Android One | Hacker News Reader

Android One

googleblog.blogspot.com

39 pointscleverjake11 comments

> To help ensure a consistent experience, Android One devices will receive the latest versions of Android directly from Google.

Finally! Hopefully we'll see all new Android devices going this direction in the future, with carriers and handset/tablet vendors (who have no incentive to support a device that's already been sold) removed from the software side of things entirely.

That's one of the most significant differences with Chrome OS, where the software stack always comes directly from Google no matter who you get your Chrome device from.

I just came back from a month in the subcontinent. Practically everyone has a modern smartphone from some Chinese company or other. Good ones with modern specs, running Android 4.4. Many children had better phones than mine. And I am talking about regular people, shopkeepers, etc.

Their main problem is that there are no worthwhile mobile data networks. The ones they have are slow, expensive and with very poor coverage. This is the problem to solve - hardware is already a commodity at this point.

I am a long time Android user and recently pre-ordered an iPhone 6. Many people I know have done the same.

But after reading this post, I don't think Google cares. They're aiming at getting a phone in the hands of millions without the means to get a legit smart phone.

"I am a long time Android user and recently pre-ordered an iPhone 6."

Okay, i'll bite. The iphone6 seems like a slightly better iphone 5 (hardware wise) What was the hardware feature that drove you to this?

(If it was IOS 8, that's interesting, but you make it sound like the iPhone 6 offered something over and above the iPhone 5S that made you want it over an android device, so i'm really curious what it was)

An iPhone 5 with better hardware is not too shabby, and finally NFC is nice. I'm planning to get an Android after my iPhone 5 is totally wrecked (any week soon) and start developing for it.

It's also odd to switch from a (likely) higher resolution screen on Android to a lower resolution screen on the iPhone 6 (the iPhone 6 is about 720p... Moto G territory).

I was tired of being left out. Indy games always release iOS first and sometimes don't even port to Android. Cool apps that come out like Hyperlapse are also iOS first. Even Google's own apps release features an iOS before Android. Device fragmentation plagues Google's apps. Hardware-wise, they're all more or less the same.

In terms of iPhone 5s vs. 6 it's really just the timing. I was disappointed with this year's Google I/O and felt I should get the newest device.

You forgot to tell us WHY.

Clearly you want to talk about it since you brought it up. So why did you switch from Android to iOS (8)/iPhone 6?

iPhone 6 and iOS 8 are definitely doing well at playing catch up: Larger sizes, custom keyboards, NFC, pop-over text message reply box, and so on. But all of this has been available on Android for literally years.

The only place where I feel iOS really kicks Android's butt is in security and privacy. Google's permissions are too broad and the lack of notifications for invasive things (e.g. Address Book access) is particularly troubling. Third party solutions exist but they void your warranty to install (require unlocked bootloader, root, etc).

I wasn't trying to talk about why. I was trying to talk about how iPhone 6 seems to be winning over Android users (myself included) and those users are going to be replaced by millions of new users.

But if you want to know why it's because of device fragmentation affecting app quality and quantity.

A dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8317943.

It looks like Google is trying to become more like Apple. Seeing that Apple does not make its own hardware (and it's made by contractors like FoxConn), the similarities are pretty high between A-1 and Apple.

Not an Apple fanboi, but I like the whole iOS ecosystem: less noise, things "just work", etc.

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