What the Android Brand Stands For

COMMENTARY | If branding is telling a story, then a good brand isn’t just one that tells a good story. It’s one that tells a story that’s true, and that resonates with its audience.

The one told by Google‘s Android brand, about its open-source operating system for smartphones and tablets, is personified by its friendly robot mascot. An Android device, in essence, is supposed to be like a cute and obedient robot, or at least that’s how Google wants you to see them. (Verizon took a different, testosterone-fueled take on things with its Droid brand, but that’s another story.)

The image doesn’t stack up to reality, though. Because for most people, the Android brand stands for …

Carrier-installed crapware

This is a somewhat impolite way of saying “apps that you don’t want and can’t uninstall.” My HTC Aria on ATT’s network, for instance, was loaded down with a ton of stuff that either did the same thing as apps I liked better (like how I used Google Maps instead of ATT Navigator) or that I didn’t use at all (like the Facebook app).

There’s no way to get rid of them, even if you don’t use them, unless you plan on rooting your smartphone. These apps just fill up your Android device’s drawer, and take up its limited internal memory. Which is especially bad, because the Android brand also stands for …

Hard-to-use features

On the plus side, Android is more customizable than iOS. It lets you have more control over it. But on the down side, if you don’t know what you’re doing that’s just more rope to hang yourself with.

As an example, the new Android 2.3 “Gingerbread” phone I got lets me put apps on a removable microSD card, to free up space in internal memory. But it doesn’t explain why it doesn’t put the whole app on the card, or that it isn’t an error when only part of it transferred, and it doesn’t say that if you do this you won’t be able to use the app’s widget. It simply disappears from the list of widgets to add to your home screen. Likewise, if you do that with a live wallpaper it’ll be gone when you restart your device.

The phone I got that has this version of Android, by the way, doesn’t normally come with Gingerbread instead of Froyo. It’s a customized variant from Republic Wireless, which also dispenses with the crapware. As it turns out, that crapware means …

Slow software updates

So that instead of syncing your phone every time a new version of Android comes out, you only get the new version when you upgrade your phone, if at all. Michael DeGusta compiled a chart showing Android’s “Sad History of Support,” caused by carriers and manufacturers having to update all the stuff that slows your phone down and takes up space on it.

These problems are caused by the fact that Android’s “openness” mostly just means ways for monopoly carriers to hurt their customers. Hopefully, though, it’ll also give other people the tools that they need to compete with traditional carriers … and bring everyone their friendly green robot smartphones.

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