So I’ve had the Motorola Droid for a few days. As I’m becoming familiar with my new phone, I’m also learning the ins and outs of Android. That familiarity has brought me to the realization that the Motorola Droid— although a great device— is not an “iPhone Killer”.
So why won’t the Motorola Droid supplant the iPhone as the #1 smartphone? Would you be surprised to hear that it’s not Motorola’s fault?
Alright, so what’s wrong with the Motorola Droid, you ask? Hardware wise, nothing major. There are some minor quibbles, sure. But overall it’s a great device. See my previous review for my thoughts about the Droid.
Where the Motorola Droid fails is that Android is still in its infancy. It’s a mature OS since it’s based on Linux. But that’s only a small part of the job of making a good mobile operating system.
Let’s Start With OS Updates
As it stands now, most Android smartphone owners will never update beyond the stock Android install that came with the phone. The hurdles to upgrading your phone are significant.
First, Google has to release a new version of Android. That’s the easy part. Then the whole process hits the brakes. Once Google makes a release, the individual carriers have to evaluate the new release, do their own QA testing, then provide some mechanism for their subscribers to acquire the new release. That’s an upgrade pipeline with too many hurdles and no clear way for subscribers to keep on top of when new updates will be made available (if ever).
Compare that to the iPhone. Everyone who owns an iPhone syncs with iTunes. When Apple releases a new version of the iPhone OS, a subscriber gets a notification in iTunes, the user clicks “Upgrade” and the rest happens automatically.
So Android OS updates are a significant issue.
The Android Market
When comparing Android-based smartphones to the iPhone, inevitably users will want to know what apps and how many apps are available on each platform.
As of November 4th, the iPhone App Store is estimated at around 100,000 applications. Android has a little more than 10,000 apps. That’s a significant difference, to be sure. But the real question is, how does the quality of the apps compare?
Honestly, for every impressive app in the Android Market there is an app in the iPhone App Store that’s much, much better. And overall, the quality of Android apps is much lower than the average iPhone app.
The obvious reasons for the disparity would be Apple’s strict application approval process and excellent UI toolkit. Android apps have very few design qualifications to meet before they can be listed in the Android Market. Additionally, the UI toolkit for Android isn’t as clean as the toolkit for the iPhone. Finally, there are no real User Interface Design principles on Android, unlike the iPhone. Android apps just lack the spit and polish that the iPhone excels at.
Besides the design of applications, there are also significant issues with the stability of many applications in the Android Market. Users commonly report issues with applications force-quitting or failing to work as advertised. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that Google spends a lot of time cleaning out the garbage that makes it into the Market.
As a final issue, there’s the problem of many, many, many applications with duplicate functionality. This is a common problem (benefit?) of development on an Open Source platform that’s made all too obvious when you have those apps featured all in one place. It’s frustrating to dig through dozens of multimedia apps that either do only half the job or don’t work at all. Google would do well to clean up the Market and include only the best-of-breed in each category.
Why Doesn’t Google Include A Video Player?
One thing that many smartphone users have become accustomed to is the ability to play multimedia files easily on their preferred device. The iPhone does this beautifully. The Android? Not so much.
Android 2.0 provides a “Music” app, but there’s no video player to be found. And the Music app is hardly full featured. To call it minimalist is an understatement. Where’s the EQ?
So, to play videos you have to search the Android Market for a usable media player with video support. I finally found one that works okay, but as I mentioned in the previous section it lacks the spit and polish of the native iPod app included on the iPhone.
Android 2.0 should never have shipped without a full set of core apps.
I’d Provide a Screenshot, But…
There are little things that Android 2.0 lacks that Google needs to address to better compete with the iPhone. For instance, it’s impossible to take a screenshot on Android without having root access to the phone. Maybe that’s not a big deal to most people, but when you’re a tech enthusiast who likes sharing his experiences with other tech enthusiasts, it’s a big deal.
Android Lacks Cohesion
What it all boils down to is this… Google Android lacks cohesive management. The cluttered, anemic Market. The almost-but-not-quite clean UI toolkit. The lack of a pipeline to deliver updates to user’s in a timely manner. Other small, but significant features that are missing (like an EQ).
Google needs to work a lot harder on tending their garden.
Conclusion
Despite all these frustrations, I have hope for the future of Android. As more and more devices are released with Android 2.0, development will ramp up and the quality of available apps should be boosted. We have to keep in mind that Android is only about a year old. So anyone who buys an Android-based phone should still consider themselves an “early adopter”. And with that early adopter status, you should expect things to be a bit rough around the edges.
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