It's almost 2016, I can't wait for Google/Android to stop being awful

[Lloydbm41]

Your experience isn't the same as anyone elses. I too hate the Google music app. I can count on one hand the amount of times that I've played music on my my Note 4/Note Edge because the experience for me is just bad.

The iPhone music app for me has ben the most reliable thing, it never crashes although I do think it's a little cluttered in some spots.

Having used Google Music on various Android phones like the Moto X² and Galaxy Edge+, I've never had a problem. I love the fact that when I get in my car, I don't have to turn the phone on or touch any controls and Google Music starts right up where I left off in my playlist. But I never had any problems with Apple Music on my phones either, other than the fact that the algorithms Apple uses are absolute crap (always have been), the UI sucks and it requires me to give Apple my data just to listen to free music.

Pandora, Spotify and Google Music remain my top 3 regardless if I use iPhone or Android.

 

[mrex]

Well, let's see.

5 hours in day one. Battery is still at 60%.

5 hours in day two. Battery is now at 20%.

does your iphone have a battery pack or what? my 6s+ gets about 4hours sot (=screen on plus surfing/gaming) or so plus some idle hours...

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Been using the S6 Edge from release. It's been fast and responsive since day one. Battery life has been good for me considering it's only a 2600 mAh. And the only connectivity that's not running 24/7 is NFC and Wifi.

My iPad 2, iPad Air, iPhone 5S all have horrible battery life after updating to iOS9. And I tried everything to get the battery as good as it use to be when they were on iOS8. So glad they are not my main devices, I would be pissed. I never though my Nexus 7(2013) would have better battery life than my iPads. WTF is going on with iOS9?

As far as music services are concerned. The ONLY problem I have with Google Play is when I upload my music to stream, it would too often match albums or single tracks with the censored version even though the uncensored version is available for streaming. Not a big issue as the majority of my playlist is directly from there streaming tracks.

Samsung's TouchWiz works for me. I had no real complaints since the S4. Can't wait to see how much more they improved it with the S7.

The camera on the flagship Galaxy devices of 2015 have the best cameras and displays hands down.

The S6 edge is the first android phone that I never rooted. I probably would have if Package Disabler Pro didn't exist. That T-Mobile app is a resource hog, and was the first thing that had to go.

I can't speak on Hangouts, I refused to use it since the first time I tried. Maybe it's gotten better over the years.

 

[Michael Goff]

I use a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus as my daily right now (have an iPhone 6S Plus as well). I use it because it is a better device for my needs (vacation pics, front and rear camera) and Samsung Pay is AWESOME, but I just can't help but be appalled at just truly how terrible the software is when comparing it to iOS in many ways.

I'm not even going into Samsung Software because we all know most of it is terrible. Thankfully, one can disable all or most Samsung software and simply use a Material Design theme on top of TouchWiz.

So Google, when are you going to stop being terrible at:

1) Battery life! I can disable every thing from location services, to android device manager, debloat every possible thing, and my iPhone 6S Plus gets 2x days of straight usage, possibly 2 weeks of idle if I left it there. My S6 Edge + gets about 3 days of idle, or maybe 5 hours of screen usage on it.

2) Music! Don't even get me started. Google Play Music is still a beta service. Duplicate tracks, replaced explicit tracks, app not refreshing, taking days to update from changes to online, any changes to playlists not updating for ages. Poor performance in App. Horrible interface. I'm now resorted to using Shuttle + iSyncr. GPM is the epitome of horrible Google coding and engineering. Perpetually stuck in beta software state.

3) Maps! How does Google Maps performance worse in rendering and framerate on Android than iOS? Shameful

4) Apps! Generally, the big name apps are OK. But when looking at most of the equivalent apps on my iOS device, they are almost always behind in features or performance. Google Apps actually perform worse as well, Chrome for example is never consistent in scrolling acceleration and rendering performance. It works better on iOS (probably because Chrome uses Safari's rendering in iOS).

Some things to wish for from Google but will likely never happen:

- iMessage competitor. Just make Hangouts integrate with Google Account, actually work just like iMessage.

- Integrate Hangouts like FaceTime does with Google Account.

Here's to a better Google experience in 2016. Google, please hire some legit software engineers. Your stuff is so half baked compared to Apple, when you're supposed to be a purely software and services company.

I'm a guy who uses Apple stuff all the time. But lets not lie. Google's Android is not half baked. GPM is not half baked compared to Apple Music. Hangouts is not half baked compared to Hangouts. People prefer what they prefer, and some devices have bas battery life, but Google made huge leaps in 2015. They've been focusing on performance more than Apple, I would say.

 

[Lloydbm41]

I can't speak on Hangouts, I refused to use it since the first time I tried. Maybe it's gotten better over the years.

Hangouts still sucks compared to just about every other SMS service (Face time and iMessenger are still the best imo). Google tried to put everything and the kitchen sink into the app and (at least for me) it is a royal mess. I think this is why Hangouts is having its texting guts ripped out and will become its own app. My guess is Hangouts will be just video (a la Face time) and then Google will create a new SMS service to be like iMessenger.

This is what they should have done all along.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Hangouts still sucks compared to just about every other SMS service (Face time and iMessenger are still the best imo). Google tried to put everything and the kitchen sink into the app and (at least for me) it is a royal mess. I think this is why Hangouts is having its texting guts ripped out and will become its own app. My guess is Hangouts will be just video (a la Face time) and then Google will create a new SMS service to be like iMessenger.

This is what they should have done all along.

Yea, that was my problem with it. It took over everything, and I definitely didn't want my Google Voice attached to it.

And Android has it's own video calling now, without Hangouts.

 

[Frankied22]

The problem Google is going to have now is by the time their new messaging app comes out everyone will already be using another app. People are going to stick to whatever messaging platform their friends use instead of trying to convert everyone to something new.

 

[MRU]

The problem Google is going to have now is by the time their new messaging app comes out everyone will already be using another app. People are going to stick to whatever messaging platform their friends use instead of trying to convert everyone to something new.

Yep, that's what I was saying. Especially when Samsung, HTC, LG etc.. All have their own apps as default and Google's remains an optional install and for many seen as a duplicate install (most folks don't want multiple SMS/messaging apps - they'll stick with the default).

Essentially unless Google manages to come up with an api to handle messaging that it forces all manufacturers to bake into their stock messaging apps - (unlikely to ever happen) - a unified android messaging platform is just not happening.

 

[Jinzen]

Yep, that's what I was saying. Especially when Samsung, HTC, LG etc.. All have their own apps as default and Google's remains an optional install and for many seen as a duplicate install (most folks don't want multiple SMS/messaging apps - they'll stick with the default).

Essentially unless Google manages to come up with an api to handle messaging that it forces all manufacturers to bake into their stock messaging apps - (unlikely to ever happen) - a unified android messaging platform is just not happening.

Google can grow some chest hair while they hire some better software engineers and standardize across Android, exactly like they should.

This post screams "I haven't held an Android phone since 2011"

Let see, just from last year and 1/2.

Galaxy S5, HTC One M8, Moto X, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge plus (current).

Battery life has become WORSE in 2015. I am an avid AndroidCentral user. http://www.androidcentral.com/worst...&utm_campaign=navigation&utm_source=ac#slide5

Also, you guys are such poor apologists for Google and Android (but so are Apple fanboys). I love my S6 Edge Plus but it is SUCH as POS in battery life.

 

[Jinzen]

does your iphone have a battery pack or what? my 6s+ gets about 4hours sot (=screen on plus surfing/gaming) or so plus some idle hours...

No, but if you're gaming on my S6 Edge Plus, you'd be lucky to get 1.5 hours of SoT.

My 6S Plus easily gets 8 hours of SoT PLUS 2 days of idle time before hitting 1-5% doing basic stuff like music and surfing. I don't game. I could get 6 Hours of Gaming easily (Geek Bench 3 pulls 8 hours with my TSMC chip).

Admittedly, if you have a Samsung A9 6S Plus, you will get worse battery life.

In case you were wondering how poor expectations are from other Android users for battery life, check out threads like this: http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-5/567125-note-5-battery-life-thread-116.html

"So, I decided to disable Samsung Pay, and Android Pay to see if battery life would be any better. At first I did not want to because I plan on using the pay services, but the services still do not support my banks. So I disabled then last night. With about 6 hours off the charger, I am sitting at 89% battery. It's a lot better so far I feel. Maybe the latest Samsung Pay update is bad.... try disabling it and let me know what happens."

Sad, so sad. If you leave a 6S Plus off a charger for 6 hours and not touch it, it will not lose even 1%, let alone 11%. My S6 Edge Plus at least idles at about 1% per hour over night, and I don't turn this stuff off (I leave BT, Sync, Location on). It will lose about 4-6% overnight if I turn off BT, Location and Sync. Yes, might as well just turn the phone off. I'm over it, I'm just used to charging my phone once a day now as opposed to ... maaaybe charging it when I'm in the car for a little bit every other day.

 

[Michael Goff]

Google can grow some chest hair while they hire some better software engineers and standardize across Android, exactly like they should.


Let see, just from last year and 1/2.

Galaxy S5, HTC One M8, Moto X, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge plus (current).

Battery life has become WORSE in 2015. I am an avid AndroidCentral user. http://www.androidcentral.com/worst...&utm_campaign=navigation&utm_source=ac#slide5

Also, you guys are such poor apologists for Google and Android (but so are Apple fanboys). I love my S6 Edge Plus but it is SUCH as POS in battery life.

Try a Nexus. None of the phones you mentioned are Android as Google sees it.

 

[Jinzen]

Try a Nexus. None of the phones you mentioned are Android as Google sees it.

I was going to try out a Nexus 6P on sale @ BB recently (Amex $20 offer and had a 10% movers coupon, would have cost me $400), but then, it really is just so boring and inferior to my iPhone 6S Plus that it is basically similar to a iPhone 6S Plus experience with 1/2 the battery life, no optical image stabilization, inferior App ecosystem that's um... it's cheaper.

At least with my S6 Edge Plus I get Samsung Pay (Best payment service ever, works everywhere), incredible rear and FRONT selfie camera (no selfie sticks needed plus super fast activation) and a very thin device. I'm also getting $200 from Samsung which will pay for a Gear S2 that I'm pretty excited about. Samsungpromotions.com has great offers.

I would like like to see a real HTC/Samsung Nexus that doesn't compromise on anything in the future, not optical image stabilization, front camera, battery life, nothing please.

 

[\-V-/]

I was going to try out a Nexus 6P on sale @ BB recently (Amex $20 offer and had a 10% movers coupon, would have cost me $400), but then, it really is just so boring and inferior to my iPhone 6S Plus that it is basically similar to a iPhone 6S Plus experience with 1/2 the battery life, no optical image stabilization, inferior App ecosystem that's um... it's cheaper.

So many opinions mixed with misinformation. Half the battery life? No. Not hardly. I get all day battery on Nexus with pretty heavy use. Optical image stabilization? Well you got it there, but it doesn't really make a dramatic difference. But the Nexus 6P walks all up and down the 6S Plus in low light situations. Inferior app ecosystem? Which apps do you need that aren't on Android? Most are on both platforms these days. If you just don't like the phone or Android I understand but those are not compelling reasons to not get one.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Hangouts still sucks compared to just about every other SMS service (Face time and iMessenger are still the best imo). Google tried to put everything and the kitchen sink into the app and (at least for me) it is a royal mess. I think this is why Hangouts is having its texting guts ripped out and will become its own app. My guess is Hangouts will be just video (a la Face time) and then Google will create a new SMS service to be like iMessenger.

This is what they should have done all along.

It's better than the stock Samsung messenging app. I used it as my default messenging app when I used android phones. It's not as good as iMessage/FaceTime but it's pretty solid.

 

[ozaz]

Battery life has become WORSE in 2015. I am an avid AndroidCentral user. http://www.androidcentral.com/worst...&utm_campaign=navigation&utm_source=ac#slide5

Also, you guys are such poor apologists for Google and Android (but so are Apple fanboys). I love my S6 Edge Plus but it is SUCH as POS in battery life.

I agree that 2015 was a bad year and a backward step for battery life on Android. It's the main reason I didn't buy a new phone in 2015!

However, by all accounts I've read and from what I hear from friends the battery life on the iPhone 6S seems no better than battery life on 2015 5" Android handsets.

The battery life on the 6S Plus might be impressive, but that phone is too large for many people. With mediocre battery life on the 6S it's not reasonable to generalise and say iPhone has better battery life than Android phones.

 

[sracer]

So many opinions mixed with misinformation. Half the battery life? No. Not hardly. I get all day battery on Nexus with pretty heavy use. Optical image stabilization? Well you got it there, but it doesn't really make a dramatic difference. But the Nexus 6P walks all up and down the 6S Plus in low light situations. Inferior app ecosystem? Which apps do you need that aren't on Android? Most are on both platforms these days. If you just don't like the phone or Android I understand but those are not compelling reasons to not get one.

When you dismiss the reasons that don't matter to YOU then what you say makes sense. LOL

 

[nj1266]

nice....so where is the SOT from that? Because I have a 6s+ and it does not show me SOT. But I do agree that battery life is awesome! But IOS does not give accurate SOT.

Yes it does. You have to manually calculate SOT from the SOT for each app. It is tedious to do, but will give you total SOT per 24 hour period.

 

[nj1266]

does your iphone have a battery pack or what? my 6s+ gets about 4hours sot (=screen on plus surfing/gaming) or so plus some idle hours...

I am averaging 7 hours of SOT per 24 hours since I got my 6s+.

 

[jamezr]

Yes it does. You have to manually calculate SOT from the SOT for each app. It is tedious to do, but will give you total SOT per 24 hour period.

sorry but I don't think that is accurate at all. In fact Apple does not provide a documented way to get SOT. So you want to wait 24 hours to manually write down some set of numbers then take out your calculator then add them up. To arrive at a total that might or might not be an accurate information....well great. But don't say it is your SOT because it is not. You brought this up in another thread too. Its nonsense....

 

[mrex]

Yes it does. You have to manually calculate SOT from the SOT for each app. It is tedious to do, but will give you total SOT per 24 hour period.

how does it give you accurate sot? i dont get accurate stats. if i charge my ios device, then when it is full and start using it, it gives me the battery 100% while it tells me that i have been using safari for 4hours on screen...

 

[Blaze4G]

how does it give you accurate sot? i dont get accurate stats. if i charge my ios device, then when it is full and start using it, it gives me the battery 100% while it tells me that i have been using safari for 4hours on screen...

They say you have to wait 24 hours after a full charge. Might or might not be true...however you can try for yourself.

 

[cbobb123]

I was going to try out a Nexus 6P on sale @ BB recently (Amex $20 offer and had a 10% movers coupon, would have cost me $400), but then, it really is just so boring and inferior to my iPhone 6S Plus that it is basically similar to a iPhone 6S Plus experience with 1/2 the battery life, no optical image stabilization, inferior App ecosystem that's um... it's cheaper.

At least with my S6 Edge Plus I get Samsung Pay (Best payment service ever, works everywhere), incredible rear and FRONT selfie camera (no selfie sticks needed plus super fast activation) and a very thin device. I'm also getting $200 from Samsung which will pay for a Gear S2 that I'm pretty excited about. Samsungpromotions.com has great offers.

I would like like to see a real HTC/Samsung Nexus that doesn't compromise on anything in the future, not optical image stabilization, front camera, battery life, nothing please.

I agree, the Nexus 6P is terrible. It has a 2K amoled display, front facing stereo speakers, fast charging, higher resolution front/rear camera, faster fingerprint scanner, USB C, 32gb base storage, cheaper etc. But yeah, the 6s plus is definitely without comprise....

 

[mi7chy]

Too bad there isn't an option to hide/down vote troll threads.

 

[weatherwax]

I switched from an iPhone 5 to android a year ago, first to a Moto X and now to a Nexus 5X. Have to say, I wish the hardware was apple-quality, but the software is more than enough to make up for the shortcomings. Android M isn't as half-baked as its predecessors.

 

[mrex]

They say you have to wait 24 hours after a full charge. Might or might not be true...however you can try for yourself.

if you have to wait 24hours while using your device at the same, how an earth you ever know true SOTs if it is changing all the time?