• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

New Google Play Website

It's very much the same here. The must have phone, if you had the money, was the Apple iPhone. Not now, it seems to have changed. It's white Samsungs, I see them everywhere now, cheap ones and expensive ones, although quite a few are KIRFs.

The apparent decrease in iPhone popularity in China, might have had something to with this...
China bans television ads for luxury goods | National Post
"China bans television ads for luxury goods in bid to ‘ditch extravagance and uphold frugality’"

There are Samsung ads on TV, but no Apple ones now.

It's the same here, particularly at my uni. The only people I really see with iPhones are older folk or business people and even than a lot of them use a Samsung. Though on my FB there's still a few people that use iPhones.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mikedt
Upvote 0
Kentucky is over saturated with iPhones, especially white models, mostly older 4's. At work, everyone has an iPhone. Boss has a 4, his wife a 3GS, their daughter a 4, and another employee a 3GS. I'm currently the only one with an Android. Their son had their Droid X smashed by a golf cart and he replaced it with none other than yet another iPhone 4. In my family, mom has replaced her aging BlackBerry Torch with a Galaxy S3 ( per my advice, she had never heard of it or Android) but my sister, her husband have iPhone 4's. Some of her friends also. iPhone is huge around here. If it is Android, it often is a child's phone, and almost always a Galaxy S3. The S4 isn't selling yet.

No iPhone 5s then? So it seems like it's mostly older iPhones, like 3GS and 4. Maybe because many of them still tied to two year contracts, and they're not up for replacing them yet, with an iPhone 5 or an Android possibly? This is the United States.

In two years, I've had four phones, although two of which got broken(one repaired), and one was a cheapo KIRF.
 
Upvote 0
No iPhone 5s then? So it seems like it's mostly older iPhones, like 3GS and 4. Maybe because many of them still tied to two year contracts, and they're up not for replacing them yet? This is a part of Kentucky, a part of the United States.

Ftfy

I wouldn't extrapolate to the whole country from that. ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: mikedt
Upvote 0
Ftfy

I wouldn't extrapolate to the whole country from that. ;)


Well I know about KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)... ;)

BTW when I'm talking about Android and iPhones in China, I'm referring to what I've seen in Xilinhot, Hohhot, Beijing, Zhengzhou, Pingdingshan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong...and that's just in the last two months. :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: EarlyMon
Upvote 0
What's KFC? :vroam:



Something I saw once at Guangzhou East railway station....:puke:
attachment.php


...also available in finger lickin' KIRF flavour...
SS_Fake_Stores_KLG.jpg



KFC-guangzhou.jpg
 
Upvote 0
Well my vision is great and I preferred the design prior to this Easter theme with all the whitespace and oversized fonts. If you ask me, Google is simply copying the same UI look that Windows uses. Dumbing down Android.

Is there a recent population explosion of visually impaired people I am unaware of? The Gmail app screenshot is a default look, no accessibility feature. No way to turn it off, so am I expected to accept this look that seems to slowly be working its way into Android? Forced to use a high-contrast, large iconed UI because some can't see?

Is the next version doomed to become a pastel card based hybrid of WebOS and Google Now? If so, Android is dead already.


They are still doing POP3 and IMAP. Why bother with the dumb app for mail at all? Most phones have a generic mail system for POP3 and IMAP.

Google STILL needs to learn how to put things in order. I'm tired of seeing 50 million skins in between the pages for the app you want. Go is particularly obnoxious with this. Takes almost 5 pages if you are searching for a browser as the skins are in between. I think that's hurting some of the developers as no one seems to have the patience to sift through the pages to find the meat. On the other side, if you are searching for Go skins, they are all over the place, too.

Whoever developed webos from Palm didn't pay much attention. Apps were in the logical categories. Not too many skins, if any.
 
Upvote 0
But didn't android become like the most popular system, even beating iOS? They did that without dumbing it down to metro. Heck, iOS often gets pegged because it comes off as meant for idiots. Why would any Android fan want that? The very thing they hated from iOS?

Android fans are already Android fans, and keeping the UI the same isn't going to attract more in droves. Changing the UI isn't going to make existing Android fans leave in droves (you and I and others in this thread will hack away at it to make it tolerable because we still prefer what's underneath). It may bring in a load of people who want that, though.

As well, it's safe to make it just like everybody else's UI; with them all the same, there's no reason to change away from Android and nothing stopping people from adopting it. (Of course that works the same for the competition too.)

Either worshipping Google or worshipping Apple. Before long no one will even be able to tell them apart.

Could replace Google and Apple with political parties or car companies there and it would be the same. We're used to that concept, eh?

What is interesting is how the same user hates Windows 8 because it has a toddler approach to the UI, but uses and even praises the pastel oversized ui that Android is turning into, no problem.

...and unlike what is described here as happening to Android, in Windows 8 it's trivially easy to not only avoid the toddler UI but to disable it and re-create the old UI. The Esc key dismisses Metro, a little free program called "Winaero Skip Metro Suite" toggles a registry setting that mostly prevents Metro, and good ol' free Classic Shell gives you the Start menu of your choice. Then you're left with a vastly improved underlying OS and your preferred UI.

Price isn't a point anymore. The S4 costs $100 more than an iPhone if you look at both devices unsubsidized.

Price IS a point. You're pointing out that there are now high-end Android devices that cost as much as iDevices, but you're forgetting that there are still low-end Android devices that cost a fraction of that kind of money. Android has the entire low-budget market. I could buy a dozen Virgin Mobile Ventures for the price of one iDevice or S4.

Either way I see far more iPhones than Android phones. Average users don't need all the levels of customization in Android, they just want their instagram, Facebook, and texting. This is the demographic Google is changing for?

Yes, Google is trying to grab those people now that they've got us already.

I don't know why you and I see more iPhones than Androids, considering the statistics.
 
  • Like
Reactions: funkylogik
Upvote 0
Personally, I think Google is getting a cocky, "to big to fail" attitude lately. They don't care what people like anymore, they think they know better and we will eventually stop complaining and just submit. Too bad they are mostly right because there is really no viable alternative that's not even worse, but I think the old days of "don't be evil" are in the rear view mirror.

Clicking "Like" wasn't enough, I had to quote this to further agree, especially that last bit.

Tbh im not so sure. I know for a fact im not the average android user.. same with most people on this forum. We're more geeky than others whether we like it or not so maybe google are giving the average user what they want. Android isnt the underdog anymore. Maybe google will leave people like us behind but the 3rd party community will just get stronger :beer:
Good points. Maybe also a new competitor will emerge to take the position that Google is abandoning, provide for those of us wanting a more powerful, clean, classy interface.
 
Upvote 0
If it is Android, it often is a child's phone, and almost always a Galaxy S3. The S4 isn't selling yet.

That just demonstrates the cultural divide. Over here I see just as many, if not more, top-tier Androids than iPhones. The S4 (and now the S4Mini) is the phone de jour right now; as quickly as we get stock they fly off the shelves. iPhones are still popular but mostly with existing iOS users upgrading or late teens taking out their first contract.

p.s. don't get me started on the "Metro" argument. I'll accept that the redesign of the apps is not to everyones' taste, but it's still the Android UI underneath. When we're stuck with a single home screen and tiles then you can call it 'Metro-fied'. ;)
 
Upvote 0
maybe it's the hunting population. i live in a mostly blue-collar state. iPhones with camouflage Otter Box cases are common among the blue-collar folks. the few higher-class folks such as those who are members at a golf club have the S3 or a Droid. in fact, two who showed up at work as customers (we do golf cars) had Galaxies. one a Note and another an S3.

however, the day i went to pick up my S3 from Verizon, the Android aisles were bone empty as were the BlackBerry aisles, sadly. people were lined up eying the iPhone though. even the rep was curious. "sure you don't want to have the new iPhone 5? it's available for the same deal!"

i would argue that price is still a matter. the biggest issue with those who buy an Android phone and then get upset and go for an iDevice are the type who buy the cheapest pre-paid model out there, and when they find out the price of low-end products, they end up hating Android as a whole and buy an Apple product. i was once the same way until i realized i needed to pay more to get a quality product. and that was the same deal as the iPhone. same activation deal. got lucky myself, they had a sale going on, last day and instead of the $199 for new service, it was a paltry $49
 
  • Like
Reactions: funkylogik
Upvote 0
New Mexico hunts compadre. Otterbox makes camo for Android. Also plain black.

People here start on Android young, sometimes try an iDevice and then pretty much save up for an Android.

iPhones aren't more expensive. They're just another mid-range choice around here.

The top Androids can be had for a song on sale days and waiting.

Waited a few months on my wife's phone and caught it on a one day zero dollar contract renewal deal - HTC EVO 4G LTE.

Two of the kids got free iPhone 4 models on their contract upgrades.


Out here we hunt ducks, bear, javelinas, elk, deer...


Sounds like y'all in Kentucky might try hunting ya up some bargains. :) ;)
 
Upvote 0
On the play store app, on an apps page, theres 3 reviews. Hit "more" just under that and you get a few basic filters like "from latest version" and "from this device only". I find them pretty useful :thumbup:

P.s. try the App Brain Ad Detector app. Just install and forget then whenever you install an app, it will flag up any potentially dodgy permissions
 
  • Like
Reactions: EarlyMon
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones