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Android’s desktop interface leaks

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Re: Android’s desktop interface leaks

#191

Post by g947o »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #61
Ronsenshi wrote: post #24

Is it going to be the same future as Fuchsia OS? There were some good ideas in that one, but then one day it sort of disappeared. Not that that was surprising - Google is good at that.

Unless Google reorganizes and gets more focused, I'd say they are highly likely to repeat their mistakes. IMHO both Apple and Google are missing a big opportunity here. Both are doing work to blur the lines between desktop and mobile. Both are targeting laptops, ar, phones, and tablets. These are multiple modalities. Or they should be. But because the way both are structured, these are isolated islands with some inte…

I don't think nobody has solved the problem of mobile/desktop split so far.

Microsoft's Surface Pro line barely made any difference -- nobody buys it to use it as a tablet, and generally the touch experience is just bad if you have ever used a real tablet.

Apple pretends to try and market iPad as your next computer, but we all know how it works. (They also have this thing that allows phone apps to run natively on MacOS, but that has got near zero traction.)

Samsung tried as well, half-mindedly, and I can confidently say a Samsung phone doesn't work as well as a PC in DeX mode.

So now it's Google. I don't think they can come up with some magic solution to change this.

Re: Android’s desktop interface leaks

#192

Post by g947o »

skybrian wrote: post #16
GreenVulpine wrote: post #6

Does it still require wiping your drive and enabling developer mode to install software outside the Play Store like ChromeOS does? DOA if so.

I believe you can run Linux in a container and use apt-get. https://chromeos.dev/en/linux/setup

Using applications with a GUI isn't a very enjoyable experience in that environment.

Re: Android’s desktop interface leaks

#193

Post by LoganDark »

joe_mamba wrote: post #140
izacus wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you be specific which countries are you talking about? Because you seem to be in a word fight with very vague arguments and with someone else with very vague arguments and it's not even clear you're talking about same things. So can you be clear on: - Which counties you're talking about? - Why are those countries important to think about in this case? - Why doesn't this feature help people from regions that can a…

>- Which counties you're talking about? Pick any you like, Income/GDP is more important metric rather than which specific country. >- Why are those countries important to think about in this case? Why are you asking me? Ask the people who brought up third world countries as the target user base for phones with display output. I'm the one not agreeing with this point since it's stupid. >- Why doesn't this feature help…

I have some friends in Argentina where even just a few USD goes a long way. I occasionally throw them something like $10 USD and that gets them GPU, disk upgrades, etc., it's nuts.

Re: Android’s desktop interface leaks

#194

Post by esperent »

mhitza wrote: post #12
daoboy wrote: post #5

Many years ago I used to play around with CyanogenMod and Linux. Life with work and a family became too busy to fuss with that stuff, but I'm rapidly approaching the point where abuse from android and Microsoft make using a less polished OS worth the bother.

You'll be happy to hear then that the experience has improved significantly over the past decade.

Eh, it's better. But it's still a mess unless you're using a device specifically designed for Linux like a Steamdeck or Framework. Expect to spend a lot of time messing around in the console if you install on an arbitrary laptop that came with Windows installed. Wifi problems, sleep problems, external monitor problems, laptop screen brightness problems, graphics card problems.

Re: Android’s desktop interface leaks

#195

Post by IshKebab »

poisonborz wrote: post #51
Ronsenshi wrote: post #24

Is it going to be the same future as Fuchsia OS? There were some good ideas in that one, but then one day it sort of disappeared. Not that that was surprising - Google is good at that.

It was an experiment to keep bright engineers busy with cool ideas to show off.Even back then they could have known that it is not a viable idea to make a tectonic platform switch with not much business arguments for it.

I don't think so. Feels like it was more about getting away from Linux and all the driver issues it entails.

It's a very long-term bet for sure.

Re: Android’s desktop interface leaks

#196

Post by IshKebab »

pjmlp wrote: post #62
LtWorf wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure they will be discontinued in a few days.

See Android Things, does anyone still remember it, or Brillo that was originally supposed to be it?

Yeah they failed pretty hard at least three times on the IoT front. To be fair I think they're finally making some kind of progress with Matter. About 10 years late, but still.

Re: Android’s desktop interface leaks

#197

Post by Miraste »

jeroenhd wrote: post #183
modeless wrote: post #179

They ought to put the status bar at the bottom. All the designers using Macs probably forgot, but Chrome's tab interface was designed for Windows where it could be all the way at the top of the screen. And in general it's more common for desktop apps designed for mouse and keyboard to have frequently accessed UI elements at the top of the window than the bottom. So desktop apps would benefit from being able to use th…

Auto-hide the task bar at the bottom, and you've basically got the Gnome UI. Works just fine. It's the permanent screen reservation of the double task bar that really eats up the usable desk space. Samsung's task bar (when you enable the DeX integration on a tablet) also supports this and it makes for a fine user experience. Edit: I've enabled "force desktop mode" on my Pixel 9 Pro and hooked it up to my laptop dock.…

Inexplicably, Samsung removed the ability to hide the taskbar with One UI 8 last year.

Re: Android’s desktop interface leaks

#199

Post by palata »

makeramen wrote: post #155
palata wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't quite true. The Google Pixels allow me to unlock the bootloader, install my own system, and relock the bootloader. As a result, I run an alternative OS called GrapheneOS which is more secure than Android. The fact that I can unlock and relock the bootloader is not a security issue or a risk. People who don't know what that means cannot possibly do it by mistake. Now allowing root access to users on Android…

> The fact that I can unlock and relock the bootloader is not a security issue or a risk. People who don't know what that means cannot possibly do it by mistake. The second sentence is false. Lots of people blindly follow things and don't understand consequences until they brick their devices. Those who don’t break something won’t notice if they’ve silently backdoored themselves. People asking for support after getti…

When you reboot in fastboot mode and enter the commands that break your phone, I think you're responsible.

If you take a hammer and destroy your phone, I think you're responsible.

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