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KBG29 said:
potato_hamster said:

It's pretty obvious that those buttons on blu-ray remotes weren't a Sony standard. Perhaps you should actually look at another brand when considering your next electronics purchase.

So 2 GB of ram and a nothingburger of storage. I guess it's not running PS4's OS, is it? Do you know how much RAM Android 7.1 requires? 512 MB. It should have 2GB to run top-end features properly. Still it looks like you're going to have to up those specs to run PS4's OS, are you not? Do you honestly think the sales drop has anything to do with not putting PS4's OS on televisions? Need I remind you that the PS4's OS has far less app support than the old Sony TV OS had which again is far less than android TV. Never mind all of the other built in features that televisions are expected to have that PS4s don't that Sony would have to develop. It's hard to see Android TV as being the problem there. Perhaps it's the fact that televisions are getting cheaper and cheaper to make but Sony's prices tend to stay the same.

The problem with their old OS wasn't that it was yet another platform to develop apps for vs iOS and Android, as I've already stated, there was far better app support for Sony's old TV OS than the PS4 ever has had and likely ever will have. Besides, how does swapping out Android OS on Sony phones with PS4's OS solve that problem. Developers would still have to support iOS/Android/PS4OS. You're not making developers support less operating systems, you're just swapping out the third OS they'd have to develop for. And no, it wouldn't simplify things for developers. Example: All phone apps would have to be able to run on a PS4, would they not?  Otherwise, it wouldn't be unified, would it? How many phone OSs work natively with PS4 controllers? How many phone OSs have to support both devices that do have touchscreens and ones that do not? Developing for a PS4 OS that operates on devices with dramatically different inputs and outputs makes development more complicated, and a bigger pain in the ass. Not less.

Also, you need to demonstrate that Sony's profits off of sharing revenue with Google off of running their OS would be less than they would get forcing users to buy in on a completely new operating system, and thus forcing users to abandon their investment in that ecosystem already, for a PS4 OS with a handful of apps, which would need to have dozens of apps that are considered required for many people ready to go on launch. I mean really, it's sweet how you think this is even remotely reasonable.

You know for as long as you've been pitching this, you've still never explained why Sony would succeed where Microsoft clearly failed. It must be Microsoft's clear lack of experience developing operating systems.

I have never owned a DVD or Blu-ray player, because I have always had a PlayStation or an Xbox. I did look at other TV's when I purchased my Z9D, and that is how I know that Android TV is by far the biggest pile of garbage available in the TV space. Even the cheap brands function faster and more reliably than the Bravia's. When it comes to the picture I am looking for though, I still prefer FALED over OLED, and the Z9D was easily the best in my eyes.

If developers were willing to support 14 Million Sony TVs a year on their old OS, I don't think they would have any issue selling them on the idea of making apps that would be available to an ecosystem selling 35 to 45 Million devices a year or more. 

Yes, I absolutely believe that the inconsistency between Sony products has hurt sales. 

PS4 controller has a touchpad. It does not need a special interface overhaul. They could add button support if they wanted, but I don't think it should be a requirement. With good dev tools, some of these features could be supported automaticaly as well.

Are the Billions in losses over the last 5 years at SMC vs the Billions in Profits at SIE in the same time period not enough to demonstrate how terrible Android is for Sony?

I have talked about how Microsoft failed plenty of times. You can not build a new OS that does not tie into the rest of your ecosystem. That is why Windows Phone failed, and that is why Bravia and Xperia are failing. Microsoft tried to build Windows Phone from the ground up, completely seperate from Windows and Xbox. Then they went directly at Android and iOS at their own game, without any of their big assets. Windows Phone failed, because it was an absolute disaster from every angle.

Microsoft has finally figured it out now, and that is why they have rebuilt everything from the ground up around scalability. They realize any investment they make has to support the entire company. With the Universal Windows Platform, they are setting themselves up for success. Now devs can make one app that works across all Microsoft products. Next time they go after Mobile they will do it with a massive library of Apps and Xbox Games, offering the complete Microsoft expereince. With the Phone being part of the family, it will not have to sell gangbusters to succeed. Just like Xbox, they can chip away with 10 Million a year, and be perfectly fine.

Have you considered, and I know that this may be hard for you, that the issue with Sony TVs running android TV is not with Android TV? I mean, if there's cheaper TVs running Android TV just fine... what does that tell you? Yet, you think these TVs would run and even more resource-heavy operating system just fine. Because reasons. And you've never owned a DVD or Blu-ray player, but think it wise to talk about what kind of operating system such a device would need. Sounds... counter-intuitive.

As for an eco-system selling 35-45 million devices a year.... what? So you have Sony selling PS4/PS5 at 20 million a year.. and the other 20 million are the people that you hope will buy Sony devices running an unproven OS on an unproven platform when they're already leaving a platform that was better supported than Sony can expect their OS to be supported for years and years. How does that make any sense?

Inconsistency between Sony products has not hurt sales, Sony's failure to make devices that are more compelling than their competition has hurt sales. Can you name one think a Sony smartphone does better than any other smartphone? I can't think of any. And no, "running playstation OS" wouldn't be a positive for over 90% of smartphone users that have likely already invested hundreds of dollars into an ecosystem. Since, you know, playing old PS1 classics on your smartphone only goes so far when your OS barely has Facebook, Twiiter, and Snapchat from release.

PS4's controller does have a touchpad. Good job. Now, do you know the difference between a touchpad and a touch screen? Do you know what happens when developers make games/apps for a touchscreen and not a touchpad? That's right. They expect you know to know exactly where on the screen/pad to touch by looking at it. That becomes difficult when the image is on the TV and the touchpad is a grey panel and 1/100th the size. It's not exactly made for that kind of resolution that smartphones have, is it?  Never mind that the touchpad on PS4's controller is "landscape" oriented whereas most smartphone apps are "portrait" oriented. That's just one more thing the app developers have to make sure their apps support on this silly unified OS that they don't have to do on iOS and android. Developers will literally have to buy a PS4 and a car stereo to test their smartphone apps. This is fucking genius.

Tell me, did the billions of losses over the last 5 years at SMC directly relate to switching to Android OS? What was their losses over the 5 years before that? I'd imagine it was just as bad, but you're conveniently ignoring that, and acting like the switch to Android's OS was the on;y factor, and did not in fact limit the damage.

As for Microsoft. You honestly think that's the reason it failed? What's Android's excuse then? That ties in with what OS? The one that doesn't exist? How about iOS? Does that tie in with MacOS? I mean kinda, sorta, in the sense that in the last couple years you can now run some iOS apps on your mac. But besides that? MS did what every other company does - make mobile versions of their applications and make them use the same accounts. Apple does the same thing. So does Google. You don't actually think the "iPhoto" that runs on your iPhone is the same as the "iPhoto" that runs on MacOS, do you? They're different apps made for different inputs for different machines with different processing capabilities, and different screen sizes.

And it's kinda funny how you mentioned "Universal Windows Platform". How's that working out for Microsoft? Ohh right. It was a miserable failure that overpromised, underdelivered, and has quietly been brushed aside in that last few years. And this is MS "figuring it out". I think all they figured out was that there is no universal solution to developing software. They can make another run at mobile all they want. That's still not going to get them from stop supporting things like office on iOS and Mac OS and Android, so having those things just brings them closer to iOS and Android, not ahead. As for Xbox games? Let me know when people start enjoying themselves playing Halo on a touchscreen against Xbox One X players. I'm sure it'll be a blast.

P>S. If Sony would be happy with 10 million in smartphone sales, they don't need to change a thing. As it turns out supporting a smartphone division can be more expensive than supporting a game division. How much is Sony losing selling 9 million smartphones a year? $300 million? I'm sure MS would love that kind of loss.

Last edited by potato_hamster - on 04 September 2018