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Preemptive FAIL : Five easy things Verizon isn't doing to fix Android
It's all over the place; Verizon is embracing Android. Google loving apologist geeks everywhere are heralding the 85 million new customers -- who are obviously ready to try Android, if only Verizon would let them -- as the beginning of a new era in mobile phone competition. The cries of panacea are all I've heard all day:"It's going to be a floodgate of new users! "
"Death to the iPhone!"
And, as one particularly difficult to satisfy commenter on another blog wrote:
"Get over yourselves apple and make a new product."
I'll have to admit, as a current G2, and previous G1 owner, I was a little excited myself. Then I read one thing from the joint Verizon/Google press call which made me crestfallen.
"Verizon also has no plans to make any changes to the Android Market."
And with that, all my dreams of an Android controlled world ran away like so much sand through my fingers. This is an enormous mistake, Verizon. Care to know why? The Android Market is terrible. It's worse than terrible, it's horrible.
Horrible, and just a little bit dangerous.
I've got a list of five things Verizon must do to the Android Market if they're to have any hope of even modest success.
Upgrade all
My iPod Touch does it, why can't you Android? Just one little button which allowed me to upgrade all, and no more clearing my whole notification list just to get rid of all the "Successfully Installed" messages.
Here's a UI/UX hint; Tell me when something doesn't work. Otherwise, leave me alone. Notifications are for important things like email and SMS. Right now I have 5 apps waiting to upgrade on my phone, and I'm dreading it like a visit to the dentist.
Reconfirming access I've already granted, during upgrades
Which brings us to my next major complaint. I already granted you access to my calendar/email/dialer/coffee grinder when I installed the first time, why do I have to grant access again? If this is the kind of awesome usability standards we can expect from Chrome OS, someone pass me a pile of Microsoft stock.
Anything resembling screen shots
Not having screen shots is just braindead. If you want to compete with Apple, user experience is so essential as to make irrelevant nearly any other factor until you fix this. Android 1.6 does include screen shots in the Market, or at least the ability to display them, but I'm left to wonder how many apps just won't have them by the time "Donut" makes it out to everyone.
It's not like they made it easy to grab screens on Android phones. I personally think this is a primary cause of the (admittedly) few great Android apps not getting much coverage on the web. As a blogger who has snapped shots and created a gallery for a hot iPhone app within minutes of its release, I'm telling you It's just too hard to get screen shots in a hurry on Android. If the app is on both platforms, I'm picking the iPhone version every single time.
iPhone apps are enticing. I get excited when I look at them. They're like porn, only without the boobies, and with lots more smooth gradients and pretty controls.
That Google held screen shots as such a low priorty that we're only beginning to see them in the Market a year after launch is more than pathetic. It's just plain ol' poor execution. It's also endemic of everything wrong with Google. Complete disrespect of the average user's time. I'm a nerd, and I'll lay on the couch trying app after app until I find something I like -- the average person will not.
Simple math tells you there are a lot more "average users" than people like me. Common sense tells you that you don't sell the steak, you sell the sizzle. The Android Market is way more like refrigerated bologna, even in 1.6.
Comment moderation to remove the trash from the Market reviews
Almost daily I'm reminded who else bought G1 phones. Braindead thugs who comment on clearly marked "root only" apps with gems like "Y0, Dis ain't no workin. 1 star. Any ladies, hit me up on myspace." Joined by slightly more literate users who have absolutely zero idea what the app they just downloaded is intended to do.
My all time favorite descriptive gem in the Market? "Stupid"
Yah, that'll show'em.
Here's a thought. Maybe if the Market had screen shots, a few of these people would realize it's not the app, it's them. You know, kinda like how they put pictures on the menu at Waffle House so you can just point when you're too stupid, lazy, drunk -- or all three -- to speak.
Sure, the stupid people will still be stupid. I'm just looking for anything that might keep them out of my sight line.
Vetting of applications
There has to be something in-between total anarchist free-for-all of the current Android Market and the tightly controlled Apple App Store approval mafia. Any approval system is going to have edge cases, but isn't Google supposed to be litterally busting at the gills with well-fed smart people?
For crying out loud, I downloaded "Bsodroid" from the Market and I was blue-screening Windows boxes on my local network within seconds. If I weren't such a nice guy, I'd be dozing on my couch right now while ruining porn-browsing time for whichever neighbor it is who insists on leaving his access point open. I realize that Microsoft is really at fault for not fixing the TCP stack bug which allows the attack but, come on! What is this doing in the Market?
Comments
31
Subscribe to commentsEricOct 7th 2009 9:30AM
So you bitch and moan about not having Android phones on Verizon, then come up with a whole new set of complaints when Verizon not only gives us Android but also promises not to neuter it like they did to phones in the past?
Ha ha, oh wow.
Christina WarrenOct 7th 2009 12:54PM
I think what Grant's trying to point out (and what is important to remember) is that just having a very large and very powerful carrier as a partner doesn't negate all the very real problems that exist on Android and especially in the Android Market.
Consumers aren't buying phones based on the OS, they are buying them based on the features and the applications you can get. Fixing the Android Market and making it a more compelling platform for developers is what is needed for Android to take off, and just being on a bigger carrier doesn't necessarily change that.
IowaSubyOct 7th 2009 1:00PM
I think the major difference is that we are comparing Apple's philosophy to Google's. Google kept Gmail in beta for how many years? Meanwhile Apple tries to release things after they are completely polished and perfect. Think of Android as an ongoing Google Beta like Gmail, and you'll be happier with it.
Ari MannisOct 7th 2009 1:51PM
I completely disagree with this article, any app should be allowed, by not allowing this app is the first step to becoming apple, and you want verizon to take over the market that be dumb, google should take care of it's own market. Don't you want the android experience to be the same across different cell networks.
LalloOct 7th 2009 2:07PM
You should of never mentioned Verizon at all. Your gripes should be with Google and Google alone. Most of your gripes are about the market which has been updated to fix most of the problems you complain about. The Donut update was a step in a good direction for Google and it will get better in time.
Upgrade all
To install or download apps all at one time would be a tremendous process for the slow Android device.
Reconfirming access
I only had to do this on the messengers (MSN and Yahoo) after the update.
Screen shots
Screen shots are now available in the market and will grow with the recent update.
Comments
Report Spam feature has been working a lot better reducing stupid comments.
Vetting of apps
I would look for top rated apps.
If you're serious about Android I would subscribe to Android blogs where you can get reviews of apps with lovely screen shots.
Grant RobertsonOct 7th 2009 2:17PM
What's painfully obvious from the response to this post is, Android is and --probably always will -- remain a geekphone.
The smartphone market is evolving, it's not just clued early adopters anymore.
- Regular smartphone users don't want to keep up with blogs just to see what an app looks like, nor will they remember what they just read about that app in 10 minutes, let alone 10 days when they find themselves sitting in an airport with time to kill in the Market for playing.
- "Getting better" isn't an excuse, and it isn't a solution. While Android is getting better, the iPhone is kicking its ass. If Microsoft were at all competent in the Mobile space, Google would easily be number three -- and a distant three at that.
- Reconfirming access is a "feature", and yes, it definitely exists on every app you upgrade.
- Upgrade all isn't about resources, it's about ease of use. That you argue the Android phones are slow brings up another point which irritates me, but wasn't in the scope of this article.. One of Google's worst decisions was allowing background proceses. Couple backgrounding with the Market-free-for-all and you have a slew of poorly written apps which misbehave in the background. Leaking memory, eating cycles, and all of that chalks up to lousy user experience. For me, it's not a big deal.. I'm a nearly life long unix user, so killing processes is a familiar concept. For an average user, they just know their phone is really slow, and rebooting fixes it. That's just idiotic for UX.
LalloOct 7th 2009 2:59PM
Good point about it being a "geekphone"! Since this is my first smartphone it's the best phone I've ever had, but I've never had the chance to evaluate an iPhone or WinMo. I'm really excited to see what Google is going to do in the future. They excel in pretty much all they do and should be exciting to see what route they take. I don't mean to blast your article and I'm glad you wrote it. I look forward to seeing plenty more Android articles in the near future.
Ken LoveOct 7th 2009 5:59PM
Stupid!
LOL.
Really... Grant, I agree with you, for the most part, on all your points (especially Upgrade All and Comment Moderation).
On the moderation / app approval tip, I believe a "wisdom of the crowds" approach would be an effective solution. If users were allowed to flag comments or apps as inappropriate... then those votes were employed to usher offending content away (in the case of comments) or to an "out-of-the-public" area (in the case of apps). This would allow the market to stay open.
The market app could have preferences to allow users the ability to set their filter threshold.
An aside: I don't know what Google did in 1.6, but I haven't had a hang or force close since upgrade. battery life has also increased dramatically.
mahhkkOct 7th 2009 11:27PM
I'm surprised no one has pointed out yet that iPhone debuted with .... zero apps. Nothing. Not a lousy store or a mediocre store or a so-so store, but absolutely no way to add any functional applications to the phone without hacking it.
And ""Getting better" isn't an excuse, and it isn't a solution", after considering Apple's initial fear of third-party applications is an infuriating thought. Is the iPhone's MMS "getting better"? How do you expect a feature to evolve if it doesn't have the goal of "getting better"?
I don't hate the iPhone by any means, and, though I'm thinking about getting an Android phone next, that's only because I would rather gnaw off my own foot than be on AT&T's network. But this post is so aggravatingly inflammatory, I thought I'd chime in.
JayMonsterOct 9th 2009 9:53AM
So, essentially what you want Verizon to do, is to take everything about this open platform that has far more traction than you care to admit (did you see all the Android phones announced this week?), and basically remove everything that makes it popular.
The marketplace now has screenshots... so it is a moot point, it was when you wrote it, and was even more grounded by the time you responded. You don't need to read blogs, you don't need to go to downloadsquad.com to see a screenshot. The fact that those thumbnails which are optimized to be viewed on a smaller screen means you have to as a reporter have to actually make you own screen shots or go to the developers website to get it, doesn't make it any less useful for the user... just for you.
The biggest problem with the marketplace (and one complaint you had which was valid), was the comments in the Marketplace from the users. This I blame Google for, in thinking it was wise to launch this thing first on T-Mobile here in the US. This helped Android get out of the gate with a lot of users that have a... how do I put this politely... a Sidekick mentality. Texters with a certain lack of spoken (or written) eloquence.
I for one (of many) was THRILLED when Verizon decided to promote this as the *OPEN* platform, released with a minimal amount of interference (as they promised they were going to start doing with phones last fall). Let the market evolve. Apple's app store did not develop right off the bat (hell, it was what... 9 months before the SDK and store was even announced?!?).
In short (yeah, I know, too late), if they copied everything Apple did, well then you would be sitting here complaining that it is nothing but trying to ride on Apple's coatttails, or that it is nothing but a copycat. But if they don't do it like Apple, well, then it is not as good.
With Sense, TouchWiz, MotoBlur, etc... you are starting to see "flavors" developed in Android that will allow for a greater variety of users tastes, than Google or Verizon could hope to properly develop on their own. Allow it grow... don't look to stymie it because you want an iDroid.
Andrew PollackOct 11th 2009 10:24PM
If you believe in this "vision" of a totally open marketplace, then bad apps are part of the bargain. True "open" types will need to establish community sites with peer review processes and rating systems they trust. These open community indexes will have to emerge to fill the need.