this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2023
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Android

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Happy weekend!

You might have noticed that !android@lemdro.id has reached 15K subscribers, with over 400 active visitors per week!

With the release of Android 14, which is slowly making its way to more devices, it seems like a good time for a community discussion on the direction of Android development.

Discussion Questions:

  • What do you think about this latest release?
  • Do you think things are going in the right direction?
  • Is there anything you'd like to see prioritized in future releases?
  • Which device are you on?

P.S. Subscribe to !askandroid@lemdro.id if you haven't already. It's the best place to ask questions, seek advice, or to help steer others in the right direction for all things related to Android.

(page 2) 39 comments
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[–] dantheclamman@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Android these days is mixed. The app ecosystem is mature and I still have more freedom than Apple in terms of home screen, app store, browser, a real filesystem, etc. The phones are all quite capable and powerful. I can sync texts reliably across devices, use my phone's location to trigger smart home automations, and my watch syncs effortlessly with my phone. All of these were issues for years that are now pretty much solved! Haven't felt a need to upgrade my Note 20 Ultra yet, but might go to a foldable in the next year if the right deal pops up.

I'm disappointed about how Google has locked down some features in the name of security, like the ability for apps to access text messages. The Play Store is so enshittified. It's been a long time since I was able to discover new apps there: these days I don't feel secure installing apps from there and prefer to stick to F-Droid when I can.

I also am disappointed by how the Android market has consolidated so much. There was such a diversity of OEMs in the 2010s and I miss the HTC, LG, Nextbit, Essential and others which weren't afraid to rock the boat and try new form factors. Foldables are one of the only exciting product categories. Everything else feels pretty predictable, iterative and on rails.

[–] blayde@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I miss the old split screen feature. It was far more useful compared to the new "app pairs" thing. Mostly happy (edit: that nothing has changed) otherwise

[–] rikonium@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I’ve been firmly in iPhone-land quite a while and dabbled only a bit since my phone-switching days so my current perspective will be possibly dated and definitely from someone on the outside, casually following what’s new in Android but I did have a great time bouncing between platforms back in the day. (RIP webOS, BB10 and Windows Phone)

I had a Moto Z Play back in the day (that battery life but like that and the Priv it replaced, a bit big for my taste) and I ditched it when a then-critical feature to me: “Ok Google with Screen Off” was removed around the time Google Assistant and the Pixel 1 was rolling out. It was a Play Services and/or Assistant/Google Now update that removed the option from settings, I uninstalled them to keep it temporarily and when I looked it up, all I could find was a curt official “the feature is not supported” response on some support board. I knew the Snagdragon-whatever chipset it had supported it, and I was using it just fine in the past - it felt like gaslighting, I saw people throwing around the “your battery life would suffer” excuse or that it was never supported despite it being the time when chipset support for hotwords when sleeping like Hey Cortana, Hey Siri were a notable feature and the Z Play had it.

Imagine my reaction when I see that feature being advertised as a Pixel exclusive(? At least it was advertised as a Pixel feature) so that was it.

in hindsight, Google’s shenanigans to promote their own in-house projects over Android as a whole seems pretty in-character now. Even as iOS features aren’t as big like “ooo iOS’s facsimile of multitasking!” there’s still the “that’s neat” or small QoL moments coming out like auto-deleting 2FA texts when they’re used. And I just don’t seem to see any of that in recent releases. I saw “AI color themes!” and a new time layout? and I’m not shortchanging the features already there like holding volume down to mute, but it just feels like they’ve decided base Android is good enough and slowed down or stopped in favor of figuring out whatever exclusive Pixel features and what to keep from the non-Pros.

But with the move of so many things to Play Services, are features still coming out that way outside of the usual point release?

[–] Paradox@lemdro.id 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Fwiw Android has had auto deleting 2fa codes in it's messaging app for at least 2 years now

[–] rikonium@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Neat! Is that in AOSP, Google Messages, one of the OEMs, just an option in whatever third-party app you use?

I’m wondering if breaking major app updates outside of OS updates then means new features are less visible.

[–] Paradox@lemdro.id 1 points 2 years ago

Google Messages.

And yeah, I think it really has had that effect. Most people don't know about it; I had to show my father how to set it up. They put a banner up on the app once when they introduce it, or when you first open Messages, but a ton of people just dismiss the banner and then don't see it.

Versus apple who has a big show where they show off all the new shit they're doing, and the press breathlessly covers it, trickling it down to the average consumer.

[–] TheMadnessKing@lemdro.id 1 points 2 years ago

Honestly, the MD3 You had been to my liking. I agree lots of features are getting Pixel Exclusive nowadays, but let's not blame Google for this. The general space of Android in last 2 releases has been refinement over time but obviously with contestable decisions like AppData folder access and others. On the other hand, Android OEMs are not innovating enough in Android Space like they used to do at one point. They are just focusing on UI changes and not features.

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