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Android 12

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61–70 of 131 posts

Re: Android 12

#61
post #12
post #9

Anyone else just stopped keeping track of what version of Android their phone is on? I used to know this stuff, but these days couldn't care less.

For real. For me smartphones are just good enough. They all take nice pictures, they're all fast enough, they all have a nice screen, nice touch controls and nice UI. It just doesn't matter as much anymore. The only thing on here that made me go "oh cool" is the extra dim mode, my 4a really likes scorching my retinas at night.

I am almost with you, but there are some things I appreciate:

a. A better quality of pictures even in less-than-perfectly lit scenes. This matters indoors or in the gloomier months of the year.

b. As you mentioned, an extra dim, or on the other hand extra bright, mode of the screen. Trying to orient yourself in blazing midday sun is a horror with some screens.

c. Fast charging is something I thoroughly enjoy.

Re: Android 12

#62
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having been a developer for both platforms, Apple events/announcements are exciting for people working on iOS apps, while Google events are kinda just depressing. "Oh, yeah, that's cool I guess. Be fun to get to use it in five more years when enough people have this, or a newer, version, for it to matter."

This isn't true imo. With AndroidX and before that the support library, most of the new features have been backwards compatible with older versions of Android.

Most of interesting features aren’t (can’t) be in the support libraries. I haven’t developed android apps in years — thankfully — but the features I can recall off the top of my head are runtime permissions and granular notification settings. Both sweet things that weren’t worth implementing for years after the OS official release.

Re: Android 12

#63
post #20

Looks like grandparent mode is enabled by default with all the whitespace and even lower information density. What's the endgame? In 20 years only a single letter at a time on the screen? >Any information processed in Private Compute Core requires explicit user action before it can be shared with Google (...) If they know everything about the data going in and coming out it's still useless. Also what important APIs d…

> all the whitespace and even lower information density. What's the endgame?

I don't think fashion has an endgame.

Re: Android 12

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having been a developer for both platforms, Apple events/announcements are exciting for people working on iOS apps, while Google events are kinda just depressing. "Oh, yeah, that's cool I guess. Be fun to get to use it in five more years when enough people have this, or a newer, version, for it to matter."

In fairness it is getting (very slightly) better. A few years ago the phone co's would sell a phone today to your parents that was already 1-2 version behind especially if the phone was released a year or so ago. And then NEVER update it over 3 years outside of (maybe) some security updates. For some reason, a month after iOS is released, phones from Apple, including older phones still being sold, are either sold upd…

Google themselves abandon their phones after only a couple of years. It’s awful for the environment, users, and app developers.

Meanwhile my iPhone 8 got iOS 15 over 5 years after it launched.

Re: Android 12

#66

It is remarkable the difference in awareness that android vs iOS releases produce. As a iOS user, i'm glad that iOS releases and features are pushed to me aggressively.

Having been a developer for both platforms, Apple events/announcements are exciting for people working on iOS apps, while Google events are kinda just depressing. "Oh, yeah, that's cool I guess. Be fun to get to use it in five more years when enough people have this, or a newer, version, for it to matter."

Well yeah... because you have to wait until 2020 to get widgets on your home screen. :)

Re: Android 12

#67
post #20

Looks like grandparent mode is enabled by default with all the whitespace and even lower information density. What's the endgame? In 20 years only a single letter at a time on the screen? >Any information processed in Private Compute Core requires explicit user action before it can be shared with Google (...) If they know everything about the data going in and coming out it's still useless. Also what important APIs d…

>Looks like grandparent mode is enabled by default with all the whitespace and even lower information density. What's the endgame? In 20 years only a single letter at a time on the screen?

Just playing to their customer. As time goes on, the demographics of Android users get older and less savvy as everyone else switches to iPhone. (not snark, I have a Pixel myself)

Re: Android 12

#69
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man, blackberry's where such perfect communication devices, fast writing no additional bs...i miss that time, it was the perfect mix of smart and dump phone...and nothing more was/is needed.

oh yeah we all look back super fondly on the dozens and dozens of nested lists that somehow was considered passable as a user interface. I'm no fan of the current whitespace-heavy UI paradigm, but to say BlackBerry did it better is definitely not matching my own memories of my BlackBerry devices at all.

It is the design paradigm of Blackberry is what we prefers because it shows information of what we want and need without any fuss. The modern design paradigm is so backward and marketing-oriented, filled with ads and paddings the way bean counters have in mind. The 90s/00s era have a good design in mind that are human-oriented and natural to use. Now, everything felt off and harder to memorize those extra steps. My Blackberry make it feel like an important tool and easier to use (they are refers as Crackberry back then), modern smartphone tries their best to be hostile toward their users no matter what. If we stay on the goal of human-oriented design with modern style, then our design paradigm will be vastly different than what we have now.

Re: Android 12

#70
post #56

I see three total representations of time... I think? I think that's what I'm looking at on the left screenshot on the "Mon 4" widget? A clock face? One of them's normal (top bar), one (the clock face) looks way more "cutesy" and decorative than functional, so I guess if it's some customization and not standard, that's fine, but what's with the Lock Screen? Why print the time with unusual formatting on there? (I know…

> bumps the top bar down for a second top bar that just prints the date sounds like a privacy thing

I mean the "fixed" top bar that usually shows the time and battery status, et c., gets bumped down for a second one that just prints the date, on the far left of the screen. This is on the settings screen, captured on the right side of the top graphic on the page.

It's a weird choice for a bunch of reasons—why go to extra effort to print the date on the settings screen, of all places, but not in any kind of a "you can edit this here" context, but only an informational one? Why not find a way to put it on the existing top bar? (it looks like there's room, even with the notch) Why break a "this bar is fixed at the top and doesn't have anything 'above' it in the view hierarchy—all it might do is disappear, not be pushed down" norm for such a minor thing? If you're going to that effort, why only use like 1/4 of the width (even accounting for the notch) that you're claiming, and not display more stuff there? Why not just print that under the existing bar, if you've decided it needs to appear on this screen?

It looks like a mistake, as is. Like some kind of temporary dev UI element that got left in by accident.

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