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I have a confession to make. I may have lied on my last review (slightly). I said I only had two gripes with the Galaxy Nexus but it was actually three. I felt the last one needed more time than I could give it in the review.
As you may have read, I was dissapointed in the people app. Not because it’s not any good, but because it isn’t finished. Google decided in their infinite wisdom, to create an API for developers to integrate into the app. Now this sounds like a good idea but it leaves the APP with an unprofessional finish, and if you compare it to Sense or Touchwhizz, it just looks poor.
This is part of larger problem with Google’s game plan. They still see themselves as “just an advertising company” and so they believe everyone else should do the work for them. If thats how you feel Google fine, but you must give the developers the tools to make your work shine. The Ice Cream Sandwich SDK was released on the 18th October giving developers just 1 month to adjust their apps to suit it. This just isn’t long enough for most developers to get things right. Take a look at Facebook. We all know Facebook is bad at updating their app for android. They had one month to update the app (it normally takes them six months to do bug fixes) and so we end up with an app that has no menu button. That’s right peeps, you can’t change any settings on the app because there is no access.
It’s not just Facebook either, I could list the amount of apps that don’t work correctly but don’t have the space. For me the biggest loss is Tweetcaster. I use it everyday, all day and it hasn’t been updated so now is broken. GRRRRR!
Is this the developers fault? No it is not. It’s Google’s. You want people to buy your products, and you want us to spend our cash on your services, right? Then take the time to make sure it works out of the box. Most people don’t think of the app developers when something is broken, they blame you Google. So give the developers the time and the support they need to produce the apps ICS deserves. Try giving select developers the SDK early so you have a wide variety of apps that work straight away. Otherwise you are always going to be the scruffy bugger of the mobile world.
And for goodness sake add Facebook integration into the people app!
What do you guys think? should Google allow the SDK to be released earlier? or are you happy to wait for the 3rd party developers to sort themselves out? Sound off in the comments.
[The opinions expressed in the article above is the sole opinion of the writer, not Tweetfind as a whole]
17 Comments
What do you guys think? This is a nice opinion piece, keridel
I don’t care if I ever see facebook anywhere, but I do see the point with the menu/settings button. I love you sassibob ok, not love, but I wake up with messy sheets if I watch your videos before going to bed.
@bpolitosassibob ahhh the sex wee. a common complaint…
its the lack of optimised apps thats the issue i think
@keridel@bpolito LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Facebook in the people app is annoying… but i love the people app…tweetcaster being gone annoys me too, but there are plenty of tweeter apps to stand in place in the meantime..and giving early access to the SDK? HA! like that was gonna happen… I’m sorry to say, but i disargee with your whole article’s conculusions, even if agree with the premises.
@WarDraker thats ok i dont mind you disagreing. ( i will hunt you down and kill you!!!)
/jk
…. or is it??
@keridel@WarDraker That’s cool, please do! ^^i haven’t had a good chase failed attempted murder scene in a while now… i’m starting to get restless…
Use Friendcaster Pro instead of the Facebook app, it’s much less crappy.
You only have to look at the whole Honecomb fiasco to see how poor Google is at supporting their own system. “We don’t think the code is good enough so we’re not giving you any of it” is a pretty poor excuse when there’s millions of devices out there using it. (Obviously, AOSP source is not the same as the SDK).
Most outfits will release API code to registered developers months or even years before the “final” code is available, Google needs to learn that there’s a good reason for this, especially when dealing with outfits as slack as Facebook when it comes to update frequency.
Google gave devs a month to adapt to ICS.
BIG. /expletive/ING. DEAL.
With the Snazzy iOS as an adversary, Google HAS to move fast.
@cybik I would say google has to move well not fast… google needs to get it right not get it done quick.
@keridel then again, by not moving fast enough, the get to the point where they are right now. They had a Touch-screen version of Android before Apple announced the iPhone and went to market. Had they made something quicker, they MIGHT be the de-facto unholy King Of The Hill right now.
@cybik just an opinion but i would say with 51% of the market share google are king of the hill..
@keridel Android as a whole could have been at 70% and killed the iOS ecosystem before it became such a nuisance.
@cybik fair point
I agree, I want fb intergration back. I have it on all my phones and when I go to the nexus I will be missing that a lot
I think we should all just move across to google+ ….
Great post @keridel.