[Android General] Sirandar:
Since my Desire Z I have really had great respect for almost every Google App.

Slowly since then Google has been messing up every app they have, requiring me to mess around and waste my time every single week it seems.

Then Google decided to abandon microSD and dragged HTC along with them.

The first victim was Google maps. I loved Google Maps 6. At first it worked great and did everything I asked of it. Slowly over time even Maps 6 started to suffer. Upgrading my HTC One S to Android 4.1.1 resulted in a Google Maps that never worked properly again unless an old version was side loaded.

I got a Samsung S3 and Maps 6 worked well for me. Then came 7 and what a mess it was. After months it finally is usable on my S3, but Maps 7 consumes so much power that my car charger can't keep up and on long trips my battery will deplete even when plugged in. And my phone gets very hot to the touch, very hot. Entering destinations by voice worked in 6, rarely works in 7. The traffic overlay has become inaccurate where it used to be almost accurate enough to drive with your eyes closed WRT speed.

The came battery problems associated with the play store and Google apps. Eventually I got so tired of it I just restricted background data on Play and as many Google apps as feasible. Battery life went from 6 hours to 23 hours. Unfortunately this seemed to eventually cause issues with sync and Gmail required hours and much frustration to fix. After that things seemed to work even without background data disabled.

Then came Chrome which I used and was extremely satisfied with until the end of 2013. Then the back screening started where loading bookmark page caused the Chrome Screen to go black and unresponsive. I put up with that for months and now it is worse with screen freezing with the bookmark icons visible instead of a black screen. Reinstalling may fix this but I am tired of this and simply switched to Firefox. Firefox was also much faster and had no issues so far .... ironic, Firefox makes a better browser than Google despite that they manage Android.

Every problem I have had has been fixable with some pain and suffering on my part so it isn't my hardware .... but I am tired of the pain and suffering. I have an S3 which might just be the most common phone on the planet so there is really no excuse for all these issues.

So whats left ...... Gmail and Android itself. They are next on the block .... Google is already slipping ads into my mailbox but that isn't enough yet.

I also notice that Google has made it quite impossible to see negative reviews of software on the play store. Most were "This software sucks" or something UN-useful like that but mixed in were very useful reviews of the apps. Gone now because you just cant search them. I also notice that many of the forums to talk and complain about Android are gone form Google Forums.

All of this points to a company in serious decline or a company at war with Samsung, with issues being unaddressed or created for this phone to force upgrades and whatever.

Are Nexus phones ant better? I would consider buying one if they had microSD but they never will as that conflicts with Google's core business of information.

A year ago if when asked what my next phone would be I would have said and Android device, by HTC or Google if they supported microSD again, or Samsung most likely. Now I simply don't know. I am tempted to try Windows Mobile because despite what people say about M$, my homebuilt PC has been a rock with Windows 7 and there has always been a way to get it to do just what I want, and then I can forget about it and just use it. Windows 8 is a abomination without a touchscreen.

That is the problem with Android. I can't just forget about it and just use it ...... something is always messing up almost weekly. I have already stopped installing new apps a while ago because every new app was just too much of a risk for causing battery drain issues.