[Android General] gthing:
This is a rant against Android. If your sensibilities can't deal, maybe you shouldn't frustrate yourself by continuing to read it.

/queue violin.

I wish Android was better. I really do. I was a Web OS user, an iOS user, and I even tried Windows Mobile Phone 8 series 8 phone or whatever the hell it's called. I settled on Android for one reason: it can actually do things. I do not use Android because it's a good operating system. Despite my passion for it, deep down I accept that it is truly a third rate operating system compared to the competition - at least in terms of user experience, bugs, and overall quality.

The problem is that a lot of things it just does so poorly. Take the Nexus 4 running stock software. I purchased this phone because the version of Android running on the galaxy s iii didn't support bluetooth (well, it is "supported" it just doesn't work to any acceptable degree). The newer version of Android on the N4 was supposed to fix a lot of that.

I find that Android 4.2.2 (or under my versioning scheme: Android 0.4alpha) still has an unacceptably long list of bluetooth bugs. To name a few: Bluetooth shuts itself off and won't turn back on, failures to connect requiring re-pairing, doesn't respect connection requests, doesn't route the microhphone properly, doesn't respect external bluetooth control commands, doesn't send track metadata to bluetooth controller, voice input works about 50% of the time with bluetooth connected, etc. etc. etc. I use BT in my car and at home daily, and am constantly being frustrated by how janky Android's implementation is. Sometimes the ease of "hitting play" to listen to music is replaced by several reboots, re-pairings, and often enough just ends in frustration and I decide to just sit and watch Google TV instead (dear Jeebus don't even get me started on the heap of garbage).

If there were one bug to fix I'd file a report. But essentially the entire bluetooth stack is garbage from start to finish. Every single piece is broken. Google: hire an engineer who knows how bluetooth works. Please for the love of god! Every other phone manages to have working bluetooth, all the way back to my Palm Treo 650. Yet four generation of Android hasn't been able to get a half working implementation in place.

I was AMAZED by how well Microsoft Windows Phone 8 series 7 8 series doubleplus Microsoft(tm) enterprise edition 8 worked in my car. Flawless voice control even while barreling down the freeway, not a single bluetooth bug encountered, everything worked as expected. I didn't even realize it was possible. My Android phone? A battle every time. Voice control? Barely works when bluetooth is present, if at all.

And if it was just bluetooth that would be one thing.

The stock N4 also enjoyed a bug where it would fail to send text messages to any number with parentheses. Worse, it wouldn't give you any indication that it failed to send. This bug ruined at least one weekend for me and put a relationship or two in jeopardy. Awesome.

Now that 4.2.2 fixes the SMS bug, I can send SMS. Yet I still find my ability to communicate lacking because for some inexplicable reason the N4 plays alert audio at about 5% volume regardless of the notification volume settings. Unless I'm constantly staring at my phone I don't receive my texts when they come in. Even with my phone literally lying on the bed next to my head, I often do not hear alerts with notifications volume at max. This is not an exaggeration.

I have to assume this is by design for Nexus devices. Maybe because they're intended for developers? But my Galaxy Nexus had the same problem and Google never addressed it AFAIK. I think Nexus users just have to accept that a non-functioning speaker (at least for notifications) is part of the Nexus brand. Speaker works great for music, though.

I was really hoping the N4 would end my need to flash an endless variation of roms in order to find one that has minimal bugs, but alas - the quest continues. Major features (sending text messages, receiving alerts, using bluetooth) are completely broken out of the box. It's a damn embarrassment for Google.

I'm still stuck using Android, because the quality of other platforms is degraded by the lack of apps or the iron fisted control of its owner (I'm looking at you Apple).

I bleed green (or black, or whatever Android's "color" is this time around), but so help me I'd grab an iPhone in a heartbeat if it could do 10% of the things Android can do. I just wish Android didn't do everything so poorly. I wish I didn't have to constantly be resetting to factory or reflashing new roms to try to squash bugs. I wish Google could just make it not such a pain in the ass to use.

What I want: I want to WANT to use Android. I don't want to use it because I have to. Right now Android reminds me a lot fo Windows XP, where solving weekly problems required a fresh install. I can't wait for someone to be the OS X of mobile operating systems. Apple sure as hell isn't up for it.

Let's start a pool: number of Android generations until it doesn't drive me crazy at least twice a day. I got $50 on Android 8.

/end rant

10:45am - Begin trying to play a song on my bluetooth speakers.

11:27am - successfully play a song on my bluetooth speakers.