The “Dark Side” of Android

Android has its dark side too

Some would say I’ve been waxing lyrical about Android in the last few weeks as I compared iphone vs android, I am a fan, no doubt, but –lest you think that I’ve lost my sense of objectivity– here are some worrying trends that have recently emerged about Android phones:

  • Some new Android models have been getting so-called JunkWare: gratuitous apps that are shoved into the standard distribution of the OS whether the user likes them or not. Mark Milian highlights some of the abuse in a recent LA Times article.
  • There are unconfirmed reports that the new Motorola Droid X (a very cool phone by technical standards), contains hardware preventing users from installing their own homebrew version of the Android Operating System. While most users won’t be doing any of this kind of hacking, it’s just bad style on the hands of a manufacturer.

So just because the Android platform has been making a lot of progress in competing with iPhones, it doesn’t mean that it’s devoid of its own dubious practices… remember, use your best judgement when picking a phone for your business.

image credit – scifi cool