I welcome our new Tizen Overlords

[cbrunny]

My neighbor doesn't like Android, according to him he saw Droid phones at Verizon and went with the Samsung Galaxy. I'd bet he represents a ton of people, a smartphone owner who has absolutely no idea what the phone actually is. He told me word for word that his phone's a Galaxy and he likes Galaxies way more than Droids. I tried to explain it to him but he told me that Droid = Motorola.

Depending on how he phrased it, technically he is correct.

"Droid" is a line of phones that run Android but are Motorola phones.

"Android" is an operating system.

He could have said "I hate Droids" meaning "I hate Motorola phones." Then said "I like Galaxies way more than droids" meaning "I like Samsung more than Motorola."

If he said "I hate Android, so I got a Samsung," well, then you'd be correct.

 

[Red Storm]

Yeah "Droid" does equal the Moto line of phones on Verizon. Heck my cousin who clearly knows what Android is has said the exact same thing, that he likes the Galaxy phones better than the Droid line, so he went with a Note 2.

While it may not matter to the Average Joe what OS his phone is running, they still expect to have access to that same Play Store if they bought apps from there.

 

[poofyhairguy]

It comes down to this: Does it play Candy Crush Saga?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Yeah "Droid" does equal the Moto line of phones on Verizon. Heck my cousin who clearly knows what Android is has said the exact same thing, that he likes the Galaxy phones better than the Droid line, so he went with a Note 2.

While it may not matter to the Average Joe what OS his phone is running, they still expect to have access to that same Play Store if they bought apps from there.

What about the Droid DNA? The Droid Eris? The Droid Charge? Motorola Verizon phones = DROID but DROID != Motorola Verizon phones.

 

[QueBert]

Yeah "Droid" does equal the Moto line of phones on Verizon. Heck my cousin who clearly knows what Android is has said the exact same thing, that he likes the Galaxy phones better than the Droid line, so he went with a Note 2.

While it may not matter to the Average Joe what OS his phone is running, they still expect to have access to that same Play Store if they bought apps from there.

If this phone has Facebook, Candy Crush Saga, Angry Birds and a few other apps the average Joe wouldn't know it was any different than his last phone. Very few people I know with Android phones know the place to buy app is called the Play Store, they just know they can buy apps. I'll bet money now if a phone with this actually comes out and Verizon picks it up a huge number of people will buy it strictly by seeing it was made by Samsung.

 

[lothar]

What about the Droid DNA? The Droid Eris? The Droid Charge? Motorola Verizon phones = DROID but DROID != Motorola Verizon phones.

It does now and for the foreseeable future.
http://www.droid-life.com/2013/07/2...-partnership-with-motorola-for-droid-devices/

 

[lothar]

If this phone has Facebook, Candy Crush Saga, Angry Birds and a few other apps the average Joe wouldn't know it was any different than his last phone. Very few people I know with Android phones know the place to buy app is called the Play Store, they just know they can buy apps. I'll bet money now if a phone with this actually comes out and Verizon picks it up a huge number of people will buy it strictly by seeing it was made by Samsung.

And then they will return it within the 14 day period when they discover that there's no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Spotify, Pandora, Netflix, Google Maps, or Amazon's suite of apps on it.

 

[RobertT]

And then they will return it within the 14 day period when they discover that there's no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Spotify, Pandora, Netflix, Google Maps, or Amazon's suite of apps on it.

Oh wait. Half of them aren't on Windows Phone 8. Does that really make a difference? Once the users stick to the OS, developers will have to support it. We can learn from the Nokia example and how it has been pushing the developers.

 

[Red Storm]

Oh wait. Half of them aren't on Windows Phone 8. Does that really make a difference? Once the users stick to the OS, developers will have to support it. We can learn from the Nokia example and how it has been pushing the developers.

To someone who previously had the apps? Yes it makes all the difference. Someone getting a smart phone for the first time who has NO idea what's what could probably get conned into buying a Tizen phone.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Oh wait. Half of them aren't on Windows Phone 8. Does that really make a difference?

Yes.

Have you SEEN marketshare numbers for smartphones? If anything BBs and WMs prove the point.

 

[lothar]

Oh wait. Half of them aren't on Windows Phone 8. Does that really make a difference? Once the users stick to the OS, developers will have to support it. We can learn from the Nokia example and how it has been pushing the developers.

And how well is that working for Windows Phone?
Last I checked, they're still around 3-5% market share.

Either users haven't stick to the OS due to the lack of apps or that Nokia's example of pushing developers that you cited as evidence of success is a futile and failed attempt.
Which is it?

 

[ponyo]

Oh wait. Half of them aren't on Windows Phone 8. Does that really make a difference? Once the users stick to the OS, developers will have to support it. We can learn from the Nokia example and how it has been pushing the developers.

100% why I won't consider Windows phone is the lack of official Google apps. Google Voice is absolute requirement for me and there is no official Google Voice app on Windows phone. That is instant deal breaker. I can deal with not having some other apps, but no Google Voice? Not going to work as I rely on Google Voice to run my business. I don't have enough faith in 3rd party app like MetroTalk.

 

[TuxDave]

Tizen exists solely as a back up plan for Samsung, in case of legal issues with Android's success. It'll be introduced on low end devices only and spend its entire existence scrapping the bottom of the market with FireFox OS and Ubuntu for Phones. I think Ubuntu for Phones will likely see more people using it as it'll be available on phones that aren't utter junk.

I consider it a training ground for Samsung. They want to change the way of thinking from "I want Android" to "I want Samsung". That's how they can ultimately differentiate their phones from others vs just being a pure hardware race between the OEMs. So on top of the value that Android provides, Samsung is trying to add its own value by creating its own software which hopefully locks people into their ecosystem. Once that transition is done, then it's only a matter of time before Samsung can really start taking over all the $$$.

 

[Dari]

I consider it a training ground for Samsung. They want to change the way of thinking from "I want Android" to "I want Samsung". That's how they can ultimately differentiate their phones from others vs just being a pure hardware race between the OEMs. So on top of the value that Android provides, Samsung is trying to add its own value by creating its own software which hopefully locks people into their ecosystem. Once that transition is done, then it's only a matter of time before Samsung can really start taking over all the $$$.

Again, Bada...

 

[lothar]

100% why I won't consider Windows phone is the lack of official Google apps. Google Voice is absolute requirement for me and there is no official Google Voice app on Windows phone. That is instant deal breaker. I can deal with not having some other apps, but no Google Voice? Not going to work as I rely on Google Voice to run my business. I don't have enough faith in 3rd party app like MetroTalk.

This.

 

[lothar]

I consider it a training ground for Samsung. They want to change the way of thinking from "I want Android" to "I want Samsung". That's how they can ultimately differentiate their phones from others vs just being a pure hardware race between the OEMs. So on top of the value that Android provides, Samsung is trying to add its own value by creating its own software which hopefully locks people into their ecosystem. Once that transition is done, then it's only a matter of time before Samsung can really start taking over all the $$$.

Easier said than done.
Samsung tried all of that with Bada and failed.
They are trying all of that with Tizen again and will fail. Again.

 

[TuxDave]

Easier said than done.
Samsung tried all of that with Bada and failed.
They are trying all of that with Tizen again and will fail. Again.

Heh, no kidding it isn't going to be easy. But since when was taking over the world easy?

 

[CZroe]

Great point. Fragmentation on Android today basically means that your phone runs Android 4.1.x or 4.2.x instead of 4.3, and that it may run a custom manufacturer UI skin out of the box. That's it. It will run the same programs.

It could be a bit of an issue with Android 5.0 comes out, but some companies have a good reputation for keeping current, eventually (the Galaxy S II, for example, runs Android 4.1.2 now and basically got all of the Nature UX "improvements" that the S III had). Some companies do not have a good reputation for keeping current (Motorola, HTC, LG (hopefully changing with new products), etc.).

I run into issues every freakin' day with fragmentation on my Xperia PLAY. For example: The Youtube app is practically unusable ever since the overhauled version came out last year. None of it's issues have ever been fixed despite numerous updates because they either don't have a clue or they don't care. For example, that damned ellipsis wastes what little space I had on the screen for seeing video titles and I functionally cannot tell what something is without playing it. I don't get two lines like the iOS app despite needing it more. I also regularly get a strange crash after playing a few videos (UI scrolling/browsing stutters horribly after finishing a vid and app crashes on the next though the vid continues playing under the error dialog). I also have a TERRIBLE mobile browser where almost no downloads work, even some that are specifically supposed to work on problematic Android browsers: http://www.digiblog.de/2011/04/android-and-the-download-file-headers/ (the ones that are supposed to work in that link don't on my phone) Many mobile sites including Anandtech and Engadget close the browser when they finish loading without even an error message despite being tested fine with other Gingerbread devices. This happens about 1/3rd of the time even after a fresh restart of the device and/or browser. This would not happen if not for fragmentation.