Gadgetory

welcome back to Android QA my name is Jace and today my friends I am on a mission that's right I Jace will strive to lead the Android army to improve our beloved Android now I love Android but I am going to say some things today that will upset some Android love and geeks but it needs to be said so here we go okay you see this this is the iphone no it's the original iphone the phone is seven years old my wife still uses this phone today why because it works and it's fast and it's reliable no you can't play Angry Birds or a lot of other you know more current iOS apps on it but it does everything she needs to do she texts she browses and she does emails and makes phone calls and it does that just about as well as it did seven years ago you see this my galaxy note it's only three years old and it doesn't do anything as well as the iphone does yeah I know host of android authority just said that an iphone that seven years old is better than a much more recent android phablet you know why because android sucks on older phones and entry-level phones you see i had the privilege to travel to over 19 countries around the world and many of those countries were poor developing countries I'd be in a village where there was nothing but mud huts but in addition to those mud huts they often had a cell phone and this was way back in the late 90s there would be one elder in the community who would manage the use of some sort of mobile phone and this mobile phone became like the the center of the community socially not only would they use it to make phone calls but they would use it to make banking transactions it became a social center that the community would rally around so much of the developing world has just passed over the PC revolution and are now knee-deep in the mobile revolution hence the huge demand for smartphones right around the world there's huge demand and right now android isn't meeting that need very well and right behind androids heels are the Chinese manufacturers who are exceedingly good at producing you know sufficient quality electronic devices at scale china has also invested millions of dollars an alternative operating systems if Android continues to leave themselves vulnerable those Chinese companies are going to exploit that I know I would if I were them android needs to fix that number two is a direct line to Google services so for example if I need to set an appointment for another meeting so I don't forget I first have to wake the device unlock it or enter my password then select the app that I want to use wait for it to load of course and then input that data now those are the steps or barriers that's put in between me and the tests that I want to complete with my phone now Google now of course is an attempt to reduce all of that just to voice dictation or work voice recognition which works fantastic on flagship powered phones the vast majority of those billion plus users that Google touted at Google i/o last year those people aren't using you know kitkat they aren't using nexus fives or the note 3 they're using you know sub 125 dollar powered Android devices and they don't use those google products very well if at all so for people like me who are very a DD and fast-paced i want those barriers removed so i can just tell the phone what I need it to do and get it done now and not have to fiddle with a whole bunch of steps in between number three privacy management now of course this is all tied into what has got to be the biggest news story of last year regardless of your interest or niche and that was the privacy infringement on behalf of the American NSA the National Security Agency now I don't to blame just the US because there's evidence to believe that many countries intelligence agencies are doing the very same thing but they are watching everything we do on our phones on our browsers everything not just expect a suspected terrorists and not just you know suspected suspicious activity but like everyone for everything and Google does allow us to manage our privacy at least a little bit if you go to your account on google you will see there are some options to manage and control your data and control how Google uses that data but it's limited now for those of you don't know google makes their you know billions of dollars a year on selling relevant ads to you and me and those are relevant ads because they know what we do they know what we search for the know when we watch they know we don't watch and they target their ads to make those ads most relevant to our interests and that's fine I'm okay with that there's nothing wrong with that it's a great business model but let me manage that data in my personal privacy much more than we are now and that is going to go really far to making more people feel comfortable about using Android number four is fragmentation now before you roll your eyes I know that this is a tired exhausted subject where many tech pundits have over used the term fragmentation so I'm not going to go into detail here other than to say that if you watch this show right here i did go into detail about why android updates take so long and how fragmentation plays a role in that you may want to check that out there's also another show this week where i talk about that check it out that's number four number five is google play cards now I know when I've talked about this in the past many of you had said that Google Play stores are readily available but I want to point out that i can go to any corner store or kiosk I think anywhere I've ever been and buy a prepaid phone card that's what I mean by being accessible these google play cards if they are really accessible at every possible store or kiosk is going to make it much easier for developers to make more money on android and thereby give you know a more fuller android experience to android users wherever they are because most of the world in the developing world they don't use credit cards like we do here almost everyone's got a credit card hexham you know students have credit cards and so it makes it easy for to use itunes and the google play store but for the rest of the world that is really restrictive so we need those google play store gift cards everywhere and it will make developers happy and users happy all right android army your homework for this week's Q&A is if you think i am full of it where you think I missed something please put it in the comments below what do you think needs done to improve our beloved Android here's what I am going to do I am going to put 5 comments under my own name in the comments below one for each point that i mentioned that needs to be done to improve android if you agree with them thumb them up if you disagree thumb them down i will also some up or thumb down your own suggestions and we will see which persons suggestions rise to the top the first non android authority host that has the highest thumbs up will win this week's t-shirt love to connect with you here on google+ or android you don't wanna forget about my brothers in android Josh Joe and the tech ninja Kevin and of course Chris I shall talk to you next show on androids QA