First off, I don’t think every single one of Google’s decisions regarding Android is good. Hell I actually think they’ve blundered too many times to count when it comes to bringing new features to Android. That said, for Android to mature further, it really needs to go the “it just works” route that Apple’s been nailing.

Things like how you’re required to have a Google account to really use an Android phone at this point, and how features like Nearby Share rely on Google accounts garners a lot of hate from the FOSS/enthusiast crowd. And I get it. I really do. That said, I’ve worked in IT long enough to know that the enthusiasts will find ways around restrictions like this, or they’ll simply find another open source app that does the same thing. The average user on the other hand, almost certainly has a Google account, and for that person, this implementation makes sense. You log into one account and can see all your devices? That’s about as good as it gets.

Notice how it’s gotten progressively harder to install apps from external sources over each iteration of Android? Yeah that sucks, but for the average person, that’s stopping them from installing malware disguised as an app. They don’t care that there were obvious signs that the source can’t be trusted, the fact remains that they found a way to brick their Android phone, while that wouldn’t have happened on iOS.

Ever notice how people say Android’s just “too confusing”? That’s the crowd that Google is trying to win over. We already use Android, and probably will continue to because what other option is there? But emulating what iOS does well and bringing that to Android is going to bring in more people to the OS, and ultimately that’s not a bad thing.

  • ChristianWSEnglish
    102·
    1 year ago

    It was five years after her first Android phone that I noticed that when asked to install an app, my aunt proceeded to download an APK from a random website and installed that rather than using the Play Store. In fact, I think she didn’t even know the Play Store was a thing, and she was on her third android phone already.

    She isn’t tech-savvy, she did that because that is how she did on Windows. After that, I just accepted that things need to change in a way that might annoy me.

      • ChristianWSEnglish
        10·
        1 year ago

        Far from it, but there are things that appear obvious or properly explained, only that in reality, it is not.

        Android 14 is making ADB necessary for really old apps(or ones that deliberately target old APIs to circumvent restrictions). That one is annoying, but makes sense.

        That’s not to say I’m a fan of every decision, for instance I don’t like that Google removed the ability for apps to toggle WiFi and Bluetooth, that should be a permission. But it is really surprising how non tech-savvy folks can screw up basic stuff we think are well hidden.