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Android 5.0 Lollipop

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Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#81
post #44

Wondering if Google will clarify the upgrade path for those of us with Android L side loaded onto our phones. My guess is it will require a re-flash back to KitKat so that Lollipop can be auto-upgrade over the air. In which case I might as well get that going now...

They probably aren't going to try to upgrade safely. All the latest Google apps that have updates, like Photos and Newsstand and Google+ have actually been broken and crash on the L Preview.

They are just treating it like a true dev preview, not treating it as a daily driver.

You will most likely have to flash from scratch.

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#83

I am really curious to see if there will be noticeable "real world" battery life improvements. On paper they have done things which SHOULD give us improvements (ART, and "Project Volta" scheduling), however it remains to be seen just how well those theoreticals will translate into improvements on the ground. I have read reports from people who have tried the developer preview, however their anecdotes vary so wildly (…

Speaking just as a developer updating code for L-devices, the new scheduling interface almost guarantees an improvement depending on how many apps that sync in the background you have installed.

The paradigm went from "wake up every 10 minutes, turn on the CPU, check for network, try to do stuff, if you fail, try again in 10 minutes, keep waking up the device" to "tell the device to do my stuff when next there is network and sufficient battery and the CPU is already on for the sake of running other tasks".

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an aside, I don't think you are using the word "nerf" correctly here. "nerf" is a gaming term that means turning a powerful weapon into basically a nerf gun. It means to make something cause less damage or make something less dangerous. I'm not sure how the Nexus phones were ever causing damage to anyone. I think the terms you want are "made obsolete" or "planned obsolescence".

It's also come to mean, in general, to make something less useful. You can "nerf" an alchemy or farming skill in an MMO, even if that doesn't have any combat ability. Still, I don't think it's super appropriate, because there's nothing making the older phones worse , they just aren't getting better in the ways they obviously could.

> Still, I don't think it's super appropriate, because there's nothing making the older phones worse, they just aren't getting better in the ways they obviously could.

They released an update to the Galaxy Nexus that literally halved performance across the board and never addressed it. The Nexus 4 has had similar woes.

I don't think it's necessarily planned obsolecence so much as allocating less resources to testing and fixing issues on older devices, but to an end-user the result is similar.

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#86

"Improved network selection logic so that your device connects only if there is a verified internet connection on Wi-Fi" jfc, I can't believe this is just now being fixed. This has to be the most infuriatingly stupid thing about android. I don't have hopes of them adding the ability to intelligently switch from a weak wifi signal to a strong cell signal, but this is a step in the right direction. No more assuming I h…

This! I made the mistake of ONE TIME using the xfinity wifi hot spot and suddenly my phone became severely crippled as it would randomly try to be on some hotspot (configured or not) with that SSID.

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#87

"Improved network selection logic so that your device connects only if there is a verified internet connection on Wi-Fi" jfc, I can't believe this is just now being fixed. This has to be the most infuriatingly stupid thing about android. I don't have hopes of them adding the ability to intelligently switch from a weak wifi signal to a strong cell signal, but this is a step in the right direction. No more assuming I h…

This! I made the mistake of ONE TIME using the xfinity wifi hot spot and suddenly my phone became severely crippled as it would randomly try to be on some hotspot (configured or not) with that SSID.

Bummer. Is there no "forget this network"?

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#88

"Improved network selection logic so that your device connects only if there is a verified internet connection on Wi-Fi" jfc, I can't believe this is just now being fixed. This has to be the most infuriatingly stupid thing about android. I don't have hopes of them adding the ability to intelligently switch from a weak wifi signal to a strong cell signal, but this is a step in the right direction. No more assuming I h…

> I don't have hopes of them adding the ability to intelligently switch from a weak wifi signal to a strong cell signal, but this is a step in the right direction

Android (supposedly) already has that feature. From the about page for Jellybean 4.2[1]:

> A new setting lets you stay on mobile data and avoid nearby Wi-Fi networks with poor connections.

Weirdly this seems to be off by default. In Wifi settings go to the more options drop-down and tap Advanced, and it's in that list. Give it a try!

[1] http://www.android.com/about/jelly-bean/

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This! I made the mistake of ONE TIME using the xfinity wifi hot spot and suddenly my phone became severely crippled as it would randomly try to be on some hotspot (configured or not) with that SSID.

Bummer. Is there no "forget this network"?

There is. Just long-press it and hit "Forget network".

Re: Android 5.0 Lollipop

#90
post #54
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nexus 6 is $650 for 32GB. http://motorola-blog.blogspot.com/2014/10/nexus-6-from-googl...

What have they done? They've killed the single biggest feature of the nexus program, getting a great phone for an affordable off-contract price.

Quite affordable compared to iphone 6+, which has an off-contract price of $750/$850/$950 for 16GB/64GB/128GB - on a 5.5" display. The 4.7" 16GB iphone - lowest end model available - is $650 off-contract.

In contrast, the $650 Nexus 6 has a 5.96" display and is presumably 32GB.

I agree that $650 seems like a lot of money for a phone - but that doesn't mean it's not a good value.

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