Ask HN: Why doesn't Android have standard apps? USB Webcam? Settings? Calc? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why doesn't Android have standard apps? USB Webcam? Settings? Calc?

2 pointsthrwawy746 comments

In 2022 it frustrates the hell out of me that on any Android phone I /may/ get apps I expect to be on the phone from the manufacturer, not as part of "stock Android". I love my Galaxy Z Fold 2, but I hate that walking through instructions with family members my "Settings" app looks different from theirs. Even the Calculator is different. It surprises me that in 2022, during this pandemic, I can't plug in my EXPENSIVE Android phone and use it as a high quality webcam for the computer.

Is there a reason Google avoids setting a baseline and having stock apps in Android? Most of their apps are just portals to their services. I feel as though the experience of Android is diminished because it's missing these bare necessities.

When I try to look for a forum to request a feature, it says to go navigate into Settings to About phone and then Submit feedback. Catch-22: My Settings on this Samsung phone looks different, and there is no Submit feedback.

Does Google have some kind of non-compete with app developers and avoids creating these basic apps? I am nonplussed.

To me it's clear Google isn't interested in actual improvements in their OS and ecosystem unless it's a mediocre frontend to one of their online services or their A/B testing told them that a tweak would make users stay online for longer (even if the reason was a confusing UI). They hold the majority of the market so they have no incentive to change anything.

As far as I know there's still no default QR code scanner, leading to an overwhelming flood of almost identical ad-filled apps on the appstore while Microsoft, Blackberry and Apple integrated it into the system. Text input and menu bars on Android are still terrible compared to what Windows Phone 8 & Blackberry OS delivered a decade ago. Instead of moving menus to the bottom of the screen for easier accessibility on ever-growing phones their major Material UI overhaul didn't do much other than add a floating button in a corner that, in my experience, still isn't perceived as button by many elderly users that come ask me how to start a new chat on WhatsApp.

Isn't the camera the built in QR reader? What do you need from a QR reader other than just opening the link it's pointing too?

I feel you.

I had a particularly bad experience with Samsung devices around 2013; used to progressively get slower and slower. This was not just on my Samsung device, but my friends Samsung devices as well. They have probably improved since then, but I swore never to try Samsung again.

Samsung's custom apps for most things were also annoying.

Pixel devices might give you a stick Android experience.

If you go to play store and search for apps distributed directly by Google, you can find stock interpretations of a lot of things.

There used to be an Android One¹ program, where phone manufacturers ship the stock Android. I don't know if they stopped that program, since most phones in the linked website are outdated models.

I have a couple of Android One Nokia devices lying around. Nothing flagshippy, just no-frills regular Android phones.

¹ https://www.android.com/intl/en_in/one/

I think I'm mostly upset that laptops never have 1080p@60fps webcams. They're terrible. I'm lucky to be working from home right now: I've had a 1080p@60fps camera in my pocket for the last 12 years and I can't just connect it as a USB webcam. I know of Droidcam, I just wish there were an official app for something so basic. Blows my mind on iOS that you can't work with numbers past 100 million. So then I switch to my personal/Android and I can't remember which Calculator app has the familiar interface that supports slightly advanced scientific calculator functions.

I want a Todo app that isn't tied into online services. I think another commenter said Android One comes with "Tasks"?

The QR reader is another infuriating example.

Samsung and Xiaomi and whatever else that invents their own UI bullshit really really like to NIH syndrome the crap out of everything, and half of it is just AOSP with ads and telemetry added to it.

There are official stock apps, like Google Calculator, Gboard, Tasks, Gallery, Photos, if you actually want them. There are also the AOSP versions.

They frequently come on phones that aren't as full of bloatware.

Google does. Pixel is baseline. Samsung is crap. They mess it all up.

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