My Dissapoinments with Android.

[7Priest7]

1. Davilik VM
2. Proprietary nature of the market.
3. Inability to compile/run from source
4. Bad Battery life

What's the point in having the Linux kernel if everything after that is proprietary?

Why have a system with laptop specs running a mobile(if 4 hours off a charger can be deemed mobile) operating system?

Anyhow, In the future I am going to go with Iphone(for it's superior battery life and the fact that it doesn't run off criminally resource inefficient java)
or xpphone(for it's ability to dual function as a laptop).

 

[Slug]

1. Davilik VM

Can you elaborate? Why does the VM "disappoint"?

2. Proprietary nature of the market.

In what way?

3. Inability to compile/run from source

Again, please elaborate. The entire Android source code is freely available to anyone who cares to d/l it, as evidenced by the likes of the CyanogenMod and AOSP builds available.

4. Bad Battery life

That's very dependent on (a) the device and (b) personal usage, and can't be laid at the door of the OS.

What's the point in having the Linux kernel if everything after that is proprietary?

As pointed out above, Android itself is open-source and available to all. Some apps are also if the developers so wish, while many others aren't. Is everything in Linuxland completely open-source? I doubt it.....

Why have a system with laptop specs running a mobile(if 4 hours off a charger can be deemed mobile) operating system?

Can you give an example? You don't list any devices in your profile and I can't find any posts in specific device sections.

Anyhow, In the future I am going to go with Iphone(for it's superior battery life and the fact that it doesn't run off criminally resource inefficient java)

I wish you well, but fyi Android doesn't "run off Java". It does make use of Java bytecode, however.

 

[lunatic59]

Again, please elaborate. The entire Android source code is freely available to anyone who cares to d/l it, as evidenced by the likes of the CyanogenMod and AOSP builds available.

I think what the OP is referring to here is Android not shipping with a Java runtime compiler to execute Java apps natively. Because of the way Android is designed, you'd probably have to run a JVM in the Dalvik VM for it to "work", but I wouldn't want to try or think of a reason why anyone would.

 

[chanchan05]

Proprietary Market, and you plan to go iPhone? Good luck LOL.

System with laptop specs? Heck the Octacore ARM chips can't even totally compete with a 2008 dual core intel chip, even Atom processors can do more, let alone be considered "laptop specs".

4hrs off the charger? My phones and tablets generally last 15hrs on average. Sometimes even reaching 30hrs off the charger. Depending on usage, some Androids can last more than 50hrs. Laptops can't even reach 12hrs.

 

[nickdalzell]

You don't by any chance have a task killer installed ? I can manage over 18 hours on an entry level device running Gingerbread and with WiFi, GPS, auto sync and playing MP3s. You either have a bad app, installed malware through a third party app store or installed a task killer. Or you have Sprint and are using your device in a dead zone which will suck battery life. Your experience is like mine at first. I went to iOS and later got bored and angry at Apple for suddenly charging $1.29 per song. Per song! Google gives you unlimited downloads for 8 bucks a month.

 

[7Priest7]

Can you elaborate? Why does the VM "disappoint"?

1. It runs based off java.
2. It is not directly compatible with pre-existing java applications.

In what way?

Could you attempt to list 10 Open Source Android apps please?

Again, please elaborate. The entire Android source code is freely available to anyone who cares to d/l it, as evidenced by the likes of the CyanogenMod and AOSP builds available.

Tarballs... I would have been infinitely happier if android was built using Windows Manager, X Interface, etc. all the standard stuff other Linux distros use.
Android you must write code specifically for Android.

That's very dependent on (a) the device and (b) personal usage, and can't be laid at the door of the OS.

True...
However, The way android operates consumes infinitely more power than older devices with custom firmware and j2me.

As pointed out above, Android itself is open-source and available to all. Some apps are also if the developers so wish, while many others aren't. Is everything in Linuxland completely open-source? I doubt it.....

Most Linux applications are open source.
Most Android applications are proprietary.

Can you give an example? You don't list any devices in your profile and I can't find any posts in specific device sections.

I have a HTC Amaze 4g for a phone
I have a HP Folio 13 for a laptop.
Dare to compare the specs.

I wish you well, but fyi Android doesn't "run off Java". It does make use of Java bytecode, however.

Dalvik is a "clean room implementation" of java.

I think what the OP is referring to here is Android not shipping with a Java runtime compiler to execute Java apps natively. Because of the way Android is designed, you'd probably have to run a JVM in the Dalvik VM for it to "work", but I wouldn't want to try or think of a reason why anyone would.

Because Dalvik VM Uses java. Android will never be able to run non android java apps. And I was referring to Linux tarballs.

Proprietary Market, and you plan to go iPhone? Good luck LOL.

Battery life and more games that I actually want.

System with laptop specs? Heck the Octacore ARM chips can't even totally compete with a 2008 dual core intel chip, even Atom processors can do more, let alone be considered "laptop specs".

With how big my HTC Amaze 4g is wtf did they use a inferior quality arm processor?
Another problem with android, Designed for inferior quality ARM Processors.

4hrs off the charger? My phones and tablets generally last 15hrs on average. Sometimes even reaching 30hrs off the charger. Depending on usage, some Androids can last more than 50hrs. Laptops can't even reach 12hrs.

My Laptop can get ~12hrs HP Folio 13...
My new HTC Amaze 4g Is lucky to get 6 With a "high capacity battery".
Although my HTC One V was much better on battery.

What phone you use?

You don't by any chance have a task killer installed ? I can manage over 18 hours on an entry level device running Gingerbread and with WiFi, GPS, auto sync and playing MP3s. You either have a bad app, installed malware through a third party app store or installed a task killer. Or you have Sprint and are using your device in a dead zone which will suck battery life. Your experience is like mine at first. I went to iOS and later got bored and angry at Apple for suddenly charging $1.29 per song. Per song! Google gives you unlimited downloads for 8 bucks a month.

I don't care for music. I own CDs for all mp3s I want/use.

 

[Rxpert83]

Just a simple market search. I know for a fact many of the root apps I use are open source as well

Android itself is open source. Nobody claimed the apps all were. People looking to sell apps aren't going to make them open source


& if open source is something you truly embrace, apples walled garden is going to be a huge disappointment.

 

[nickdalzell]

iOS will be stable, fluid, and fast. then BORING, as, like a BlackBerry, it NEVER looks any better. Apple sadly falls victim to the 'if it ain''t broke, dont fix it' line of reasoning, that killed RIM and halts any kind of progress. thank goodness everyone didn't think like that or we would probably still use CP/M today

Apple today is like Buick. reliable, faithful, yet unexciting. something the older 'don't like change' types love. iOS looks exactly the same today as it did in 2007. Android continues to evolve and better itself. Before too long 'iPhone' will be history alongside the Newton and BlackBerry Torch

 

[chanchan05]

Tarballs... I would have been infinitely happier if android was built using Windows Manager, X Interface, etc. all the standard stuff other Linux distros use.
Android you must write code specifically for Android

Just like all other OS. You have to write specifically for Windows, Mac, Symbian, Unix, etc.

True...
However, The way android operates consumes infinitely more power than older devices with custom firmware and j2me.

True for all modern OS as well. Windows 7 for example is a bigger battery hog than Win95

Most Linux applications are open source.
Most Android applications are proprietary.

True for iOS, Windows phone as well.

I have a HTC Amaze 4g for a phone
I have a HP Folio 13 for a laptop.
Dare to compare the specs.

The laptop has way better specs

Battery life and more games that I actually want.

Razr Maxx, Galaxy Note 2 and S3 has battery lives that compete with or exceed the iPhone.

With how big my HTC Amaze 4g is wtf did they use a inferior quality arm processor?
Another problem with android, Designed for inferior quality ARM Processors.

All mobile devices run on ARM processors. Whether you go iPhone, Windows Phone or Android. Because ARM is cooler and uses less power than x86. Your huge phone is about the size of a laptop heatsink. You sure you want an x86 powered phone with a heatsink and cooling fan?

My Laptop can get ~12hrs HP Folio 13...
My new HTC Amaze 4g Is lucky to get 6 With a "high capacity battery".
Although my HTC One V was much better on battery.

What phone you use?

I've always used Samsungs because HTC has a notorious reputation for bad batteries. I've had both my old Galaxy s and my current S3mini last for more than 20hrs. My Tab Plus was able to be a hotspot for 4hrs and still have lots of battery to last till evening.

What's weird is that, all your Android complaints are applicable to any phone at all these days. Maybe you're better off with a feature phone and lug a laptop around instead of having a smartphone. You seem to think of mobile OS as desktop oS replacements, which they are not. At best they can just complement your laptop.

 

[Hadron]

I don't know what you are doing to get 4 hours run time - gaming continously from the moment you take it off the charger? That's what it takes to run my 3 year old android flat in that time. But with lighter use it'll go a couple of days.

As others have said, apps can be open or closed as the developer chooses.

But your big thing seems to be that android isn't desktop linux. Well there are projects for running some linux distros on android hardware if you want to investigate that. But personally I see more sense in that on a tablet than a phone (on a tablet it makes a lot of sense to me, but I don't miss X on my phone). And if battery life is a big concern, running a heavier system won't help.

There are a few Intel based handsets if you dislike ARM architecture. They don't overall perform very differently. And for battery life, yes, my laptop will last longer than my phone will if we compare screen-on runtime. But its battery has >15 times the capacity, and the screen-on life of the laptop also depends strongly on how it's being used. There are also many laptops which will be flat in <3 hours screen on usage, the same as there are other android phones which will last a lot longer. It would not make sense to say Linux battery life is poor because I only got 2.5 hours life out of my previous laptop.

 

[jonbanjo]

1. Davilik VM
2. Proprietary nature of the market.
What's the point in having the Linux kernel if everything after that is proprietary?

I have been a bit disappointed with what I feel a sort of "Google centred" approach of Android but:

As well as Android being open source, the Android development platform is freely available for a number of systems. There are free open source apps on the play store (my app is one of them) and there are also alternative sources. One I know that only deals with foss is F-Droid .

 

[Frisco]

Apple sadly falls victim to the 'if it ain''t broke, dont fix it' line of reasoning, that killed RIM and halts any kind of progress. thank goodness everyone didn't think like that or we would probably still use CP/M today

This ^

Yeah. And the Linux heart is still beating, thanks to Linus Torvalds and his legions of followers (distro devs, etc), who use their brains for something other than marketing real pretty, locked/sealed device systems.

Bless Steve Jobs' heart and rest his soul. But he had a chance to initiate a similar freedom as Mr. Torvalds did, but instead chose to spew out That One Thing we see every year, year in and year out.

 

[BlackFire27]

Look up F-Droid. It's an android market full of nothing but open source apps. I like it.

 

[mikedt]

or xpphone(for it's ability to dual function as a laptop).

Desktop Windows in a phone....OK...I bet that's going to have good battery life. Sometimes the battery life in these UMPC type devices can be dreadful..like 90 minutes. Rather of surprises me that there's any company left still making this type of device, although this one is mainland Chinese.

 

[nickdalzell]

when Steve Jobs left Apple the first time, it just about killed them. We had the Apple Newton and the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, both of them failures. Apple was in the same spot as BlackBerry. Unfortunately for Apple now, Jobs will not be coming back, unless they can invent some sort of means to bring folks back from the dead, now that would be innovation