Stock Android, What it's Missing
After my 3 months slump I'm finally on the mood to write again. So here goes.
With the upcoming Google I/O and especially the previously announced iOS 8, it made me look back into Android, the stock version. It's really missing a thing or two, or more. So here are my thoughts on stock Android's weakness.
Remember the first time Ice Cream Sandwich was released? The new Holo UI was the thing, everyone who was in Gingerbread wants one. From installing new launchers to modding frameworks, they did almost everything to look like one. Skip forward 3 years, not a lot has changed even on the latest iteration, KitKat. What was dark with blue icons now changes to dark with white icons.
Being a 0.1 update I didn't expect much of a change but it has been more than 3 years since we used this Holo UI and looking into how other manufacturers skin their Android version, it really makes stock Android look gloomy. Some may argue that too much colours looks cartoony, but looking at HTC's Sense UX and Sony's Xperia UX, it doesn't need much colours to look better.
So when Jelly Bean was announced, there was this cool thing called Quick Tiles, which lets you toggle things like WiFi or Bluetooth by swiping with two fingers on the status bar and it shows some icons. "So, I just click the icon and it'll turn on or off, right?" NOT! Clicking it brings you the Settings page while long pressing actually toggles it. Weird right?
And it stayed this way up to KitKat. Custom ROMs maker however has fixed this by not only reversing the click and long press and also makes the tiles customizable. You can choose which Tiles you want to show up such as NFC, Sync, Auto Rotation and all other tiles not available on stock. Not only custom ROMs, other manufacturers skins too. Which makes me wonder.. Who design this stuff in Google??
The image on the right shows stock Android's Quick Tiles and the image on the left show's Samsung Galaxy S5's Quick Tiles. Look at how humongous and how little it offers compared to what Samsung offers. It might looks cluttered though on the S5 but it is customizable.
When KitKat was announced, a new transparent status bar and navigation bar was introduced. I was wowed, I thought status bar would match the apps and it'll look like Apple's iOS 7 which, aside from the neon icons, looks cool. It turns out, only a few developers are taking advantage of this and surprisingly, not even Google's apps takes advantage of this. How can everyone start if the boss isn't setting an example??
Not even in the Settings...
The Galaxy S5 comes with Ultra Power Saving Mode, some cool camera features like dual capture and timeshift, Multi Window for simultaneous app multitasking, etc.. The LG G3 also has dual window, some small apps, slow motion video capturing, customizable buttons, etc.. The Xperia Z2 has small apps floating and again better camera offerings. These are all features that are amusing to both normal customers and tech enthusiasts.
So what does stock Android offers? Well, nothing except the latest features of the latest version which will also be implemented on other phones which will be updated to the latest version. Even the camera offering is standard, though with Google Camera, they're trying to fix that a little by little.
To me, it seems as if stock Android is targeted for developers or tech enthusiast who needs or wants the latest version and what it offers. Which it is by the way, so it's a bit funny when people want other manufacturers to be as close to stock as possible. They can do that but they might lose customers.
The only reason why Samsung is a success is because of the features it offers and how it attracts normal customers rather than tech enthusiasts. Samsung offers not only software, but also hardware that attracts everyone. Some people rambling about LagWiz and really hateful of Samsung are usually those who understand technology which is a minority.
Yes, there are apps that can do some of the above and Xposed Framework to do some more amazing stuff. But wouldn't it be better if it is supported natively? With Google I/O coming soon, I sure hope they focus more on normal customers too and change Android completely to compete not only with other platforms, but also skinned Android as well.
Come join the discussion here!
With the upcoming Google I/O and especially the previously announced iOS 8, it made me look back into Android, the stock version. It's really missing a thing or two, or more. So here are my thoughts on stock Android's weakness.
The Dark Old Interface
Remember the first time Ice Cream Sandwich was released? The new Holo UI was the thing, everyone who was in Gingerbread wants one. From installing new launchers to modding frameworks, they did almost everything to look like one. Skip forward 3 years, not a lot has changed even on the latest iteration, KitKat. What was dark with blue icons now changes to dark with white icons.
Being a 0.1 update I didn't expect much of a change but it has been more than 3 years since we used this Holo UI and looking into how other manufacturers skin their Android version, it really makes stock Android look gloomy. Some may argue that too much colours looks cartoony, but looking at HTC's Sense UX and Sony's Xperia UX, it doesn't need much colours to look better.
The Inconsistency of the Quick Tiles
So when Jelly Bean was announced, there was this cool thing called Quick Tiles, which lets you toggle things like WiFi or Bluetooth by swiping with two fingers on the status bar and it shows some icons. "So, I just click the icon and it'll turn on or off, right?" NOT! Clicking it brings you the Settings page while long pressing actually toggles it. Weird right?
And it stayed this way up to KitKat. Custom ROMs maker however has fixed this by not only reversing the click and long press and also makes the tiles customizable. You can choose which Tiles you want to show up such as NFC, Sync, Auto Rotation and all other tiles not available on stock. Not only custom ROMs, other manufacturers skins too. Which makes me wonder.. Who design this stuff in Google??
The image on the right shows stock Android's Quick Tiles and the image on the left show's Samsung Galaxy S5's Quick Tiles. Look at how humongous and how little it offers compared to what Samsung offers. It might looks cluttered though on the S5 but it is customizable.
Not Taking Advantage of Transparency
When KitKat was announced, a new transparent status bar and navigation bar was introduced. I was wowed, I thought status bar would match the apps and it'll look like Apple's iOS 7 which, aside from the neon icons, looks cool. It turns out, only a few developers are taking advantage of this and surprisingly, not even Google's apps takes advantage of this. How can everyone start if the boss isn't setting an example??
Not even in the Settings...
It Lacks Features thus Lack Appeal to Public
The Galaxy S5 comes with Ultra Power Saving Mode, some cool camera features like dual capture and timeshift, Multi Window for simultaneous app multitasking, etc.. The LG G3 also has dual window, some small apps, slow motion video capturing, customizable buttons, etc.. The Xperia Z2 has small apps floating and again better camera offerings. These are all features that are amusing to both normal customers and tech enthusiasts.
So what does stock Android offers? Well, nothing except the latest features of the latest version which will also be implemented on other phones which will be updated to the latest version. Even the camera offering is standard, though with Google Camera, they're trying to fix that a little by little.
Conclusions
To me, it seems as if stock Android is targeted for developers or tech enthusiast who needs or wants the latest version and what it offers. Which it is by the way, so it's a bit funny when people want other manufacturers to be as close to stock as possible. They can do that but they might lose customers.
The only reason why Samsung is a success is because of the features it offers and how it attracts normal customers rather than tech enthusiasts. Samsung offers not only software, but also hardware that attracts everyone. Some people rambling about LagWiz and really hateful of Samsung are usually those who understand technology which is a minority.
Yes, there are apps that can do some of the above and Xposed Framework to do some more amazing stuff. But wouldn't it be better if it is supported natively? With Google I/O coming soon, I sure hope they focus more on normal customers too and change Android completely to compete not only with other platforms, but also skinned Android as well.
Come join the discussion here!
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