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Introducing Android 9 Pie

android-developers.googleblog.com

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Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#331

Post by some_account »

sametmax wrote: post #319
DennisAleynikov wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A product only useful at the Billion User data points level. I am 100% fine participating in what's essentially the training data for all future AI products coming out of Google. It feels like a happy family of devices all working together for a more scientific future.

In history, people allowing one entity to accumulate a lot of power on the basis that they will remain benevolent have almost always be wrong. Don't assume people at the top have an agenda that are compatible with yours. The fact we are enjoying a lot of peace and freedom right now should now be a signal for us to relax : democracy is a system that needs maintenance, not some legacy you can claim ad vitam. It's our d…

There is no democracy, just the appearance of one. As an adult, I think it's everyone's responsibility to start and understand this sooner or later.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#332

Post by maaark »

selectodude wrote: post #182
TeMPOraL wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they? Or did they just express they care more about staying in Apple ecosystem than the headphone jack? This is my point: there isn't really a way to express a preference for something minor. Smartphone market is mostly "take it or leave it".

They throw a dongle in the box. Just keep it hooked up to your headphones and now they're fancy Lightning buds. No big deal.

Nah, they're stopping that now.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#333

Post by cageface »

solidr53 wrote: post #297
sidlls wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a more negative view. The entire Android development experience is substandard from front to back. The entire framework feels over engineered and bloated no matter which system or API it is.

This. I am a React Native developer, while working on a lot of backend things, bridging native API's to JS, I must say the developer experience on iOS is absolutely fantastic. Made me switch from Pixel to iPhone X, I've had android since the Google Nexus One, so yeah longtime Android user.

I would certainly not call the iOS developer experience fantastic. Xcode lacks basic IDE code editing features. Compiling Swift is slow and still somewhat buggy. Interface builder is next to useless for building complex apps decomposed into reusable components. Provisioning and signing is not as bad as it used to be but you can still get off in the weeds for an hour fixing issues there.

It might be a better developer experience than Android overall but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#334

Post by sametmax »

some_account wrote: post #331
sametmax wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In history, people allowing one entity to accumulate a lot of power on the basis that they will remain benevolent have almost always be wrong. Don't assume people at the top have an agenda that are compatible with yours. The fact we are enjoying a lot of peace and freedom right now should now be a signal for us to relax : democracy is a system that needs maintenance, not some legacy you can claim ad vitam. It's our d…

There is no democracy, just the appearance of one. As an adult, I think it's everyone's responsibility to start and understand this sooner or later.

Well yes, I do believe we are in an oligarchy and not a democracy. But it's a different point, and would strike a debate that would not help with the main argument of my comment. So I just use the word "democracy" where most people expect it, otherwise, it gets complicated.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#335

Post by cageface »

curun1r wrote: post #206
j_coder wrote: post #188

It is amazing how each new version of Android has a complete new UX and none of them are actually good. Google is basically a back-end company incapable of doing good UX (if it is more than a search bar).

I would agree with you, but after spending the last two years using an Android phone after almost a decade using iOS, I feel that Google has made some fundamentally bad decisions below the UI layer as well. Despite using a phone that is newer and more powerful, my Android phone is slower, less responsive and runs out of battery much faster than any of my iPhones. The only reason I stay with Android is Google Fi.

iPhone X seems like a bunch of clever but costly gimmicks to fix a self inflicted problem. Instead of just moving the fingerprint sensor to the back of the phone they got rid of it entirely and replaced it with FaceID and this new gesture based interface. It's an impressive piece of technology but a step backward in UX overall.

I find my Pixel 2 XL more usable and reliable than my iPhone X and Project Fi has saved me countless hours sitting in phone shop offices waiting for SIM cards in every new country I visit. The UI may not be quite as snappy as my iPhone but I don't feel it really holds back my use of the device at all and battery life is actually better and it recharges faster.

I do think this new gesture stuff they added to Android P is kind of dumb though and seems like a cheap and failed effort to copy some buzz from Apple.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#336

Post by GeekyBear »

hueving wrote: post #265
wpietri wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's a good general assumption. But in the case of Android, I think of it (and Chrome) more as a defensive move. Google's business depends on having access to users. A free browser and a free mobile OS are a loss leader so that nobody can cut off their major revenue streams. Not that we shouldn't keep an eye on them, of course. The great bulk of their revenue comes from advertising, which is all about selli…

Google location services makes the picture much worse though, which the majority of Android users (in the US at least) have enabled.

I must say, now that Google is buying people's credit card purchase history from third party data brokers, their behavior is much more creepy than just tracking your location.

>Google has been able to track your location using Google Maps for a long time. Since 2014, it has used that information to provide advertisers with information on how often people visit their stores. But store visits aren’t purchases, so, as Google said in a blog post on its new service for marketers, it has partnered with “third parties” that give them access to 70 percent of all credit and debit card purchases.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/607938/google-now-tracks-...

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#337

Post by Klathmon »

pjmlp wrote: post #282
Klathmon wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well considering they just got slapped by the EU for doing stuff like that, I can see that license agreement getting weaker not stronger.

They got slapped for abusing their monopoly to force OEMs to integrate Google Play Services, which is a bit different than ensuring my phone doesn't look like a Swiss cheese in security.

Yes, and now they can't "abuse their monopoly" to force device support, because the one bargaining chip they had ("do it or we will take away google play services") can't be used.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#338

Post by vesak »

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.

And if you have Whatsapp installed on the same phone, it possibly gets all the data that you have given Whatsapp. Ditto for Instagram.

Don't trust Facebook or anything they own.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#339

Post by triangleman »

danmg wrote: post #176
triangleman wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still using S5 as my daily driver, with LineageOS. No major complaints here, but yeah I will probably get a new battery soon.

Does GPS work reliably with the S5 and LineageOS?

Yes. OK I have one complaint, the speakerphone (microphone) does not work well in some applications like WhatsApp. However I believe that can be fixed with some settings changes, I have not tried it.

Re: Introducing Android 9 Pie

#340

Post by cptskippy »

mikelward wrote: post #157
cptskippy wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's now an application navigation function and not an OS navigation function. So in screenshots demonstrating core OS functions it's absent but in screenshots demonstrating Apps it's present.

What are you talking about? I'm using P preview and it's still there. It's also still there in several screenshots at https://www.android.com/versions/pie-9-0/ . It's just now hidden when it wouldn't do anything.

I haven't been following P development very closely. It looks like they added it back in Beta 3.

https://news.softpedia.com/news/android-p-beta-3-returns-the...

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