We at all times like to speak concerning the best Android phones and the greener aspect of the grass, however there’s no secret that there’s been just a few stinkers through the years. Whereas the quantity of disappointing Android units have considerably declined throughout the previous couple of years, there are nonetheless one or two popping out annually that make us scratch our heads and set free an enormous WTF.
With that, we thought it’d be enjoyable to consider what the worst Android telephones have been thus far. My colleagues and I’ve had a enjoyable time placing this listing collectively and speaking about what awarded every system’s spot on this listing. Earlier than we get began, there are only a couple of disclaimers to notice:
- This listing will look to deal with well-known telephones or telephones from well-known corporations. It’d be far too simple to incorporate all of the horrible Chinese language knock-offs we’ve needed to endure through the years.
- By nature, it is a closely subjective and opinionated matter. You’ll disagree with just a few choices. That’s superb — we’d love to listen to what you assume is or isn’t one of many worst telephones of all time!
So with that stated, it’s time to leap into the thick of issues. Get your nostalgia cap on, as a result of it will virtually definitely take us down the bumpy ol’ reminiscence lane.
11 – HTC EVO 3D
Being somebody who bought this cellphone, I do know first-hand simply how depressing of an expertise it was to personal the HTC EVO 3D. It wouldn’t have been so dangerous if not for all the guarantees that had been made about how this cellphone was going to treatment most cancers and alter all the things. I’m clearly speaking concerning the “revolutionary” 3D digicam HTC placed on the again of this factor.
Consider you me — they made it sound like a huge deal, and it positively felt like one. Upon strolling out of the Dash retailer the day it launched, I felt like I’d simply walked out with the gods’ present to the world. For 2 weeks, I’d proven my cellphone off to everybody — even those that didn’t care — and talked about how superior it was.
Not one, however TWO cameras? What?! It didn’t get any higher than that. I performed 3D Spider-Man and watched the Inexperienced Lantern in 3D. I took video and photos in 3D that nobody may get pleasure from until that they had a 3D monitor or an autostereoscopic 3D system like my very own. Beginning to really feel alone, the novelty of 3D wore off and this cellphone’s actual value began shining by means of.
Battery life was abysmal. Even with minimal screen-on time (I’m speaking 30-60 minutes right here) I not often made it to eight hours. The twin-core Snapdragon chipset in it appeared to be slowed down over time by a (then) very non-optimized model of Android and HTC Sense.
The great construct high quality was overshadowed by the truth that the paint and steel on this factor chipped so simply that your cellphone was virtually unidentifiable after only a few days’ use. Certainly, I’d grown to hate my HTC EVO 3D, and had no drawback passing it all the way down to my brother as soon as the Epic 4G Contact launched only a few months later. On the finish of the day, the HTC EVO 3D was one of many worst telephones that ever launched, and that’s in all probability why we’ve but to see a follow-up (until you’re counting the scraps Sprint sent down to their underling Virgin Mobile).
10 – Samsung Continuum
I bear in mind it prefer it was yesterday. Verizon sent out press invites teasing this great new phone by Samsung. The Android group rapidly started attempting to dissect the invite, questioning what the inventory market-esque art work meant. Might or not it’s a brand new Samsung smartphone with “inventory” Android?! Oh boy! The thrill was sufficient to tip the pot, however the day got here and… the Samsung Continuum is what we obtained.
It’s not that the cellphone carried out poorly, it’s simply that it was pointless. And ugly. And silly. Its declare to fame was a small “ticker” (therefore the inventory market stuff) on the underside that might present key data with out having to activate the system’s decidedly small foremost show. From inventory quotes (OK, we get it) to your newest e-mail, and from climate updates to Twitter and Fb updates, this little AMOLED strip was imagined to be enjoyable. And it was supposed to assist battery life, too.
The issue is that Samsung by no means gave a rattling about it. It may have been a really thrilling factor for builders to faucet into, however Samsung by no means opened the APIs to anybody. The quantity of apps you might use with the ticker show by no means elevated.
And a lot of the information the show served up was so condensed that you just’d reasonably view it on the massive display screen anyway. Couple that with the truth that the mechanism for activating the show was so shoddy that it was ineffective, and you’ve got a recipe for catastrophe. For sure, I used to be extraordinarily comfortable to ship this cellphone proper again to Verizon upon completing my review.
9 – Motorola DROID Bionic
What can I say concerning the DROID Bionic that hasn’t already been stated? This cellphone tanked. It went by means of at the very least two or three redesigns, was delayed for months, and handled like an unpleasant red-headed stepchild by Verizon. And that’s simply earlier than the system launched. When the Motorola DROID Bionic lastly launched, it was instantly obvious why it took Verizon and Motorola so lengthy to get it to market — it was riddled with so many bugs that not even essentially the most affected person particular person on the planet may take care of it.
The Bionic’s listing of issues was so lengthy that you just needed to surprise what, precisely, their engineers had been doing within the a number of months that handed since its announcement. It felt like a prototype that was by no means fairly imagined to make it out to the general public, but right here it was, boxed up, on sale and marketed as certainly one of Verizon’s largest telephones.
The issues had been so quite a few that I received’t even listing them right here — it’d in all probability add one other 500 phrases to this already prolonged article. Verizon and Motorola addressed quite a bit within the months following its launch, however all of the OTA updates and tender, loving care on the planet can’t wash the horrible style it not noted of our mouths. Always remember.
8 – HTC Thunderbolt
Anybody really feel like we’re choosing on Verizon slightly bit an excessive amount of right here? It’s accidentally, I guarantee you. With that, I current to you Huge Crimson’s first ever 4G LTE smartphone — the HTC Thunderbolt. This was an thrilling cellphone to behold when it first launched. Fact be advised, the cellphone wasn’t tremendous modern or revolutionary as an entire, however the highlight placed on it for being the primary cellphone to kick-off the 4G LTE craze definitely made it appear that means.
Verizon was daring to take step one in altering up the high-speed knowledge sport, but it surely’s a disgrace HTC gave them a stinker of a tool to try this with. The HTC Thunderbolt was a superb cellphone, however there was one unforgivable, undeniably damning trait that sadly earned the system a spot on this listing — you might barely use the factor.
Battery life was so depressing that you just’d be higher off simply grabbing a dumbphone and leaving the Thunderbolt on the charger at residence. I’ve had associates who couldn’t get far more than three hours on a single cost, and that’s with average utilization patterns. The scenario was so dangerous that an HTC rep had to come out and apologize for it.
I’ve to chop HTC and Verizon some slack right here — LTE was new, and it was a crucial stumble to take in order that we wouldn’t must take care of these pains right now. Sadly, our worst telephones listing is unforgiving, and it received’t overlook 3 hours of battery life resulting from mere rising pains.
7 -Motorola CLIQ
These with no deep data of Android’s historical past won’t have been round for the abomination that was the Motorola CLIQ. It was Motorola’s first Android cellphone, which is humorous contemplating top-of-the-line (or, maybe, most vital) telephones in Android’s historical past — the Motorola DROID — was launched by Motorola and Verizon simply days later.
The Moto CLIQ was small, awkwardly constructed, and, fairly frankly, ugly. And that’s simply the dangerous information on the {hardware} aspect of issues. It was our first style of MotoBLUR, which has gained notoriety for being one of many worst customized overlays Android has ever seen. It was sluggish, buggy, and did nothing to correctly characterize the spirit of Android. My eyes and mind are bleeding out simply fascinated with it. Let’s be grateful Motorola got here to their senses and started making phones with respectable software again.
6 – Motorola Backflip (and/or Motorola Flipout)
Merely put, Motorola was out of their flippin’ minds once they thought these telephones up. Motorola’s grand thought for his or her 2010 stretch of reasonably priced telephones was to implement these gimmicky methods to entry the units’ keyboards. For the Backflip, the keyboard truly existed on the “again” of the cellphone… get it? And also you “flipped” it to the entrance so you might kind. Yeah.
And the Flipout was no higher. In truth, it was even worse. Right here it was, slightly puck whose tiny keyboard was tucked beneath a tiny display screen. The one solution to entry that keyboard was to “flip” the cellphone sideways. Truthfully, I in all probability wouldn’t have cared much less if the cellphone by chance “flipped” proper out of my palms.
These telephones had been fascinating — I’ll give them that a lot — however ultimately they had been cumbersome, ugly gimmicks to cowl up the truth that the telephones weren’t any good (with a lot of that having to do with MotoBLUR, which we already had the displeasure of mentioning on this article).
5 – LG DoublePlay
OK, OK. Fact be advised, it does seem to be I’m choosing on corporations for considering outdoors the field. That isn’t the case in any respect. Assume, and assume some extra! However assume twice earlier than turning a few of these ideas into actuality. I needed to take a DoubleTake when LG first confirmed us the DoublePlay.
The concept was noble, and the second-screen expertise was much more helpful than that of the aforementioned Samsung Continuum’s. Nonetheless, the entire thing felt compelled, and splitting the bodily QWERTY keyboard into two to make room for what was little greater than a glorified secondary apps tray didn’t make for essentially the most intuitive typing expertise on the planet.
4 – Garmin-Asus Garminfone
Pretty much as good as ASUS has been to us within the pill aspect of issues through the years, their monitor report with telephones hasn’t been fairly as inspiring. Their very own-branded telephones have been respectable at finest, but it surely’s the telephones they made at the side of others which have us doing an about face and operating the opposite means.
There have been a number of components of ASUS and Garmin’s Garminfone that earned it a spot on our listing. For starters, the cellphone was ugly, and regarded like a failed cross between a private media participant and a GPS unit. That’s the least of it. Diving deeper, ASUS and Garmin tried to create a navigation expertise that the world simply didn’t want.
They utterly gimped Android, with no conventional home-screen to position widgets, shortcuts and folders. The OS was so closely personalized that you just won’t acknowledge it when you weren’t paying shut consideration. It’s not simply that they personalized it past recognition, although — we’ve seen others do this and had no qualms. Fairly, we’re extra upset about the truth that nothing they did made any sense or made the system helpful in any means, form or type.
Certain, you had an offline maps expertise powered by the seasoned- navigational leaders at Garmin, however Google Maps was simply beginning to get actually good at this level. Earlier than lengthy, this cellphone had change into utterly out of date and was certainly one of a number of failed makes an attempt made by Garmin and ASUS earlier than the previous thankfully decided to give it a rest. With how good Google Maps has change into and with how a lot a standalone app can do nowadays, let’s hope we by no means must endure one thing just like the Garminfone once more.
Fact be advised, Kyocera has by no means made a very nice Android cellphone. We’d hoped issues would change when Dash unveiled the Kyocera Echo, however that turned out to be one of many largest faceplants we’ve ever seen within the historical past of smartphone bulletins.
Dash hyped the announcement of this phone up as something “magical” and “exciting,” and all of us waited patiently for the occasion that was lastly going to convey us this mystical cellphone. That day arrived, and all of a sudden Dash’s pre-game hype made extra sense. It was “magical” within the sense that somebody thought this foolish cellphone would entice somebody to truly purchase it. It was “thrilling” to learn the reactions of smartphone fanatics all over the place on Twitter. Not even David Blaine may get us into this cellphone.
This dual-screen monster was an absolute brick of a tool. We’d nonetheless been looking for a cellphone that might present even only a halfway-decent second-screen expertise at that time, and whereas we commend Kyocera for giving it a attempt they in all probability would have been higher off crumbling up the blueprints for this one.
For starters, the over-exaggerated bezel on this factor ruined any shot at making this system seem to have one “large” show. The concept was that the 2 3.5-inch screens might be mixed to type a pleasant, large 4.7-inch show. They referred to as this “pill mode,” and used the attract of having the ability to view images and movies on a wider canvas to attempt to make gross sales. For sure, the execution of this concept was ruined by dangerous engineering.
Different use instances included utilizing one show as a keyboard whereas viewing an app within the second show, in addition to utilizing one show to indicate your e-mail inbox whereas utilizing the second show to indicate particular person emails. This was an fascinating use of twin shows, however in the end proved to be little greater than a gimmicky novelty. One may additionally merely “shut” the system and use the Echo as a single show cellphone, however — once more — shoddy engineering meant you had been holding one thing akin to a brick.
Buggy software program, putrid battery life and uninspiring internals rounded out the listing of negatives that made the Kyocera Echo one of many worst Android telephones of all time. Take into consideration all the things you shouldn’t do when developing a smartphone, and Kyocera did all of that within the Echo.
2 – Freedom 251
Initially left off this listing, we’ve added the beneath $5 Android Telephone after it was the #1 Android Telephone looked for in 2016. The corporate made an enormous promise, attracted a ton of consideration, however couldn’t ship.
The massive draw was that it was a $4 cellphone, which might forgive a few of its very long list of shortcomings up in opposition to stiff reasonably priced choices from competing corporations. The issue is that $4 promise was contingent on government help, one thing the corporate was unable to safe earlier than they began promoting.
Consequently, the Freedom 251 earned a whole lot of these $4 pre-orders in India, however the firm in the end didn’t ship, and regarded actually shady within the course of. It obtained so dangerous that the founder ended up being arrested.
Not like a lot of the Android telephones on this listing, the Samsung Galaxy Notice 7 was one of many few that launched to crucial acclaim. The very pinnacle of cellular engineering, the Notice 7 was one of many few telephones that might toe-to-toe with Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus and (at the very least on paper) mop the ground with it. The Galaxy Notice 7 featured a premium water resistance physique, large battery, wi-fi charging, stunning curved show, and a elaborate little stylus you might use to jot down notes instantly onto the system. Oh — and the phone would occasionally catch fire for no apparent reason. Enjoyable.
Now, we’ve all seen “exploding” smartphones prior to now. No system on the planet is free from defects like this, particularly whenever you’re pushing this type of quantity. However when it got here to the Galaxy Notice 7 — which was gearing as much as be one of the vital in style smartphones on the planet — it was a threat Samsung simply couldn’t take. This resulted in a worldwide recall of the Note 7 shortly after it was released, with Samsung providing to both refund or alternate the cellphone for newer “protected” mannequin.
Let’s be clear: this preliminary recall isn’t even why the cellphone is among the worst Android units of all time. That half was truly forgivable, with many customers opting to alternate their unit for a “protected” model of the identical mannequin. It’s due to what occurred after that the Notice 7 has earned the highest spot on our listing.
It wasn’t till substitute units — people who Samsung deemed “protected” — additionally started catching hearth, that we knew this wasn’t one thing the Notice 7 can be getting back from. Retailers and carriers began pulling the phone from store shelves and on the time of writing, there nonetheless hasn’t been an official second recall, however Samsung has confirmed that they’ve officially stopped production of the Note 7 for good.
With such a monumental blunder on their palms, your entire destiny of Samsung’s Galaxy Notice line now lies in jeopardy. We nonetheless don’t know if we’ll see a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 subsequent 12 months or an entire re-branding of the road, but it surely’s disgrace contemplating the Notice’s time honored custom of being the perfect Samsung needed to supply (much more so than their Galaxy S flagships). When it’s all stated and finished, analysts imagine the failed Notice 7 launch/recall could cost Samsung as much as $17 billion.
Farewell, Galaxy Notice 7. You’ll be missed.
Runner-ups
With a whole lot, and perhaps even hundreds of Android telephones being remodeled the previous 5 years, it was extraordinarily onerous to decide on simply ten units. We felt the necessity to spotlight a bit extra, so listed below are a number of the ones that didn’t make the lower (not in any specific order):
- LG G2x — first cellphone with Tegra 2, however boy was it buggy.
- HTC ChaCha, HTC Standing and HTC First — we’ve all needed a Fb cellphone as soon as. Then we grew up.
- Samsung Behold II — Samsung’s pre-Galaxy S Android cellphone had an terrible “dice” UI and hideous bodily button setup.
Debate Time!
And now it’s time for my favourite half — the half the place all of you chime in with your individual opinions regarding the worst Android telephones of all time. Enjoyable, enjoyable, enjoyable! Do you agree? Disagree? Have your individual listing of worst telephones? We need to hear all of it. Let’s congregate within the feedback part to speak about this, and bear in mind to maintain it clear – there’s nothing that claims you’ll be able to’t respect everybody’s opinion even when it differs from your individual. Have at it.
