The "Dark Side" of Android

(This post was originally published by Ringio CEO Sam Aparicio on the Small Biz Go Mobile Blog)

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 worrisome trends that have recently emerged about Android phones:

* Some new Android models arrive with 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 this type of hacking, it’s just bad form on the part 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 the platform is devoid of its own dubious practices… remember, use your best judgment when picking a phone for your business.

image credit – scifi cool