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Android Oreo

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Re: Android Oreo

#111

Post by BinaryIdiot »

pjmlp wrote: post #72
klondike_ wrote: post #11

Project Treble is the most important thing in this release >The biggest change to the foundations of Android to date: a modular architecture that makes it easier and faster for hardware makers to deliver Android updates. With any luck, this will end the huge security/update problem Android has. Right now an update is dependent on the chip manufacturer's drivers, then the OEM adding them to the ROM with their custom "…

As I commented in another HN story, I don't believe OEMs and telecom operators will release updates, if Google doesn't force them to do so. They already admitted on the ADB Podcast that they don't want to remove the ability for OEMs and mobile operators to customize their forks of Android. We will still be forced to buy new devices even if they are VTS certified.

I completely agree. It's good they broke it apart to make updates, in theory, easier but after working for a company that modified software that was delivered to them and then reshipped elsewhere it really never mattered how module the original was; the updates still go through the same channels, testing, etc and the OEMs will likely want to modify things not as cleanly separated (an API design never passes its production usage without warts).

I doubt we'll see much change. I hope it'll make it slightly faster but without an agreement with OEMs that has teeth forcing them to be more expedient I can't see this getting much better.

Re: Android Oreo

#112

Post by klondike_ »

jampa wrote: post #36

I know this is a non-issue for many, but those emojis look really dated. Every update they get harder and harder to read in small form. One of the things I observe, mainly on Instagram Stories is only people with iOS post with emojis attached, I never see Android ones. Too bad there is no way to install custom emojis in any system (without rooting/registry tweaking), like we do with fonts.

I used to hate the blobmojis, but after a while I started to grow fond of them. The weird gradients on the new emojis are a bit jarring. In my opinion the clean, flat style of the old emojis is a lot nicer.

Re: Android Oreo

#113

Post by nfriedly »

0x00000000 wrote: post #69

Android has really been annoying me lately. Maybe I didn't care before but now that I can't root my phone I am forced to deal with it. Still can't disable or customize to stupid "share" menu that puts you one click away from accidentally sending something to a stranger you contacted once on sms or facebook messenger or email. Still can't revoke certain permissions from apps (like vibration). There is zero reason why…

> zero reason why my browser should need to ever [...] use the accelerometer/gyro

It might not be a good reason, but I made a game a while back that used tilt input instead of arrow keys on mobile: http://nfriedly.github.io/space-jump/

Re: Android Oreo

#114

Post by widdma »

thinbeige wrote: post #94

Nice Marketing coop for an OS where 50% of devices won't get updates. I don't get it. They bring frequent major updates with such important features like 60 new emijis or antivirus software instead of just doing their homework and implementing the number one feature for an OS: Direct OS updates from the OS vendor and nobody else. Don't tell me it's a problem and the driver situation is so difficult. This is just a ba…

This release introduces Project Treble with the goal, I believe, of fixing this exactly this problem.

Re: Android Oreo

#115

Post by josu »

mikaru wrote: post #107
josu wrote: post #76

So according to the release the new features are: -Picture in picture (dual app onscreen) -Notification dots and "force-touch-like-feature" (my words, not Google's) to preview -Google Play Protect (an antivirus) [0] -Minimize unintentional overuse of battery from apps in the background -Faster boot speed -Support forAndroid Instant Apps -Over 60 new emoji (sic) Under the hood stuff, not in the release (thanks u/izaku…

Where did you see that it has "force touch" to preview? I can't find that information in any of the links.

Sorry, they where my words, and a poor choice, I have updated that point. The feature I was referring to is this:

Notification Dots: Press the notification dots to quickly see what's new, and easily clear them by swiping away.

Re: Android Oreo

#116

Post by thinbeige »

> that makes it easier and faster for hardware makers to deliver Android updates.

They still don't get it. Google as the OS vendor should update all phones and NOT the hardware makers. Hardware manufacturers can still update their special features on the side after an OS update got deployed but I want that the OS and its core become updates directly and only from Google. Why is this so hard?

Re: Android Oreo

#117

Post by rdsubhas »

Not saying that everything else is bad, but one thing that strikes me is how much they have run out of interesting things now that they had to use fillers[1] like:

Tooltips

Support for tooltips (small popup windows with descriptive text) for views and menu items.

Normally, this would be relegated to a git changelog in the support library. But this is on the global marketing landing page.

I like to imagine a fictional internal mail thread going like this:

> Folks! please, give us something, anything, to put on the landing page!

> Someone replies duh, maybe tooltips

> What's a tooltip?

> uhh, small popup windows with descriptive text

> What's a popup?

> uhh...

> Nevermind, its on!

Obligatory /s and yeah its Google, but seriously I can't imagine any other circumstances on how this specific copy, which tries to explain what a "tooltip" is by using the words "popup", "view" and "menu item", came up.

This could be a good sign though, of the maturity of the platform (and harder to feel left out if you didn't upgrade).

1: https://www.android.com/versions/oreo-8-0/

Re: Android Oreo

#118

Post by JorgeGT »

izacus wrote: post #99
amrrs wrote: post #89

Has Google ever released a report on how much time it takes an average flagship device to get the latest android version? Even if you've paid $$$$ in getting Samsung Galaxy S8 just recently, you're not going to get Android O tomorrow morning. But that's definitely the case with iOS. That makes a huge difference in the world where Software updates play a huge role in performance and functionality than hardware update…

Just like you have to buy an Apple phone to get Apple updates immediately, you need to buy a Google phone to get Google updates immediately. Pixel and Nexus rollout is starting nowish (and beta participants are already getting the OTAs). This is really not a secret at this time anymore and should be taken into account when you succumb to Samsung marketing. Everybody else will be probably 4-6 months late.

The catch is that you can buy an Apple phone everywhere, but for instance Google decided simply to not offer the Pixel in my country.

Also, they stopped updating my Nexus 4 long time ago, something that Apple does not with their devices.

Hence, I am not "succumbing to Google marketing" again. I have now updated to a Moto, which used to be a Google company. Let's see how long it takes to update...

Re: Android Oreo

#119

Post by jpm_sd »

amrrs wrote: post #89

Has Google ever released a report on how much time it takes an average flagship device to get the latest android version? Even if you've paid $$$$ in getting Samsung Galaxy S8 just recently, you're not going to get Android O tomorrow morning. But that's definitely the case with iOS. That makes a huge difference in the world where Software updates play a huge role in performance and functionality than hardware update…

Typically it's somewhere between 12 and Infinity months

Re: Android Oreo

#120

Post by tombrossman »

pwg wrote: post #19
ghughes wrote: post #5

The awful scroll hijacking implementation on this page really distracts from the content.

Browsing with NoScript in default deny JS mode, I just had to turn of style sheets to be able to read the whole article, unimpeded by any scroll hijacking.

NoScript definitely improves most sites, but scroll can be hijacked with CSS alone: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/scroll-beha...

Firefox users can set "layout.css.scroll-behavior.enabled = false" in about:config and never have to worry about this nonsense again.

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