I bought an Android smartphone, so that I can use the german "Corona
Tracing App". I already have an Android phone, but it's too old and
can't be updated. That alone is reason enough for a long, long rant. (I
only use this older phone to make phone calls and receive SMS, nothing
else. It works, the battery lasts a good week, I charge it using a
little solar panel.)
Alright, so I bought a second one. It won't replace the other one, it
has no SIM card, and I won't use it as a smartphone (i.e., run a browser
on it and all that). I'll use it only to run this Corona App. It is
unacceptable to be under constant surveillance by Google (or Apple or
whatever). If it wasn't for a global fucking pandemic, I wouldn't have
bought this thing.
What a nightmare. How can anybody use these things voluntarily?
- I had to type in my WiFi password many times, because the phone
simply forgot it. It connected, got an IP, all good. Then it was
gone. Thank you.
- As a workaround, I tried to generate a QR code and have the phone
scan it. It didn't work. Nothing happened. Do I have to press a
button or tap somewhere or what? Yes, the code was valid, I had
other software decode it. Out of frustration, I tried to scroll the
screen and, oh, yes, you can scroll it! Didn't help, there just was
a little message that said: "Didn't work." Yeah, thank you.
- Massive walls of text that try to tell you about privacy stuff. This
is a joke. No single person on this planet will read this, let alone
understand it and actually *agree* to it.
- Sometimes stuff just closes. Poof, gone. What?
- Typing, what the hell, jesus christ. I have small girly fingers and
I still don't hit the correct characters -- or I'm two pixels off
and it triggers the wrong one. No tactile feedback. I, ugh ...
- Isn't it great that UI elements are not recognizable as such? Will
this stupid trend ever come to an end? Is this a button? Can I tap
on it?
- Did I already mention that thing about scrolling? There are no
scroll bars. You just have to try scrolling and see what happens.
But, oh, don't start scrolling (or "swiping") at the bottom of the
screen, because that will close the current "app".
- And then the app is gone. How do I open it again? How do I open a
list of running apps? Yeah, sure, stupid me, all my fault. Start
swiping at the very bottom, stop halfway through, and something will
scroll in from the left, oh, yeah, that's a list of running apps.
- Oh ... sometimes there are scroll bars. But not always.
- When typing text, the virtual keyboard covers a third of the screen.
And scrolling is disabled. What?
It goes on and on.
How did *THIS STUFF* become the standard? How did we go from solid user
interfaces on an actual computer to this kind of garbage? And people
*prefer* it over a desktop computer? Are you kidding me?
And *THEN* all the surveillance stuff on top? The need for a Google
account, so you can install something? I'm speechless.
In theory, smartphones are a dream. An actual computer, in your pocket!
Add an HDMI port and a USB port (or just USB-C these days) and it could
replace your main computer. But with that kind of software, oh my
goodness, what a disappointment. What a waste of money and resources.
And *THEN* you're telling me I have to buy a new device every few years?
I just hope this pandemic will be over before this new phone drops out
of support and I have to buy yet another one.
