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Comment by gressquel | Hacker News Reader

I kinda understand you very well. Sometimes I wonder if google should just scratch Android and start over again. I mean no matter how much optimizing and tweaks they come up with, it will never be able to match iOS or Windows Phone in performance.

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I can tell you've never really used any high end Android phones lately. People like you probably formulate their opinions of Android based upon the $30 phones they buy. Try out a Pixel, S7 or a One Plus 3 some time. Android surpassed Windows Phone a long time ago and the Pixel is on par with the iPhone.

I've got a S7 Edge and if there were a model of Windows Phone with current hardware, I'd dump the S7 Edge and get one without bothering to think twice. Android's UI is miles behind Windows Phone, particularly the live tiles and the mail UI.

Android slows because of ton of crap that can be installed. WinUP is clean as no one makes crap. I have a nexus 4 with no play store. Juat installed whatsapp apk directly fron whatsapp.com. at least 3 day battery time.

The Windows/Tile UI is very polarizing and one of the major reasons for the failure of Windows 8. I personally dislike it.

I don't have a pixel but I've had a bunch of other flagships. The real test, that they all failed, is longevity. Android just doesn't seem able to survive a year of full use without deteriorating into a mess of glitches, one that no developer i know, myself included, has figured out how to fully salvage short of flashing a new ROM.

And yet all of the Android devices I own have all passed that test and then some. I have Android devices that are over 4 years old that still work extremely well. Granted, I'm not a flash junkie that needs to continually flash their devices with the latest daily ROM built by some script kiddie.

I have 6 year old Android devices that are still alive and kicking and used every day.

In software or in hardware? The Pixel is a beautiful device, but the security and demographics of Android vs. iOS speaks for itself in how much an Android 0day goes for vs. an iOS 0day. Android is simply not hardened or built with much security in mind, and now they are trying to catch up on that; the problem is that the Android ecosystem is brutally fragmented.

Each has its pros and cons in software and hardware. But judging from the Pixel reviews I've read it's on par with the iPhone from a performance, touch latency and UI fluidity perspective. And this is all without Google producing their own silicon yet. As for security, which OS gets monthly security patches? It's not as if iOS security is impenetrable because you just need to look at the number of CVE's raised against it each year. And if you're going to use 0day bounties as a metric then you should also realise that there's just more demand for iOS exploits then there are for Android exploits due to the calibre of targets that have iOS devices. And to imply that Android is simply not hardened or built with much security in mind is ridiculous in my opinion. Security is a challenge for all popular OS's, but for all of the security issues it's had there has yet to be the so called armageddon these shock-jock journalists have all predicted at one time or another. I guess all of the mitigation strategies are working quite well not to mention the side benefit of exploits being device dependant. Meanwhile, every security nightmare you read or hear about always involves Windows.

>the problem is that the Android ecosystem is brutally fragmented.

Looks like Android now has company.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/ios-also-has-a-fragmentation-pr...

For the record, on the front page of HN right now: https://cpbotha.net/2016/11/27/android-security-in-2016-is-a...

It maybe beautiful to use, but that thing is pig ugly

Since it's so close to the aesthetics of an iPhone the same must be true.

ok maybe "pig ugly" was a little over the top, but I do find it very plain and uninteresting. I don't see what the fuss is about, design wise

minimalism?

Maybe, but business-wise, why should they care?

The business case would be to have a phone os that people love, like Apple does.

Android would be my preferred os, if it actually worked properly. Most lay people I know feel the same. A new Android device is a joy for the few months before it falls to pieces, then it's a necessary headache, much like windows was a decade ago.

If you dominate a market with a product no one loves, you better be a locked-in telecom. Otherwise, as Microsoft learned, your dominance may be surprisingly fragile.

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