Schiffres, yes -- I agree completely with you that constructive criticism, feedback and ideas to the developers who are working on the Android OS (which does not include me, I am just an application developer) is very helpful. I was pretty much just answering your request for the "address" to post your updated platform to Google to... and re-wording it to the "open source" way of describing it. :-)
On a different subject... someone from the original post in android- development (before it was copied to this new post) wrote the following: "Android suffers from a lack of consistency in the user experience. Sometimes typing is required on the hardware keyboard, sometimes on the phone. Sometime navigation is by the hardware menu and back buttons, sometimes there are navigation buttons on the touch screen. Sometimes menus can be dragged from the title bar or the bottom of the screen, sometimes the hardware buttons are required. And the fact that typing which requires the hardware keyboard also requires sliding the keyboard out and a change of screen orientation isn't user friendly either." This seemed like the common complaint about Android OS & its apps when compared to the iPhone OS and its apps. But this reminds me of software that is available for Windows. Almost all (but certainly - not- ALL) Windows applications have an X in the upper right corner to close them, a button to maximize/restore, a button to minimize, a way or ways of opening them, and maybe some other common usage controls. But other than that, the application has free reign to present its user interface to the user however it deems most efficient, visually pleasing, productive, etc. And Android is very similar -- it provides a way of "closing" the app with the Home button (hiding the app and going back to the home screen), which is also the parallel of Windows' Minimize button. Android provides a way of launching an app -- touching its icon. And the argument about the input source being different across apps, the navigation being different, different hardware buttons, etc... I would call that providing a developer with power and flexibility. If your app is more suited to an on-screen keyboard (maybe you just have to type in a few letters/words here or there, frequently, but your app is more suited to use portrait view mode) then you have the ability to use one.... or at least you will once that feature is fully implemented and released. But if you are working on, say, an email client which will require plenty of typing, than a slide-out hardware keyboard is probably best. (Personally, I can't -stand- typing on iPhone's "keyboard," and will probably never buy a touchscreen-only keyboard device... unless it can somehow give me raised keys that I can actually feel when I press). Just like Windows, Android is completely open when it comes to what programs you can run and what software developers can release. This provides developers with the ultimate in choice, flexibility, GUI design, and overall control. It works quite well for Windows, where survival of the fittest ultimately controls what software users download and run (most savvy users will only download software that has high ratings on sites like download.com, good comments from other users, longevity, good reputation, etc.). Yes, the downside to this is an inconsistency in the user experience. But good programs should make their interface obvious and easy to learn to the user. I would rather have the Market (big "M") and its competitors completely open... let everything in, and then let the market (small "m") decide which ones are "good" and which ones are trash, through the use of ratings, comments, etc.... rather than having some monolithic corporation like Apple make all the decisions for us. They have their way... the Apple way... and some people like it (Apple fanboys & fangirls). I would rather have the people decide what is good and what isn't. And just like the millions of crappy software titles available for Windows that are out there on the Internet, I won't download them, install them and use them! :) On Mar 19, 1:23 pm, JP <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mar 19, 9:25 am, acrosser <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > Also, JP, if developers found a way to port Asterisk to the G1, > > included it in the source code of the Android OS, and somehow forced T- > > Mobile to provide this functionality on every G1 they shipped (and > > Aunt Jeanie & Uncle Harold somehow figure out how to set up and use > > the Asterisk feature)... this would undoubtedly siphon a significant > > amount of revenue from T-Mobile through the rates they charge for > > their plans. Yes, you could argue that carriers charge too much for > > their voice plans, but T-Mobile is competetive with most other major > > carriers. So what would be the incentive for T-Mobile (or any other > > carrier) to even offer the G1 in the first place if they couldn't make > > any money off of it? And if we don't have carrier support for Android, > > all we have are handheld devices that play games & apps, without any > > network connection or phone call capabilities (except through WiFi, > > but nothing cellular network-based). > > > Just because a mobile operating system is open source doesn't mean all > > the things we CAN do with it will be free. If a group of philanthropic > > Android developers wants to get together and start building & > > maintaining cell phone towers throughout the world, and then offering > > free or very cheap access to the voice/data network they produce, then > > that might be a good start. ;-) > > Well that's exactly my point (in response to the open source > argument). Any contribution to the project, even by Google, is at the > mercy of the channel, and that's the carriers. At this point. The fact > that T-Mobile can make people pay $10/month extra just to get from 400 > text messages to "unlimited" speaks volumes.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
