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Android 5.0 Lollipop

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Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#101

Post by ZoFreX »

georgemcbay wrote: post #92
ZoFreX wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't have hopes of them adding the ability to intelligently switch from a weak wifi signal to a strong cell signal, but this is a step in the right direction Android (supposedly) already has that feature. From the about page for Jellybean 4.2[1]: > A new setting lets you stay on mobile data and avoid nearby Wi-Fi networks with poor connections. Weirdly this seems to be off by default. In Wifi settings go to the…

I had no idea this option existed, and like you I'm surprised this isn't the default. Thanks for posting this, you may have just improved my Android experience by quite a lot (just enabled this, need time to see how well it really works) since this is something I've been constantly annoyed by and didn't realize this existed as an option despite being a heavy Android user since Eclair.

I only noticed it because I got bored and looked through all the settings. There's also an obscure option to tell Android that a particular wifi point is a mobile hotspot (i.e. should be subject to the same data restrictions as the 3G/4G connection). I have no idea how many apps pay attention to the setting though. Bizarrely it's under data usage > more options > mobile hotspots, rather than being an advanced option on wifi networks.

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#102

Post by on_and_off »

JamesSwift wrote: post #76
on_and_off wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Android dev, Lollipop is indeed a big release but not a 'throw everything you have and start over' style change. Some things have been completely rewritten : Notifications have been using the same expanding API since version 1, it has been strongly revamped. The RemoteControlClient (which manages the lockscreen and is used for some other things like communication with Chromecast) was one of my least favorite pa…

RE: ListView Are they providing first-party horizontal lists (i.e. something to compete with UICollectionViews)? Still waiting for an official Gallery replacement... EDIT: Did the reasonable thing and actually looked it up myself [1,2]. Turns out they provide RecyclerView paired with a LinearlayoutManager to achieve arbitrary UI on top of a dataset. This is nearly identical to the iOS setup of UICollectionView with a…

RecyclerView in fact only knows how to manage a pool of views that get recycled.. hence the name. Recycling is a very common approach to that problem on mobile, nothing new here, RecyclerView just specializes in recycling as best as possible. In order to use it, you need to specify a LayoutManager that will handle how elements are displayed on the screen. Google provides a linear one, and the community has already been working on Grid and staggered grid.

Compared to ListView, RecyclerView does not make counterproductive assumptions on what it is going to do. ListView has been written in the Blackberry era. Its only goal was to display a static list of item. No animations, no operations on the items, no gestures. It is possible to implement some of these, but for all advanced operations you hit the assumptions that ListView made on how its items are displayed. In the end, you spend more time fighting the widget than building on top of it. RecyclerView shows a good separation of concerns. You want to implement gestures ? here you go, implement the RecyclerView.OnItemTouchListener interface and you are good to go.

You want custom animations on addition/removal/replacement of an item ? No problem, just implement your own ItemAnimator.

Many parts of the widget have been thought out in order to be customizable and get out of your way and let you build on top of it.

Also, it is part of the support library. Google can update it as many times as necessary and make the changes available on all terminals since it is no longer a part of the platform.

I am sure that RecyclerView has its own quirks and limitations. In fact in the dev preview while ListView only handle Headers and Footers very badly, RecyclerView does not handle them at all. However, it is a very strong foundation on top of which it will be possible to efficiently build an Android app without having to reinvent the wheel.

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#103

Post by cylinder »

leeoniya wrote: post #56
fakename wrote: post #48

"Improved network selection logic so that your device connects only if there is a verified internet connection on Wi-Fi" jfc, I can't believe this is just now being fixed. This has to be the most infuriatingly stupid thing about android. I don't have hopes of them adding the ability to intelligently switch from a weak wifi signal to a strong cell signal, but this is a step in the right direction. No more assuming I h…

> quietly joined a wifi network i would suggest not having your phone auto-connect to just any open wifi network, but that's just me.

If you login to attwifi (at starbucks and other public places), Android will save and then auto-connect to any SSID named attwifi.

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#104

Post by fakename »

ZoFreX wrote: post #88
fakename wrote: post #48

"Improved network selection logic so that your device connects only if there is a verified internet connection on Wi-Fi" jfc, I can't believe this is just now being fixed. This has to be the most infuriatingly stupid thing about android. I don't have hopes of them adding the ability to intelligently switch from a weak wifi signal to a strong cell signal, but this is a step in the right direction. No more assuming I h…

> I don't have hopes of them adding the ability to intelligently switch from a weak wifi signal to a strong cell signal, but this is a step in the right direction Android (supposedly) already has that feature. From the about page for Jellybean 4.2[1]: > A new setting lets you stay on mobile data and avoid nearby Wi-Fi networks with poor connections. Weirdly this seems to be off by default. In Wifi settings go to the…

ok, I turned this on. unfortunately it's overzealous.

I work in a pretty cavernous studio where I never have trouble getting wifi, but there's no cell signal. With 'avoid poor connections' turned on, it drops my 2/3 bar wifi signal in favor of a nonexistent cell signal. I have to disable this feature to get any service.

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#105

Post by MichaelGG »

solrwnd wrote: post #97

Looks like no fine-grained control of app permissions, either dynamic/on-demand or manual. This approach (all or nothing) is one major issue that cripples Android usability for me. :(

Google does not want people taking over permissions and privacy. This is demonstrated by the deliberate design of the phone state permission. Any app should be able to query "is the user on a voice call", but Google wrapped that up in a "get my device serial, as well as phone numbers I call or call me".

Download a flashlight app, then call your cancer or fertility clinic? Awesome, now some random developer has that information.

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#106

Post by r00fus »

wldcordeiro wrote: post #52
jastanton wrote: post #13

6 hours of battery life for 15 minutes of charging? Wow.

They're referring to that turbo charger (or whatever the name is) that can give you 6 hours worth of your battery charged in 15 minutes. The real battery life is reported as 24 hours, so it's saying that you can get your battery from 1% to 26% in fifteen minutes.

That doesn't seem very impressive - a 12W charger can do that for any of my smaller devices regardless of OS.

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#107

Post by josho »

MichaelGG wrote: post #105
solrwnd wrote: post #97

Looks like no fine-grained control of app permissions, either dynamic/on-demand or manual. This approach (all or nothing) is one major issue that cripples Android usability for me. :(

Google does not want people taking over permissions and privacy. This is demonstrated by the deliberate design of the phone state permission. Any app should be able to query "is the user on a voice call", but Google wrapped that up in a "get my device serial, as well as phone numbers I call or call me". Download a flashlight app, then call your cancer or fertility clinic? Awesome, now some random developer has that i…

Just wow. I was considering making a switch from ios, but this reality just put me off until their next release.

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#108

Post by kolev »

fakename wrote: post #48

"Improved network selection logic so that your device connects only if there is a verified internet connection on Wi-Fi" jfc, I can't believe this is just now being fixed. This has to be the most infuriatingly stupid thing about android. I don't have hopes of them adding the ability to intelligently switch from a weak wifi signal to a strong cell signal, but this is a step in the right direction. No more assuming I h…

Based on over a month on Android L Preview, it's not working as well as advertised. Often I just drive by my home and my LTE connection drops although the connection is really not operational. I hope the final version fixes this as it's been years of frustration already!

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#109

Post by MichaelGG »

josho wrote: post #107
MichaelGG wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google does not want people taking over permissions and privacy. This is demonstrated by the deliberate design of the phone state permission. Any app should be able to query "is the user on a voice call", but Google wrapped that up in a "get my device serial, as well as phone numbers I call or call me". Download a flashlight app, then call your cancer or fertility clinic? Awesome, now some random developer has that i…

Just wow. I was considering making a switch from ios, but this reality just put me off until their next release.

Chrome does other tricky stuff that's "evil". When you go to turn on "Do Not Track", they put up a very big warning. Much more than other privacy related features. But then!... They flip the OK and Cancel buttons around. Literally, for that one feature, they intentionally go out of their way to mess up the UI to trick people into keeping DNT disabled. Chrome doesn't do this for any other critical options.

The permissions on Android are further weakened, with apps able to add permissions without any indication via updates. (So long the permission is in the same group.) It's well-known that all-or-nothing, say-yes-or-it-dont-work is a busted model -- MS proved that with ActiveX and Vista's plethora of UAC prompts. So it's very unlikely that Android's permission model and UI is accidental.

And even then, consider the rampant abuse in the Google Play store. It's hard to find small apps, like a flashlight, that doesn't request all permissions. Yet Google does nothing, and takes no effort to inform users that such apps are likely to be doing things the users don't want.

I've realized, unfortunately, Google is not a force for good. They're happy to protect users against other threats (like code execution exploits or SSL attacks), but they are actively working against privacy, openly hostile. Do no evil indeed.

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#110

Post by lunarcave »

MichaelGG wrote: post #109
josho wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wow. I was considering making a switch from ios, but this reality just put me off until their next release.

Chrome does other tricky stuff that's "evil". When you go to turn on "Do Not Track", they put up a very big warning. Much more than other privacy related features. But then!... They flip the OK and Cancel buttons around. Literally, for that one feature, they intentionally go out of their way to mess up the UI to trick people into keeping DNT disabled. Chrome doesn't do this for any other critical options. The permiss…

Are you sure? I think it's just a flip switch which is tap, on and tap off [0].

[0] http://bit.ly/1u8avx3

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