Is android falling apart?

[Good OL MC]

Falling apart? No, I think it is actually hitting it's stride. The Nexus 4 is a hot selling device, Jelly Bean is a huge improvement over prior versions, and the Samsung Galaxy line is giving Apple a serious run for it's money.

With forks, laggy updates, and skins galore Android proper may be a fuzzy concept to many people but what grows from it is healthier than ever.

 

[jmshub]

I think Android is finally getting decent, but there is a group of people who have been turned off by the poor user experience of Android in the past. Whether Windows Phone can capitalize on this however, I don't know.

 

[ryker002]

Seriously? I was under the impression that Jelly Bean fixed all of that. I hate on the sluggishness of my old android but keep getting told that it's all fixed in Jelly Bean. Is it not?

well it could be. Its running 4.1.2 on my Motorola Xoom and its slower then when I had Honeycomb running on the tablet.
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 using Board Express

 

[Mystictrust]

I just moved over to Android with the Galaxy Note2 after being a Windows user for the past 10-15 years. I'm a Sprint User so I really didn't have a choice. I really like the device but could do without the OS.... If Android ever develops the ability to run with Live tiles in the same or similar manner as Windows does, WP will be in trouble.....

As long as you're stuck on an Android device, might as well check out this launcher app for Android called Launcher 8. The tiles there seem somewhat live, I'm just not sure to what extent. I'm not powering on my old sluggish phone just to check Anyway, until you ever leave Sprint or they see the light with WP, you can have a piece of it on your phone

 

[senfoo]

Android is NOT falling apart. I currently have a HTC 8X(wp8), iPhone5, and a DROID DNA and I use all 3. I can honestly say ALL 3 devices have their pros and cons, in the end it's just a matter of choice.
wp8 has a lot of potential. ios is well, apple so fanboys/girls will always lean that way. Android as people before me have said is open source so the vision is limitless. Many different roms out there to choose from, all offering something for each taste. BB10 will be interesting to see and play with when it actually drops on the scene. For now I'm loving my wp8, just wish there were more apps out for it, but i guess they will come in time.

 

[snowmutt]

Android, pure and simple, is improving and innovating at a rate no other OS can match. Throw in the pure availability of those handsets, and you have a monolith sitting on top of a mountain daring someone to come knock him off.

In 2-3 years, the mobile market will look different, but how and who remains to be seen. But I am not going out on a limb when I say it will take that long before anyone is in position to take #1 from Android. Right now, the only OS that can hurt Android is Android. If Google does something dumb to hurt their own product, other OS's will pounce. But so far every version of the Green Robot bar none has improved on the last, and I expect that to continue.

The only thing that annoys me- and I like Android- is how less then a quarter of the actual handsets get updated more then once, yet it is WP eating crap for the updates.

 

[tekhna]

If anything, Nexus 4 and 7 demand is showing that Android is just taking off. The sooner Android moves from the OEM skin garbage, the better. It'll never truly go away, but the situation is improving. And Android is slowly taking over the tablet market. See all the reports on the Nexus 7 outselling the iPad in Japan, for example.

People who insist that Android is sluggish have not used Android in a long time. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. My GS3 screams. No lock ups, no lag, no app incompatibility, no forces closes, no battery problems (all problems I see on the front page of the 920 forum right this minute).
Android's not going anywhere. It's at 70% global marketshare. It'll slip, obviously, no one can maintain that kind of dominance, but as long as Android is provided free to OEMs, it's not going anywhere.
WP's biggest problem might actually be BB10. I was pretty sure WP8 would have put a stake through the heart of BB10 by now, but the tech world is pretty excited about it. That's on the folks over at Microsoft for not taking advantage of a holiday window with no BB competitor to kick it while it's down.

 

[fatclue_98]

Android, pure and simple, is improving and innovating at a rate no other OS can match. Throw in the pure availability of those handsets, and you have a monolith sitting on top of a mountain daring someone to come knock him off.

In 2-3 years, the mobile market will look different, but how and who remains to be seen. But I am not going out on a limb when I say it will take that long before anyone is in position to take #1 from Android. Right now, the only OS that can hurt Android is Android. If Google does something dumb to hurt their own product, other OS's will pounce. But so far every version of the Green Robot bar none has improved on the last, and I expect that to continue.

The only thing that annoys me- and I like Android- is how less then a quarter of the actual handsets get updated more then once, yet it is WP eating crap for the updates.

Gots to agree. ICS has impressed me with its improved UI. It may not be as fluid as WP7/8 but it's 10 times better than FroYo or Gingerbread. As for the OP's query, Android is by design already broken apart because of the fragmentation caused by AOSP. Because Apple is a one trick pony, that'll never happen and the same with RIM. WP8 can't afford to have OEMs ruling the roost because they're not in the same league (market-wise) as Android. MS has invested a mountain of cash into its ecosystem and I just can't see Bill Gates sit idly by and let his creation swirl down the crapper.

 

[tekhna]

Gots to agree. ICS has impressed me with its improved UI. It may not be as fluid as WP7/8 but it's 10 times better than FroYo or Gingerbread. As for the OP's query, Android is by design already broken apart because of the fragmentation caused by AOSP. Because Apple is a one trick pony, that'll never happen and the same with RIM. WP8 can't afford to have OEMs ruling the roost because they're not in the same league (market-wise) as Android. MS has invested a mountain of cash into its ecosystem and I just can't see Bill Gates sit idly by and let his creation swirl down the crapper.

It's not just Android though. The software Google is building into Android now is awesome. Google Now is changing the way I use my phone, and I love it. It's so context-aware, it's a bit frightening! There's nothing even conceptually close on WP. All those crazy-ass experimental things Google does are starting to work it's way into the OS, and it's producing some pretty remarkable stuff. The voice recognition absolutely smokes Siri now.
It's also worth noting that the newest Kantar market reports have WP8 losing ground in December in the US. Yikes. Improving in Europe though. Smartphone market share, US: December 2012: Windows Phone, BlackBerry | BGR

 

[tgp]

I would say Android is quite safe at the moment. Starting with Jelly Bean, Android caught up with WP & iOS in speed and smoothness, which was a big problem prior to its release. The behavior of prior versions is where the slow, laggy stigma comes from. That has now been taken care of for the most part.

Jelly Bean alone has about half the worldwide numbers of iOS, and 3 times those of WP, and it seems to be growing rapidly. Android is sitting pretty at the moment. Of course, the market can be quite volatile and that can change overnight. This is no time for any player in the smartphone market to become complacent!

 

[irvin792]

I hear jellybean makes android silky smooth, but does it stay that way for days/weeks of use without having to reboot?

Just curious

 

[irvin792]

Falling apart? No, I think it is actually hitting it's stride. The Nexus 4 is a hot selling device, Jelly Bean is a huge improvement over prior versions, and the Samsung Galaxy line is giving Apple a serious run for it's money.

With forks, laggy updates, and skins galore Android proper may be a fuzzy concept to many people but what grows from it is healthier than ever.

I hear the nexus 4 glass has more breaks being reported than that of the iphone4/4s.

I see so many broken glass iPhones in the wild it shocks me how people still blindly say apple products are so "premium"

Hopefully the nexus 4 does not break so easily, that would suck for their owners.

 

[irvin792]

Also Android may be free to OEMs but then again its not free, most Android OEMs pay Microsoft

 

[ClixT]

As a previous Android user (and possibly again for I might get the Nexus 4), I don't think so.
Heck, Nexus line is just simply amazing. However, let's see how BB10 performs. It looks like a very promising OS.
Not to mention, Jolla's Sailfish OS, Firefox OS, etc.

Like the other guy said, enjoy the competition!

BTW, I currently own a Lumia 920, and I'm loving it.

 

[arrowrand]

I hear jellybean makes android silky smooth, but does it stay that way for days/weeks of use without having to reboot?

Just curious

Yes, it does.

 

[arrowrand]

Also Android may be free to OEMs but then again its not free, most Android OEMs pay Microsoft

Microsoft pays royalties for patents as well. Patent royalties make the technology world go.

 

[irvin792]

Microsoft pays royalties for patents as well. Patent royalties make the technology world go.

true that

 

[lorax1284]

They still lag a lot though, not when they're brand new. But after some time they get slow. At least the galaxy does.

Yes, I'm astounded how laggy even Tegra 3 devices are. How much of that lag is down to the OS, or to the individual app, but it's pretty bad.

My Dell Venue Pro is smooth as silk all the time, but it'll never see the light of WP7.8... or will it?

 

[WasteSomeTime]

I've had android around 3 month and the experience was terrible, everyday i wanted to throw it against the wall. I couldn't understand why people were going crazy for it. All of the commercials were shoving apps down peoples throats. The market place was amusing for a little while, well more amusing than what my previous black berry had to offer. I guess people liked it because you could steal apps. Then one day I just couldn't take it anymore and to took the leap to get a windows phone. Now almost all of my friends left android. They better pull their head out of their ass soon or people will move on.
Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express

 

[halimaw96]

I think this whole preference of OS's really comes down to the user. I've read tons of threads like this bashing and defending any one OS and all it came down to was the person. You want a hassle free device that just plain works? Go for iOS. Want a little more customization? Get WP8. Android, especially with JB, is pretty much up to par with these other OS's in terms of fluidity and stability but having that level of customization does come with some drawbacks. I don't suspect that Android is really for anyone who doesn't want to tinker around with their phone every now and then to make it run a little smoother. This sounds pretty bad, but considering that you can install new roms and kernels and basically change every part of the OS, it's a small tradeoff. However, it's not everyone's cup of tea, to each his own.

Going back to the topic, no. Android will not die, at least until other open source OS's (I'm lookin at you, Sailfish.) can eventually chip away at its user base. You always gotta have an open source alternative for the techy ones out there.