Gadgetory

this episode of Android Q&A is brought to you by domain.com now consider for a moment that when Google designed Android they designed it to be a simple user experience but if you're new to the platform and just got your first Android phone you might not know it with all the bloat and crap where on your phone yeah I'm looking at you Sammy alright so today's show is based off an Android Authority comm article written by our own Android brother Mike Hearn you can go to that article and read it it's in the show links below I talked about marks opinion and my own and I want to hear your opinion in the comments below let's get started software like Samsung's TouchWiz and HTC Sense are among some of the more popular third-party interfaces used with Android but there are countless others and while some of the best Android powered devices in the market use manufacturer built software there's a nasty consequence that comes with this practice due to the popularity of gadgets like Samsung's Galaxy Note product line and HTC One series some casual tech fans are under the impression that these third-party developed interfaces are coming straight from Google all right so let's clarify some things for the uninitiated what we're talking about here is the software skin that goes over top of pure Android why do manufacturers put their skins on Android why not just leave Android pure and vanilla well they're trying to distinguish themselves from their competitors to create an experience that is uniquely Samsung uniquely HTC etc etc that's what we're talking about when we say skin bloatware or crapware because for many enthusiasts like you and me we don't want people put and junk on top of our beloved Android but for some people they don't know the difference all right so mark goes on in his article to point out that his uncle a former iPhone user bought his first Android phone and after a while did not like it and went back to the iPhone because he said and I quote there's too much going on on Android and that's a good point now I know some of you are busting at the seams right now because you're thinking if guy only knew what Android can do I mean forget just about custom roms there's apps like Tasker that can get granular detail and customizing every little bit of your phone it's so much more powerful and you're right Android is more powerful hands down pretty clear you can do much more with it but here's my point most average users don't care that you can do more with Android that anger is more flexible and more powerful they don't care I got a host full of those people you know what they want to do they want a text and call they want to browse their social networks and they want to do some casual gaming the core activities of a smart phone for the average user now you and me because you're a freak you watch youtube videos on mobile operating systems yeah here's the point I know you're going to freak but Android does not provide a significantly better experience on those core activities than the iPhone does it just not let's face it it doesn't androids virtues are much more beyond that it's with customization of flexibility so when you say to someone you just don't know what you're missing well they don't care that they're missing it that's the point now Merc goes on to argue that the possible solution to this is better marketing and that if the average user understood the power latent in their Android phone they'd be much more likely to appreciate it I would argue they need to go a big step further than that and possibly consider making two versions of Android Android light versus Android Pro making Android PO easily accessible for us power users but make a compelling case for those core four or five activities in your smartphone to be better than any other mobile operating system out there I mean Google is the engineering god of the universe right now let's put those brains to power and make those four or five core activities better than anything else now if you really want to educate the average user Google by Sprint and make texting free for everyone who buys a Nexus device that'll educate the average user that's the kind of thing that is going to move the needle and move those mainstream people into lovin Nexus devices that's the kind thing we need to think about or how about this as Google Fiber expands give all new Nexus owners a Wi-Fi credit mmm see I don't believe marketing or educating the average user is going to really move the needle because the average user doesn't want to be educated they don't care enough what they care about is compelling reasons to move platforms so the question of the day is what compelling reason can you imagine that would cause you to move platforms what would cause you to move to blackberry to move to iOS one reason let me know in the comments below so my friend is starting a new company and we've been playing a fun little exercise when it comes to domain names it's not just about calm or net anymore but look at the endless possibilities for domain extensions dot life guru expert dot lighting limited market marketing ninja dot knew just about anything is possible all available now at domain.com and the guys at domain.com want to hook our viewers up with a great offer you can save 15% off domain names and web hosting when you use our coupon code Android at domain.com check out don't forget 15% off when you use our coupon code Android when you think of domain names think of domain calm thanks for watching Android army my name is Jace I'd love to connect with you right here on Google+ or Twitter now I'm going to answer a question that I get a lot and that is about the music that I use in the show so in the show links below there's two links one to incompetent calm there's a lot of royalty-free music that I use there and there's Android I keep saying Android his name is Andrew girl or her I linked up his SoundCloud page I use two of his stuff one is called the iPad or a Magic iPad unboxing that's really popular I use it for the product shots and there's another one called solace and that's also really popular the other two are Proctor in the intro Proctor is something you can find online I forget where I found it and the second one is data flow data flow is the music that I use right after the TRO and I don't think you can find dataflow because it's private and I can't share it it's something I only have permission to use but it's all linked up below you want to forget about my brothers in Android Josh Joe in the tech ninja Kevin Lonnie Chris Gary Nash and Taylor all working super hard deliver the best Android content on the web but I want to point something out ash who is one of our newer hosts here he had he has produced an epic video on the history of Nexus and if it's not out today when I've linked right here I will link it up very very shortly but it's right there at the top it is epic he put like a month's worth of effort into it it's awesome show him some love and learn about the history of Nexus you will seriously earn some serious geek cred if you watch that whole thing because it's awesome fantastic job apparently is going to be part 1 and part 2 but it's length up there I should see you guys next week on Android Q&A