Things Samsung and Android OS could improve on..

[ag29]

This is not an Iphone vs Samsung vs Google thread. This is about things that Samsung and Google could do in order to really become a fierce Iphone competitor. If they did even half these things, I guarantee they would sell much more units.

For me I had an s7 but I decided to get an Iphone because it doesn't have bloatware, it's fast, can have many apps running in the background with no problem, and doesn't have any lag issues, and gets updates as soon as they come out. Even if Samsung adds 100 cool new features that the Iphone doesn't have, sure I'd buy one and play with it, but I'd sell it after a while and get an Iphone because Samsung doesn't have the core principles that I want in a phone.

These are the things Samsung and Android OS could improve on, and would make it a very fierce competitor to Apple if they did. I probably wouldn't even buy an Iphone anymore again if they did these things.

1. Remove bloatware. Seriously why do android phones come with so much bloatware preinstalled? And theres just no way to remove certain apps. With IOS 10, Apple made it so you can even delete stock apps.

2. Streamline Android OS. Make it more geared towards speed. Make use of the 4GB Ram. It should be able to multitask better than an Iphone that has only 2GB ram, not sure why an Iphone does this so much better even with only half the RAM. If Android takes up so much RAM just from the OS itself, then change the OS so it doesn't hog so much RAM. Get rid of the "lag" experience that most people who use a Samsung have already experienced and know how annoying it is.

3. Updates! Gets frustrating when you're stuck with an old version of an OS for months on end and you have no idea when you will be able to update. Then when the new update actually does come, there's already a new version of Android out by then!

4. Fingerprint sensor. This needs improvement. I find Apple's fingerprint sensor to be much much better. In the 6s it was hard to see notifications on the lock screen because the sensor was so good that as soon as you hit the home button it went straight to the home screen.

5. Bluetooth battery level indicator. I don't understand why on Android it won't show you the battery level of bluetooth devices through your phone like how it does on iOS.

6. Imessage Android version. It would be really cool if Google would add something similar to Imessage for Android devices. I like having the read receipts and typing notifications.

7. Stop making European versions better than US. I don't think its fair that the international version is faster and has longer battery life. Make US versions just as good as the international models.

What else do you think they should improve? What would it take for you Iphone people to switch to Samsung or another Android device? Do you think some of these improvements aren't necessary? Have better suggestions?

 

[mclld]

First I already think they are a strong competitor and millions of others do and like it better than ios

1. agree
2. agree
3. agree but personally updates are overblown. If I am not mistaken ios only gets one big one a year, and that is close to android yet android updates individual components more frequently. Overall though updates could be improved big time
4. agree, i dont like the sensor on Samsung however even on some cheap androids there are sensors that are right there with iphone or very close
5. You can see battery level
6. agree, I dont care about imessage but many would like it or something similar
7. agree

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

This is not an Iphone vs Samsung vs Google thread. This is about things that Samsung and Google could do in order to really become a fierce Iphone competitor. If they did even half these things, I guarantee they would sell much more units.

For me I had an s7 but I decided to get an Iphone because it doesn't have bloatware, it's fast, can have many apps running in the background with no problem, and doesn't have any lag issues, and gets updates as soon as they come out. Even if Samsung adds 100 cool new features that the Iphone doesn't have, sure I'd buy one and play with it, but I'd sell it after a while and get an Iphone because Samsung doesn't have the core principles that I want in a phone.

These are the things Samsung and Android OS could improve on, and would make it a very fierce competitor to Apple if they did. I probably wouldn't even buy an Iphone anymore again if they did these things.

1. Remove bloatware. Seriously why do android phones come with so much bloatware preinstalled? And theres just no way to remove certain apps. With IOS 10, Apple made it so you can even delete stock apps.

2. Streamline Android OS. Make it more geared towards speed. Make use of the 4GB Ram. It should be able to multitask better than an Iphone that has only 2GB ram, not sure why an Iphone does this so much better even with only half the RAM. If Android takes up so much RAM just from the OS itself, then change the OS so it doesn't hog so much RAM. Get rid of the "lag" experience that most people who use a Samsung have already experienced and know how annoying it is.

3. Updates! Gets frustrating when you're stuck with an old version of an OS for months on end and you have no idea when you will be able to update. Then when the new update actually does come, there's already a new version of Android out by then!

4. Fingerprint sensor. This needs improvement. I find Apple's fingerprint sensor to be much much better. In the 6s it was hard to see notifications on the lock screen because the sensor was so good that as soon as you hit the home button it went straight to the home screen.

5. Bluetooth battery level indicator. I don't understand why on Android it won't show you the battery level of bluetooth devices through your phone like how it does on iOS.

6. Imessage Android version. It would be really cool if Google would add something similar to Imessage for Android devices. I like having the read receipts and typing notifications.

7. Stop making European versions better than US. I don't think its fair that the international version is faster and has longer battery life. Make US versions just as good as the international models.

What else do you think they should improve? What would it take for you Iphone people to switch to Samsung or another Android device? Do you think some of these improvements aren't necessary? Have better suggestions?

1) YES!!!! Since carriers are rapidly moving away from user contract subsidizing, I don't see the reason for manufacturers to give the carriers the power any longer. Manufacturers could basically do what Apple has recently done, and have their own installment plans/upgrade plans.

2) This is already happening, and it's moving forward rapidly in a great direction. Lag on the S6 edge, S7 edge, and Note 7 is almost nonexistent. Lag on most other Android phones running Marshmallow is pretty much lag free.

3) Well it's a trade off (at least in present day). You want choices between countless devices that come with a range of features and price ranges, or limited choices that come with faster updates?

4) Actually I think the latest mid range and flagship phones have already matched the touch ID on the iPhone. The Note 7 is just as accurate and slightly faster with the fingerprint sensor, especially after the recent update.

5) This is a nice touch, but not a big deal at all for me, as I usually get an audio alert from my BT headsets when battery gets low.

6) Google needs to work on Allo until it functions like iMessage and make it the main messenger app. Right now it's just a start.

7) Yes, I also hate that. It's such a huge tease, as I like to get the top version of whatever model I get.


IMO, Android needs unity while still being able to support the mass choice of hardware.

 

[nickchallis92]

For me there is a massive gulf between Android and iOS in favour of Android.

Android is the initiative OS that acts rationally and is easy to use. I have iOS on my work phone and its bloody tragic in comparison.

 

[C DM]

For me there is a massive gulf between Android and iOS in favour of Android.

Android is the initiative OS that acts rationally and is easy to use. I have iOS on my work phone and its bloody tragic in comparison.

There are many others who would say the reverse is true for them. In the end it's whatever works better for the individual.

 

[AustinIllini]

Samsung has to catch these quality issues before device release. Between the embarrassing backwards pen debacle and the dangerous exploding phones, Samsung needs to address its internal testing procedure.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Samsung has to catch these quality issues before device release. Between the embarrassing backwards pen debacle and the dangerous exploding phones, Samsung needs to address its internal testing procedure.

To be fair, the more you push technology, the more issues will show itself. If anyone thinks Apple is such a closed bubble solely for user experience, they are fooling themselves. Apple had more than enough chances to push design and OS changes forward, but it's not that easy or trouble free as most would like to believe.

 

[hallux]

So, have you looked at the Nexus devices? The last round (since Google is now focusing on the Pixel line) was fast, had great fingerprint readers, no bloat (a given with Nexus), get updates on day 1 (since Google is developing the OS FOR those devices). Not to mention that the 6P is a very nice phone, in my opinion. I can't say how Pixel will stand up to those requirements but since they're Google's in-house brand I can't see them varying TOO much.

The bluetooth battery meter I'll give you but I'm not really sure how Apple does it, is that something with the new AirPods or is it something that has been available longer than iOS 10? That capability isn't (or WASN'T) part of the Bluetooth spec. Some devices will do it on Android, I have a Plantronics Voyager Legend that will report battery life through an app from Plantronics.

iMessage on Android? Never happen. I guess I'm in the minority but I like Hangouts, it does EVERYTHING you asked for on that line AND my texting is integrated as well, including being able to send and receive texts from ANY of my devices (including my MBP when logged into my Gmail account or the Hangouts Chrome plugin). Not to mention, it's cross-platform.

Most of what you ask for is possible/there on Android, people just need to remove the Samsung blinders and realize Android is more than Samsung.

 

[tbayrgs]

I won't beat the proverbial dead horse too much when it comes to Samsung as they've been addressed ad naseum all over the internet. Personally, what it would take for me to consider a Samsung phone, off the top of my head:

1) Sell it unlocked, carrier free in the US from day one of sales.

2) Updates need to be faster. Don't care what it takes....Google has been releasing dev previews far in advance so get your **** together and have updates ready in a timely fashion. And I don't want to hear about carrier approval causing delays---Google and Apple can get updates out quickly to their unlocked devices so Samsung should be ready to do the same on unlocked devices as well.

3) Centralized customer service/support. Google doesn't have retail stores yet they're now including 24/7 support for their phones. You have a retail presence in the US...put it to good use.

4) Dump Qualcomm and put all of your focus on the Exynos processors. You build your own, you can then optimize it best to run your brand of Android. Using an off-the-shelf CPU/GPU and trying to fit it to your OS is simply less efficient.

Regarding Android itself, the onus falls squarely on Google here and I think they're taking a giant leap forward with their new hardware philosophy---build hardware that best fits your software. Android itself is pretty damn great--where it comes up short is usually in regards to third party development and their partner OEMs. That being said, a few personal suggestions.

1) Like my suggestion for Samsung, work on your own CPU. It was rumored at one point that Google was going to take this route and I think if they're serious about their phones moving forward, they need to take a serious look at doing this as well.

2) More muscle behind your initiative/services. For example, getting developers to more quickly make use of the fingerprint sensor (still too many of the apps I use on iOS that use it don't on their Android counterparts). Same goes for Android Pay...it is lagging far behind both Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. My credit card provider, one of the largest banks in the world (Chase) just started supporting Android Pay. Put some marketing muscle and money behind really pushing for adoption by merchants and banks. Apple Pay is now being integrated into web purchases...Android Pay should be doing the same.

3) Get your crap together with Android Wear. You beat Apple to market over a year yet you have fallen drastically behind. You have no new hardware and the release of Android Wear 2.0 has been pushed back to sometime next year. Apple even gift wrapped an opportunity by offering a significantly flaw watchOS for the first year but now, watchOS 3.0 is a much improved experience and infinitely better than Android Wear. Leaving my Apple Watch behind is the single biggest reason I've been so hesitant to switch back to Android.

 

[spinedoc77]

This is not an Iphone vs Samsung vs Google thread. This is about things that Samsung and Google could do in order to really become a fierce Iphone competitor. If they did even half these things, I guarantee they would sell much more units.

For me I had an s7 but I decided to get an Iphone because it doesn't have bloatware, it's fast, can have many apps running in the background with no problem, and doesn't have any lag issues, and gets updates as soon as they come out. Even if Samsung adds 100 cool new features that the Iphone doesn't have, sure I'd buy one and play with it, but I'd sell it after a while and get an Iphone because Samsung doesn't have the core principles that I want in a phone.

These are the things Samsung and Android OS could improve on, and would make it a very fierce competitor to Apple if they did. I probably wouldn't even buy an Iphone anymore again if they did these things.

1. Remove bloatware. Seriously why do android phones come with so much bloatware preinstalled? And theres just no way to remove certain apps. With IOS 10, Apple made it so you can even delete stock apps.

2. Streamline Android OS. Make it more geared towards speed. Make use of the 4GB Ram. It should be able to multitask better than an Iphone that has only 2GB ram, not sure why an Iphone does this so much better even with only half the RAM. If Android takes up so much RAM just from the OS itself, then change the OS so it doesn't hog so much RAM. Get rid of the "lag" experience that most people who use a Samsung have already experienced and know how annoying it is.

3. Updates! Gets frustrating when you're stuck with an old version of an OS for months on end and you have no idea when you will be able to update. Then when the new update actually does come, there's already a new version of Android out by then!

4. Fingerprint sensor. This needs improvement. I find Apple's fingerprint sensor to be much much better. In the 6s it was hard to see notifications on the lock screen because the sensor was so good that as soon as you hit the home button it went straight to the home screen.

5. Bluetooth battery level indicator. I don't understand why on Android it won't show you the battery level of bluetooth devices through your phone like how it does on iOS.

6. Imessage Android version. It would be really cool if Google would add something similar to Imessage for Android devices. I like having the read receipts and typing notifications.

7. Stop making European versions better than US. I don't think its fair that the international version is faster and has longer battery life. Make US versions just as good as the international models.

What else do you think they should improve? What would it take for you Iphone people to switch to Samsung or another Android device? Do you think some of these improvements aren't necessary? Have better suggestions?

1. My Note 7 doesn't lag, I'm pretty happy with the performance. I can also remove, or disable any app. BTW you can't technically uninstall Apple apps, just hide them, similar to some of the bloatware on Android. Although Android gives you many more tools to do this, for example Samsung Package Disabler Pro is an awesome app to disable pretty much any app or process.

2. I would like this for touchwiz, even though I don't think it's bad at all. I don't see my Note 7 slower than the ip7+ I had for a while though.

3. Updates: Certainly the Achilles heel of Android for sure, but at the same time Google updates it's apps frequently and separately from the OS. Keep in mind that to get an update for Apple you pretty much have to update the entire OS, you can't just download an update to imessage or icloud. Still you have a VERY valid point, and it's even worse now that Google handed over the pixel to Verizon which will probably mean that even that doesn't get timely updates unless you get it directly from Google. Google also is making older nexus models wait a month or 2 to get updates.

4. The FP sensor on the 6s+ was much better than on the Note 5, but in my experience the FP sensor on the Note 7 is better than the ip7+, although really both are almost perfect and we are splitting hairs. But I found the 7+ to have more errors than the Note 7 overall.

5. YESSS!!!!!! This is a pet peeve of mine. Totally agree. From what I've read Android does have the hooks for this, so I'm not sure why it's an issue, maybe a dev will chime in.

6. Messages would be great. Android is doing a horrible job of this, simply horrible and it's insane that users will choose the iPhone over android in many cases solely because of iMessage. Allo is junk IMO without SMS support. Hangouts is junk that they don't even seem to care about anymore. Google voice could be awesome and just completely blow Apple out of the water, but Google just neglects this and is happy to update the app once a year or less. Messages on Google is just one of those completely baffling things to me.

7. Yeah I agree, but I believe those are licensing issues with the radios so not sure how likely that is to happen.
[doublepost=1475709979][/doublepost]

I won't beat the proverbial dead horse too much when it comes to Samsung as they've been addressed ad naseum all over the internet. Personally, what it would take for me to consider a Samsung phone, off the top of my head:

1) Sell it unlocked, carrier free in the US from day one of sales.

2) Updates need to be faster. Don't care what it takes....Google has been releasing dev previews far in advance so get your **** together and have updates ready in a timely fashion. And I don't want to hear about carrier approval causing delays---Google and Apple can get updates out quickly to their unlocked devices so Samsung should be ready to do the same on unlocked devices as well.

3) Centralized customer service/support. Google doesn't have retail stores yet they're now including 24/7 support for their phones. You have a retail presence in the US...put it to good use.

4) Dump Qualcomm and put all of your focus on the Exynos processors. You build your own, you can then optimize it best to run your brand of Android. Using an off-the-shelf CPU/GPU and trying to fit it to your OS is simply less efficient.

Regarding Android itself, the onus falls squarely on Google here and I think they're taking a giant leap forward with their new hardware philosophy---build hardware that best fits your software. Android itself is pretty damn great--where it comes up short is usually in regards to third party development and their partner OEMs. That being said, a few personal suggestions.

1) Like my suggestion for Samsung, work on your own CPU. It was rumored at one point that Google was going to take this route and I think if they're serious about their phones moving forward, they need to take a serious look at doing this as well.

2) More muscle behind your initiative/services. For example, getting developers to more quickly make use of the fingerprint sensor (still too many of the apps I use on iOS that use it don't on their Android counterparts). Same goes for Android Pay...it is lagging far behind both Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. My credit card provider, one of the largest banks in the world (Chase) just started supporting Android Pay. Put some marketing muscle and money behind really pushing for adoption by merchants and banks. Apple Pay is now being integrated into web purchases...Android Pay should be doing the same.

3) Get your crap together with Android Wear. You beat Apple to market over a year yet you have fallen drastically behind. You have no new hardware and the release of Android Wear 2.0 has been pushed back to sometime next year. Apple even gift wrapped an opportunity by offering a significantly flaw watchOS for the first year but now, watchOS 3.0 is a much improved experience and infinitely better than Android Wear. Leaving my Apple Watch behind is the single biggest reason I've been so hesitant to switch back to Android.

Agree with these all, plus they really need some physical store locations if they want to make headway into being a hardware vendor. Google seems like a company that throws a lot of money at something at first, then they abandon it like a kid with a new toy. Focus Google, FOCUS.