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Talking Schmidt: Everyone’s switching from iPhone to Android because it’s more intuitive

Eric Schmidt decided to help all of his friends figure out what steps to take when switching from iOS devices to Android today with a post on Google+ (that’s Google’s social network, since you’ve probably forgotten about it by now).

In the post, Schmidt says that many of his friends are converting to smartphones using the mobile operating system created by the company he runs. He then goes on to list the steps required to move content, contacts, and other data from iOS to Android.

He goes on to describe Android’s interface as being “more intuitive” than Apple’s and suggests gifting iPhone users with devices running an entirely different operating system for the holidays in the hopes that they will go along with your not-so-subtle hint and switch their entire mobile ecosystem to Google’s.

Many of my iPhone friends are converting to Android.  The latest high-end phones from Samsung (Galaxy S4), Motorola (Verizon Droid Ultra) and the Nexus 5 (for AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) have better screens, are faster, and have a much more intuitive interface.  They are a great Christmas present to an iPhone user!

Here are the steps I recommend to make this switch.  Like the people who moved from PCs to Macs and never switched back, you will switch from iPhone to Android and never switch back as everything will be in the cloud, backed up, and there are so many choices for you.  80% of the world, in the latest surveys, agrees on Android.

As a former Apple board member who appeared on stage at the original iPhone presentation in 2007, Eric would know quite a bit about switching from an iPhone to Android.

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Comments

  1. Jonathan (@Jon889) - 10 years ago

    I have to say the future of interfaces is context, not a grid of icons.You don’t want to scroll through pages of apps to reach the app you don’t use so often. your phone should know in what circumstances you use each app and then when those circumstances appear again that app is presented to you in some way.

    Google knows a lot more about you, you’ve been searching, emailing, watching videos with them for longer than you’ve been using Apple services. You can see it with Siri and Google Now. for example with Siri you have to ask for directions etc, Google Now will try to present directions before you ask for it.

    You can argue about intuitivity as the OSes are now. but if you look at where the iPhone has come from and compare it to where Android has come from, Android/Google has a much better chance of being intuitive than iPhone does/

    • Tim Jr. - 10 years ago

      And yet, I somehow feel better about Apple not knowing.. just saying…

    • Funny thing is that my iPhone 5 on iOS 7 will tell me the time it takes to get to work everyday and tell me the best way to get there just from pulling down the notifications. My Android on the other hand does not do that, with my Moto X it knows when im driving but it does not know where i am going ever. I have never once in Google Now seen it will take you this amount of time to get to here. To school everyday it tells me my time to get there right then but if i wait 5 more minutes the time will change due to traffic that is not even there yet. My Moto X on the other hand does not do this. And honestly Google does not have a better chance of being intuitive than the iPhone does. Apple is the only reason Android is as good as it is. Did you read the post a few weeks back about how the creator of Android thought it was shit compared to Apples iPhone OS was it was introduced in January of 2007? He rebuilt the OS to look so much better and look identical to iPhone OS, but Steve Jobs made him change 90% of it because it was a rip off.

      • Mark McKee - 10 years ago

        I have to say that you’re talking shit, before I got my iPhone 5S I was using the Galaxy S2 for the last 2 years, and since upgrading to Jellybean it always supplied information via Google Now, without me ever having to do anything other than pulling down the notification shade (which funnily enough my iPhone has, wonder where that idea came from?) so you either don’t know how to set up a phone properly or you’re taking the afore mentioned shit!!!

      • Michael Perry - 10 years ago

        Can you tell me how to set it up so that iOS 7 will display travel time in the notification center? I really miss this from Google Now and if I can get my 5S to do the same I’d be elated. If anyone in here knows how to do what Alec mentioned above could you chime in?

      • Ricardo Nogueira (@odmir) - 10 years ago

        In response to Michael Perry:
        I think you only need to have your home address in your own contact, but it only works with travel time to home, not work or somewhere else, I think. So it only tells you how much time it would take you to drive home. Just make sure when you add your address to set the right tag for it, “home” in this case… Hope it helps! :D

      • Jordan Baker - 10 years ago

        my iphone just started telling me in the morning how long it would take to get to school just days after downloading iOS 7, not sure how. when i pull down the menu it just says it and on the weekend when i work it tell me how long it takes to get to work. it just knows and im not sure how. i guess it just sees that i go the same places on a schedule and in intuitive enough to figure out thats my routine.

    • There can never really be intuitive unity between Android because of the openness of the OS. Allowing any manufacturer to revise, adjust, overlay or completely fork the OS bending it to their whim and will means that no Android device is truly just alike. How you use an HTC versus a Samsung is different enough that certain features and functions aren’t universal.

      You can’t speak “Okay, Google Now” to your Samsung and you can’t use S Voice, S Pen or any other ‘S’ service on your HTC.

      As for a system that knows what app I’m going to open before I open it doesn’t really sound like a future I’m all that thrilled about.

      I never thought I’d see the day when people want a corporation to know their every move and every thought. As for asking Siri for directions and Google Now knowing where you want to go before you ask; I assume you mean Google Now gives you directions to your next appointment. But if you’re talking about Google Now knowing where you want to go just because you hopped in the car, that’s scary and not even remotely cool or interesting.

      • Pavel Drapak (@payaxy) - 10 years ago

        Ah, a lone voice of logic amongst the hate. You are going DOWN, buddy ;-)

      • sailormike77 - 10 years ago

        Fantastic and poignant commentary. We should have more people stop to consider their arguments before they just blurt them out. We’d be much better for it, but then again, it wouldn’t quite be the internet without that, now would it?

  2. Elad Ben Hamo (@Elads_B) - 10 years ago

    3 letters: LOL

  3. alphabetize1 - 10 years ago

    I don’t think Eric Schmidt knows what he’s talking about. Android is so different between every device, they all have their own unique user interfaces. I don’t think Android will be intuitive unless Android is exactly the same on every single device, but that’s never going to happen.

  4. tallestskil - 10 years ago

    Piece of Schmidt.

  5. まあAndroidのシェアがiOSより多くなるのはまあ売り方からすれば当たり前といっちゃ当たり前。日本がおかしいだけ。どちらが便利かで言えばAndroidかもしれないけど、直感的かでいえばiOSのほうがまだ優れてる気がする。AppleはMacのようにもうシェア気にせず純粋にいいものを作っていけばいいと思う。5cは完全に失敗。タブレットではまだシェア争いの余地はあるけど。

  6. david0296 - 10 years ago

    I’m a Mac user, and I bought an HTC One X because I wanted the bigger screen. Suffice to say, it has been extremely difficult trying to do the same things my husband’s iPhone does when my system isn’t a PC. On top of that, it doesn’t have the latest version of Bluetooth, so it barely works with my new car stereo (which works flawlessly with the iPhone).

    • Pavel Drapak (@payaxy) - 10 years ago

      Android totally reworked the Bluetooth stack in 4.2 (or 4.1?) and it screwed a lot of things. It’s one of their biggest screwups. It’s a lot better in newest versions but I hear still not 100%. (No idea personally, don’t have a car…)

  7. Ryan Bradley - 10 years ago

    My (older) family member was ‘sold’ an Android device by a carrier. He had it for about a month before he finally asked me how to store a new contact. I struggled to work it out too. Really intuitive…

    • Mark McKee - 10 years ago

      Omg are you serious dude? I just came from Android and now have an iPhone 5s, I can’t believe the stupidity on here? You couldn’t work out how to store a contact??? I’m totally lost for words.

      • Ryan Bradley - 10 years ago

        If you’re lost for words, I suggest a dictionary, to look up “intuitive”

        Someone calls me, and I want to add them as a contact. I choose the ‘save contact’ button or whatever it is called. It takes you to a list of my existing contacts… where… you have to press the ‘+’ button. Haven’t I already said I want to do that?

        Pressing the ‘+’ button at that point would indicate that I want a new, BLANK contact.
        Not using existing information from a process I’ve already started.

        Not.Intuitive.

  8. Scott Morris - 10 years ago

    I am an Iphone user and have used Android and I have never ever heard someone say they went with android because it was more intuitive bigger screens, more customizable but never intuitive.

  9. hmurchison - 10 years ago

    Eric Schmidt – Most likely to stay creepy (probably his High School Yearbook caption)

  10. Kasimani Baskaran - 10 years ago

    Schmidt must have posted this from his iPhone….

  11. crawdad62 (@crawdad62) - 10 years ago

    If it’s so damned intuitive then why do you feel the need to “figure out what steps to take” to switch over?

  12. Felonius NoSpamius - 10 years ago

    Everyone? No.

  13. 311sie - 10 years ago

    So says the guy that was using a Blackberry up until a month ago.

  14. Bruno Fernandes (@Linkb8) - 10 years ago

    Android is about as intuitive as a second asshole. Stay douchy Eric Schmidt.

  15. MaRico NoHands Spikes - 10 years ago

    By intuitive I guess he means by it does what you want when you want, which it does do a little more then the iPhone , but I rather my battery last all day other then having my home screen background be flashy with .gifs. Personally I don’t like the lag of the droid system, I find it common on a lot of different branded androids I’ve come across. And the screen resolution seems stretched out compared to iPhone , of course it’s because of the larger screen but I don’t like that stretched look. Plus all droids run slightly different depending on phones, which is ok but if it’s the same OS it should have same features, of course depending on capabilities of physical phone . And the whole OS is a unorganized nightmare. I don’t need more features then I need when my phone dies 6 months down the line anyways. Android is a rip off of iOS but it’s like Pepsi and Coca Cola, your always gonna have that archenemy that is just like you but different. It’s kinda how the world turns, if you wanna win that war, do better.

  16. weakguy - 10 years ago

    Yeah, and I’m not even sure that Android is more intuitive than Windows Phone. The only advantage Android has over Windows Phone that I can see is the app selection. Otherwise, Android is the most complex system out of the three big guys. Intuitive? I think that’s the opposite of what Android stands for.

  17. darylayala - 10 years ago

    Way to not only steal from Apple’s OS but decide to use their mantra too.

  18. xtalk - 10 years ago

    Ok. Next post from Schmidt: How to install Custom ROM to get latest update. Interesting.

  19. Dan Grassi (@zaph) - 10 years ago

    Unfortunately Apple has made iPhone and iPad less intuitive with iOS7. I am an Apple Mac and iOS fan, I have been developing iOS apps since 2008 full time, OSX since 2001 and Mac since 1985. I was in an Apple store Thursday and there were about 40+ customers there, unfortunately all were either with a Genius or in a line of 15-20 waiting to see a Genius. This says much about the usability of iOS and it is not good.

    • Pete Garza - 10 years ago

      The irony is you dont even know why those 40+ people were in the Apple store for so why don’t you stop being an troll and just go suck on screen of your android phone.

    • sailormike77 - 10 years ago

      It is rather presumptuous to assume those individual peoples needs, isn’t it?

      • Dan Grassi (@zaph) - 10 years ago

        OK, but there were 40+ Apple product owners that had problems, I will assume that most were not happy campers. I have never seen such a large number at that store, clearly 1/2 of the floor space was take by these customers. I can not see how that is a good thing given that Apple trades on being intuitive and easy to use.

        I am pro-Apple, have been since 1984. That does not mean that I can’t see problems, must ignore then nor that I should not mention them.

  20. Laughing_Boy48 - 10 years ago

    BS. I doubt they’re more intuitive. Most consumers are buying Android smartphones because the majority of those smartphones are cheaper and it’s what those consumers can afford in the poorest countries around the world. It’s hard for low-paid consumers to buy iPhones when carriers don’t subsidize or those carrier or retail store sales-people are getting paid to push Android smartphones. It’s very easy in that case to take some two fer one Android smartphone deal. I understand perfectly why Schmidt is pushing Android smartphones because he’s a Google man. Fair enough. Android smartphones are good enough for consumers so why shouldn’t they buy them. But in most cases it’s all about saving money. I just think it’s nonsense to say consumers are buying Android smartphones because they’re better than iPhones. Maybe the high-end Android smartphones are just as good as iPhones but 80% of those Android smartphones are pretty much junk.

  21. I’ve never seen a droid interface that wasn’t clutter and clunky and jammed with a million buttons (not that I’m seen that many). But beyond that, a co-worker of mine had a droid (a GSIII I think) and told me just the other day he decided to get rid of it because it was clogging up his texting and alerts with ads and spam and he decided it “just [wasn’t] worth it”. I have to say, after three years of iOS usage I’m still pretty happy. Everyone’s not switching bro.

  22. Chiba Takahiro - 10 years ago

    iOSとAndroidで好き嫌いはあるんだろうがねぇ。

    元からiOS使いだからかもだけど、Androidは使いはじめて半年経つけど未だに写真との同期のやりかたが分からんよ。というか、やる気が起きないとも言いますか。

    やり方調べる時点でもう直感的ではないよね。何も感じないもの。

  23. foodandscience - 10 years ago

    Title is correct. I got tired of the same thing on every phone. I switched to HTC One. Bigger and better display, excellent sound quality, and storage (32GB). This made more sense to buy instead of the new iPhone 5S

  24. Jeremy Markham - 10 years ago

    Android is a giant pile.

  25. Felix the Guy (@felixwcf) - 10 years ago

    If you read Jobs book, this guy was board of Apple, when he knew the iOS project, he quit and push Android by “borrowing” iOS patents and make their own half-baked phones. Eventually all the iOS team hell pissed off with this guy..

  26. mockery17 - 10 years ago

    Eric Schmuck, the king of douchebaggery. Steve Jobs looks pale when compared to this arrogant asshole!

    Speaking of intuitiveness… Why does he feel compelled to make a guide if it is THAT intuitive? Last time I looked at my Nexus 4 with 4.4, it’s still a clusterfuck of unnecessary options and features that nobody except the geekiest of the geeks wants.

    Don’t even get me started on “better screens”. Bigger screens do not mean they are better.

  27. Jaffar Qambar - 10 years ago

    I was using iPhone 4 and now I’m using Nexus 4 running android 4.4, honestly when I use the android for the first time, I felt it’s great OS comparing to IOS 6, but after waitng for long time for the new android update and new android ver. which is 4.4 I feel Disappointed. If we compare between IOS and Android from the software updates and the stability, I think ios is the best because you don’t need to wait for a long time to get the bugs fix update as well as the new ver. of OS, and now I goanna switch from android to ios by the end of this month.

  28. Tomáš Blaho - 10 years ago

    After the years of iOS phones, I tried Nexus 4 for 6 months. Definitely the best Android I have ever used. But now I’m back to iOS and iPhone 5S is much better, sorry. I can control whole phone with just one thumb, iOS 7 works very well, enables me everything I want and it is fast, smooth and also beautiful (both SW and HW).

  29. aladdin nimer - 10 years ago

    This guy is expired and must be changed

  30. Android has always been value-for-money, although Apple was the inventor of the Smartphone. As far as ease of use is considered, Smartphones have now improved to the point, that there is not much difference. At the end of the day, an ‘open’ interface is always better than a ‘restricted’ one, simply because the user has the choice to customise it !

    • Vassil Nikov - 10 years ago

      I agree with most of the things you said. However, I don’t think we can contribute the invention of the smartphone to Apple. There were smartphones long before that. All we can say is that Apple gave them a boost and made them worth having.

      So they just improved them, not invented them. Anyway, it’s normal that Iphone users won’t know how to do stuff on Android based phones and vice versa. That however doesn’t mean anything.

    • Paul (@Paul_J_Nelson) - 10 years ago

      Yes Android phones do sell for less than the iPhone, but that does not mean that they offer better value for money. Guaranteed updates count for more than just a cheaper unsupported phone.

      Apple certainly did not invent the smartphone, Microsoft had Windows Mobile 6 out before the iPhone, it may not have been any good but it was certainly a smart phone.

      I agree that Android and iOS have reached a point where they are at feature parity, any new feature brought out on one platform ends up on the other. There’s no real innovation left in the current platforms.

      As far as the Open/Closed argument goes, your main choice is the one you make when you buy the phone. You buy the iPhone for the eco-system, consistent features and Apple’s commitment to software updates. Android is for those that like to be able to customise every last option on their phone, which includes changing the Home launcher for another, keyboards etc.

      I use an iPhone and have done since it was released, but I have also had the Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 because they offer the best Android user experience of the lot. Each to their own really.

  31. yuniverse7 - 10 years ago

    LOL, I’ve used android extensively and still uses it because I have to help my non-techie friends using them. What Schidmt said is an outright lie. Android, (at least up until kitkat-since I haven’t used it yet) is complex AND non-intuitive most of the time.

  32. drtyrell969 - 10 years ago

    Yes they are…oh, and that they haven’t force biometric sensors, have LARGE screens, innovative OS, etc. Apple needs a new Jobs, or it’s going to have buy every ounce of its future.

  33. Oliver Stamm - 10 years ago

    Total BS, Mr. Schmidt!! My mom just bought a Samsung Galaxy S…whatever version (can’t keep track of it). Where on an iPhone it takes a couple touches on the Android it takes 5 or more (yes I did count). And no, not intuitive at all! Actually I was about throwing it out of the window so frustrating it was helping my mom to figure out how to use it. Did you look at the screen? Totally overloaded with a lot of stuff nobody ever uses. (Just like Windows). Why did she buy it? Because she didn’t want to spend the money on an iPhone for the little time she uses it. That is certainly understandable and reflects probably many of the Android “users”. In business environment I rarely see anybody using something else than iPhone and those who tried Windows or Android pretty quickly switched to iOS.

    • jlword - 10 years ago

      “Did you look at the screen? Totally overloaded with a lot of stuff nobody ever uses. (Just like Windows)”
      On a Windows Phone the user has. COMPLETE control regarding what is on the start screen. It is completely customizable in that regard. You only pin to the START screen what you want.If your tastes or needs change then you unpin what you no longer want.
      That’s why Microsoft uses the slogan,”The Smartphone Reinvented Around You”.
      http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/features

  34. Kevweb (@kweb75) - 10 years ago

    Android is more intuitive? This guy is funnier than Steve Balmer.

  35. Gareth Edwards - 10 years ago

    Fact 1. Eric is a creepy dick.

    Fact 2. Android is popular because it is cheap, well subsidised and well promoted (as well and being ‘good enough’).

    Fact 3. Android isn’t more intuitive.

    So what have we learned – very little. Eric is still a lying, creepy scumbag who wants your data. Android is still the most fragmented system going and delivered on phones that range from brilliant to pointless and prices people from all walks of life can afford.

    It’s a crap shoot buying Android hardware though. You don’t know what you’re going to end up with unless you buy a Nexus device. Sammy are skinning their shit to buggery and have an eye on being the definitive Android phone supplier but want you to forget the word ‘Android’ – Moto are only alive because of Google’s support. HTC are bleeding themselves white trying to compete, LG are putting out great kit but haven’t got the public’s vote. It’s a feeding frenzy where all the Android vendors are literally killing themselves to break even and all the time Google is ‘improving’ the Android ‘open experience’ by substituting core open services with it’s own stock apps.

    It’s messy from a consumer POV, it’s messy from a business POV. It’s an insidious walled garden and nobody has seen the fences going up.

    Who would actually want to migrate to that? I’ll stick with Apple for now or maybe go the M$ route – Google are just too damn creepy for me.

  36. Patrick Lam - 10 years ago

    lol……He is the Google version of Steve Ballmer

  37. “Many of my iPhone friends are converting to Android.”
    >then how does the amount of iOS users grow on average?

    “The latest high-end [android] phones have better screens”, are faster (nope), and have a much more intuitive interface.”
    >bigger and 1080p somehow translates to better, slower somehow translates to faster and of all the android qualities he could have mentioned that are potentially appealing to some geeks, the dude said intuitive?

    “as everything will be in the cloud, backed up, and there are so many choices for you.”
    >so if these were the reasons, I get nothing new from switching

    “80% of the world, in the latest surveys, agrees on Android.”
    >except for the markets where cheapness is less of a selling point

  38. Drew (@gettysburg11s) - 10 years ago

    Wow, ok, maybe Eric has a few points in there, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say Android is intuitive.

    Come on Eric, what you been smokin’?

  39. Mr81s - 10 years ago

    I’m floored by this article. I have had an iPhone since the very first iPhone came out – and I have had every one that has come out since (currently on the 5s). I’m VERY tech-savvy and can do just about anything on a computer. My cousin recently purchased a new mobile phone; I tried my darndest to convince her to get an iPhone, but she insisted on a Samsung Galaxy S4. A week later she asked me to show her how to change her ringtone, and I barely figured it out. A few weeks later her volume turned off and she asked how to get it back; again, another hour-long learning session for myself. There are two (or more) very different places where you change settings, and apps are on the main screen and ALSO in an “app” section. If you call this intuitive and simple then you’re out of your mind. I’ve never once had an issue finding out how to do something on my iPhone.

    • Pavel Drapak (@payaxy) - 10 years ago

      I agree that Samsung’s Android UI is sometimes a mess (I’m not a Samsung device user). However, let’s keep the hating to reasonable level, eh?

      to change a ringtone in Galaxy S4: go to Settings > Sound > Ringtones. Select ringtone. DONE
      to change a ringtone in iOS: go to Settings > Sounds > Ringtone. Select ringtone. DONE

      You are right, the learning curve is very steep indeed, oh yes..

      PS: yes, you must be a VERY tech-savvy guy :-D

  40. Prepare yourselves for a long, ranting post about my experience with Android…

    I am someone who went has been a iOS and iPhone fan user for many years, however with the iPhone 5 I felt like it wasn’t a big enough step forward, especially when compared to many Android phones. So I thought I’d take the plunge, after owning 4 iPhones and 1 iPad, I decided to see what life was like on the other side of the walled garden.

    My initial impression were what anyones would have been, “well this is different”, this was a common thought during the initial weeks. And far from Schmidts statement on it being more intuitive, I found that the OS’s structure, settings, and sheer amount of customization quite confusing.

    One thing I felt quite lost without were notifications. Android has something more subtle than iOS in that the app which has a an update will have it’s icon shown in the top left of the screen. I found the lack of detail from these kinds of notifications quite disconcerting. But the most I’d get from a glace was knowing that a certain app had something to tell me, no context. Throughout my entire time with Android, I found that I missed this ability the most.

    I’m going to take a moment to cover something Steve Jobs talked years ago, fragmentation of Android. At the time I understood the concept, but all of my friends who were Android users denied it. However since getting an Android phone I have witnessed it. On a few occasions widgets simply weren’t made for certain screen sizes, they would get chopped off at the ends. In some apps you could see that some content had been stretched, or in some cases just left blank.

    However I did persevere with the OS, and found some features extremely useful, like widgets (something I think iOS could benefit from). But as my time with the phone went on I found more and more to dislike about Android. I began finding it irritating to search for features of the OS tucked away behind menu after menu. The apps on the Play store were simply not up to par (especially podcasting apps) in most cases. Even some of the stock apps from google seemed like lesser versions of their iOS companions.

    It was around this time I started to experience some hardware bugs. The bluetooth connectivity would randomly disable itself, sometimes during a phone call. The same was true for the GPS, during navigation it would just simply disable without warning or cause.

    Eventually I decided to strip away all the phone specific features, and put CyanogenMod onto the phone in hope that a custom OS might fix someone of my issues. This was great for a little while, until I found that some of my apps no longer functioned, this was due to the app detecting that the OS was CyanogenMod and thus froze any useful functionality in the app.

    All of these issues compounded over the months since I got the phone, and led to me hating my phone. And barely using it for functions outside of text messages and phone calls. So when the iPhone 5s was revealed, I saw it as a way out. Was it a significant step up from the iPhone 5 (or even 4s)? Not really, but it was better than the alternative of keeping a phone I hated.

    So I came back to iOS and iPhone, and even though the look was different, it really did feel like coming home. Everything just made sense again. Every feature of the phone was within 2 taps. The quality of the apps was much higher than on Android.

    So when Schmidt says that people are converting to Android, I suspect they are doing what I did, experimenting with what’s on the other side of the walled garden. Many will find things they like and may stay, but some like myself will find more that they dislike, and will be eagerly anticipating the day they can go back to iOS.

    I won’t be going back to Android anytime soon though after my experience, I even tell friends of mine who are considering changing what my experience was, and in most cases they chose to stick with iOS as a result.

  41. Paul Threatt - 10 years ago

    I haven’t forgotten about Google+, but it took me a bit to remember about Apple’s Ping. (A little less blatant bias might be a good thing in these articles. Just a little.)

    • rettun1 - 10 years ago

      Ping was put down because nobody used it, Apple acknowledged that. It’s not secret

  42. well I can say, I switched from Android to iOS, being Android is just a little too fragmented being you have no idea when you will get the latest greatest update using a Android based phone (Ex-EVO 4G user).

  43. PMZanetti - 10 years ago

    Which Android, Eric? And which devices make good Christmas presents for iPhone users? You’re going to have to be a little more specific. Since 90% of Android versions in use today suck horribly, as do the devices that run them, you’re going to have to be more specific. There are maybe a total of 3 devices on the market that can run the best Android has to offer (how pathetic), and those devices don’t sell especially well. Usage statistics from them are almost non-existent.

    So…you’re going to have to clarify. Unless you’re just totally full of Schmidt.

  44. Kostas Kritsilas - 10 years ago

    I don’ know if Schmidt’s crack dealer has slipped something extra into th mix, but what is Schmidt continuously babbling about? Firstly, Schmidt know about intuitive interfaces like I know how to build a transporter device: I’ve heard about it, and suspect that it may be possible. Eric Schmidt knows about as much about intuitive interface design. I don’t know where he comes up with this stuff, or how he learned the word “intuitive” in the first place, but intuitive design is part of Apple, and has been from day one of the Macintosh. Apple has been sweating the details of “intuitive interface design” for longer than Google has existed, and for judgements on “intuitiveness”, it will take somebody far more qualified that than Eric Schmidt before I will pay any serious attention to what they have to say on the subject.

    Android has a lot going for it: larger, higher resolution screens, quad core processors, more RAM, and some cases uSD slots and replaceable batteries, a lot of price points, some of which are significant different (i.e. lower) than either iPhone . Android, from release 4.2 on has become a lot more intuitive to use. Reality is though, it is nowhere as easy to use as iOS, and it isn’t as stable. And I do use both Andorid and iOS phones, and an Android tablet. This is even putting aside the skin/overlays that the hardware manufacturers put on top of Android to “differentiate” themselves, and the often brought up “android fragmentation” (often discounted by Android boosters, but it really is significant).

    Kostas

    • Dan Grassi (@zaph) - 10 years ago

      Unfortunately I don’t think that Jony Ive knows intuitive interfaces either. iOS7 may be aesthetically pleasing but is a step back on usability. See Don Norman’s book: ‘The Design of Everyday Things”.

  45. standardpull - 10 years ago

    Hopefully someday Google will publish a guide on how to easily make your data private within Google+.

    Until then, I’m not touching Google anything.

    Remember boys, clear your cookies at least once per day and never use Google DNS or Google Mail. They’re just privacy destroyers.

  46. Bee Ryan - 10 years ago

    80% of their “80% of the market” is junk – many Androids dont even have data plans, but hey Samsung sold 100M phones!!!

    Also, why does Android like to push tablet sized phone and phone sized tablets?

  47. Gregg Mojica - 10 years ago

    “They’re faster”? Not so sure about that, Eric Schmidt. Isn’t the iPhone 5s the “fastest phone in the world?”

  48. vladsucks - 10 years ago

    Yea, kinda funny but 2 years ago Id say between my friends and people on the street I saw 95% iphones, as of today I see 80% big screen androids. I had 0 friends with android 4 years ago and now only 2 that I can think of that hang on to them. Even me and my GF switched :) I do miss how solid and uniform ios worked but it really is kinda a little tiny screened app opener. open app close app, not much interplay. Hate to admit it but Android for all its faults still blown away ios in terms of functionality.

    I saw a study that bragged that ios users were 300 times more engaged with their phones than android users and now I see why. Ios is all about having to click click click to get anything done wheras Android does lots of work for you in the background and apps can interact which cuts down on how much your forced to do things. Its actually relieving users from the mondaity of open app close app. NOt to mention Siri is a idiot compared to google now. I was once a fanboy but now I see why Google has 80%+ marketshare.