Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by beatle 5182 days ago
>The physical form of that involvement may have changed, but that doesn't qualify Android as a "knee-jerk reaction".

Android copying the iPhone's user interface, touch screen, form factor, ecosystem, etc. is a knee-jerk reaction to iOS.
2 comments
dpritchett 5182 days ago
Considering the relative growth curves of RIM and Android since 2007, I think switching from "Linux/Java Blackberry clone" to "Linux/Java iPhone clone" was a solid decision.
link
beatle 5182 days ago
doesn't change the fact that Android is an inferior product.
link
untog 5182 days ago
Largely depends on what you want to do with it, no? Android is rougher around the edges, but lets you do more. It's matter of personal choice.
link
rbarooah 5182 days ago
In a theoretical world you might in principle be able to do more with Android, but given the "iOS First" approach that major developers take, it's hard to argue that it lets regular users "do more" in the real world.
link
untog 5182 days ago
I don't know about that. Can I:

- click a button on my desktop web browser and have the current page appear on my phone

- flash a totally new ROM onto my phone

- give apps root access and let them directly access hardware

etc. etc. I agree that iOS has far more app capability, but Android has far more OS-level capability to take advantage of.

link
rbarooah 5182 days ago
You certainly can do #1 - there are apps for that. (e.g. Handoff - which I use sometimes)

2 and 3 are theoretical ways to let software do more that are no more available to Android end-users than Jailbreaking is available to iOS users.

You've basically confirmed my point. Android's ability to 'do more' is theoretical.

Given that there are lots of things that everyday users want to do that come to Android much later, I just don't see a valid argument here.

"App Capacity" is what lets people do things.

link
beatle 5182 days ago
apps empower MILLIONS of users.

"OS-level capabilities" empower a handful of developers/hackers/etc..

link
duaneb 5182 days ago
It may be a knee-jerk reaction, but it was also the best decision. The iPhone represented a gigantic leap in usability on phones, and if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. If Google didn't come out with Android, Apple would own even more of the market than they do today.
link