i switched to a nexus one/android recently for a few weeks. the experience made me really appreciate the importance of the intangibles involved in hardware design.
if i had to break down the iphone and nexus/android into a comparison of features the latter would have dominated for me. the native gmail search, beautiful google voice integration (i make a lot of international calls home which are super cheap on Goog Voice), turn by turn car navigation, reliable and good voice recognition, instant set up via my google account - each of those individually is a killer feature for me. these new voice actions again sound killer.
yet i still found myself yearning for my iphone and i eventually made the switch back. not because there was any one feature i desperately missed but because the overall experience of using it just felt so good. scrolling was flawless. the touchscreen always accurate. switching between apps incredibly smooth. all of these little things added up to a whole greater than sum of its parts (features).
you have to presume google spent a long time testing and developing the nexus and android yet it still lags behind the iphone on the intangibles. clearly getting these things right must be a non-trivial process and i'd come to take them for granted after becoming accustomed to the iphone. i won't make that mistake again.
It's interesting that you say that because I have the exact opposite experience: I've been an iPhone user since the day after the first generation came out and after I got a 3G, I noticed that it would slow down sometimes, scrolling was a pain (the scrolling itself was quick, but when it finished the scroll filling in the newly-invalidated area took forever), voice calls dropped, the physical case was falling apart (mostly because I bought it used that way), and I really disliked switching apps so often.
When I got my Nexus One with Froyo, almost all of that went away: scrolling is immediate and smooth, voice calls sound much better (and I'm on AT&T!), the case is much more solid and not splitting, switching between apps is much smoother (I don't know how I lived without the "universal back button"), GMail/Calendar integration, etc.
Oh, and the day I received it in the mail I plugged it into my (Ubuntu) laptop and created a camera app that takes pictures using the volume buttons on the side, uploaded it to my phone, and use it all the time.
I guess it all comes down to "what do you want to do?" Do you want to be able to do "stuff" with your phone -- anything?
Or do you want to look/feel good while doing some smaller subset of "stuff"?
Ultimately, when improving things, you hit the law of diminishing returns. You can spend twice as much effort making something 5% better than you did getting it to a 90% solution. It's like stereo equipment. A pretty ok system is like $200-300. One that's 10% better is $2000. 5% better than that and it's $20,000. And yeah, most people will agree that the $20,000 system sounds better, even non-audiophiles.
I don't think the Android UI will ever be as good as Apple's. Nobody is. But "good enough" is a reasonable target. Google can either expend the energy polishing the hell out of minor interface quibbles, or they can expand the universe of the things they can do. A device that can do one thing, awesomely, is simply not as attractive as a device that can do 100 things at the 90% "good enough" level.
This is awesome. Nobody will use it. People feel stupid talking to computers. Remember how you embarrassed you felt the last time you were forced to bark at one of those computerized phone operators in a public place? That's this, only all the time.
Would you not feel like the biggest doofus in the world whipping out your Droid 2 and performing "note to self [note]" in front of people?
You are being shortsighted and silly. Here are some excellent examples to show you that speech technology could be pretty damn amazing! The first one <strike>could</strike> will save lives.
(While driving) "Should I turn left or right at this intersection?"
(While shopping, examining a carton of eggs) "Were these eggs cheaper at the corner store?"
(While coding) "Any meetings soon?"
.....
Do I need to continue? The applications are endless, assuming it actually works. People have felt stupid in the past because the conversation would go like this: "note to self"....."I said, NOTE TO SELF not NOTICE ELF you fucking idiot machine!"
The point is...if Google can do it well, it will take off.
I wouldn't feel stupid if I never had to repeat myself. For example, I use iPhone voice dial all the time. Even on really complicated or foreign names, like my wife's for example, it rarely makes an error. So rarely I can't think of an instance in recent times. The search space is really small, but it takes advantage of that in a way that makes it useful.
Android does not do a good job with this. When I use it to do a voice dial, it has two major problems. First, it must be connected to the internet, because the sound or a signature of it is going to be sent over the wire. Especially when I am in a low signal area or on Edge, this is a deal-breaker. The second problem is that it's much less accurate than iPhone's voice dial. It typically will only get one word of the name of the person I'm trying to dial -- the surname. As a result, if I'm trying to call someone in my family, it pops up an alphabetical list of all of their names. So I would never use Android voice dial when I was on Android, because I invariably had to repeat myself or interact with the screen, which if I'm already doing that then why use voice dial at all.
(1) I have an iPhone, but I'd really love this type of functionality. I agree I'd probably feel weird saying this to the cell phone. However, when I'm using my earphones with microphone built-in, it's actually extremely handy to issue a command (like switching songs, calling someone, etc) without having to actually whip out the phone.
(2) It's interesting that they trust the voice recognition so much that you can say "Call X Company" and they will google it and call it. If they get it wrong, you'll end up dialing some really weird place instead. This is a personal problem I have with the voice recognition commands on my iPhone. I've ended up calling completely unintended people because the phone misunderstands me, and I can only imagine adding an extra factor of error may make things worse.
I use the voice search in my phone. Not everywhere, because sometimes I would feel like a doofus, but when I'm walking it is so much easier to talk to the phone instead of trying to type into it.
I can see this being really convenient for text messaging. It's not perfect, but accurate enough to be useful.
Well, this isn't a totally new thing for Android; it's more an expansion of the voice recognition capability Google's already been adding into the system for some time now.
I'll be perfectly honest -- my gut reaction is to agree with you. That said, I've been surprised by how many people I've encountered that talk about how much they love using voice-to-text for things like sending SMSes while driving.
I can say that I absolutely will be using it. Frequently.
Typing on a touchscreen keyboard is not enjoyable, and this makes the device far more usable for casually looking up restaurants, getting directions, etc. Android already had a wide range of voice recognition, but this (from at least a cursory set of tests with it -- experiences might sour trying to use it in the real world) seems to be a HUGE improvement.
Do I think people will use it in public places or at the workplace around peers? I certainly hope not. But in the car, in your own house or office...this is a killer application.
Speech recognition has been stuck at a high but not good enough plateau for some time. 90% accuracy sounds nice, but is actually totally useless. 99% might be good enough, but no one is there. More likely, 99.9 (for some number of repeating 9s) might be necessary for people to really trust these systems.
I read someplace that human speech recognition is around 90%, I think for speech recognition to be considered "useful" it has to be super-human. I agree something like 99+% is required before it really gets accepted.
One problem lots of speech driven systems have too is the lack of discover-ability. There's no interface you can inspect to learn from unless the system gives you a long list of command choices.
I tried it once or twice on the drive home (while waiting for long stoplights) and noticed that it is very sensitive to external noise. Things like the A/C fan motor, the radio, and how far away you are from the microphone all play a big part in recognition quality.
I have spent two sessions experimenting with the iPhone voice commands. Both times ended with me with tears of laughter, literally. I have never, not once, during one of these sessions gotten my iphone to do what I wanted to or call the right person. I find it genuinely hilarious though ... and adorable. "My wiiittttlle iphonie wonieee. Are you learning to talkiee walkiieeee?"
I had exactly that impression, but having tried it -- it really is that accurate. They did speed up some of the segments (cutting out the "processing" bit and the confirmation delay sequence), but it was very honest about the accuracy.
There's increasingly mainstream coverage of apps which are incompatible with almost every android phone out there - requiring 2.1 or even 2.2 like this does. I wonder how long it will take for manufacturers to take upgrades seriously? Some of them are still abandoning their handsets as soon as they go out the door.
I suspect many of the early adopters are now including this in their purchasing decision when they upgrade.
You're right... unfortunately most of the mobile device manufacturers out there are still in their mode of creating tons of devices one after another, forgetting about the older ones.
They're all scrambling to compete with Apple, but they're completely missing this. Follow the In-N-Out philosophy... do one thing really well and then keep doing it. So many handsets these days are utter garbage. They're all more or less leapfrogging each other with a few pixels there, a few GHz there, +1 MP on the camera.
Of course the carriers aren't helping. They all just want to sell units. It's a mess.
I'm happy with my Nexus One and T-Mobile for now :)
Yep. I have the Samsung Moment that was released last November on Sprint, it got 2.1 but has been officially abandoned. It's my last Samsung phone, failing to maintain the OS is not excusable unless there's a hardware restriction that forces it.
[+] [-] Harj|15 years ago|reply
if i had to break down the iphone and nexus/android into a comparison of features the latter would have dominated for me. the native gmail search, beautiful google voice integration (i make a lot of international calls home which are super cheap on Goog Voice), turn by turn car navigation, reliable and good voice recognition, instant set up via my google account - each of those individually is a killer feature for me. these new voice actions again sound killer.
yet i still found myself yearning for my iphone and i eventually made the switch back. not because there was any one feature i desperately missed but because the overall experience of using it just felt so good. scrolling was flawless. the touchscreen always accurate. switching between apps incredibly smooth. all of these little things added up to a whole greater than sum of its parts (features).
you have to presume google spent a long time testing and developing the nexus and android yet it still lags behind the iphone on the intangibles. clearly getting these things right must be a non-trivial process and i'd come to take them for granted after becoming accustomed to the iphone. i won't make that mistake again.
[+] [-] yellowbkpk|15 years ago|reply
When I got my Nexus One with Froyo, almost all of that went away: scrolling is immediate and smooth, voice calls sound much better (and I'm on AT&T!), the case is much more solid and not splitting, switching between apps is much smoother (I don't know how I lived without the "universal back button"), GMail/Calendar integration, etc.
Oh, and the day I received it in the mail I plugged it into my (Ubuntu) laptop and created a camera app that takes pictures using the volume buttons on the side, uploaded it to my phone, and use it all the time.
[+] [-] elblanco|15 years ago|reply
Or do you want to look/feel good while doing some smaller subset of "stuff"?
Ultimately, when improving things, you hit the law of diminishing returns. You can spend twice as much effort making something 5% better than you did getting it to a 90% solution. It's like stereo equipment. A pretty ok system is like $200-300. One that's 10% better is $2000. 5% better than that and it's $20,000. And yeah, most people will agree that the $20,000 system sounds better, even non-audiophiles.
I don't think the Android UI will ever be as good as Apple's. Nobody is. But "good enough" is a reasonable target. Google can either expend the energy polishing the hell out of minor interface quibbles, or they can expand the universe of the things they can do. A device that can do one thing, awesomely, is simply not as attractive as a device that can do 100 things at the 90% "good enough" level.
[+] [-] dschobel|15 years ago|reply
I have high hopes for Android 3.0 (Gingerbread, due in Q4) which is allegedly going to be a major UI revamp.
In the mean time I'll enjoy my flash, portable hotspot, tethering and non-ATT carrier :)
[+] [-] hyperbovine|15 years ago|reply
Would you not feel like the biggest doofus in the world whipping out your Droid 2 and performing "note to self [note]" in front of people?
[+] [-] cryptoz|15 years ago|reply
(While driving) "Should I turn left or right at this intersection?"
(While shopping, examining a carton of eggs) "Were these eggs cheaper at the corner store?"
(While coding) "Any meetings soon?"
..... Do I need to continue? The applications are endless, assuming it actually works. People have felt stupid in the past because the conversation would go like this: "note to self"....."I said, NOTE TO SELF not NOTICE ELF you fucking idiot machine!"
The point is...if Google can do it well, it will take off.
[+] [-] houseabsolute|15 years ago|reply
Android does not do a good job with this. When I use it to do a voice dial, it has two major problems. First, it must be connected to the internet, because the sound or a signature of it is going to be sent over the wire. Especially when I am in a low signal area or on Edge, this is a deal-breaker. The second problem is that it's much less accurate than iPhone's voice dial. It typically will only get one word of the name of the person I'm trying to dial -- the surname. As a result, if I'm trying to call someone in my family, it pops up an alphabetical list of all of their names. So I would never use Android voice dial when I was on Android, because I invariably had to repeat myself or interact with the screen, which if I'm already doing that then why use voice dial at all.
[+] [-] jamn|15 years ago|reply
(2) It's interesting that they trust the voice recognition so much that you can say "Call X Company" and they will google it and call it. If they get it wrong, you'll end up dialing some really weird place instead. This is a personal problem I have with the voice recognition commands on my iPhone. I've ended up calling completely unintended people because the phone misunderstands me, and I can only imagine adding an extra factor of error may make things worse.
I really hope this type of stuff catches on.
[+] [-] eli|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anigbrowl|15 years ago|reply
I can see this being really convenient for text messaging. It's not perfect, but accurate enough to be useful.
[+] [-] commandar|15 years ago|reply
I'll be perfectly honest -- my gut reaction is to agree with you. That said, I've been surprised by how many people I've encountered that talk about how much they love using voice-to-text for things like sending SMSes while driving.
[+] [-] jim_dot|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] elblanco|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kyro|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ergo98|15 years ago|reply
Typing on a touchscreen keyboard is not enjoyable, and this makes the device far more usable for casually looking up restaurants, getting directions, etc. Android already had a wide range of voice recognition, but this (from at least a cursory set of tests with it -- experiences might sour trying to use it in the real world) seems to be a HUGE improvement.
Do I think people will use it in public places or at the workplace around peers? I certainly hope not. But in the car, in your own house or office...this is a killer application.
[+] [-] delackner|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] elblanco|15 years ago|reply
One problem lots of speech driven systems have too is the lack of discover-ability. There's no interface you can inspect to learn from unless the system gives you a long list of command choices.
[+] [-] dschobel|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fudge|15 years ago|reply
(Your question, spoken by a norwegian, transcribed by the new Google Voice Search)
[+] [-] brettnak|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yellowbkpk|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jessep|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mike-cardwell|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] warrenmiller|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ergo98|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kingkilr|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sliverstorm|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sn|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] akadruid|15 years ago|reply
I suspect many of the early adopters are now including this in their purchasing decision when they upgrade.
[+] [-] dannyr|15 years ago|reply
More than 62% of Android phones are either 2.1 or 2.2.
http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-ve...
[+] [-] whalesalad|15 years ago|reply
They're all scrambling to compete with Apple, but they're completely missing this. Follow the In-N-Out philosophy... do one thing really well and then keep doing it. So many handsets these days are utter garbage. They're all more or less leapfrogging each other with a few pixels there, a few GHz there, +1 MP on the camera.
Of course the carriers aren't helping. They all just want to sell units. It's a mess.
I'm happy with my Nexus One and T-Mobile for now :)
[+] [-] sjs382|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] evilduck|15 years ago|reply