Does anyone else other than Google, Samsung and Apple make popular branded smartphones? Well, if you follow the market you'll know there are many brands and many flavours of Android today competing for customers. Some 32,000 voices at Nokia will strongly disagree with my opening proposition – you've heard of Windows Phone, …

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1. Saturday 2nd November 2013 13:19 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Nexus 4 owner here - caveat emptor
  
  It has major build quality issues. The camera is truly rubbish. The screen is very obviously inaccurate. The fake chrome edges wear away very fast. The glass back was a huge mistake. (I've been lucky so far, but who knows?) The battery life is depressing, though Android 4.3 did seem to make life a bit better.
  
  The Nexus 5 appears to fix many of these issues, though obviously nobody's had long to look at it yet. If you want the best Android there is, I'd wait. I'm with you on killing carrier phones, though - one reason I bought the Nexus 4 was it gave me a way out. None of these things are show-stoppers (and it is great value given the performance and screensize), but they're all annoying. As I hate OEM Android, I'm considering switching to iPhone - for all Apple's flaws, they do get hardware right.
  
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  1. Monday 4th November 2013 10:47 GMT NinjasFTW
    
    Re: Nexus 4 owner here - caveat emptor
    
    I'm not sure what you mean by build quality issues in the nexus 4. I have one and the only complaint is the glass back but I use a cover so its not an issue anyway.
    
    I have never noticed any screen inaccuracies and get 2 days battery use with light usage (including background tasks that sync backups and lot of push messages).
    
    I don't use the camera much but the odd pics I take with it seem ok to me.
    
    I wont be getting the Nexus 5 (unless something happens to my N4) and am hoping that a Ubuntu/Tizen/Sailfish phone gets up and running for my next phone because I'm not 100% comfortable with the direction that Google/Android is heading.
    
    I find it funny that you think that Apple do hardware right after so many issues with home button breaking, dust in the screen in the 3's, various antenna issues in the 4, 5s accelerometer etc. It is a high quality product but not so good that its worth putting on a pedestal!
    
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Friday 1st November 2013 23:16 GMT Will 28

I think you underestimate MS benefits from this

As companies try to tie you to their services, it increasingly breaks consumer confidence. My last 3 purchases have gone:

iPhone 3G

Galaxy S2

Nokia Lumia (recent, so I can't be sure if it's a great improvement)

Each time I moved because I was pissed off with the constraints of the device. My iPhone would not work without pledging my undying loyalty to iTunes and binding everything to Apple. I moved to the open platform, suddenly Google Play would periodically start on my phone, and I couldn't uninstall it, it appears contract phones from 3 are not able to. Then other google services started running in the background, without any user interaction. So I move to a windows phone. Granted it doesn't tell me what's running, but so far it seems to be much easier to customise than the "open" platform that is/was Android. What I can be sure of is that those other two systems are driving people away by trying to take too much from them.

Just saying, the more Google tighten their grip...

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1. Saturday 2nd November 2013 13:12 GMT Jamie Jones
  
  Re: I think you underestimate MS benefits from this
  
  I agree about apps starting in the background at regular intervals.
  
  Google apps are definitely the worst offenders - I've removed some apps simply because I don't use them frequently enough to justify the constant periodic slowdowns.
  
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2. Saturday 2nd November 2013 13:19 GMT Aaronage
  
  Re: I think you underestimate MS benefits from this
  
  That's some pretty funky logic.
  
  Google Play/Services has always, and will always, run in the background on an Android device. It handles syncing, notifications etc. Killing it would be a bit silly.
  
  Moving to another platform because you see this as a loss of control is just daft. You've moved from a platform that allowed you to strip back everything to one which strictly defines your use of the device.
  
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Saturday 2nd November 2013 13:15 GMT Schultz

Rumors of a 삼성 - Google break-up...

I don't see if there is actual hard evidence for a break between good and Samsung. In my impression, Samsung is very pragmatic and will simply produce and sell what the customers demand. No need to break up if there is money to be made. The duplication of functionality is probably to cover their behinds just in case Android moves in an unexpected direction.

For Google, it's harder to tell what they want out of their runaway success. Is Android still a tool to ensure open mobile access (to Google search) for everybody, or do they want to build a bright new world, following the lead of Apple. Open seems to be more successful gauging from the apple-google fight so far.

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Saturday 2nd November 2013 13:20 GMT Dan 55

Rather good article on ArsTecnica

Here.

Summary: Anyone who wants to take on Google is forced to copy Google Play Services' API. Only Amazon is half-way there.

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Saturday 2nd November 2013 13:20 GMT No Quarter

Chill people

I wasn't aware that Microsoft, Apple, Google or Samsumg were actually raping us up the back passage. They are just trying to sell us shiny toys and make a bit of money.

Cut them some slack.

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Saturday 2nd November 2013 16:14 GMT phil dude

let's just say it...

let's just say it...

we all want fantastic nokia hardware running the best of linux...;-) No?

Ok flame bait I admit. But my experience with Android on the TF101 is that everything the manufacturer does to it, makes it worse (in this case ASUS). And of course, they stop supporting it to sell their NEW shiny product so you are compelled to root it to get anything recent e.g. malware patches....

At least google has an incentive to keep things working,no? And since it is opensource that is at least a non-zero possibility?

As with most of the other posters anecdotally who see phone type X vs Y, but I believe Samsung is in the stats the current leader?

For all of you who doubt it, you can run Android on "recent" regular linux, and it has been codified into a library (bionic+libhybris I believe.). The approach taken by the Jolla folks is the Alien VM.

I think we should all be glad there are alternatives, there is some hope that competition will make things better...

P.

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Monday 4th November 2013 09:28 GMT Anonymous Coward

Far better out there...

Yes, there are some highly acclaimed phones out there even better than the likes of Galaxy S4.

It just happens that we sheep seek approval from our mates so the one we buy can be a bit of a downer.

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