# Android: Not ready for prime time? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 15, 2018, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441 "2018-04-15T04:33:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441/21 "2018-04-16T00:31:50Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Then why was it picked up for every tablet that isn’t by Apple? Because Android tablets are just smartphones with big screens. They aren’t intended for any task you couldn’t do on a smartphone. Apple set the precedent by using the iOS on the iPad rather than OSX, and other companies followed suit by choosing Android for their iPad competitors. If you want more functionality than a smartphone, you get a Windows tablet. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441/22 "2018-04-16T02:09:20Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I’m an ex-CS prof. In short: > > 1. Few UI profs really understand the user perspective so they don’t do a good job teaching it. > 2. Students are unbelievably horrible about retaining anything like this they are taught. Even with a great prof most just won’t get it. > 3. Very few of the app programmers out there ever took a class that had even a tiny bit of UI concepts. > > Good UI designs come from great, demanding corporate culture. Most apps are from very small companies (perhaps just one developer). So the culture is rarely there. > > Anyway … > > Yeah, Google did a bad job with their tablet interface so their solution was to drop it. Well, that fixed it! > > But it is not usually an issue with phone vs. tablet design. I actually do use my phone in landscape mode. Having the buttons on the right and the wider layout is great. Unless the idiot programmer thinks I have to use portrait mode. Grrrr. > > Android is an open ecosystem. This is great. So there’s a few annoyances here and there. The pluses outweigh the minuses. (Well, there is the major issue of almost no one issuing patches and updates properly. Some major phone makers have been found to be [faking patches](https://www.phonedog.com/2018/04/12/android-device-makers-lying-security-patch-updates)!) As they say, Quoted For Truth. I teach the Android 1 & 2 and UI Design courses at our college, and except for a very exceptional student or team, they forget everything we teach about good user design. What with how Android handles an activity life cycle when rotating from portrait to landscape mode, and the great confusion and flexibility of their layout fragments, I can see why app developers might want to focus on portrait mode so they save a bit of work. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441/23 "2018-04-16T02:29:42Z")
As others have said, the OS is actually OK Its some of the apps that are just dumb about that stuff, can not rotate. Sounds though like you’d probably get better use out of a windows 10 tablet it’s going to be designed more PC like in its interface. Android OS is primarily implemented to be able to use with 1 finger for most things. You could have it do anything include recognise 3 mouse buttons, but that isnt the way it is implemented on most devices using it. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441/24 "2018-04-16T02:57:20Z")
Or I could order new batteries for my Win7 and Win10 devices. And a PS for the Win7 one. It’s a Toshiba, a brand I’ll also use. This sucker, though, does well with Hulu and the Dope. And I got Doom working in DOSBox. Ooops! There goes the sound that means the battery is recharged so I need to unplug the charger so I don’t overcharge the battery. One would think that a circuit that shuts off the charger automatically wouldn’t cost much, but I am not a system designer. By the way, I had to enable that sound. The default is to cook the battery. And yes, I’m having nerd fun. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441/25 "2018-04-16T06:42:21Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Because Android tablets are just smartphones with big screens. They aren’t intended for any task you couldn’t do on a smartphone. It started that way, but I think Android started including tablet-specific code from way back in Honeycomb or ICS. > [@](#): > > If you want more functionality than a smartphone, you get a Windows tablet. Agreed, sort of. Android definitely still has some problems if you want to use it as a ‘productivity’ OS, but (the ‘sort of’ qualifier) Windows tablets have a few problems and limitations too (the onscreen keyboard integration is poorer than with Android, for example) - often, people just expect too much of them - and should probably choose a laptop instead. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441/26 "2018-04-16T14:38:57Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Ooops! There goes the sound that means the battery is recharged so I need to unplug the charger so I don’t overcharge the battery. One would think that a circuit that shuts off the charger automatically wouldn’t cost much, but I am not a system designer. Has your tablet ever caught fire? No? Then it has a battery management chip that prevents overcharging. But you said you paid $75 for a tablet? For a cheap tablet like that, the manufacturer probably used an undersized battery and programmed the tablet to over-charge/over-discharge slightly, just to get decent battery run time. You get what you pay for. And obviously this has nothing to do with the operating system. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441/27 "2018-04-16T17:12:40Z")
snip > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > If you are trying to run the Dakar Rally in a Camry, you are going to be disappointed. But if you need a commuter car, that Camry is going to suit you far better than [these vehicles](https://www.holtsauto.com/prestone/news/9-craziest-entries-dakar-rally/). > > Stranger snip You haven’t seen my commute… I’ll take the 959 please. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441/28 "2018-04-16T21:31:57Z")
Battery and charger ordered for the Toshiba, though it really is too slow for video. Win7 is still supported by anti-virus manufacturers. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441/29 "2018-04-16T21:38:06Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > I’ll take the 959 please. Reading this thread you’re probably not surprised that I’ll take the Renault or the Citroen. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441/30 "2018-04-18T16:57:08Z")
In my opinion Android is awesome, ready for prime time, and has been in prime time for years. It is more stable than Windows in my experience. That said, it does have some annoying flaws like not handling portrait/landscape properly. Of course screen orientation handling is as much the fault of the individual app maker as Android; they could make their app support portrait if they wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441/31 "2018-04-18T21:52:49Z")
For real fun, run a portrait-only app on an AndroidTV device! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-not-ready-for-prime-time/812441.md?page=1)