I'm not liking Android very much

[SueEllen]

This. Or at least this for the average Joe, where you download/install a ROM/Update with Android pre-configured with drivers, kernel etc. for your particular hardware. For unrooted device the only way to update is to wait for the headset manufacturer/carrier to release an update which is recognised by your OS and allowed to be installed.

Since a lot of headset manufacturers can't be arsed to make all the builds, verifications and support for new Android releases on all older headsets (and it's in their interest to sell you a new headset), there are helpfull people like the XDADevelopers bunch that take upon themselves to do that task and then publish the results (ROMs) for everyone to use at their own risk.

Since your original OS is locked down it won't allow you to install 3rd party ROMs/Updates you first need to obtain root access to your phone allowing you to wipe the existing OS and install one of the custom ROMs.

And this is what put me off Android (while attracting many others). I do enough tinkering of IT "stuff" as part of my job, don't want to be forced to do the same with my phone. Not to mention it becomes unreliable as often enough ROMs are full of bugs, so dropped calls, poor reception/battery life are everyday risks.

You could simply use it like another device e.g. a set top box and not tinker with it. Just because you work in IT tinkering with "stuff" there is nothing forcing you to tinker with phones.

[sal]

You could simply use it like another device e.g. a set top box and not tinker with it. Just because you work in IT tinkering with "stuff" there is nothing forcing you to tinker with phones.

I also hate bloatware and like to get the new shiny stuff that comes with major OS update, especially when forking £4-500 for a handset. Both were only achievable with rooting a couple of years ago. This has changed with the Nexus line and now the Pixel, but too little too late. Now Apple has me firmly in their grasps, where my 4-5 year old devices still get OS updates, the user experience is uniform on all my devices and things "just work"

[SueEllen]

I also hate bloatware and like to get the new shiny stuff that comes with major OS update, especially when forking £4-500 for a handset. Both were only achievable with rooting a couple of years ago. This has changed with the Nexus line and now the Pixel, but too little too late. Now Apple has me firmly in their grasps, where my 4-5 year old devices still get OS updates, the user experience is uniform on all my devices and things "just work"

You could have had a Nexus phone from the beginning avoiding manufacturers bloatware so it's not exactly an excuse.

[Fred Bloggs]

You could have had a Nexus phone from the beginning avoiding manufacturers bloatware so it's not exactly an excuse.

The price of the Pixel phones puts me off, but they remain fairly bloat free? For me, it's a shame there doesn't really seem to be an up to date version of my old trusty Nexus 5, which I still use daily.

The LG G5 that work gave me, I tolerate because it's for work, otherwise I wouldn't bother with it.

[d000hg]

It would be rather an admission of fault if Google put their own crap on top of Android... that it's not a very good OS unless you fix it

[eek]

It would be rather an admission of fault if Google put their own crap on top of Android... that it's not a very good OS unless you fix it

Google Assistant is only available on the Pixel. Not quite its own crap but something not available elsewhere. Others seem to be moving towards Alexa or their own variations (HTC are doing their own AI self learning assistant app).

[SueEllen]

The price of the Pixel phones puts me off, but they remain fairly bloat free? For me, it's a shame there doesn't really seem to be an up to date version of my old trusty Nexus 5, which I still use daily.

The LG G5 that work gave me, I tolerate because it's for work, otherwise I wouldn't bother with it.

Nexus 6 and 6P straight from Google are bloat free. So it's likely the Pixel is.

[sal]

You could have had a Nexus phone from the beginning avoiding manufacturers bloatware so it's not exactly an excuse.

Beginning of what I have had smart phones for more than a decade. Nexus only came out at the end of 2013, by that point i had switched to iPhone 5 in 2012. My friends are colleagues are about 50:50 iOS:Android don't know a single person who switched from iOS to Android, I know there are people like that, just never met any. I know i'm not doing it until something goes monumentally wrong.

What do you mean by Excuse? As the title of the thread is "I'm not liking Android very much" I shared what put me off Android and that the "fix" for my gripes in the face of the Nexus line came too late to keep me as a customer.

[sal]

Google Assistant is only available on the Pixel. Not quite its own crap but something not available elsewhere. Others seem to be moving towards Alexa or their own variations (HTC are doing their own AI self learning assistant app).

Haven't used Google assistant, but software house holding back software to themselves in order to sell some hardware on a saturated market is shooting yourself in the foot.

Amazon are doing the smart thing by offering Alex to 3rd party HW manufacturers to ensure fast dissemination in the early days, once people get used to it it will be hard to make them switch with all the power of Amazon behind it.

I wish HTC luck with that, wouldn't hold my breath for a company on the verge of bankruptcy that dropped from 4.5% to 0.5% market share in couple of years.

[VectraMan]

Beginning of what I have had smart phones for more than a decade. Nexus only came out at the end of 2013, by that point i had switched to iPhone 5 in 2012.

2010 actually.

It used to be a common claim from the iPhone apologists that Android was only for people who wanted to fiddle, whereas an iPhone "just worked". But it's cobblers. 99.9% of Android users have never rooted their phones or done anything but use it as is; I only ever did once with my first phone and that was as much about curiosity as the need to change anything.