clear things up, what I am saying is that a lot of us want updates or phones with out skins. But the manufactures are not going to do this unless a large portion of their customers desire it. I am curious if there are enough people who know enough about their phone for their to be a demand for phones with out skins or regular updates.

 

[pool_shark]

The manufactures believe their skins make things better.
I liked sense on my ex gf's incredible and I liked blur on my D2 and DX.
I didn't feel they slowed down the phones and honestly don't see much difference with or without them. I think a lot of people complain about it because others complain about it but have really don't know what their talking about.

It reminds me of how so many people think rooting and romming are the same.
I've had many people tell me that because I had never installed a custom ROM meant that I have never rooted my phone.

 

[breadnatty08]

The thing is, there are techies and enthusiasts for all kinds of toys. But, there are also folks who just want tech because the media tells them to buy (just like any other consumer item). With Android, you can get a free phone on any carrier, so it makes it easy to jump into the pool. Often, they set it up to make calls, check FB, YouTube, maybe browse the web and that's it. Fine with me, I don't care (hence my vote).
I love Android and am more than happy to help people out if they have problems or are curious how/why my phone can do something.

 

[Crashdamage]

The capability of even low-end smartphones is way ahead of the capability of the average user to use them. Even average phone salespeople have very limited knowledge.

It's like cars. Average people can drive, adjust the mirrors and fill it with gas, but that's about all. They don't know squat about anything under the hood and don't want to learn. Maybe they want a car that makes the neighbors want one like it. IOW they just wanna turn the key and go and maybe look cool.

Apple understands that. And so the iPhone, limited as it is, sells gazillions.

 

[chanchan05]

Honestly, many of my friends just get Android phones because it has similar capabilities to an iPhone but come cheaper. Living in a third world country, many people don't qualify for a contract with a phone carrier where they can get an iPhone, and buying an iPhone 4S right out costs like 3mos of wages for a minimum wage employee.

They get an Android phone for casual gaming and the usual social networking apps.

Sure I have friends like me who can afford unlimited data plans, and know enough about Android to have it run like a personal assistant, but some people also don't care. As long as the phone does what they want, it shouldn't matter.

That's the real thing with smartphones anyway: Greater flexibility so you can set it up to work the way you like it. It really doesn't matter if it can do more things if you don't need them anyway.