Introducing Android 9 Pie • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#321

Post by scns » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 9:36 AM UTC

kcmp wrote: post #128

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #75

Surprised not to see mention of the cutout stuff yet. It seems pretty dumb to me that Google is jumping on board with this ridiculous feature. Maybe this'll be one of those Dropbox-style HN comments which in hindsight looks misled, but I honestly can't find any redeeming factors to the cutout idea.

People loved it when Apple did it which gave everyone else the okay to go ahead and do it themselves. It allows phone manafacturers to advertise higher screen to body ratios and is really just a step in the progression towards bezelless phones. There's definitely a loud group of people who strongly dislike it but I think most people are okay with it

Essential Phone had a notch before Apple. Didn't have Apple's Mindshare though.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#322

Post by zaarn » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 9:58 AM UTC

swebs wrote: post #234

anonytrary wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the top comment I came here for. I really hope there is a way to turn off all the "machine learning stuff" because I would rather not sacrifice any of my personal data so that Google can better predict how to "optimize my phone experience". My human brain learns the random quirks of an OS in a matter of days, I don't need the OS brain trying to learn how I use it, as it would be confusing for both of us. I ju…

> I discovered that www.google.com was also accessing my Chrome browser's location, and I can not recall when I said "yes" to any such location prompt This is the worst when traveling through Europe. Cross a border and suddenly all Google services are in a language you don't speak.

Google likes to ignore the Accept-Language header. Obviously they know better than you and your browser what language they should use!

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#323

Post by realusername » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 10:06 AM UTC

knocte wrote: post #260

littleweep wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the only reason stopping me from getting an Android phone. I think Apple is better on privacy.

Haha, but in Apple case, you can't even see the code, dude.

You would be surprised how little of your Android phone is actually open-source code.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#324

Post by dullgiulio » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 10:09 AM UTC

tokyodude wrote: post #274

ehsankia wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you have explicit control and granular control, even if 99% of the people won't ever use it. Before, if you didn't want Facebook accessing your Microphone, the only option was to not use the app at all. Now, I can specifically disable that option.

Facebook may just make the app not run unless you give it mic permission. Of course you don't have to run it. I have seen apps that explicitly refuse to run unless you give them the permissions they want on iOS even though they shouldn't need them for 99% of their functionality.

Wouldn't such a behaviour be against GDPR? Probably not because of technicalities, but then I would hope the EU to make yet another piece of legislation to address this.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#325

Post by realusername » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 10:11 AM UTC

tokyodude wrote: post #274

ehsankia wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you have explicit control and granular control, even if 99% of the people won't ever use it. Before, if you didn't want Facebook accessing your Microphone, the only option was to not use the app at all. Now, I can specifically disable that option.

Facebook may just make the app not run unless you give it mic permission. Of course you don't have to run it. I have seen apps that explicitly refuse to run unless you give them the permissions they want on iOS even though they shouldn't need them for 99% of their functionality.

That's where Google/Apple should step in and ban those apps from the store.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#326

Post by the_dege » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 10:32 AM UTC

mehrdadn wrote: post #307

Klover wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook is a popular app.

Wow, it uploads your call logs? I had no idea. I thought it was only ("only"...) contacts.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-logs-text-call-histori...

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#327

Post by owenwil » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 10:44 AM UTC

Legogris wrote: post #87

I can't be the only one getting a chill down my spine when I read this. Google, a company "committed to reach and engage the right users safely and cost-effectively around the world", doing deep analysis of my every input and my context in order to "drive engagement" and "surfacing the best parts of the apps [I] use all the time"? I hope this stuff is kept out of AOSP. Yes, I know it seems like at least some of the c…

It's actually _all_ done on device.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#328

Post by owenwil » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 10:45 AM UTC

dingo_bat wrote: post #57

Reading through the list of improvements leaves me quite underwhelmed. I thought the Oreo upgrade was basically useless, but this is literally a service pack style update. Also amusing to see "battery improvements" in every release without anything to show for it.

This actually increased my Pixel 2's battery life from 1.5 days to a solid 2. Did you actually try it?

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#329

Post by owenwil » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 10:46 AM UTC

conradfr wrote: post #102

I was just hoping for them to retire those stupid round adaptive icons. They did not. Also it's not clear if the old style of switching "opened" apps will still be there? Because the new one with the full screen preview seems more flashy but less practical(think alt+tab vs win+tab on Windows).

Throw on developer mode and you can change these to anything you want, it's built into the launcher.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#330

Post by scns » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 10:51 AM UTC

zanny wrote: post #184

Raphmedia wrote: post #167

"It's nice!" ... or at least that's what I would say if my phone wasn't limited to Android 7.0

I was worried my S5 was doomed to Lineage 14.1 forever, but some saint dev ported it to 15.1 last month. LTE doesn't work, but hey, 15.1. Whats really scary is that the official Samsung Touchwiz ROM stopped getting updates two years ago and is stuck on 5.1 I think. Ain't it great when hobbyists support a device for over 3 major revisions past when the billion dollar manufacturer that made it stopped updating it less…

Thank you for writing this. I'll stay on 14.1 till it's fixed.