Android Still Doesn’t Get It

I was at Best Buy recently, and wanted to check out the latest Galaxy S5 from Samsung.

The hardware seemed pretty legit. Screen looked great. So I decided to check out the Internet. This is on a demo phone in the middle of Best Buy, you understand.

So the browser still feels clunky for some reason. Like something that’s ill-seated in its fitting. It feels like it has wiggle room all around it. Wasteful. I feel delays, jiggles, and a general lack of crispness.

Perhaps I’m overly attuned to Apple’s near perfection in the feel of its software.

Anyway, I decided to try to go to my website, and here are the steps I had to take.

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That’s four steps that stopped me from loading a webpage. I’ve been using an iPhone since 2007 and this has never once happened to me. On Android it seems constant.

A friend of mine who used to be on Android said this was a one-time setup. My counter was that it should be a never time setup. Never.

Maybe during debugging, as a developer, while it’s in alpha.

But on a demo phone? In the middle of Best Buy?

I had to take five steps to touch the Internet. That’s AFTER it was already online.

The philosophy difference between these two companies is staggering. Apple thinks you should never ask people a stupid question when they’re trying to do something.

Android evidently thinks you should ask lots of questions, because that means you care.

Android still feels extremely primitive to me in this regard. Not in all regards, mind you: Google Now makes Siri look like a Simon Says toy. But this willingness to interrogate the user in the name of choice is supremely annoying.