The Android OS is a lot like people (or anything else for that matter) in the sense that it is by no means perfect. There will always be that one thing that will make you say “man, I wish it worked differently” or “why can’t it do that?” The good folks at Wired actually have 5 things to say about what they would like Google to fix about Android– some major, some minor. Whether or not you agree or disagree is entirely up to you, but here’s how they would make our favorite green robot even better:
Push for More Consistency
There are actually several complaints here, but they all fall under the category of consistency. The first, and one that actually irks me too, is the lack of spellcheck when searching in the Android Market. They also list manufacturer UI’s like HTC Sense and Motorola’s Motoblur as clouding the Android brand and bringing very little to the table in terms of added functionality, as well as making it harder for timely software updates.
“The great thing for the manufacturers is they can create that brand affinity with the consumer on the back of Android, instead of having Android be front and center,” said Andy Castonguay, Director of Mobile Device Research for the Yankee Group. “That results in idiosyncracies and discrepancies.”
Re-Organize Android Market
As the Android Market continues to grow in size, it is becoming increasingly difficult to sift through all of the applications without being able to sort them by rating or by the date they were added. Older, more established apps remain on top, leaving smaller apps to duke it out amongst themselves for better positioning. I, too, have always wondered why there isn’t better organization within the Market, so I can’t say that I disagree here.
Make it Easy to Kill Apps
Many of us have grown accustomed to using apps like Advanced Task Killer to clean up the left overs, but they are correct in mentioning the lack of a built-in solution for viewing and closing running apps. Many apps include no means of closing them, causing them to eat up valuable battery life while running idle. Implementing a better solution for closing idle apps would increase performance and battery life out of the box, which is something I think we can all agree on.
Don’t Let Apps Run Wild
This is similar to the previous category in the sense that it involves multitasking and policing apps. Some applications eat up an unnatural amount of resources, giving some the opinion that Google needs to be more involved in dictating guidelines and limitations for apps. “It’s a more open platform; it lets you do a lot more,” Jason Horman, CTO of Spring Partners said. “It doesn’t mean you should do a lot more.” Keeping the platform open is obviously important, but so is preventing applications from needlessly draining our batteries.
Cater to the Attention-Deficit Crowd
Again, multitasking rears its ugly head. The final proposed fix involves a more efficient means of switching between open applications, a complaint I have come across numerous times. Currently, the only way to quickly switch between apps is to hold down the Home button, but this only lists key applications and requires re-navigating the app list to go back to something not listed there. The default browser also comes under attack, citing its poor ability to switch between open windows as opposed to tabbed browsing commonplace among desktop/laptop browsers (although some Android browsers like Dolphin feature tabs.)
Well there you have it. These are the 5 major fixes Wired is proposing Google fix about the Android OS. There are certainly some excellent points made here, and perhaps we will see some of them addressed in future Android updates. Now, let’s hear what you have to say! Leave us a comment below about what you think needs to be fixed in Android, or if you think it’s already perfect as is, well you can say that too.
[via Wired]
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