Android's Biggest Flops of 2014 [Poll]

[Jonny Kansas]

Yup. I had to go with the Fire Phone as well.

Even with the recent news about India, the OnePlus is still hanging in there. It's yet to be seen whether it will gain a foothold or not. It'll be at least mid-'15 before we know for sure.

As for battery life, my Nexus 7 (2012) seems to have improved a little since lollipop. Of course, that could be from the factory reset that I did after installing 5.0 and I was very selective about what apps I reinstalled.

As for 2013 N7's running like crap, I can relate there, as my 2012 was VERY sluggish after the update. Now, I believe that it was just updating/installing a ton of apps at once. I didn't pay much attention the first few times I booted it up, because I really only use it for reading and the occasional remote session into work when my computer isn't handy, but I was marveling at how slow every response was the other night when I went to read and decided to check my apps. There were about 10 trying to install and Google Play Services needed updating. After all of that was done, I'd dare to say that it's snappier than ever.

 

[dgstorm]

oops... that's the one I meant. lol! typo'd the date... should have been 2012.
OP updated.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

oops... that's the one I meant. lol! typo'd the date... should have been 2012.
OP updated.

Still doesn't change my vote, since, like I said, it's finally running like it should again. Makes more sense though.

 

[dgstorm]

Mine is running like poo, and CK's is even worse. He hasn't even received the Android 5 update yet!

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Mine is running like poo, and CK's is even worse. He hasn't even received the Android 5 update yet!

I installed it manually. As I mentioned above, it was VERY laggy after that. It was also kinda laggy before that, but it seems to have kicked the cobwebs out and I'd say it's about as responsive as it ever was, if not a little more.

I seriously had my doubts after upgrading to 5.0 though. I vowed to only take 5.0.1 via OTA just in case it was my fault, but it's running great now for what little I use it for. I suppose I should really put it through it's paces and see if it's only running good because there's barely anything running on it...

 

[johnomaz]

I personally thought there were great improvements in battery life. Many of this year's flagship phones now get a full day with heavy usage, where this wasn't possible just one year ago. Sure, it can always be better but, for the most part it has gotten better. (Except for those 4K phones)

S5 tap'n

Batteries in general didn't get much improvement, OEMs put larger batteries in their devices and the hardware became more energy efficient. The batteries themselves are pretty much the same.

I installed it manually. As I mentioned above, it was VERY laggy after that. It was also kinda laggy before that, but it seems to have kicked the cobwebs out and I'd say it's about as responsive as it ever was, if not a little more.

I seriously had my doubts after upgrading to 5.0 though. I vowed to only take 5.0.1 via OTA just in case it was my fault, but it's running great now for what little I use it for. I suppose I should really put it through it's paces and see if it's only running good because there's barely anything running on it...

That sucks. I did a full on restore of the device. It runs pretty much butter smooth. My kids have been using it a ton too so its not like its sat there unused. Since I've had root with TWRP, I never have taken an OTA. Right now is the first time since I bought its pure stock and not rooted. It isn't encrypted so maybe that is the difference but it was a definite zippiness bump from 4.4.4

 

[dgstorm]

I installed it manually. As I mentioned above, it was VERY laggy after that. It was also kinda laggy before that, but it seems to have kicked the cobwebs out and I'd say it's about as responsive as it ever was, if not a little more.

I seriously had my doubts after upgrading to 5.0 though. I vowed to only take 5.0.1 via OTA just in case it was my fault, but it's running great now for what little I use it for. I suppose I should really put it through it's paces and see if it's only running good because there's barely anything running on it...

Hmmm... perhaps I didn't give it enough time. I'll play with it some more and see! Thanks!

 

[cr6]

Batteries in general didn't get much improvement, OEMs put larger batteries in their devices and the hardware became more energy efficient. The batteries themselves are pretty much the same.

Good point johno! That said, I'll take my current device, that lasts all day and well into the night (with heavy usage) any day, over my previous device that had to be plugged in by mid-day.
That's a pretty significant improvement in my book.

S5 tap'n

 

[blacksoxing]

All of these android watches, as none of them seem to compel me into buying it, and most look kinda ugly

 

[zetaprime1]

Whats wrong with your 2013 Nexus 7? Mine runs great on Lollipop. Also, I <3 the Nexus 6 size. The limited availability of the phone...ya....rawr.

Nothing wrong with the 2013 Nexus 7. Works great with lollipop. But 2012 Nexus 7 runs like crap even before Lollipop. I just use that one as an alarm clock and music player. The 2012 model was underpowered right from the get-go. Never was very good even when it was new. That's why the 2013 model was such a vast improvement. It addressed all the shortcomings of the previous years model and remains good to this day.

 

[pc747]

Nothing wrong with the 2013 Nexus 7. Works great with lollipop. But 2012 Nexus 7 runs like crap even before Lollipop. I just use that one as an alarm clock and music player. The 2012 model was underpowered right from the get-go. Never was very good even when it was new. That's why the 2013 model was such a vast improvement. It addressed all the shortcomings of the previous years model and remains good to this day.

We was talking about that on another forum but the 2012 nexus is at the point of retirement. There went the idea that lollipop would use less resources so can work on older devices.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk 2

 

[TDL1068]

Amazon Fire phone for sure. The Nokia X android phone could be a close runner up... When will Microsoft realize Android should not look like a Windows phone? Actually, they should realize Windows phones should not look like Windows phones either! Haha!

 

[TomHorbett]

Amazon Fire Phone. Sitting in warehouse despite being given away for 99 cents or so.