Android Lollipop looking good (so far)

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colinkiama

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Blackberry fell, iOS fell windows mobile fell, Symbian fell. All I'm saying is that windows 10 is going to change things in the mobile market...
 

jlzimmerman

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Android Won?

So now what? Apple, Blackberry, and MS should just close down their mobile device shop? What did Android win? What makes you the infinite voice of mobile past and present to determine Android the victor? Should we all drop what we have and goose-step to the nearest store and swear allegiance to our new nexus?

Your post and thread title is subjective.
 

gapost

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I've used WP since 7.5 on the Trophy and most of the Verizon windows phones. I've used an iphone for a while. I haven't used Android but this week, started trying a droid maxx. It's a pretty amazing device. Android 4.4.4 is not without issues, that you get used to on WP, like the email app, where on WP, you can just open it to clear the new email number. On android, it looks like you have to open the app, open the email and then it clears the number. Also, some of the news apps like USA Today and Fox News look much better on WP.

There are advantages and disadvantages of each OS, but it's clear that WP is playing catch up to android. WP 10 may help, but it's a long uphill battle at this point.
 

3earnhardt3

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No platform can ever WIN. This isn't war, if a company fails to put out a product that outperforms their competitor they (or anyone else) are given unlimited chances to innovate, replicate and sell advertisements until their product comes out on top.
 

akthelonelyman

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Because its almost like a Mini pc... With a powerful device like NOTE u get all sorts of features.. Almost all apps which are regularly updated, then software features like outstanding file manager, and features like usb otg, sometimes even hdmi support. So basically it becomes a pc of sorts.
And lets be honest majority dont care whether google is harvesting their private data or not.
Personally I'm happy with my 1520 and I have problem with Google's privacy policy.
But I will after that note3/4 is superior in many ways
 

heickelrrx

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Because its almost like a Mini pc... With a powerful device like NOTE u get all sorts of features.. Almost all apps which are regularly updated, then software features like outstanding file manager, and features like usb otg, sometimes even hdmi support. So basically it becomes a pc of sorts.
And lets be honest majority dont care whether google is harvesting their private data or not.
Personally I'm happy with my 1520 and I have problem with Google's privacy policy.
But I will after that note3/4 is superior in many ways
Nope.
It's about trend dude like other just make something different and people will go for it
 

Ian Too

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Thanks for your post, though as a attempt at demoralising the WP community it won't be very effective.

Certainly in terms of market share, Android has won, but that has very little to do with quality and features of the OS. It will take years of concerted effort by Microsoft and its partners to eat into that market share, but it is important that they make that commitment for the sake of smart phone users worldwide.

Android got its market dominance for two reasons: because it's free and because Apple and Microsoft ceded the smart phone market to them. At no point has Android approached the polish, security and reliability of iOS. If Apple had licensed iOS to other manufacturers then there would have been no Android, because HTC, Sony and other OEMs would have had an alternative. Similarly, had Microsoft had Windows Phone 7 ready two years earlier, companies like HTC, who had grown up making Windows Mobile devices, would have had a natural progression into the smart phone market and wouldn't have needed Android. For these oversights, I award Apple and Microsoft two great big wooden spoons. :p

My main problem with Android centers around the topic of security and your points in this area really disqualify you as a critical thinker. You've clearly swallowed the Google cool aid.

The encryption you point to has been implemented after it was pointed out that reseting Android devices only deletes the directory tree, leaving the files readable by anyone with a PC and the right software. I hope you've never passed on sensitive information to anyone nefarious through eBay, but I guarantee some people have suffered identity theft by passing their old device on, even if they have avoided malware while they actually owned the device.

Whats more, there is a pattern in how Google responds to criticism which reveals how completely irresponsible a company they are. When this was revealed, Google's first response was to advise people to turn on encryption before resetting the device - transferring the problem to users who cannot be expected to have the technical knowledge. I know because, as the local goto guy for technical things, I've done this for about ten Android users and had to explain why. Then Google implement the feature and expect kudos for doing so, despite leaving hundreds of millions of Android users in the cold and blissfully unaware of the danger they are in.

A similar situation recently cropped up when it was pointed out that the standard ASOP browser was subject to a zero day exploit, where a script could be used to glean sensitive information from the device. Google advised users to download Chrome - it's own product - and pointed out that the latest version of Kit -Kat was not subject to the flaw. At no point does Google feel they have to do anything themselves to protect its billions of users from a flaw they are responsible for.

Only in Android fan boy land is this sort of behaviour considered adequate and only the uncritical would laud Google for responding retroactively to its own negligence without patching vulnerable devices already in circulation. You should be asking yourself what exploits you are currently subject to and will never be protected from.

I have another problem with your post; in that you are presenting your own experience as representative of Android use in general when your are clearly both affluent enough to buy a high-end device and have enough technical knowledge to effectively customize it. For you, Android probably is the best smart phone to buy, assuming you don't mind the intrusiveness of Google itself.

I'd be very surprised if your experience was representative of anything more than half a percent of Android users. Most Android users actually end up with whatever the person in the phone shop or their carrier is currently pushing and this leads to instances such as the one I ran into three times within one week; twice with Samsung Galaxy Aces and once with an HTC Desire: All three users had installed a micro SD card and all three had installed Whatsapp on their devices before getting low memory warnings having installed their second app. Yes, that's what I said, low memory warnings after installing their second app.

In what fantasy land is that adequate?

This is the reason I always advise people on a budget to get a Windows Phone: I'm confident it's the right choice for them and that Windows Phone is better than Android for the VAST majority of users. Whats more, the comparison between the HTC One for Android and HTC One for Windows shows that this superiority is inherent to Windows Phone.

The fact the Android has such a large market share is not good news for the vast majority of people, who would be better off with in a closed ecosystem run by a company which doesn't leave them out in the cold, which presents them with a consistent experience and protects their personal information without using it to profile them for advertising.

From where I'm sitting, you are a credulous apologist for an insecure, inferior operating system only suitable for tech-loving geeks and just to finish, here is the latest security flaw in Android. This should be enough for even you.
 

gapost

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There's no doubt that Android has security and privacy issues. I don't like that at all. But when you compare the technology, apps, and innovations of android phones, it's very hard for most people to resist. Personally, I can live with a WP, but right now, I'm trying out an android just to see what's on the other side of the fence. It's a pain in the but to turn off and disable a lot of the android junk and try to get Microsoft stuff working good on android, but I'm giving it a shot. Still, I hope that WP and Verizon can improve, but especially for Verizon, it's seems to be unlikely.
 
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- Security: Google has beefed up security as well with out of the box encryption(not on Windows Phone) and they've also enabled some other things(which I don't fully understand) such as Selinux(or whatever it's called). Me and a lot of other Android users have never experienced malware, but this just breathes in a lot more confidence.

- Issues with Google Services: There are people here that believe Google is a spying company and Microsoft are angels, we'll people like you are offered with the same Microsoft services you would find on Windows Phone(sometimes even better!). You can completely replace any and all Google services.

I may overall agree on the whole post except these two items.?
a) It's not completely true that Google has "beefed up security". It has simply activated by default what was already there. The rest of ecosystem is still as exposed as it was.
b) Google services. I think most people know that both Microsoft and Google (And Facebook and Twitter and Yahoo and Skype and.......fill the blanks with any US based service) spy on users. However Google has 3 peculiarities people keep pretending to forget or ignore.
Google thrives on ads and on your data. Taking your data is the toll you pay to have a "free system". 2) There is a reasonable amount of doubt among certain institutions around the world that data flowing through Google servers (we're authorized to think the same about Microsoft) may go straight to the next level where they are stored in non Google databases and then used when needed by other parties (NSA first in line). 3) For those who didn't get it, Google is trying (or is already) to become a US Military supplier (drones, robots and else). In this perspective, any "official" claim of safety vis-a-vis safety (meant as safety from government and non government entities) is totally void. Google is inherently unsafer than WP is, by which margin i don't know. The safest OS is the one that has to come and is not US made, with non US-made hardware, in factories where none of the employees belong to any of the 5 eyes countries.
Till that happens, there isn't safe phone whatsoever. You don't have a choice between being spied or not. You only have a choice about whom you want to be spied from, US, China or thirds or a bit of all. Based on what you install on your mobile. Do you like Skype? well your chats and videos are being recorded for the benefit of the US government. Do you like WeChat? Be ready to confess your sins to China.

That is the reality. There isn't any other reality! Google is the unsafest platform Ever (because we have to consider the whole platform not the single service).
 

o0Nighthawk0o

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Yup, there is a reason you don't see Android devices used in the enterprise. Security being the biggest factor. I know where I work there are NO Android devices at all except for personal devices and those don't connect to our network. Where my wife works, they have instructions for setting up the company's email for iPhone and Windows Phone. Android is specifically barred from doing this.

The mobile device of choice has been Apple but that is changing. We are experimenting with Windows tablets and so far everyone loves them. They play nice with our network, our VPN is native to Windows (no app needed), runs the same software as our desktops and simple to use. iPhones and iPads cannot do this without jumping through major hoops. I expect all of this interoperability to only get better with Windows 10.
 

thesachd

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The point of this thread or why I said Android has "won" was because of the massive progress that Android has been making.

About an year back, or even more recently, there we're quite a few features that Windows Phone had but Android didn't. For example; low end devices that performed well, a more advanced camera API and possibly a better design(which was arguable). I'm pretty sure that there we're more things in the list.

But compared to what Android offered, even back then, Windows Phone never stood a chance. I mean Windows Phone has been playing catch up for as long as I can remember; it took Windows Phone about 4 years to get a decent notification system, and over 2/3 years to get gesture typing and power toggles. And until recently there was no easy way to close apps from multitasking! And there's lots more.

Android had a rough history with performance and security. Because of the first part(performance) Windows Phone was getting a lead, selling a huge amount of Lumia 520s in many places. But with the arrival of KitKat, Moto E and G, and the Android One project Android has once again secured it's place in both the low end, mid range and high end.

http://www.androidcentral.com/android-continues-rise-ios-and-windows-phone-tumble-us

I mean people here at WPCentral we're like Android isn't experiencing much growth anymore, and Windows Phone will beat Android(and other such stuff). But according to statistics posted today, Android despite already having huge marketshare gained 4.5 % market share in the US, that is something that is huge!

Moving onto security, and the NSA-Google relation that someone may have mentioned, you should know that Microsoft and NSA have also worked together so no one is safe from the NSA. But at least Google is taking steps to ensure some level of security(out of the box encryption).

And Android is also doing stuff about malware: http://bgr.com/2014/10/29/android-5-0-lollipop-feature/

And about security: http://bgr.com/2014/10/28/android-5-0-features-security-hackers/

And personally I've used Metro UI, Material Design is miles superior in both performance, for content viewing and being colourful.

Android has done everything to resolve any criticism that it faced from consumers and competition alike, and I see barely any reasons for why Android could be regarded as below Windows Phone, it never was and continues to beat Windows Phone.

The rapid progress that Android is making is making Android users extremely happy and at the same time making Windows Phone users less and less to complain about.

Why I say that Android has "won" because for the forseeable future, I don't see Windows Phone beating in marketshare or applications or performance or much of anything.

And many if you that say "if iOS had done that...Android wouldn't have been popular" or "if Microsoft had done that...Android wouldn't be popular", we'll Apple and Microsoft could've done whatever they wanted because possibilities are endless, but in the end Android did come into existence and is possibly the most popular mobile OS out there.
 

Bodeanicus

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Thanks for your post, though as a attempt at demoralising the WP community it won't be very effective.

Certainly in terms of market share, Android has won, but that has very little to do with quality and features of the OS. It will take years of concerted effort by Microsoft and its partners to eat into that market share, but it is important that they make that commitment for the sake of smart phone users worldwide.

Android got its market dominance for two reasons: because it's free and because Apple and Microsoft ceded the smart phone market to them. At no point has Android approached the polish, security and reliability of iOS. If Apple had licensed iOS to other manufacturers then there would have been no Android, because HTC, Sony and other OEMs would have had an alternative. Similarly, had Microsoft had Windows Phone 7 ready two years earlier, companies like HTC, who had grown up making Windows Mobile devices, would have had a natural progression into the smart phone market and wouldn't have needed Android. For these oversights, I award Apple and Microsoft two great big wooden spoons. :p

My main problem with Android centers around the topic of security and your points in this area really disqualify you as a critical thinker. You've clearly swallowed the Google cool aid.

The encryption you point to has been implemented after it was pointed out that reseting Android devices only deletes the directory tree, leaving the files readable by anyone with a PC and the right software. I hope you've never passed on sensitive information to anyone nefarious through eBay, but I guarantee some people have suffered identity theft by passing their old device on, even if they have avoided malware while they actually owned the device.

Whats more, there is a pattern in how Google responds to criticism which reveals how completely irresponsible a company they are. When this was revealed, Google's first response was to advise people to turn on encryption before resetting the device - transferring the problem to users who cannot be expected to have the technical knowledge. I know because, as the local goto guy for technical things, I've done this for about ten Android users and had to explain why. Then Google implement the feature and expect kudos for doing so, despite leaving hundreds of millions of Android users in the cold and blissfully unaware of the danger they are in.

A similar situation recently cropped up when it was pointed out that the standard ASOP browser was subject to a zero day exploit, where a script could be used to glean sensitive information from the device. Google advised users to download Chrome - it's own product - and pointed out that the latest version of Kit -Kat was not subject to the flaw. At no point does Google feel they have to do anything themselves to protect its billions of users from a flaw they are responsible for.

Only in Android fan boy land is this sort of behaviour considered adequate and only the uncritical would laud Google for responding retroactively to its own negligence without patching vulnerable devices already in circulation. You should be asking yourself what exploits you are currently subject to and will never be protected from.

I have another problem with your post; in that you are presenting your own experience as representative of Android use in general when your are clearly both affluent enough to buy a high-end device and have enough technical knowledge to effectively customize it. For you, Android probably is the best smart phone to buy, assuming you don't mind the intrusiveness of Google itself.

I'd be very surprised if your experience was representative of anything more than half a percent of Android users. Most Android users actually end up with whatever the person in the phone shop or their carrier is currently pushing and this leads to instances such as the one I ran into three times within one week; twice with Samsung Galaxy Aces and once with an HTC Desire: All three users had installed a micro SD card and all three had installed Whatsapp on their devices before getting low memory warnings having installed their second app. Yes, that's what I said, low memory warnings after installing their second app.

In what fantasy land is that adequate?

This is the reason I always advise people on a budget to get a Windows Phone: I'm confident it's the right choice for them and that Windows Phone is better than Android for the VAST majority of users. Whats more, the comparison between the HTC One for Android and HTC One for Windows shows that this superiority is inherent to Windows Phone.

The fact the Android has such a large market share is not good news for the vast majority of people, who would be better off with in a closed ecosystem run by a company which doesn't leave them out in the cold, which presents them with a consistent experience and protects their personal information without using it to profile them for advertising.

From where I'm sitting, you are a credulous apologist for an insecure, inferior operating system only suitable for tech-loving geeks and just to finish, here is the latest security flaw in Android. This should be enough for even you.

Just had to get that bit of condescension in there at the end, didn't ya? Tell me, where can I turn on the encryption in the settings on my Windows Phone, again?
 

TechAbstract

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"Yup, there is a reason you don't see Android devices used in the enterprise. Security being the biggest factor. I know where I work there are NO Android devices at all except for personal devices and those don't connect to our network. Where my wife works, they have instructions for setting up the company's email for iPhone and Windows Phone. Android is specifically barred from doing this.

The mobile device of choice has been Apple but that is changing. We are experimenting with Windows tablets and so far everyone loves them. They play nice with our network, our VPN is native to Windows (no app needed), runs the same software as our desktops and simple to use. iPhones and iPads cannot do this without jumping through major hoops. I expect all of this interoperability to only get better with Windows 10. "

Android is a mess in enterprise. Be ready to write 100 different guides for Android to set up email because Android phones have different UI from phone to phone. I work in IT and we try to not deal with smartphones as much as possible. Android dominance is not good. Hopefully that will change with Windows 10.
 
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