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Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

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Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#41

Post by JamesSwift »

frfl wrote: post #28
JamesSwift wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that made me switch, funny enough, is the 'budget phone' category. The Moto G line and low-end Pixel line completely abandoned the "small, 200-300 dollar phone" segment. And so I got a brand new iphone SE for $200. Havent gone back, and probably wont at this point now that I've moved over and use the family plan for apple one etc.

Your comment seems out of date. There's no $200-300 iPhone anymore. iPhone 16e is the cheapest model I think? That's $600usd? But there are in fact $200-300 Moto phones still and new ones every year, with decent specs for the price and fairly close to stock Android OS. No, they dont have 6 or 7 year of OS upgrades, but that was never a realistic option in the budget Android phone market anyway. It would be unfair and…

These show as $270 new https://swappa.com/listings/apple-iphone-se-3rd-gen-2022?car...

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#42

Post by bigstrat2003 »

karlgkk wrote: post #17
ndneighbor wrote: post #9

The number one issue I have with Android is that while this looks cool, because of the fragmentation of the OS delivery between vendors- I have no idea which phone or timeframe when I could see the rollout of Material 3 Expressive. More than 10 years later, shopping for an Android phone with the latest OS is a nightmare. Android leadership keeps on getting shuffled around, Google changes priorities every 6 months it…

> I have no idea which phone or timeframe when I could see the rollout of Material 3 Expressive. Not a problem with a pixel > More than 10 years later, shopping for an Android phone with the latest OS is a nightmare Not a problem with a pixel > They will need to improve on their ecosystem commitments Not a problem with a pixel

A headphone jack is unfortunately a problem with a pixel. Otherwise I would still own one. I had a Pixel 1, then a pixel 3a, then Google decided to get rid of a basic feature that every phone should have. So I stopped buying them.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#43

Post by krackers »

saubeidl wrote: post #6

I wish Google would stick with a design paradigm for a bit for once. It's not just their own apps that need updating, it's everyone else's, too. Most of which will never happen, so users are stuck in a hodgepodge of several generations of different design paradigms. Material was fine. So was Material 2. So was Material 3. So is Material 3 Expressive, I guess. Just stick with something!

Current "material design" is the anthesis of what "material design" was originally supposed to be.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#44

Post by ErrorNoBrain »

thecrumb wrote: post #40

This will be my last Pixel phone. I had the original and it was perfect. No fluff. Simple. Each version gets worse and worse. 7 is horrible. Still can't remove the stupid date from the home screen.

that annoyed me as well (pixel 8a)

but i just switched to my go-to launcher, Nova. I've used it quite a bit over the last years.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#45

Post by [deleted] »

spencerflem wrote: post #20
bsimpson wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google gave out the HTC Evo at I/O in 2010, which was what got me to switch to Android. At the time, it had a much bigger screen than an iPhone and gave you more control over the device. It could play Flash games/apps, and let you use the apps/keyboards/etc you wanted without a company's blessing. Apple is a lot more open now than they used to be, in ways that might have driven power users to Android before.

They are, but I'll not be fully convinced until there's a Graphene OS equivalent for iOS.

[deleted]

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#47

Post by Padlock4543 »

tifik wrote: post #31
awill wrote: post #3

So many people I work with (in tech) were on Android for years, and all eventually switched to iOS. My biggest issue with Google is they aren't convicted in anything they do. They just guess, or try 5 different things, and see what sticks. That makes it a mess for users, as the UX constantly changes. I also can't understand why Google decided a circular face made sense for Wear. It's good for analogue watches, and ga…

Storytime: my partner used to be a long time Samsung fan. She had the phone, tablet, headphones and watch and probably more gear that I don't even know about. Then she moved to Canada with me. Because of how poor the QA in their ecosystem is, after an update her latest-model Samsung watch couldn't pair with her one-year-old model Samsung phone, which severely diminished its usefulness (this was a heavily reported iss…

I purchased a phone in a European country without an official Apple Store, so I bought it from a "Premium Authorized Apple Retailer." After one year, the phone broke. While in a different country, I visited an Apple Store to have it repaired under warranty. However, they informed me that I needed to return to the original store where I purchased it to activate the warranty.

My experience with Apple doesn't sound so different from yours.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#48

Post by fidotron »

awill wrote: post #3

So many people I work with (in tech) were on Android for years, and all eventually switched to iOS. My biggest issue with Google is they aren't convicted in anything they do. They just guess, or try 5 different things, and see what sticks. That makes it a mess for users, as the UX constantly changes. I also can't understand why Google decided a circular face made sense for Wear. It's good for analogue watches, and ga…

> So many people I work with (in tech) were on Android for years, and all eventually switched to iOS.

There is a curious demographic of people that worked closely on/with Android in the early years that have a particularly extreme allergy to it today.

Sundar gets a lot of deserved stick, but Andy Rubin was no saint when it came to guiding development either, as demonstrated by the memory holed Skyhook fiasco. ( https://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/536913/google-android-sk... ) JBQ resigning from the AOSP really was the sign that true believers in the Android ecosystem are simply suckers.

It is such a missed opportunity it's unbelievable. iOS shouldn't be in contention at all.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#49

Post by tifik »

Padlock4543 wrote: post #47
tifik wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Storytime: my partner used to be a long time Samsung fan. She had the phone, tablet, headphones and watch and probably more gear that I don't even know about. Then she moved to Canada with me. Because of how poor the QA in their ecosystem is, after an update her latest-model Samsung watch couldn't pair with her one-year-old model Samsung phone, which severely diminished its usefulness (this was a heavily reported iss…

I purchased a phone in a European country without an official Apple Store, so I bought it from a "Premium Authorized Apple Retailer." After one year, the phone broke. While in a different country, I visited an Apple Store to have it repaired under warranty. However, they informed me that I needed to return to the original store where I purchased it to activate the warranty. My experience with Apple doesn't sound so d…

Yes, in some European countries Apple doesn't have physical stores and relies on official partners for retail for physical stores. In some of these countries, you can still shop online on the official Apple store for that country. Major down side is you can't get Apple care at all.

The difference is my partner didn't buy her gadgets from a retailer. It was all from physical Samsung stores and under extended warranty. It sounds like an oversight on the retailers side that they didn't 'activate' your warranty for some reason.

But yeah, official stores and Apple Care not being available is a major downside, which is why I'm waiting until Im back to Canada to get an iPhone (it's also quite a bit cheaper on that side of the Atlantic).

One limitation I know of with Apple Care is that if you need to replace your device under warranty, they will need to mail it to you from the country of purchase, but you will get a temporary device while you wait for that. Samsung would never...

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#50

Post by malfist »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #16
ndneighbor wrote: post #9

The number one issue I have with Android is that while this looks cool, because of the fragmentation of the OS delivery between vendors- I have no idea which phone or timeframe when I could see the rollout of Material 3 Expressive. More than 10 years later, shopping for an Android phone with the latest OS is a nightmare. Android leadership keeps on getting shuffled around, Google changes priorities every 6 months it…

If you care about always having the latest software with the latest Google features just get a Pixel. 7 years of OS and security updates: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en Google doesn't control what other vendors do; that's the beauty of open source. (You can argue how open Android really is these days but it's still more open than iOS.)

What happens when one of those updates bricks your battery so it only lasts an hour or so off charger?
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