The root problem of Android is fragmentation. (After Effects, p.316)
1) Differences across OS versions
2) Differences in screen resolution
3) Fragmentation of hardware platforms
Internet Explorer's problem is not ActiveX, nor is it web standards. It is that user upgrades happen by the user's own will and action. Why widening the range of user choice becomes a problem is something we hardly need to spell out.
Android is similar. Because services and devices are provided in fragmented form, this causes very serious issues for the user's usability.
For services, the offering itself matters, but what also matters just as much is making it possible for the provider to build things efficiently — to reduce the fixed costs. And because services, by their nature, have a lot of room for later change and improvement, we also have to think about what happens during those later improvements.
As an alternative to Android, I have high hopes for webOS. If it runs on a browser-based foundation, it can be relatively free in terms of personalization and upgrades.
The user's degree of freedom has to be clearly separated and offered depending on the context.
Good design imposes constraints on the users so that, in that scene, only one single correct thing appears possible. The designer must understand and use every kind of natural constraint.
Make good use of the power of natural and artificial constraints.
Error is inevitable in everyday life.
Design is about using the power of constraints, using forcing functions, or making the consequences of actions visible. Then we no longer have to suffer confusion or pain from errors we cannot notice. (The Design of Everyday Things)
