Why I do not use Android

Recently, an article appeared on the hub that Samsung plans to launch its OS for smartphones this year (http://habrahabr.ru/post/169581/). The discussion in the topic is very hot - I have not seen so many pages of comments for a long time. Since I have a mode recovery, writing more than one comment did not work. So I decided to write my personal post comment about Android OS and what I think about it. You probably already guessed that the opinion is not high.

With the release of the first versions of Andorid OS - the 1st version in October 2008, the 2nd version in 2010, the 3rd version in 2011 - at first it was not clear whether it was good or bad - one thing is clear, it is innovative! At that time, I enjoyed using Nokia E61, after which I upgraded to E72, and my friend switched to Android. I could not understand and do not understand why a phone with such low consumer qualities has gained such popularity? From consumer qualities, I mean:
- battery life
- ergonomics of dialing and SMS
- system performance
- software quality

I’m closely following the formation of the Android OS all the time and I’m waiting for it to mature into something worthwhile, at least the level of Windows XP, when compared with desktops. The 4th version of the OS has already been released and I got a tablet on the Tegra 2 CPU-free meringue. My expectations were simple - finally, the android has matured, and also acquired a decent "adult" hardware platform.
And what do you think? For several days I was at a loss, why is this a miracle of technology, so everyone praised works with such wild brakes? Why does the browser work slower than on symbian, constantly freezes and crashes? Why can’t I connect to any of my VPN networks, and all the clients provided in the market are nothing more than tricks of a student’s triplet - and these are the best programs in the top of the market! Why can't I just simply at the level of MS Outlook or Thunderbird access my mail and apply elementary filters by folders? Why is there not a single email client that supports filtering?

As you know, my expectations very quickly turned into disappointment - the maximum that my device was capable of was Angry Birds and Internet surfing, although the price of the device allowed me to purchase an XBOX or an average TV. The keyboard purchased in the kit is gathering dust in the desk drawer - it is extremely problematic to use it for its intended purpose.

For each item of consumer qualities I want to paint a little more specific with examples.


Battery life
At that time, when Android devices hardly fit in 2-3 days of battery life, if they are not heavily loaded, Nokia based on Symbian OS worked fine on average 5 days. I think everyone knows this very well. And what do we have in the 4th android? Mega-powerful processors, faster than those on which we played DOOM at one time, who are trying to revive this clumsy interface, and that’s 2-3 hours of work time, even on new devices.



Ergonomics of the smartphone.
The main actions for the phone: dialing, dialing SMS, answering a call. The rest of the functions - browser, camera and others I think are additional, which should not be more convenient than priority ones.
I’ll tell you that after E72 dialing a number on a droid background is a torment. Firstly, you don’t feel the response of pressing the drawn buttons, but we will write it off to the technology, and not to the OS. Secondly, to dial a number, you need to run a certain application in which to search for my contacts. When searching, the contacts hang terribly when scrolling, which causes irritation. Compare with Nokia E72 - in the main screen mode, we begin to type the first / last name of the required contact and, lo and behold, the contact is already in front of our eyes - we make a call with two clicks. The speed of typing SMS and working with a notebook is more convenient on a qwerty symbian smartphone, tested on E61 / E72.



System performance
I will say that if the 2-core processor is not able to revive the interface of my phone, so that it just does not slow down and stick, I don’t need such a phone. It’s like hammering nails with a microscope.
On my Tegra 2 + Andoroid 4 tablet, sticks occur almost everywhere - when unlocking, when launching applications, when viewing the market. If my desktop worked like that, I would immediately think about an upgrade.


Quality of software
The highest quality software in the market is games. This we will leave for housewives and good time. I am interested in the following programs:
- mail client
- VPN client
- video player
- RDP terminal

E-mail clients, as the market shows - one, two, and miscalculated. One of the most popular - K-9 Mail is something ugly, like the programs of the 90s. My native clients will describe why they did not fit - I have 4 email accounts, several of them corporate and several personal. Forwarding mail from one to another is not an option. Some 200-500 letters per day are poured onto some mailboxes, which need to be filtered by folders, since the letters are reports on the operation of certain programs. The native Gmail client, as it turned out, can only work with gmail mail. The additional native mail client “Mail” is not able to filter, and as it turned out, it cannot work with gmail via IMAP, and as it turned out later, gmail IMAP for android is generally some kind of mystery that no one can cope with.

VPN client is also a separate sad story, which is constantly discussed in various forums. That at the previous work, that at the present, it was not possible to connect to the corporate VPN network. There were a lot of dances with a tambourine - different customers have been tried, the best, according to the Google Market, but seemingly very flawed. Some of them even connected, but there was no network - apparently there weren’t enough routings, but apparently nobody took care of them in the programs. The native VPN did not master the connection either. By some miracle, it was possible to establish a connection and there is even a field for specifying the IP of remote machines, but for some reason they did not work.

Video player and RDP terminal
Everything is fine here, thanks to MX Player for the video player and several sensible programs for working with RDP terminals.


Advertising
A common problem with the software is that almost all the free software shows you some bullshit in the corner of the screen - either an offer to buy the Internet faster, or an advertisement for underwear. The question is, why do I need this zombie? Why for PC Thunderbird or Google Chrome doesn’t show me all the nonsense that I don’t need, but on the android they still consider it their duty to integrate advertising into their unfinished software? If you observed such an abundance of intrusive advertising in Google Chrome or outlook, would anyone really use these programs? In the android, it seems to me that this takes place in view of the nearness in the IT sphere for most of the platform users - they take advantage of what they gave, as well as a complete lack of competition.


Conclusion
The reader is more likely already tired of my sobs, therefore I will be rounded off. Against the background of the release of new OSs for smartphones - Ubuntu, Samsung, I passionately wish that they succeed and we finally find a decent platform for a smartphone that will not be full of commercials, and software will satisfy our needs, iron will not be more powerful our desktop friends, and one charge will be enough for a week of use.
Thank you for your time.

P.S. device Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet