I kind of agree. I have no stats for this, but my impression is that neither Android nor iPhone users are really happy with their devices, they just tolerate them. That sounds like a ripe market for a disruptor.
I think that impression might be quite subjective – my impression is the exact opposite. I don't have any numbers either, but most people I know, both Android users and iOS users, are quite happy with their devices. They do of course have minor issues, but that will almost always be the case with something targeting such a broad audience.
I am not sure how I could be more happy with my device. Right now it mostly does what I want it to do, the battery lasts a couple of days, and it rarely bugs out.
edited: changed "really" to "more" in the second paragraph.
I am not sure how I could be more happy with my device.
Depends what you think the best possible device is. My phone meets my expectations for a smartphone. If you think phones will replace PCs for everyday office work, I'd say it falls quite a way short.
I want something that lasts a long as that $20 feature phone that I can pickup near the checkout line at Fry's. I want it to be $20. I want to be able to drop it repeatedly.
I read somewhere that given Apple's design esthetic, the iPhone will evolve to a slab of glass. It would look like a piece of art. Sounds right. Something with no holes. You can submerge in water. Screen would be all around, front, back, sides.
I think current high end devices are pretty good. Both Android and iOS. Especially for "ordinary" users. There's a lot of room for improvement for power users, though.
Here's what I'd love to have as a developer / power user.
1) Even better multitasking. Like ability to leave something running when I lock the device -- even at cost of battery life. More control, please.
2) Browsers could still get better too. Apple and Google should take a look how Opera Mobile removes need for horizontal scrolling while zooming.
3) Maybe some input device innovation could be done. Touch is nice, but it's not perfect. More precision would be often useful, but without clumsy stylus and such. Voice controls could be improved as well.
4a) For Android, updating and support issue needs to be solved. Apple seems to typically support its devices long enough for this not to be a real issue. It's unacceptable to just drop support after 1-3 years. There should be a clean industry standard way to install a new operating system. Failing that, vendors should for the very least offer an extended paid OS update service past the usual 2-3 year support period.
4b) For iOS, I'd really want more control of the device without need for insecure jailbreak. This is the main factor that keeps me using Android for now. I want to have completely free access to my files. I want to be able to execute dynamically generated code (even if it's running in a sandbox or needs to pass a validator of some sort). I want more control over how the UI works. Etc. Insecure or confusing for non-technical users? Put it behind a switch "advanced mode".
Almost all have annoyed me seriously. My last Z3? At some point Sony thought it was a good idea to start pushing ads (totally out of place Amazon shopping link.) into a really expensive phone.
Before that: 3 really not impressive Samsungs, 2 S3 (one bricked) and one Note II.
iPhone? There is a couple of reasons I don't use them: lately because other top if the line models have been waterproof. Before: iOS was just too limited for my preferences.
> 4b) For iOS, I'd really want more control of the device without need for insecure jailbreak. This is the main factor that keeps me using Android for now. I want to have completely free access to my files. I want to be able to execute dynamically generated code (even if it's running in a sandbox or needs to pass a validator of some sort). I want more control over how the UI works. Etc. Insecure or confusing for non-technical users? Put it behind a switch "advanced mode".
What I'd really like is for Apple to do the jailbreak patching on old releases and allow roll-backs. I do like iOS and iPhones, but taking my 4s up to iOS 9 after having AT&T unlock it resulted in a major performance hit. They have improved it, but it's not the way it used to be, and same with space considerations. I'm fine with the OS having to eat up a lot of space but right now Apple is in a transitional stage for iphones and iOS where legacy hardware can still run iOS9; the 8 gig phones just have almost no room on them with the dump space used that you can't manually clean on stock iOS.
Basically, I'm fine with updating, but I'd like to know I can decide to go back if my real world usage is not acceptable. Apple's legacy support is great and I do like that they include the option, but I'd like to be able to decide "not for me".
> Failing that, vendors should for the very least offer an extended paid OS update service past the usual 2-3 year support period.
Sadly this is called buying a new phone and it won't change.
With Android devices now around 150 euros price range, I doubt very much anyone is willing to pay for updates versus a new phone.
And on the OEM side, Google seems unwilling to attach update requirements on their contracts with OEMs.
They would only need to make it part of the requirements to integrate with the Play Store, so easy, but they won't do it, looking at their current behavior.
Lack of updates was already the norm in the older days, with luck some Symbian handsets used to have just one firmware update during their lifetime, which only technical users would apply anyway.
I think it's pretty irresponsible to have things hooked up to the internet that don't receive security updates. I would support legislation that forces vendors to fix security problems for free for all devices with network interfaces for at least five years, better ten. It's only going to get worse once the IoT really gets going.
IoT is already worse, in the last couple of years there have been multiple security talks joking about the state of affairs, yet it doesn't seem to have improved much.
While I do not immediately agree I can see one nice side effect:
It would maybe limit the rate at which new imcompatible things are sent to market: if you have to support that stupid thing for a number of years you better get all the drivers into some sort of mainline kernel etc etc
I would count software problems as manufacturing defects, but I'm no lawyer. I wonder if anybody tried getting their old hardware replaced for free after discovering a software problem.
Not sure if it is atrocious but not having a back key in the OS is really a pain in the a... I have to learn how to go back from every single page every time a friend gives me an iPhone to perform some task. Everything else is more or less the same with every new software system: you have to discover how to do things and there is no easy way out of that. Example: I remember I had problems finding how to send SMS on an iPhone in 2012: the owner was driving and I had to answer one.
I have the exact opposite reaction. I find android lacking in many ways, even though i sorely miss killer apps, such as termux, and the general openess on ios.
Being a 90% linux vs 10% macos kind of guy, it feels a bit weird to promote the ios UX, but I guess it emphasizes the fact that people might be inconsistent in their likings, hence the need for choice.
Apple design their UX for majority. I worked on MacOS for a few weeks and it was nightmare. Like someone removed most of features that was useful to me and added a lot of garbage.
Nobody was happy with desktop OSes thirty years ago, but it was still impossible to get them to switch to something better because of ecosystem of applications and hardware. The same is probably true of phones today, although maybe the internet/ cloud makes users less locked in.
You are right. Most smartphone users are not happy with their cameras and battery life. Innovation has kind of stopped in these areas for both iPhone and Android.
