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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

#61
post #50
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

They replaced my battery free of charge when they did that.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#62

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.

Wasn't Nova sold to some advertising company?

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#64

Given how much of a downgrade the last visual refresh was (Android 12 I think?), this is news I do not welcome. Anyone else remember the lock screen being a giant two line clock with no way to customize it, or the way the settings buttons got way bigger for no good reason? It was awful. I don't look forward to seeing what they will screw up this time.

Related to that lock screen "quirk", the latest UI/UX "feature" that bugs me no end is the fact that on Pixel phones you can't remove the Google search bar on the home screen... yet there is now a Gemini widget available that does much more useful things, so in order to use it, you'd have two full width horizontal bars on your home screen. I assume this is going to evolve with Android 16 releases, but it's a really dumb feature.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#65
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The catch being that's a phone from 2022. Sure, if that's acceptable. I was just referring to current models rather than models from multiple years ago

It outperforms samsung A5x series handily, has better battery life, better carrier support, has full warranty from apple, including same-day in-store service. Who cares what year it is from?

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#66
Looks seriously ugly but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that's only my personal opinion. Thankfully I won't ever get to see it anyway as majority Android vendors aren't using any of Google's UI stuff (my Oppo Find N5 basically looks iPhoney with ColorOS). So really this should be titled "Google Pixel phones will be getting..."

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#67
post #31
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…

My fave issue is Android as the moment is when I try the Gemini app is automatically changes the default assistant app to Gemini. And since Gemini isn't an assistant app, it doesn't work for that :/

But on your topic, my partner has an iPhone and they disable all kinds of features and then wonder why nothing works smoothly. They have a Mac, and airpods, and still don't have anything working together effectively. Just through simple self sabotage

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#68

Looks like shit. It seems that on every UI/UX update, Google products become shittier. I'll keep using Android anyway because I find Apple UI/UX even more disgusting. Smartphones don't matter anyway. What most people do in high end devices can be done in mid-tier or even shit-tier devices too.

I kinda want to know what you do for a living.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Same here. Would still have a Pixel, but I'm not giving up my choice of headphones.

You don't have to, you can still use headphones with a USB-C adapter.
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