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Why Android phones will never really compete with the iPhone or other phone platforms
November 22, 2009 | 10:51 am
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By Paul Biba
I haven’t seen this mentioned in any of the hype over the Droid or the other Android phones that have been released. It is a very important technical point that really hobbles the development of Android as compared to other platforms.
Android does not allow the installation of apps on an SD card! This is part of the Android platform and has continued over from 1.0 to the new 2.0 release. Take the Droid, for example. The Droid has 512 MB of ROM, of which only 256 MB is available for app storage. This sorely limits the Droid, or any other Android phone, in the game market, as gaming typically takes up a large amount of memory.
There are work-arounds, of course, but they are fairly complex and not very user friendly – especially if the user isn’t very knowledgeable. This design limitation is what will keep me from ever buying an Android phone. I have 7.62 GB of applications on my iPhone and I use them all. This would not be possible on an Android phone. I have 70 MB of dictionary applications on my phone, for example, along with the TomTom, NDrive, Navigon and Magellan GPS applications – each of which takes over 1GB each. You can see why Google had to put a "free" GPS application on the Droid, as the phone simply doesn’t have the memory capacity to deal with a typical add-on GPS application.
This is a strange limitation of the Android platform and I must admit that I’ve never understood Google’s thinking in this regard.
Editor’s note: Thanks to Paul for his informative post! I’d respectfully disagree with the “never.” Go here. This is a problem, but I can’t believe Google will let it persist regardless of some repots saying that it will. – D.R.
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Comments:
paul, aren’t you looking at the “problem” from the wrong end?
you complain that android phones don’t allow you to install apps to the sd card. well, apple doesn’t allow you to install apps to an sd card either because in all of apple’s wisdom, they don’t allow memory expansion.
what i think you’re really complaining about is the fact that android phone makers do not put enough onboard memory for your liking. for that, you can’t blame google. blame the android phone makers.
The install problem can be solved if the phone companies that sell the phone allow you to download and install apps through their portals. However, that puts you at the mercy of them, and their choices of apps to download.
This was one of the issues with the LG Dare I bought from Verizon: Although the phone could have other apps installed, Verizon had it locked down to apps from their store only, and their choices were limited (and mostly cheesy).
I wouldn’t sell Android short for that: There’s always the possibility of an online store through which you can install apps. But yes, being able to install yourself would be preferable.
@Steve – Android does have an online app store.
@Paul – Isn’t this just a software issue that can be addressed either by Google or by someone else down the road? It’s not like the problems with the iPhone, which stem from Apple’s insistence on owning all aspects of their device even after they’ve “sold” it to you.
Also, I have no idea why your GPS apps take 1GB of space. Are they storing all the map date on your phone?
@Jon: Who controls the store? If there is no e-book app available, can a third party create one and get it into the store? As simple as that sounds, there are other online stores that won’t provide that… you are stuck with what they decide to give you. If Android is open to third-party apps, good for them.
That is ok. Using a secondary storage complicate and slow down everything.
It is just the implementation using a small storage. You should see 8G or 16G devices if the market is there.
Same decision that Apple made. They even just give up secondary storage completely.
running cyanogenmod on my g1 android phone with apps on sd with no problems here
@Steve – The store is pretty open. You can just sign up and publish an app. There may be more restrictions than that, but not that I’m aware of. They don’t have a secret, arbitrary, and inconsistent approval process like Apple.
hm. i hate phones. i’m thinking about the droid, because i do *need* a phone, and i want web access with a beautiful display, & the ability to send & receive e-mail. i also want gps, a camera and a physical keypad — even if it’s flawed — for texting.
i want my phone and my fun things (kindle2, ipod touch) to each have its own battery, and the ability to be left at home, for the sake of my serenity; and so that if i lose one thing, i don’t lose everything.
more on-board memory on the droid would be nice, but i always have my 30gb touch with me — it has 12gb free right now. and i *don’t* need an iphone *and* an ipod touch, or to share any of my life or income with at&t. even the droid’s 6oz weight doesn’t give me much pause.
Blackberrys do just fine with the same limitation. 97% of users don’t have gigs of applications. Besides, just like Blackberry apps, Android apps can access SD memory so dictionary apps can store the data on it and GPS apps can store maps on it.
Paul: Like Steve has already pointed out, google’s operating system Android is not the reason you can’t store to SD, but the actual phone makers such as HTC and Motorola. Even though you seem to be wasting a ton of space with these GPS apps and such, which should never take up to a gig of space, you can’t rule out the abilities of future phones that are Android based. Because Android is open source, you cannot rule out anything possibilities of what the operating system will be able to do, because the possibilities are endless.
Jon: You’re definitely not in any way limited to what Google decides to provide you with as applications. They are open source, and anyone can download and use their SDK, meaning anyone can create new apps for the Android phones, so again the app selection is anything but limited.
For the moment you are right.When I bought my HTC Hero, I was shocked to find out that you cannot run apps from SD cards. No reviews mention that huge disadvantage ( do they only review those phones by looks ???? ) Anyhow after one week I decided to sell it ASAP and switched to IPHONE. For the moment.. such a relief….(but also not perfect of course)
The android platforms are nice but not suitable to install many apps… SO in that sense an interesting platform for people who primarily look for an advanced phone.
PS you can actually run apps from the SD-card if you modify the phone for Root Access but hey… that would be like hacking my car to make it drive.. LOL…
After two days my Hero was full with apps ( just a few) and turned slower and slower. I considered to modify the phone for Root Access but I found it so ridicilous that I switched to Iphone.
Unless you are prepared to modify the phone to have Root Access, it is really a big issue that you can not run apps from you SD-Card. Even more ridiculous that you need to hack your phone to have this possiblity.. I had an HTC Hero myself and after two days the memory was full. Also there were not so many apps available through the android market ( but still enough to fill my phone )
Why are all these android phones competing with this one little iphone…