Why does Android feel so lacking? - Page 3 - maemo.org

m4r0v3r | # 21 | 2013-01-06, 01:13 | Report

awww damn Arie, I was going to get the Nexus 4. Tbh using Android on my N9 hasn't been at all bad?? But maybe that's because it's never on a long term basis.

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g.jie | # 22 | 2013-01-06, 03:50 | Report

when a friend of mine introduced me to the N900 back in late 2011, i was amazed and said to myself that _this_ is what a smartphone should be like.
coming from an android phone that used an ARMv6 procie (Samsung i5510), the N900 runs circles around it! i mean, real multitasking and a hardware keyboard! though the i5510 had fairly limited hardware to begin with...

funny though that it was android that taught me how not to be afraid of the shell and use linux.
i do have some mising apps that i use daily with android that aren't available on maemo (Pleco, for example). i don't play games anyway so having no games is not a big loss for me; playing with aircrack and wireshark (and messing with my friend's wifi and school's WEP-encrypted network) is already fun enough.

but if there's there's one thing that i truly find lacking in android (okay, maybe not really platform specific, but you get the idea) is the lack of phones with physical keyboards being produced. i know that there are a lot of keyboards with autocorrect and predictive text, it just doesn't feel right and when you speak a language that it isn't well-supported, well...
also, i'm not really a fan of on-screen keyboards. there's no tactility and vibrations do not count. with a physical keyboard, i can text while walking around without looking at the phone!

sorry about the long post/rant.

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herpderp | # 23 | 2013-01-06, 10:29 | Report

Originally Posted by qwazix View Post

A big difference for me is the keyboard shortcuts and other things that work as leftovers from the desktop on our NIT's, which do not exist on android because it's made from scratch.
Ctrl+A works everywhere on maemo, ctrl+z works on Microb, copy + paste fully supported. The OS is file-centric so you have control, as every app saves and loads from disk.

Hate to break the circlejerk with facts, but ctrl+A and ctrl+Z works in all textboxes (and other selectable areas) in Android. Many other keyboard shortcuts work as well (alt-tab, etc).

Source: I'm owning a Transformer Prime with a keyboard dock.

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don_falcone | # 24 | 2013-01-06, 12:28 | Report

I wonder how many of you are comparing apples & peaches. That is, comparing stock Android ROMs / vendor UIs / default applications with the Maemo-side of things. Up to my knowledge, many shortcomings are fixed by 3rd party stuff.

When i had a Galaxy Tab 10.1 (3.0.x) for some weeks, i didn't like it. When i had a Galaxy Nexus (4.2.x) for a week, i didn't like it too. Both were bland, boring, and feeling very restricted. But being corporate devices, i couldn't play around with them that much (that is, installing software, much customizing etc).

Now that my Touchpad said 'good riddance' to the trainwreck webOS (or rather it's very under-supported software availability/lack of features), i could ("not", yes i could but) be happier with CyanogenMod 10 (4.1.2) but it is really good enough for me now.

Being able to choose applications / tools of your choice, from vast offers, really makes a difference. Of course, the task switching / process freezing / reloading still sucks hairy b*lls, even if i have installed that webCM mod.

(And i love the Hacker's keyboard. No Swype or similar dreck for me)

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whayong | # 25 | 2013-01-06, 16:11 | Report

Originally Posted by don_falcone View Post

I wonder how many of you are comparing apples & peaches. That is, comparing stock Android ROMs / vendor UIs / default applications with the Maemo-side of things. Up to my knowledge, many shortcomings are fixed by 3rd party stuff.

When i had a Galaxy Tab 10.1 (3.0.x) for some weeks, i didn't like it. When i had a Galaxy Nexus (4.2.x) for a week, i didn't like it too. Both were bland, boring, and feeling very restricted. But being corporate devices, i couldn't play around with them that much (that is, installing software, much customizing etc).

Now that my Touchpad said 'good riddance' to the trainwreck webOS (or rather it's very under-supported software availability/lack of features), i could ("not", yes i could but) be happier with CyanogenMod 10 (4.1.2) but it is really good enough for me now.

Being able to choose applications / tools of your choice, from vast offers, really makes a difference. Of course, the task switching / process freezing / reloading still sucks hairy b*lls, even if i have installed that webCM mod.

(And i love the Hacker's keyboard. No Swype or similar dreck for me)

I've had the touchpad on CM9 nightlys since June and I'm on the current 12/30/12 nightly. It's just been "meh" to me. Nothing special, lacks real multitasking, uses more battery then webOS, and the list goes on... I do use it, for browsing, that's about it these days.

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don_falcone | # 26 | 2013-01-06, 16:45 | Report

...but try to browse with webOS. Rendering errors (page blanks out, like on /. comments), drop-down selections not working, random reloads, shitty bookmark "management", issues with downloading files, especially unknown MIME types, and so on. Btw with CM10 i definitely cannot confirm that current usage would be higher.

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anthonie | # 27 | 2013-01-06, 17:02 | Report

Originally Posted by don_falcone View Post

(And i love the Hacker's keyboard. No Swype or similar dreck for me)

You know what my problem is with you? You have stated this so many times, that I now miss the hackers keyboard, without ever having owned an Android device, let alone this hackers keyboard...

That's called mind hacking, and I consider it illegal

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whayong | # 28 | 2013-01-06, 17:09 | Report

Originally Posted by don_falcone View Post

...but try to browse with webOS. Rendering errors (page blanks out, like on /. comments), drop-down selections not working, random reloads, shitty bookmark "management", issues with downloading files, especially unknown MIME types, and so on. Btw with CM10 i definitely cannot confirm that current usage would be higher.

Yup, I'm not arguing that webOS is any better, just that Android isn't what it is cracked up to be, at least for me and my usage. BTW, speaking of drop-down selections, I cannot do a search from the drop-down search tool on the top to search within any forum thread in TMO on both CM9 and webOS on the touchpad

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qwazix | # 29 | 2013-01-06, 23:54 | Report

Originally Posted by herpderp View Post

Hate to break the circlejerk with facts, but ctrl+A and ctrl+Z works in all textboxes (and other selectable areas) in Android. Many other keyboard shortcuts work as well (alt-tab, etc).

Source: I'm owning a Transformer Prime with a keyboard dock.

Lucky you! But we're talking about phones here and android qwerty phones don't even have ctrl.

Source: http://images.google.gr/search?hl=el...IGoDQ&tbm=isch

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bigears5000 | # 30 | 2013-01-07, 01:38 | Report

Originally Posted by Acidspunk View Post

Well, I've been using an Xperia Mini Pro for about a month now and to be quite honest, it's getting harder for me to go back to my n900 each time. I keep it charged and still use it, but it just feels slow and clunky in comparison. Even the default browser on the mini pro was pretty impressive as it's a competitor to microB and I wasn't expecting it to be. Long story short, I didn't expect to like android as much, and I'm generally impressed with it. If only it had CuteTube

A bit off topic here. You mention android not having cute tube, which obviously it doesn't, but if it's the video downloading feature that is the main part that you are missing, you might want to check out tubemate. Search for tubemate apk on Google and you can download it from a choice of third party android stores. Obviously Google wouldn't be hosting a YouTube downloader in it's own play store. Just thought I would point this out.

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