31–40 of 414 posts
It is time for the vendor neutral cell sized tablet with only a data module to avoid the draconian telecom monopoly protection regulations.
I actually like the move to kill background tasks. Don't get me wrong I think they're great when they're needed. But if I only installed the app because the mobile site is crippled I don't want it to destroy my battery polling for content changes when I only open the app once in a blue moon.
Killing background tasks is great and Android does that automatically to save battery usage. But these manufacturers have implemented their own functionality on top of Android which cripples even critical messaging applications like WhatsApp, Slack, Gmail by not delivering Instant Messages notifications instantly.
So if you run e.g. (new JobInfo.Builder(1234, name)).setRequiresCharging(true).setRequiresDeviceIdle(true)... to do something heavy (like reindexing an on-device database) while the phone is charging, that job will simply not be run on some phones. You have to check whether it's been run at app startup, and if necessary run it while the user is actively using your app.
tl;dr The author would like to run his app in the background without notifying the user about it, because otherwise the author would just add add an ongoing notification, which would allow the app to run in the background forever on all platforms.
It's a big issue with IM apps like Conversations or calendars and contacts synchronisation apps like DAVx5
Some example: https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/issues/2771
I don’t see their problem with Sony’s stamina mode: The UI makes it very clear if you have it enabled, it explicitly tells you what it does and I never missed anything because of it. If you keep your phone on silent you don’t care if it delays fetching messages until you actually turn on your screen anyway...
That doesn't follow. All I want is my phone to be quiet; I don't stop caring about timely notifications because of this. Also, just because my phone is on silent doesn't mean vibration is turned off and, in the case of my iPhone, the notifications go to my Apple Watch.
tl;dr The author would like to run his app in the background without notifying the user about it, because otherwise the author would just add add an ongoing notification, which would allow the app to run in the background forever on all platforms.
The first affected things tend to be synchronisation jobs, but it’s distressingly common for these systems to break things so that notifications just mysteriously stop working outright—with no diagnostics of any form for user or developer.
Or how about emergency notifications? I live out in a rural area and it’s bushfire season; I want the VicEmergency app’s notifications pronto so that, if a threatening fire starts nearby I can get out quick.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Killing background tasks is great and Android does that automatically to save battery usage. But these manufacturers have implemented their own functionality on top of Android which cripples even critical messaging applications like WhatsApp, Slack, Gmail by not delivering Instant Messages notifications instantly.
I don't want WhatsApp (owned by Facebook) to run in the background on my phone at all times. I don't trust them, especially after Instagram (also owned by Facebook) started using the camera by itself on my phone, without my permission. Slack would be fine, I guess.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Killing background tasks is great and Android does that automatically to save battery usage. But these manufacturers have implemented their own functionality on top of Android which cripples even critical messaging applications like WhatsApp, Slack, Gmail by not delivering Instant Messages notifications instantly.
I don't want WhatsApp (owned by Facebook) to run in the background on my phone at all times. I don't trust them, especially after Instagram (also owned by Facebook) started using the camera by itself on my phone, without my permission. Slack would be fine, I guess.
IMO, the best way to solve this is with an explicit “Let this app run in the background” permission, rather than implementing all these “smart” features which are incredibly non-deterministic. Which leads to developer & user frustration alike.
Take the example of the new “App Bucketing” battery saving feature in Android 9, plus a banking app and WhatsApp....
App Bucketing will basically restrict your background processing based on how often you interact with the app. So for your banking app (where you usually want immediate spending notifications), because you don’t really open the app that often, it’s going to start throttling your notifications (and prevent it from running arbitrary background jobs).
But for WhatsApp on the other hand - because you’ll likely open it more often - it will have full permissions to run in the background any time.
If as a user you wanted to prevent arbitrary WhatsApp background jobs and get instant banking notifications - well tough luck!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Killing background tasks is great and Android does that automatically to save battery usage. But these manufacturers have implemented their own functionality on top of Android which cripples even critical messaging applications like WhatsApp, Slack, Gmail by not delivering Instant Messages notifications instantly.
I don't want Slack or Gmail to deliver notifications instantly. I'd love to have functionality that saves battery by delaying them.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Killing background tasks is great and Android does that automatically to save battery usage. But these manufacturers have implemented their own functionality on top of Android which cripples even critical messaging applications like WhatsApp, Slack, Gmail by not delivering Instant Messages notifications instantly.
I don't want WhatsApp (owned by Facebook) to run in the background on my phone at all times. I don't trust them, especially after Instagram (also owned by Facebook) started using the camera by itself on my phone, without my permission. Slack would be fine, I guess.