Ah, I see. In that case, there’s drag and drop within Android too. Well, functionally it’s not drag and drop because you don’t have a mouse, but there are dual-pane file managers that let you move files around at will, including to and from network shares. You are limited to the user portion of the file structure unless you’re rooted, but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to mess around with Android system files who wouldn’t already be rooted anyways.
Are micro USB ports standardized now?
One of the things that drives me nuts about products that aren’t Apple is that every device has an ever-so-slightly different micro USB port, even within the same brand. Our two Blackberries had different ports, my HTC phone had a different port, my nook color and simple touch each has a different port, each of the cameras I have has a different port.
I can use the Apple cable that came with my iPod mini 7 years ago to charge the iPad I got a few months ago and everything in between.
Yeah, I get that. I can see why people would want to do that even if I personally don’t want to (I find iTunes automatic filing based on metatags much easier and less time consuming, but that’s just me). To be honest, I find it to be one of the really, true, proper, full-on correct complaints about iPhones, iPads and iPods. My only guess is that at some point when negotiating to open the iTMS a deal was made with the record companies to not offer this. Does anyone know how it was on pre-iTMS iPods?
I have one of these on my HTC Desire (Android phone). It is a pain in the fucking arse. Why? Well it assumes that I want to install stuff to the very limited internal storage, meaning that fills up. It offers the chance to move things to the SD card, but it doesn’t allow everything to be moved. And it would appear that even something installed to the SD card still needs to take some room in the internal storage. As it stands now I have loads of space on my SD card but keep running out of room when I am installing things.
I’d much rather have one, large, unified storage space.
Agreed although historically I can see why they stuck with the iPod connector for so long (remember, it used to allow connections to both Firewire and USB ports). They screwed up with this new connector though.
I briefly had a Galaxy S3, and loved the way it treated me like an adult. I didn’t care for the flimsy feel of the thing, and the overall size, and the fact that AT&T was delaying the new version of the iOS to put in their own bloatware, so I returned it and got an iPhone 5.
Same here. There are some things that are better with Android, if that’s your sort of thing. I’m not one for skinning, for example, but I get that loads of people are and so I am all for people having that option. I don’t miss the instability of the system though, camera crashing, keyboard input crashing … basically I’ve seen a lot (not just my phone) of Android crashes. A lot.
They have been for some time. Some of them for five years:
Just about anythign I buy these days (apart from Apple) is Micro-B or full-size USB.
Indeed, there are some things you’d be crazy to buy the Apple version of. The Cinema Display for one, you can find displays with pretty much the same panel from other manufacturers for little over half the cost. For example, I recently bought a Dell U2711 display for about 5500 SEK. It has a very similar screen to the Apple Cinema Display, as well as DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA and works as a USB3 hub (four ports available). There may even be composite and/or component so it can act as a TV.
The Apple Cinema Display costs 9500 SEK (4000 SEK more) and, depending on model, has either DisplayPort or Thunderbolt (as well as USB2 or Thunderbolt hub). I wanted to use my monitor to connect to two different devices, my Mac and my PC. With the Dell monitor I just plug them into different ports (Mac into DisplayPort, PC into DVI) and then press a button to switch. With the Cinema Display I’d either have to unplug/replug or buy an expensive switching device. Hell, Samsung does a similar display that will split the screen in two, showing the output from both computers at once.
Quite simply, the Cinema Display is almost twice the price with far fewer options. But hey, it looks nice.
Um, yeah. Podcasts. Free App, from Apple. Can subscribe to your podcasts directly on your device, download them in advance, or even stream them. This, in addition to the many other good podcast apps such as Stitcher or Downcast.
So punish them by not buying their hardware. Apple makes almost all of their profit off the hardware. Don’t like the way they do business, don’t buy their stuff. Simple.
Many, many different vendors make the parts, and a big part of how Apple gets nice margins on these things is because they negotiate deals for the entire output and/or finance factories specifically to produce parts for them. Tim Cook has been given all the credit for their supply chain, which is by far the best in the industry in part due to the relatively small number of different individual parts bought in enormous bulk numbers. Apple does the overall design – i.e.: how the parts all fit and work together — and they do the design for the main processor, though the production is fabbed out.
I’m not sure I see your point here, though, since no one is getting Apple-like builds even if they’re using the same parts. That’s assuming they can even get those parts when Apple’s buying up all the capacity at most or all of the factories capable of producing particular components like flash memory.
I’ve always seen things compared to an Apple product with phrases like, “almost as good as”. Even the Nexus 7 and MS Surface, whose hardware was generally well-received, were said to have good build quality that was almost as good as an iPad. I’d actually like to see even a single example of a device that is said to have better build quality than an iPhone or iPad.
This is actually kind of sad. Remember when the first iPad came out and everyone was expecting it to be nearly $1,000, and they were shocked as hell when the price point was half that, even with Apple’s typically fat margins? It’s nearly 3 years later, and the best competitors (Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD) are effectively subsidized devices in that neither Google nor Amazon make a profit on the hardware, and yet they are only marginally cheaper than comparable iPads, or omit capabilities to meet those price points.
Re: Micro SD
How much room do you think one of those slots takes up? My wild-assed guess: the same size as the SD card, plus supporting circuitry. How much smaller can a device be made if you don’t have to support that gap in the guts? How much stronger can the case design be if there are minimal gaps? Why do you think Apple switched from the old 30 pin dock connecter to the new, smaller, Lightning connector?
Re: USB connectors
How many of those use proprietary standards even if they’re technically compatible? I had a Motorola phone that wouldn’t charge or transfer data over a standard mini-USB. You had to buy a proprietary dongle or cable. It recognized non-Motorola connectors and would refuse to use them. I’m absolutely certain that wasn’t the only phone model or even phone manufacturer to implement non-standard protocols over what should be a universal connector.
Another design point is: how much power can you deliver over USB? The design standard was 500 mA originally. Even the original iPad charger was using a non-standard implementation just to supply sufficient power. The iPad 3 and 4 have 42.5 watt-hour batteries, way higher than the original iPad. They aren’t pushing any more power over the charger than before, which is why the charge times for the 3 and 4 are noticably longer. This isn’t a new problem.
On my desk here I’ve got a Nexus 7, an iPad 3 and an iPad mini. The Nexus is as solid as either. In the hand it actually feels better to use, thanks to the rubberised plastic backplate. Of course there could be an aesthetic argument made for a metal back, but frankly I think making the main bit you hold onto out of a slippy material is stupid. As soon as my Surface arrives I’ll compare it to the other two, but the argument that Apple’s got the best build no longer applies. Most of the differences now come down to personal requirements and taste.
With regards to your question “how much power can you deliver over USB? The design standard was 500 mA originally.” USB 3.0 came out in 2008, and specifies an upper limit of 5A in charging mode, or up to 1.5A for charging and communication. I’m really pissed off with Apple on the lightning move. I understand the benefit of using a much smaller interface, but micro-USB would have done the job every bit as well as lightning, and be compatible with the non-apple kit I have. Now I need to use an adapter to use any of my old iPhone accessories, and even then it’s a pretty ugly bodge.
Erm…no?
For starters, everyone was not expecting Apple to pitch them at a thousand dollars. Considering it was a pretty much new product market setting the price point that high would really have restricted growth.
Secondly, let’s look at prices shall we?
32 gb Nexus 7 - $249
32 gb iPad Mini - $429
The iPad is 72% more expensive than the Nexus. 72% isn’t what I’d call marginal.
I end up with a lot of gadgets because of my line of work. I have to be honest and state that if I was paying for it with my money, I’d pick the Nexus over the mini everytime. Hell, even having not paid for them when I do need to take a tablet with me it tends to be the Nexus I grab.
And you know what, that’s a good thing. When Apple were the clear leader in the tablet market, they could pretty much price things as they liked and not worry too much. A bit of healthy competition means they have to up their game, which has to be good for the customer.
I’ve had an android smartphone and an ipad. My next smartphone will be an iphone.
I’m happy to pay for a device that actually has a huge range of software and an operating system/interface that isn’t clunky.
FWIW, the HTC phones I had which had a “non-standard” micro USB port (e.g. Droid Incredible) still used a standard micro USB cable.
So am I. When it comes down to equivalent goods though, I’d feel pretty stupid paying 72% more just for a label.
What was the last version of Android you used? The early ones were definitely clunky, but since Ice Cream Sandwich I find it as easy to work with as iOS (and if I’m looking to do something like copy some music over or watch an avi, considerably easier).
And if you don’t like the Android interface, there are a half dozen good launchers you can try, most of them allow a great deal of customization, colors, backgrounds, number of icons, custom icons, etc. Some are a whole new philosophy/design from standard Android. Not an option on iOS. And after running iOS and switching to Android I have never found there to be a shortage of apps. In fact Android has more utility and technical apps.
Smart phone providers/networks don’t give you a choice of what version of android to use so i’m stuck with whatever crap version the network foists on me. My Motorola/T Mobile android OS hasn’t visibly changed in two years and is a POS PITA.
With apple it gets upgraded as soon as it’s available.
And Google Market Place (apart from having a Buyer Beware approach to rogue apps) does not have anything like the range of apps apple have. At least for the things I’m interested in.
Apple stuff just works and shares the apps between my phone, music player and tablet. Saving me cash. Not that I mind paying a premium for the better designed apple stuff.
I think this is really the key point.
If trying half a dozen customizable launchers to find the one you like is your idea of a good time, Android is for you.
If that sounds like a major pain in the ass and you’d rather do something in your spare time than fuck with the UI on your phone, perhaps the iPhone would be a better choice.
I don’t know what the problem is in Sweden, but here in the United States, the Dell U2711 sells for $979 (Dell UltraSharp U2711 IPS-Panel Black 27" LCD Monitor - Newegg.com) and the Apple 27" Cinema Display sells for $999 (Apple Thunderbolt Display 27 inch - Apple).
Your point on the feature set is valid, although the Cinema Display has a number of features the Dell does not have. In any case, the price disparity appears to be unique to Sweden. Apple’s display is priced quite competitively in the US.
- Here ya go: http://www.cyanogenmod.org/devices - a lot of the network locked versions of android are horrible, and if you’re using a two year old device it will be a nasty version at best.
- That’s surprising. If you ever want tips then I’ll happily chat about apps on any OS.
- See points above about better design. It’s not. Seriously, I’m as neutral as you get for this one, typing this on my macbook, charging an iPhone as we talk. The Nexus 7 is everybit as nice as Apple, and soon as my Nexus 4 phone turns up I’m going to be interested for how it compares to the iPhone 5.
I’m running the default launcher. My idea of fun is not tweaking UI settings. However my idea of fun is also not jumping through hoops to do something because a device manufacturer wants to tell me how I should listen to music/watch films/whatever.
I did a lot of customizing on my Android tablet before I was happy with the interface. I wound up using GoLauncher EX to get the layout/look I wanted. That was about 9 months ago, now I just use it.
Use Android if you want the ability to customize (doesn’t mean you have to customize, just the option is there when you need it.)