21 ms·

Android P

358 points by alanfranzoni 8y ago

russellbeattie 8y ago
I was skeptical of the new home button and app overview - (why fix something that already works pretty well?) - but it actually looks good and seems to actually improve the experience.
- 51Cards 8y ago
  I was the same. The moment I saw the three icons gone I rolled my eyes. I thought it was pretty user friendly as is. That said once demoed I am interested to try it. I would like to have an option to toggle back though if desired because... When I see UI changes like this my initial concern is not for myself but for my 75 year old mother. It has taken her years to be able to move through Android with some efficiency and the basic consistency has been a good thing. A fundamental UI change like this isn't as easy for users like that to adapt to. I am already dreading the first time she has a Google P based phone. I hope to be proved wrong.
  - nathancahill 8y ago
    Yep. Same reason I told my parents not to get the iPhone X. Don't want to keep explaining gestures over the phone. They understand the home button.
  - Zarel 8y ago
    I installed the beta the moment I heard the keynote say I could immediately. The new swipe-up-from-Home UI is off by default. I had to turn it on in Gestures. By default, it's the old three-button UI: Back, Home, App switcher.
    - jbredeche 8y ago
      Thank you, I was wondering why I didn't see the new nav!
    - The_suffocated 8y ago
      How are UIs on third-party apps affected? If you turn on gestures, does it mean that on a third-party app, one has to use gesture now to do what could be done before using a back button?
      - Zarel 8y ago
        If you turn on the gesture mode, it's still largely the same UI, it's just that the "App switcher" button is gone. The Back button is still there, in the same place as before (although it does disappear on the Home screen now, which is neat). Tapping Home and tapping Back still do exactly the same thing. Long-pressing Home still opens Google Assistant. Opening the app switcher UI is now done by dragging Home up (instead of tapping App Switcher). Quickly switching to the last used app is now done by dragging the Home button right (instead of double-tapping App Switcher).
joosters 8y ago
...Say you connect your headphones to your device, Android will surface an action to resume your favorite Spotify playlist... ...but what if we could surface part of the app itself... What is it with the repeated usage of 'surface' here, instead of the more obvious and common word 'show'? Is it something to do with Android API naming, or something else?
- craftyguy 8y ago
  As far as I can tell, it's an Android thing. They even call their display manager thing (I don't know the right term for it) SurfaceFlinger: https://source.android.com/devices/graphics/ https://source.android.com/devices/graphics/
  - bitwize 8y ago
    The surface in SurfaceFlinger is in the context of "drawing surface", a term of art in computer graphics to refer to a window, bitmap, or other thing that can be drawn on/blitted to.
  - HillaryBriss 8y ago
    it seems they have also reused these two familiar words in a way that could add some confusion to the Android developer's life: * "bundle" (as in "app bundles", a feature that lets Google Play deliver an installer with a stripped down set of resources to the end user's device) * "action" (as in the new feature of the UI known as an "action" which some have alternatively describe as a "visible intent" or a "deep link with parameters." or something)
- jonba 8y ago
  In the SDK, it looks like they're calling them Slices. https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/slice/Slice https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/slice/Sl...
- puzzle 8y ago
  It's corporate lingo. More specifically, PM/UX speak. "I'll ping you on gChat the slides on what to surface when users tap on the map. Then we can ideate together." Only a slight exaggeration, based on my observation of specimens in the wild (many years at Google).
JoshTriplett 8y ago
While I appreciate the concept of learning things like "common next steps" to make a device more usable, going by the history of devices like Google Home or the Google Assistant, I also wonder how much of this is going to depend on "give us all your usage history" settings and simply stop working with those settings disabled. The Google Assistant is already unusable without a pile of search history settings enabled; what will "smart" next actions and similar require?
- kuschku 8y ago
  Google already has all your usage history. You can view it yourself by dialing ##INFO## aka ##4636## and then selecting "Usage data". You’ll see all apps you’ve used, for how long you’ve used them overall, how many times, and when the last time was. EDIT: *#*#4636#*#* This goddamn markup on HN is utterly broken, I wish it would someday get fixed. But no, of course not.
  - MichaelGG 8y ago
    I get "Connection problem or invalid MMI code" on an AndroidOne device when I dial that. Edit oh hidden asterisks.
  - lann 8y ago
    *#*#INFO#*#*
  - JoshTriplett 8y ago
    That's local information; the question is, how much of this functionality depends on local information and how much gets offloaded to Google servers?
  - gruez 8y ago
    You can disable google play's access to it by turning off "usage access" in app permissions.
    - kuschku 8y ago
sgroppino 8y ago
Is this version Popsicle?
- gagege 8y ago
  Maybe Peppermint?
  - MBCook 8y ago
    Parsley. They’re going healthy.
  - twic 8y ago
    My guess would be Popcorn.
- cpeterso 8y ago
  I like the nicely alliterative name "Pumpkin Pie", but based on the Android P's popsicle stick-like artwork, I suspect you are right about "Popsicle": https://developer.android.com/preview/ https://developer.android.com/preview/
LiquidInsect 8y ago
"Android P Beta is available today on Google Pixel." Oh, except the Pixel C which we're pretending never happened.
- deaddodo 8y ago
  It looks like lineageOS might also be dropping it for v16. Which is pretty lame for a $600 tablet.
  - majewsky 8y ago
    Quick reminder that none of those 600 bucks went towards the LineageOS developers.
Bulbasaur2015 8y ago
did they say what the P stands for?
- jsight 8y ago
  I think that the official name normally comes out very close to the GA release.
fooker 8y ago
I'm almost tempted to try out the beta on my daily driver Pixel. Seems like a stupid decision though. Is there an easy way to manage this from a worktation? Completely backup my current state and restore it afterwords?
- loafoe 8y ago
  installed it about 3 hours ago and it definitely feels good enough to use as a daily driver
  - arthurcolle 8y ago
    famous last words
    - loafoe 8y ago
      Still here! Definitely stay away from preview release on your main phone, but once Google slaps beta on a build stuff is pretty stable (have not tried in car Bluetooth yet -- knock on wood). As a dev, days like these are the ones where I get my moneys worth buying into Googles hardware :)
  - fooker 8y ago
    Do you feel it is worth the upgrade ?
    - loafoe 8y ago
      Yes! It feels.. very polished. The new notifications and settings area are just awesome. Also the app drawer is pretty great. And the animations... smooth as butter!
  - cbhl 8y ago
    Until you discover in X months that moving from the beta to release versions that get security updates requires wiping your phone.
3steve 8y ago
I thought Project Treble was supposed to make the updating process easier from an OEM point of view. If so I wish they supported the Nexus 5X and 6P for one more version.
- ucaetano 8y ago
  I don't think those phones ever had Treble.
  - kuschku 8y ago
    But they should have. Ending support just one version before basically immortality for the phones is just a bad joke. Especially when the only available alternative starts at 3 times the price. $900 for the smallest Pixel in Germany, fuck that.
    - izacus 8y ago
      Treble requires SoC vendors to provide drivers with explicit support. SoCs from Nexus devices aren't supported by Qualcomm so they simply can't be upgraded.
      - kuschku 8y ago
        And yet Google managed to get Treble support on the Pixel devices over a year after release... With enough money, it was apparently possible.
        ucaetano 8y ago
        Because the SoC is supported.
        kuschku 8y ago
        Then Google is free to give me an alternative device for development. With the emulator broken, and the Nexus 5X unsupported, I am unable to assure that my apps work on Android P, and therefore I have no idea at all if they’ll crash or not. But if they’ll crash, Google will punish me by downranking my score. A punishment for something I can’t do shit about. It’s absolute madness.
bitmapbrother 8y ago
The multitasking display was really interesting because they seem to be live windows so that you can interact with them.
wpietri 8y ago
Very nice. I am especially excited about these features: > App Timer lets you set time limits on apps, and will nudge you when you’re close to your limit and then gray out the icon to remind you of your goal. > Wind Down will switch on Night Light when it gets dark, and it will turn on Do Not Disturb and fade the screen to grayscale at your chosen bedtime to help you remember to get to sleep at the time you want. I actually have a separate device for fun/addictive apps, and my phone's charging spot is not in the bedroom. But these kinds of features will help orders of magnitude more people than my very manual interventions ever will. I'm glad Google is seeing themselves as on the side of the user here. Rather than enabling the "up and to the right" religion that has a lot of tech companies chasing DAU and UAM metrics by any means necessary.
- gascan 8y ago
  I don't particularly care about the release cycle, but somehow they manage to add small features every iteration that attract me. Those sound pretty compelling. The Treble project is pretty darn exciting too, if only I had such a phone.
- tomp 8y ago
  I wonder how many of these features could be implemented (far sooner) if a universal UI scripting language was available for users...
  - rtpg 8y ago
    You know, I'm pretty sure anyone could have built these apps on Android You can overwrite the screen in Android. You can replace the home screen in Android. You can scrape running apps in Android. There's a high degree of flexibility Unfortunately this is probably one of those problems where the cost of building the app is relatively high (because the domain is complicated to get right!) and it would be hard to make too much money on this
    - corndoge 8y ago
      it's hard less because of Android and more because you have to support hacked up vendor distros of Android if you want to see any adoption, looking at you Samshit Touchwang
waytogo 8y ago
Thought that all new Android One devices should get upcoming updates like the Pixel devices but they don't get Android P Beta (except the Nokia one).
- taeric 8y ago
  I'm annoyed that my new device isn't covered here, as well. :( I'll clearly survive, but there seems to be no solid reason for why some of these devices aren't more supported.
anotheryou 8y ago
they call "frequently used" machine learning now? I expected something fancier...
- txcwpalpha 8y ago
  "machine learning" is the new "cloud". If you slowly expand the definition of ML to include absolutely anything, then it makes it easier for your marketing teams to attach "powered by machine learning! woohoo!" to try to make everything sound cooler.
- what_ever 8y ago
  Except that it's not just frequently used as described. It also takes into consideration what apps you use at a specific time, location, day.
  - Qwertie 8y ago
    So a slightly more complex formula.
  - anotheryou 8y ago
    still at the very most bayesian, not neural.
mortenjorck 8y ago
The typography in Android P looks strange now with the addition of Product Sans alongside Roboto. The old graphic design rule of "never pair multiple sans serifs" is hardly absolute – different sans families can often be successfully paired as header and body, for example – but in this case, there are headings rendered in Product Sans with barely-smaller subheads in Roboto, which just looks jarring.
blinkingled 8y ago
Looks like Project Treble actually helps with faster updates - The beta is available on 11 devices from different OEMs. Essential said they were able to put out the beta for their hardware in less than a month's time. I did not want to put it on mine though after reading the known issues.
ohthehugemanate 8y ago
This looks awful. I've come to realize that any feature with "smart" anywhere in the name, is something I want disabled. Smart quotes? Only exist to fuck up copypasta code and SQL statements. Smart spell check? There's a field of internet hilarity about how bad this is. Smart restore? Best way to lose my data and fuck up my install. Smart assistant? I've yet to meet even one person who uses GAssistant/Siri/Cortana for anything more complex than "schedule a meeting" or "set an alarm." Smart handwriting recognition? Refuses to detect the word "fuck". And my handwriting was perfectly legible anyway. I want my software to be TOOLS. Predictable, ideally interoperable and chainable, but above all: simple. The best pieces of Ux make technology feel like a simple tool. Cut/paste. Messaging conversation-style, with a simple "send" button. Grep. I find my best note taking software is a text editor, with all formatting turned off. I use ad blockers to disable as many recommendation engines as I can. I use duckduckgo because it just answers my query, without trying to tailor the answers to what the machine (or the advertiser) thinks I want. To mee, simple tools that behave consistently are infinitely preferable to the game of "guess how the computer is misunderstanding the request." Maybe I'm a curmudgeon. I work with ML/AI, and there are great benefits in lots of applications. Just not in second guessing what people want to do. Even other PEOPLE are terrible at that. Please don't make me dance around the quirks of your "smart" AI. I promise, I am smarter. I have better context. I know what I want to do. Just get out of the fucking way and let me do it in the simplest, most direct way.
- Justsignedup 8y ago
  > Smart assistant? I've yet to meet even one person who uses GAssistant/Siri/Cortana for anything more complex than "schedule a meeting" or "set an alarm." Children. No really watch them use an iPhone.
- Rebelgecko 8y ago
  I used to use Google Now on almost a daily basis. Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to get the same functionality out of Google Assistant
- chrononaut 8y ago
  > Smart handwriting recognition? Refuses to detect the word "fuck". And my handwriting was perfectly legible anyway. Related to this, I recently found the option that controls whether the system from recommends or corrects to offensive words. It's buried under: Settings > System > Languages & input > Virtual Keyboard > Gboard (more than likely for most) > Text correction > Block offensive words. The same option exists for Google voice input. Wonder if there's something similar for your issue.
joshmarinacci 8y ago
Boy, the gesture based task switcher sure looks familar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2tkX_zJp-8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2tkX_zJp-8
- metasaval 8y ago
  And I'm not mad at all. I'm glad that both iOS and Android are implementing one of WebOS' best feature. Using the Android P beta now and it seems to be most of the way there.
  - kuschku 8y ago
    It's the worst part of Android P, and I'll patch AOSP to get rid of it for my devices. If I open a task switcher, I want to see a lot of my open tasks. Not one, not three, not even four, but dozens. How long am I supposed to be swiping if there's hundreds of open tasks? And scrolling with the home button is even worse. Let's hope Android Q quickly gets rid of this again.
    - bassman9000 8y ago
      Came to rant about this, and the fact that the blog article itself seems to break wheel scrolling.
    - jhall1468 8y ago
      I don't. Most users probably don't. This isn't going anywhere. It was easily one of the most praised features of WebOS by both users and tech reviewers. There's a reason both Android and iOS are going this way.
      - kuschku 8y ago
        Then at least make it a config option, or support a pinch to zoom out gesture. Having both a zoomed in view and a grid view is standard in every single gallery and camera app, adding it to the recents menu shouldn’t be that hard.
    - 8y ago
rs86 8y ago
Funny how "machine learning at the core" is a selling point. ML is a technique not a feature...
angry_octet 8y ago
Lots of slick UI stuff, but no meaningful updates to things that are well overdue: - Encryption of specific secrets for each app. - Fine grained control of what information is shared with apps. - Ability to selectively deny particular data (and have the app keep working, e.g by giving it an empty contacts list, fake phone ID, etc). - Ad and js blocking capable browser. Why should installing e.g. the facebook app, allow it to track my position at all times? Just freaky.
- mike_ivanov 8y ago
  > Fine grained control of what information is shared with apps. No, they won't willingly destroy a major revenue source.
  - rtpg 8y ago
    I don't understand this request? Apps are sandboxed, and there's relatively granular permission control now. What is this referencing specifically?
    - saon 8y ago
      this applies only to installed apps from the store, not system apps like googles or oem apps. you cant disable background activity of any apps. dont want an always listening ai helper from google? too bad for you.
      - TheForumTroll 8y ago
        Root, remove, unroot.
        propogandist 8y ago
        you ideally want something like Xprivacy, which is unfortunately no longer supported Install something like Netguard (same dev behind Xprivacy) -- which functions as a firewall (vpn) b/w apps and the internet. Turn on logging. Watch all the apps you have installed phoning home and services like graph.facebook.com every few moments.
habitue 8y ago
Can anyone clarify if the app dashboard or "wind down" modes are in the Android Beta? I couldn't find them
dublinben 8y ago
I wonder how much of this will be included in AOSP? Probably none.
- lern_too_spel 8y ago
  All of it. The article is about the Android platform, not about any Google services or apps.
  - jackpeterfletch 8y ago
    it certainly wont get any of the machine learning stuff, backs onto google services.
ohazi 8y ago
Am I the only one who doesn't want a phone that arbitrarily changes behavior in opaque and uncontrollable ways? Machine learning is fine for hard tasks like voice recognition, but it really shouldn't be used for things that would otherwise be a few checkboxes. I know the trend nowadays is to assume that users are irredeemably stupid, but this? Seriously? You can keep this update. I don't want it.
- blisterpeanuts 8y ago
  No, you're not the only one. It's so easy to search for the answer to almost any question about your phone (how do I keep the screen from blanking? How do I set a timer? How do I install a widget (and what's a widget)? Etc. My wife tends to ask me these types of questions and I keep telling her that probably 20 million other people have asked the exact same question so google it. She's finally getting it. I think people can learn over time, and it's probably better to let them have a learning curve and become mini-experts in using their phones, without adding some kind of behind-the-scenes shifting of behavior that will perversely make things even more complex and confusing.
  - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
    Does your wife enjoy being treated like an idiot?
    - dang 8y ago
      That breaks the site guidelines, which ask: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize." It also crosses into personal attack. Could you please read and follow https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html when commenting here?
- ocdtrekkie 8y ago
  The problem is: Your phone will not get security updates if you don't accept the latest Android release. So your choice, really, is to either accept the update or get a phone running a different OS.
ISL 8y ago
Ten years ago, when we launched the first Android phone—the T-Mobile G1—it was with a simple but bold idea: to build a mobile platform that’s free and open to everyone. To what quantitative fraction is Android still free and open (as in speech), and how much of it has been moved into closed-source containers?
- kuschku 8y ago
  Almost all of it is closed. Since the G1, the following parts are just some of the many that were removed from the open project and replaced with proprietary ones: Launcher, Dialer (the actual phone app), Contacts, Calendar, Email, on-device Search (last open in 2.3.7), and many more. Everything that the user touches or sees is closed source.
  - lern_too_spel 8y ago
    All of those apps exist in AOSP and have many open source equivalents not developed by Google. The platform that those apps run on is just as open now as it was in the G1 days.
    - kuschku 8y ago
      Oh? I can compile all these apps, exactly as they are on the Pixel 2, myself? I'd love to see that source. The versions in AOSP are heavily cut down on functionality and barely even work. Im the days of the G1, the actual Google Talk and Google Search apps were open, the Google Books app was open too! That was the Android we bought into: one where a default install was entirely open, and living without any closed source apps was easily possible. Today, that's long gone. Play Services here, SafetyNet there, Google®™© apps in the middle.
      - lern_too_spel 8y ago
        The Pixel 2 is not an AOSP device, just like the Galaxy 8 is not an AOSP device. Why would you think you get the source for all the third party apps? > Im the days of the G1, the actual Google Talk and Google Search apps were open, the Google Books app was open too! Those apps as they were are still open (the Google Talk app was/is actually a multiprotocol messenger), though I don't remember a Google Books in AOSP. Even better, there are now superior equivalents to all of these that are also open source.
davidmanescu 8y ago
Adaptive Brightness: "solving a problem that's been solved numerous times, but this time using machine learning"
- bkanber 8y ago
  Eh, I find that the current adaptive brightness works very poorly. Sometimes slight shifts in my sitting or holding angle will cause the screen to dim.
- hbk 8y ago
  I can't wait for them to use blockchain on next iteration to solve this issue.
philipwhiuk 8y ago
Coming from iOS, with all the disclosures about how Android leaks to Facebook much more I expected to see permissions locked down a lot more. There's a difference between "I want to put a location in my status update" to "I want to upload my location 24/7 to Facebook's servers so they can profile the crap out of me". iOS makes this difference. Android doesn't.
- talldan 8y ago
  You can already disable SMS, phone and location permissions (and others) for each app in the previous version of Android (Oreo). I'm sure this has it too.
  - BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
    > You can already disable SMS, phone and location permissions (and others) for each app This doesn't address the comment you replied to in any way. Surely you see that there's a gap in reasoning between "I want to be able to add my location, just not have my location always broadcast to them" and "you can disable location entirely". Your suggestion specifically violates the "I want to be able to add my location" part of personal control over information. Or are you suggesting that it's reasonable that a user should have to manually switch apps between white/black lists for behaviors? Personally I would find that idea contemptible.
    - refulgentis 8y ago
      Bwah? The permissions model is the same on Android and iOS, if you opt into permissions, you have to "manually switch between white/black lists to opt them out"
      - toxik 8y ago
        Nope, there's three options on iOS location sharing: never, always, and while using app.
      - jclardy 8y ago
zmmmmm 8y ago
> ML Kit offers developers on-device APIs for text recognition, face detection, image labeling and more This is what I always thought Google should do. Operating systems have completely stagnated, but a truly new and differentiating set of features would be to deliver AI as a platform - not a Google-only feature but a set of open APIs that anybody can use or implement. I hope they continue down this track.
dgudkov 8y ago
Machine learning in smartphones is all great and cool, but when can we get easy "undo" in text editor? Really.
- omeid2 8y ago
  Or ability to paste into an empty text box.
  - VladimirGolovin 8y ago
    1) Press-and-hold on the empty text box, 2) a context menu appears, 3) tap Paste. Voila.
    - omeid2 8y ago
      Doesn't always work. :(
- cryptos 8y ago
  Wait until the "machine learning undo" comes out! It will be the greatest undo of all times!
emilfihlman 8y ago
That video was virtue signaling to the max.
esaym 8y ago
About 18 months ago I bought a Samsung S6 off of ebay new in a box for $250. Was actually my first "real" smart phone. I've liked it quite a bit but was disappointed at them taking 8+ months to bring android updates. I was thinking I might get Oreo this August or so. But then I just learned that they've (Sumsung) discontinued all S6 support. So now I guess I'm screwed. I really liked the samsung health app and the built in heart monitor. And I use samsung pay. I don't think any other phone has this and I would like to stay with samsung. But as I sit here and type this on a desktop running Debian that I built in 2008... I really can't support a company that thinks their hardware is only good for 3 years before you need to throw it in the trash. Any tips? I don't really want to root and load a rom (and plus that would make me loose samsung pay and wifi calling I think).
- wvenable 8y ago
  Keep it as is? I have a Samsung tablet from a few years back that got a single major OS update and has run smoothly and perfectly as the day I got it. My iPhone got a huge number updates over it's lifespan but it also got steadily slower and less reliable after each one. There is nothing in Oreo or even P that's really worth it.
  - BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
    Except for kernel updates.
    - jhasse 8y ago
      Why? Security?
      - BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
        Yup.
  - esaym 8y ago
    That's probably what the reality will be. But I hate the idea of once I do 'upgrade' after a few years of no support, that the current version of Android will be so different that I'll have to relearn how to use it again...
igravious 8y ago
“Android P Beta is available today on Google Pixel. And thanks to work on Project Treble, an effort we introduced last year to make OS upgrades easier for partners, a number of our partners are making Android P Beta available today on their own devices, including Sony Xperia XZ2, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, Nokia 7 Plus, Oppo R15 Pro, Vivo X21, OnePlus 6, and Essential PH‑1.” Yay! Project Treble is paying off already :) Personally hoping to see Huawei bringing its recent flagships to P-land very soon, fingers crossed. Has Google finally cut off a few heads from the fragmentation hydra? Time will tell but this is a positive indicator!
wtvanhest 8y ago
If someone from google reads this, can you please consider removing the functionality that periodically drops the nav bar at the top down? Many people use the top of their screen as a bar to line up and read text. Your site is basically unreadable.
- cma 8y ago
  When you scroll up to reread something, it literally hides it.
  - ItsMe000001 8y ago
    Having to scroll UP when I'm reading by scrolling DOWN only to hide the bar is bothersome. That's the point. And what's the "literally" for, in case I scroll up "figuratively" and wonder why it doesn't work? :-)
  - wtvanhest 8y ago
    That removes my ability to read the site because it keeps moving so I keep losing my place.
- Qwertie 8y ago
  I see this everywhere and it drives me crazy.
mtgx 8y ago
Android P has some interesting security features, too, especially the HSM thing, which I assume Google will use in Pixel 3. Maybe Samsung, too, because they have Knox and they target the enterprise market. But it would be nice if more manufacturers would use that, too. Also I've been waiting for a long time for client-side encrypted backups. https://developer.android.com/preview/features/security https://developer.android.com/preview/features/security
gcatalfamo 8y ago
I used to be excited about product releases like this one. But after years of bloated releases and devices that feel old and laggy after just one year of use, I’d rather welcome an Android version that prioritized UI fluidity over everything else. I loved my Nexus 5, but the Nexus 5x was dead on arrival, to the point that my current setup (1 Android and 1 iPhone) will by just iPhones. I’ll definitely miss some features but I need my work horse to just work and not freeze when I try to press switch between apps.
- gowld 8y ago
  Nexus 5 came with KitKat, which was the Android release dedicated to ... reining in bloat and restoring decent performance. https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2013/10/android-44-kitkat-and-updated-developer.html https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2013/10/android-44... 5 years later, it would be great to do that again.
sapphire_tomb 8y ago
This is great and all, but I just wish they'd fix it so that bluetooth connections don't crash the UI on my phone.
opayen 8y ago
I wish they will use all of these new AI capabilities to fix the share UI (https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/05/05/google-please-fix-androids-slow-bloated-share-ui/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/05/05/google-please-fix-a...) Personally, I always use the same app when sharing URLs (Send to Instapaper). Yet, it always shows me default actions I never used (send via Twitter DM, Print, etc.) and takes like 5 seconds to have the UI usable.
haspok 8y ago
I love how it starts with: "Technology should help you with your life, not distract you from it. " and then "A new Dashboard, for instance, shows you how you’re spending time on your device, including time spent in apps, how many times you’ve unlocked your phone, and how many notifications you’ve received." Who cares? What am I supposed to do with this information? (Apart from Google, of course.)
- dagurp 8y ago
  It's useful for helicopter parents
- Qwertie 8y ago
  Helps you manage phone addiction. Many people can't go 5 minutes without unlocking their phone so this is a tool that can show them what they are doing and help them manage their use. Every unlock and notification is a distraction from what you were currently doing.
- kdamken 8y ago
  ...Really? Lots of people spend way too much time on their phones and want to use it less. That info could help you see what apps you're spending/wasting the most time on and help you decide to cut back on. Seeing that you spent a whole hour on instagram is a helpful wake up call. Seeing which apps are sending more notifications could help you see which ones are taking up too much of your attention and help you decide whether to turn them off for them.
vincnetas 8y ago
I'm amazed and simultaneously shocked by current state of technology and it's use. 28.6 MB in 8 gifs on the site. But i had not noticed that because site fully loaded in 7 seconds.
- bombledmonk 8y ago
  I had the same realization with the Autodesk Eagle 9 blog post[1]. There was over 45MB of animated gifs on that page. 1. https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/blog/autodesk-eagle-9/ https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/blog/autodesk-eagle-...
LifeLiverTransp 8y ago
I cant wait to see what horrific tumors of software the phone producers can get to grow on these improvements.
cryptos 8y ago
I'm tired of the throw away culture of Android device manufacturers. With the exception of Google Pixel and the Samsung top models, where you get up to 3 Years (security) updates, you can throw your Android device away after 2 years, sometimes only after a year. The hardware is usually still fine after this time, but you won't get no more updates and will have an insecure device.
- josefresco 8y ago
  That's the beauty and power of the Android ecosystem. You aren't forced to buy an expensive "flagship" phone which makes it (and smartphones) accessible to many more people. While we all wish manufacturers would support their low end devices for years, it just doesn't make economic sense. That being said, there are plenty of mid-range and even high-end Android devices that are left out to rot. Samsung and Google are the "winners" here.
  - Qwertie 8y ago
    Buying a low end android phone every year isn't doing the planet any favors.
- jhasse 8y ago
  You can install LineageOS after two years on many devices.
  - cryptos 8y ago
    I've tried the predecessor, CyanogenMod, on an older tablet and there were hardly any update. And the installation was absolutely not fun! Another downside of rooting your device is that some Apps will no longer work (like banking apps). So, no, this is not the solution I'm looking for. And it is definitely not the solution for the average user. But thanks anyway for the suggestion.
    - jhasse 8y ago
      The rooting issue has been fixed, you can now deativate root after flashing LineageOS. There are also apps which hide the fact that you unlocked your bootloader. As for the updates: This depends on the device. Check the list of supported devices and you'll see that there are quite a few with weekly updates.
mderazon 8y ago
All I care about is to know if they fixed the horrible direct share issue that makes the share sheet unusable for couple of seconds everytime I share something. https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/05/05/google-please-fix-androids-slow-bloated-share-ui/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/05/05/google-please-fix-a...
- eythian 8y ago
  At first glance, no obvious change.

358 points by alanfranzoni 8y ago

I was skeptical of the new home button and app overview - (why fix something that already works pretty well?) - but it actually looks good and seems to actually improve the experience.

51Cards 8y ago
I was the same. The moment I saw the three icons gone I rolled my eyes. I thought it was pretty user friendly as is. That said once demoed I am interested to try it. I would like to have an option to toggle back though if desired because... When I see UI changes like this my initial concern is not for myself but for my 75 year old mother. It has taken her years to be able to move through Android with some efficiency and the basic consistency has been a good thing. A fundamental UI change like this isn't as easy for users like that to adapt to. I am already dreading the first time she has a Google P based phone. I hope to be proved wrong.
- nathancahill 8y ago
  Yep. Same reason I told my parents not to get the iPhone X. Don't want to keep explaining gestures over the phone. They understand the home button.
- Zarel 8y ago
  I installed the beta the moment I heard the keynote say I could immediately. The new swipe-up-from-Home UI is off by default. I had to turn it on in Gestures. By default, it's the old three-button UI: Back, Home, App switcher.
  - jbredeche 8y ago
    Thank you, I was wondering why I didn't see the new nav!
  - The_suffocated 8y ago
    How are UIs on third-party apps affected? If you turn on gestures, does it mean that on a third-party app, one has to use gesture now to do what could be done before using a back button?
    - Zarel 8y ago
      If you turn on the gesture mode, it's still largely the same UI, it's just that the "App switcher" button is gone. The Back button is still there, in the same place as before (although it does disappear on the Home screen now, which is neat). Tapping Home and tapping Back still do exactly the same thing. Long-pressing Home still opens Google Assistant. Opening the app switcher UI is now done by dragging Home up (instead of tapping App Switcher). Quickly switching to the last used app is now done by dragging the Home button right (instead of double-tapping App Switcher).

joosters 8y ago

...Say you connect your headphones to your device, Android will surface an action to resume your favorite Spotify playlist... ...but what if we could surface part of the app itself... What is it with the repeated usage of 'surface' here, instead of the more obvious and common word 'show'? Is it something to do with Android API naming, or something else?

craftyguy 8y ago
As far as I can tell, it's an Android thing. They even call their display manager thing (I don't know the right term for it) SurfaceFlinger: https://source.android.com/devices/graphics/ https://source.android.com/devices/graphics/
- bitwize 8y ago
  The surface in SurfaceFlinger is in the context of "drawing surface", a term of art in computer graphics to refer to a window, bitmap, or other thing that can be drawn on/blitted to.
- HillaryBriss 8y ago
  it seems they have also reused these two familiar words in a way that could add some confusion to the Android developer's life: * "bundle" (as in "app bundles", a feature that lets Google Play deliver an installer with a stripped down set of resources to the end user's device) * "action" (as in the new feature of the UI known as an "action" which some have alternatively describe as a "visible intent" or a "deep link with parameters." or something)
jonba 8y ago
In the SDK, it looks like they're calling them Slices. https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/slice/Slice https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/slice/Sl...
puzzle 8y ago
It's corporate lingo. More specifically, PM/UX speak. "I'll ping you on gChat the slides on what to surface when users tap on the map. Then we can ideate together." Only a slight exaggeration, based on my observation of specimens in the wild (many years at Google).

JoshTriplett 8y ago

While I appreciate the concept of learning things like "common next steps" to make a device more usable, going by the history of devices like Google Home or the Google Assistant, I also wonder how much of this is going to depend on "give us all your usage history" settings and simply stop working with those settings disabled. The Google Assistant is already unusable without a pile of search history settings enabled; what will "smart" next actions and similar require?

kuschku 8y ago
Google already has all your usage history. You can view it yourself by dialing ##INFO## aka ##4636## and then selecting "Usage data". You’ll see all apps you’ve used, for how long you’ve used them overall, how many times, and when the last time was. EDIT: *#*#4636#*#* This goddamn markup on HN is utterly broken, I wish it would someday get fixed. But no, of course not.
- MichaelGG 8y ago
  I get "Connection problem or invalid MMI code" on an AndroidOne device when I dial that. Edit oh hidden asterisks.
- lann 8y ago
  *#*#INFO#*#*
- JoshTriplett 8y ago
  That's local information; the question is, how much of this functionality depends on local information and how much gets offloaded to Google servers?
- gruez 8y ago
  You can disable google play's access to it by turning off "usage access" in app permissions.
  - kuschku 8y ago

sgroppino 8y ago

Is this version Popsicle?

gagege 8y ago
Maybe Peppermint?
- MBCook 8y ago
  Parsley. They’re going healthy.
- twic 8y ago
  My guess would be Popcorn.
cpeterso 8y ago
I like the nicely alliterative name "Pumpkin Pie", but based on the Android P's popsicle stick-like artwork, I suspect you are right about "Popsicle": https://developer.android.com/preview/ https://developer.android.com/preview/

LiquidInsect 8y ago

"Android P Beta is available today on Google Pixel." Oh, except the Pixel C which we're pretending never happened.

deaddodo 8y ago
It looks like lineageOS might also be dropping it for v16. Which is pretty lame for a $600 tablet.
- majewsky 8y ago
  Quick reminder that none of those 600 bucks went towards the LineageOS developers.

Bulbasaur2015 8y ago

did they say what the P stands for?

jsight 8y ago
I think that the official name normally comes out very close to the GA release.

fooker 8y ago

I'm almost tempted to try out the beta on my daily driver Pixel. Seems like a stupid decision though. Is there an easy way to manage this from a worktation? Completely backup my current state and restore it afterwords?

loafoe 8y ago
installed it about 3 hours ago and it definitely feels good enough to use as a daily driver
- arthurcolle 8y ago
  famous last words
  - loafoe 8y ago
    Still here! Definitely stay away from preview release on your main phone, but once Google slaps beta on a build stuff is pretty stable (have not tried in car Bluetooth yet -- knock on wood). As a dev, days like these are the ones where I get my moneys worth buying into Googles hardware :)
- fooker 8y ago
  Do you feel it is worth the upgrade ?
  - loafoe 8y ago
    Yes! It feels.. very polished. The new notifications and settings area are just awesome. Also the app drawer is pretty great. And the animations... smooth as butter!
- cbhl 8y ago
  Until you discover in X months that moving from the beta to release versions that get security updates requires wiping your phone.

3steve 8y ago

I thought Project Treble was supposed to make the updating process easier from an OEM point of view. If so I wish they supported the Nexus 5X and 6P for one more version.

ucaetano 8y ago
I don't think those phones ever had Treble.
- kuschku 8y ago
  But they should have. Ending support just one version before basically immortality for the phones is just a bad joke. Especially when the only available alternative starts at 3 times the price. $900 for the smallest Pixel in Germany, fuck that.
  - izacus 8y ago
    Treble requires SoC vendors to provide drivers with explicit support. SoCs from Nexus devices aren't supported by Qualcomm so they simply can't be upgraded.
    - kuschku 8y ago
      And yet Google managed to get Treble support on the Pixel devices over a year after release... With enough money, it was apparently possible.
      - ucaetano 8y ago
        Because the SoC is supported.
        kuschku 8y ago
        Then Google is free to give me an alternative device for development. With the emulator broken, and the Nexus 5X unsupported, I am unable to assure that my apps work on Android P, and therefore I have no idea at all if they’ll crash or not. But if they’ll crash, Google will punish me by downranking my score. A punishment for something I can’t do shit about. It’s absolute madness.

bitmapbrother 8y ago

The multitasking display was really interesting because they seem to be live windows so that you can interact with them.

wpietri 8y ago

Very nice. I am especially excited about these features: > App Timer lets you set time limits on apps, and will nudge you when you’re close to your limit and then gray out the icon to remind you of your goal. > Wind Down will switch on Night Light when it gets dark, and it will turn on Do Not Disturb and fade the screen to grayscale at your chosen bedtime to help you remember to get to sleep at the time you want. I actually have a separate device for fun/addictive apps, and my phone's charging spot is not in the bedroom. But these kinds of features will help orders of magnitude more people than my very manual interventions ever will. I'm glad Google is seeing themselves as on the side of the user here. Rather than enabling the "up and to the right" religion that has a lot of tech companies chasing DAU and UAM metrics by any means necessary.

gascan 8y ago
I don't particularly care about the release cycle, but somehow they manage to add small features every iteration that attract me. Those sound pretty compelling. The Treble project is pretty darn exciting too, if only I had such a phone.
tomp 8y ago
I wonder how many of these features could be implemented (far sooner) if a universal UI scripting language was available for users...
- rtpg 8y ago
  You know, I'm pretty sure anyone could have built these apps on Android You can overwrite the screen in Android. You can replace the home screen in Android. You can scrape running apps in Android. There's a high degree of flexibility Unfortunately this is probably one of those problems where the cost of building the app is relatively high (because the domain is complicated to get right!) and it would be hard to make too much money on this
  - corndoge 8y ago
    it's hard less because of Android and more because you have to support hacked up vendor distros of Android if you want to see any adoption, looking at you Samshit Touchwang

waytogo 8y ago

Thought that all new Android One devices should get upcoming updates like the Pixel devices but they don't get Android P Beta (except the Nokia one).

taeric 8y ago
I'm annoyed that my new device isn't covered here, as well. :( I'll clearly survive, but there seems to be no solid reason for why some of these devices aren't more supported.

anotheryou 8y ago

they call "frequently used" machine learning now? I expected something fancier...

txcwpalpha 8y ago
"machine learning" is the new "cloud". If you slowly expand the definition of ML to include absolutely anything, then it makes it easier for your marketing teams to attach "powered by machine learning! woohoo!" to try to make everything sound cooler.
what_ever 8y ago
Except that it's not just frequently used as described. It also takes into consideration what apps you use at a specific time, location, day.
- Qwertie 8y ago
  So a slightly more complex formula.
- anotheryou 8y ago
  still at the very most bayesian, not neural.

mortenjorck 8y ago

The typography in Android P looks strange now with the addition of Product Sans alongside Roboto. The old graphic design rule of "never pair multiple sans serifs" is hardly absolute – different sans families can often be successfully paired as header and body, for example – but in this case, there are headings rendered in Product Sans with barely-smaller subheads in Roboto, which just looks jarring.

blinkingled 8y ago

Looks like Project Treble actually helps with faster updates - The beta is available on 11 devices from different OEMs. Essential said they were able to put out the beta for their hardware in less than a month's time. I did not want to put it on mine though after reading the known issues.

ohthehugemanate 8y ago

This looks awful. I've come to realize that any feature with "smart" anywhere in the name, is something I want disabled. Smart quotes? Only exist to fuck up copypasta code and SQL statements. Smart spell check? There's a field of internet hilarity about how bad this is. Smart restore? Best way to lose my data and fuck up my install. Smart assistant? I've yet to meet even one person who uses GAssistant/Siri/Cortana for anything more complex than "schedule a meeting" or "set an alarm." Smart handwriting recognition? Refuses to detect the word "fuck". And my handwriting was perfectly legible anyway. I want my software to be TOOLS. Predictable, ideally interoperable and chainable, but above all: simple. The best pieces of Ux make technology feel like a simple tool. Cut/paste. Messaging conversation-style, with a simple "send" button. Grep. I find my best note taking software is a text editor, with all formatting turned off. I use ad blockers to disable as many recommendation engines as I can. I use duckduckgo because it just answers my query, without trying to tailor the answers to what the machine (or the advertiser) thinks I want. To mee, simple tools that behave consistently are infinitely preferable to the game of "guess how the computer is misunderstanding the request." Maybe I'm a curmudgeon. I work with ML/AI, and there are great benefits in lots of applications. Just not in second guessing what people want to do. Even other PEOPLE are terrible at that. Please don't make me dance around the quirks of your "smart" AI. I promise, I am smarter. I have better context. I know what I want to do. Just get out of the fucking way and let me do it in the simplest, most direct way.

Justsignedup 8y ago
> Smart assistant? I've yet to meet even one person who uses GAssistant/Siri/Cortana for anything more complex than "schedule a meeting" or "set an alarm." Children. No really watch them use an iPhone.
Rebelgecko 8y ago
I used to use Google Now on almost a daily basis. Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to get the same functionality out of Google Assistant
chrononaut 8y ago
> Smart handwriting recognition? Refuses to detect the word "fuck". And my handwriting was perfectly legible anyway. Related to this, I recently found the option that controls whether the system from recommends or corrects to offensive words. It's buried under: Settings > System > Languages & input > Virtual Keyboard > Gboard (more than likely for most) > Text correction > Block offensive words. The same option exists for Google voice input. Wonder if there's something similar for your issue.

joshmarinacci 8y ago

Boy, the gesture based task switcher sure looks familar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2tkX_zJp-8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2tkX_zJp-8

metasaval 8y ago
And I'm not mad at all. I'm glad that both iOS and Android are implementing one of WebOS' best feature. Using the Android P beta now and it seems to be most of the way there.
- kuschku 8y ago
  It's the worst part of Android P, and I'll patch AOSP to get rid of it for my devices. If I open a task switcher, I want to see a lot of my open tasks. Not one, not three, not even four, but dozens. How long am I supposed to be swiping if there's hundreds of open tasks? And scrolling with the home button is even worse. Let's hope Android Q quickly gets rid of this again.
  - bassman9000 8y ago
    Came to rant about this, and the fact that the blog article itself seems to break wheel scrolling.
  - jhall1468 8y ago
    I don't. Most users probably don't. This isn't going anywhere. It was easily one of the most praised features of WebOS by both users and tech reviewers. There's a reason both Android and iOS are going this way.
    - kuschku 8y ago
      Then at least make it a config option, or support a pinch to zoom out gesture. Having both a zoomed in view and a grid view is standard in every single gallery and camera app, adding it to the recents menu shouldn’t be that hard.
  - 8y ago

rs86 8y ago

Funny how "machine learning at the core" is a selling point. ML is a technique not a feature...

angry_octet 8y ago

Lots of slick UI stuff, but no meaningful updates to things that are well overdue: - Encryption of specific secrets for each app. - Fine grained control of what information is shared with apps. - Ability to selectively deny particular data (and have the app keep working, e.g by giving it an empty contacts list, fake phone ID, etc). - Ad and js blocking capable browser. Why should installing e.g. the facebook app, allow it to track my position at all times? Just freaky.

mike_ivanov 8y ago
> Fine grained control of what information is shared with apps. No, they won't willingly destroy a major revenue source.
- rtpg 8y ago
  I don't understand this request? Apps are sandboxed, and there's relatively granular permission control now. What is this referencing specifically?
  - saon 8y ago
    this applies only to installed apps from the store, not system apps like googles or oem apps. you cant disable background activity of any apps. dont want an always listening ai helper from google? too bad for you.
    - TheForumTroll 8y ago
      Root, remove, unroot.
      - propogandist 8y ago
        you ideally want something like Xprivacy, which is unfortunately no longer supported Install something like Netguard (same dev behind Xprivacy) -- which functions as a firewall (vpn) b/w apps and the internet. Turn on logging. Watch all the apps you have installed phoning home and services like graph.facebook.com every few moments.

habitue 8y ago

Can anyone clarify if the app dashboard or "wind down" modes are in the Android Beta? I couldn't find them

dublinben 8y ago

I wonder how much of this will be included in AOSP? Probably none.

lern_too_spel 8y ago
All of it. The article is about the Android platform, not about any Google services or apps.
- jackpeterfletch 8y ago
  it certainly wont get any of the machine learning stuff, backs onto google services.

ohazi 8y ago

Am I the only one who doesn't want a phone that arbitrarily changes behavior in opaque and uncontrollable ways? Machine learning is fine for hard tasks like voice recognition, but it really shouldn't be used for things that would otherwise be a few checkboxes. I know the trend nowadays is to assume that users are irredeemably stupid, but this? Seriously? You can keep this update. I don't want it.

blisterpeanuts 8y ago
No, you're not the only one. It's so easy to search for the answer to almost any question about your phone (how do I keep the screen from blanking? How do I set a timer? How do I install a widget (and what's a widget)? Etc. My wife tends to ask me these types of questions and I keep telling her that probably 20 million other people have asked the exact same question so google it. She's finally getting it. I think people can learn over time, and it's probably better to let them have a learning curve and become mini-experts in using their phones, without adding some kind of behind-the-scenes shifting of behavior that will perversely make things even more complex and confusing.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  Does your wife enjoy being treated like an idiot?
  - dang 8y ago
    That breaks the site guidelines, which ask: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize." It also crosses into personal attack. Could you please read and follow https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html when commenting here?
ocdtrekkie 8y ago
The problem is: Your phone will not get security updates if you don't accept the latest Android release. So your choice, really, is to either accept the update or get a phone running a different OS.

ISL 8y ago

Ten years ago, when we launched the first Android phone—the T-Mobile G1—it was with a simple but bold idea: to build a mobile platform that’s free and open to everyone. To what quantitative fraction is Android still free and open (as in speech), and how much of it has been moved into closed-source containers?

kuschku 8y ago
Almost all of it is closed. Since the G1, the following parts are just some of the many that were removed from the open project and replaced with proprietary ones: Launcher, Dialer (the actual phone app), Contacts, Calendar, Email, on-device Search (last open in 2.3.7), and many more. Everything that the user touches or sees is closed source.
- lern_too_spel 8y ago
  All of those apps exist in AOSP and have many open source equivalents not developed by Google. The platform that those apps run on is just as open now as it was in the G1 days.
  - kuschku 8y ago
    Oh? I can compile all these apps, exactly as they are on the Pixel 2, myself? I'd love to see that source. The versions in AOSP are heavily cut down on functionality and barely even work. Im the days of the G1, the actual Google Talk and Google Search apps were open, the Google Books app was open too! That was the Android we bought into: one where a default install was entirely open, and living without any closed source apps was easily possible. Today, that's long gone. Play Services here, SafetyNet there, Google®™© apps in the middle.
    - lern_too_spel 8y ago
      The Pixel 2 is not an AOSP device, just like the Galaxy 8 is not an AOSP device. Why would you think you get the source for all the third party apps? > Im the days of the G1, the actual Google Talk and Google Search apps were open, the Google Books app was open too! Those apps as they were are still open (the Google Talk app was/is actually a multiprotocol messenger), though I don't remember a Google Books in AOSP. Even better, there are now superior equivalents to all of these that are also open source.

davidmanescu 8y ago

Adaptive Brightness: "solving a problem that's been solved numerous times, but this time using machine learning"

bkanber 8y ago
Eh, I find that the current adaptive brightness works very poorly. Sometimes slight shifts in my sitting or holding angle will cause the screen to dim.
hbk 8y ago
I can't wait for them to use blockchain on next iteration to solve this issue.

philipwhiuk 8y ago

Coming from iOS, with all the disclosures about how Android leaks to Facebook much more I expected to see permissions locked down a lot more. There's a difference between "I want to put a location in my status update" to "I want to upload my location 24/7 to Facebook's servers so they can profile the crap out of me". iOS makes this difference. Android doesn't.

talldan 8y ago
You can already disable SMS, phone and location permissions (and others) for each app in the previous version of Android (Oreo). I'm sure this has it too.
- BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
  > You can already disable SMS, phone and location permissions (and others) for each app This doesn't address the comment you replied to in any way. Surely you see that there's a gap in reasoning between "I want to be able to add my location, just not have my location always broadcast to them" and "you can disable location entirely". Your suggestion specifically violates the "I want to be able to add my location" part of personal control over information. Or are you suggesting that it's reasonable that a user should have to manually switch apps between white/black lists for behaviors? Personally I would find that idea contemptible.
  - refulgentis 8y ago
    Bwah? The permissions model is the same on Android and iOS, if you opt into permissions, you have to "manually switch between white/black lists to opt them out"
    - toxik 8y ago
      Nope, there's three options on iOS location sharing: never, always, and while using app.
    - jclardy 8y ago

zmmmmm 8y ago

> ML Kit offers developers on-device APIs for text recognition, face detection, image labeling and more This is what I always thought Google should do. Operating systems have completely stagnated, but a truly new and differentiating set of features would be to deliver AI as a platform - not a Google-only feature but a set of open APIs that anybody can use or implement. I hope they continue down this track.

dgudkov 8y ago

Machine learning in smartphones is all great and cool, but when can we get easy "undo" in text editor? Really.

omeid2 8y ago
Or ability to paste into an empty text box.
- VladimirGolovin 8y ago
  1) Press-and-hold on the empty text box, 2) a context menu appears, 3) tap Paste. Voila.
  - omeid2 8y ago
    Doesn't always work. :(
cryptos 8y ago
Wait until the "machine learning undo" comes out! It will be the greatest undo of all times!

emilfihlman 8y ago

That video was virtue signaling to the max.

esaym 8y ago

About 18 months ago I bought a Samsung S6 off of ebay new in a box for $250. Was actually my first "real" smart phone. I've liked it quite a bit but was disappointed at them taking 8+ months to bring android updates. I was thinking I might get Oreo this August or so. But then I just learned that they've (Sumsung) discontinued all S6 support. So now I guess I'm screwed. I really liked the samsung health app and the built in heart monitor. And I use samsung pay. I don't think any other phone has this and I would like to stay with samsung. But as I sit here and type this on a desktop running Debian that I built in 2008... I really can't support a company that thinks their hardware is only good for 3 years before you need to throw it in the trash. Any tips? I don't really want to root and load a rom (and plus that would make me loose samsung pay and wifi calling I think).

wvenable 8y ago
Keep it as is? I have a Samsung tablet from a few years back that got a single major OS update and has run smoothly and perfectly as the day I got it. My iPhone got a huge number updates over it's lifespan but it also got steadily slower and less reliable after each one. There is nothing in Oreo or even P that's really worth it.
- BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
  Except for kernel updates.
  - jhasse 8y ago
    Why? Security?
    - BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
      Yup.
- esaym 8y ago
  That's probably what the reality will be. But I hate the idea of once I do 'upgrade' after a few years of no support, that the current version of Android will be so different that I'll have to relearn how to use it again...

igravious 8y ago

“Android P Beta is available today on Google Pixel. And thanks to work on Project Treble, an effort we introduced last year to make OS upgrades easier for partners, a number of our partners are making Android P Beta available today on their own devices, including Sony Xperia XZ2, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, Nokia 7 Plus, Oppo R15 Pro, Vivo X21, OnePlus 6, and Essential PH‑1.” Yay! Project Treble is paying off already :) Personally hoping to see Huawei bringing its recent flagships to P-land very soon, fingers crossed. Has Google finally cut off a few heads from the fragmentation hydra? Time will tell but this is a positive indicator!

wtvanhest 8y ago

If someone from google reads this, can you please consider removing the functionality that periodically drops the nav bar at the top down? Many people use the top of their screen as a bar to line up and read text. Your site is basically unreadable.

cma 8y ago
When you scroll up to reread something, it literally hides it.
- ItsMe000001 8y ago
  Having to scroll UP when I'm reading by scrolling DOWN only to hide the bar is bothersome. That's the point. And what's the "literally" for, in case I scroll up "figuratively" and wonder why it doesn't work? :-)
- wtvanhest 8y ago
  That removes my ability to read the site because it keeps moving so I keep losing my place.
Qwertie 8y ago
I see this everywhere and it drives me crazy.

mtgx 8y ago

Android P has some interesting security features, too, especially the HSM thing, which I assume Google will use in Pixel 3. Maybe Samsung, too, because they have Knox and they target the enterprise market. But it would be nice if more manufacturers would use that, too. Also I've been waiting for a long time for client-side encrypted backups. https://developer.android.com/preview/features/security https://developer.android.com/preview/features/security

gcatalfamo 8y ago

I used to be excited about product releases like this one. But after years of bloated releases and devices that feel old and laggy after just one year of use, I’d rather welcome an Android version that prioritized UI fluidity over everything else. I loved my Nexus 5, but the Nexus 5x was dead on arrival, to the point that my current setup (1 Android and 1 iPhone) will by just iPhones. I’ll definitely miss some features but I need my work horse to just work and not freeze when I try to press switch between apps.

gowld 8y ago
Nexus 5 came with KitKat, which was the Android release dedicated to ... reining in bloat and restoring decent performance. https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2013/10/android-44-kitkat-and-updated-developer.html https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2013/10/android-44... 5 years later, it would be great to do that again.

sapphire_tomb 8y ago

This is great and all, but I just wish they'd fix it so that bluetooth connections don't crash the UI on my phone.

opayen 8y ago

I wish they will use all of these new AI capabilities to fix the share UI (https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/05/05/google-please-fix-androids-slow-bloated-share-ui/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/05/05/google-please-fix-a...) Personally, I always use the same app when sharing URLs (Send to Instapaper). Yet, it always shows me default actions I never used (send via Twitter DM, Print, etc.) and takes like 5 seconds to have the UI usable.

haspok 8y ago

I love how it starts with: "Technology should help you with your life, not distract you from it. " and then "A new Dashboard, for instance, shows you how you’re spending time on your device, including time spent in apps, how many times you’ve unlocked your phone, and how many notifications you’ve received." Who cares? What am I supposed to do with this information? (Apart from Google, of course.)

dagurp 8y ago
It's useful for helicopter parents
Qwertie 8y ago
Helps you manage phone addiction. Many people can't go 5 minutes without unlocking their phone so this is a tool that can show them what they are doing and help them manage their use. Every unlock and notification is a distraction from what you were currently doing.
kdamken 8y ago
...Really? Lots of people spend way too much time on their phones and want to use it less. That info could help you see what apps you're spending/wasting the most time on and help you decide to cut back on. Seeing that you spent a whole hour on instagram is a helpful wake up call. Seeing which apps are sending more notifications could help you see which ones are taking up too much of your attention and help you decide whether to turn them off for them.

vincnetas 8y ago

I'm amazed and simultaneously shocked by current state of technology and it's use. 28.6 MB in 8 gifs on the site. But i had not noticed that because site fully loaded in 7 seconds.

bombledmonk 8y ago
I had the same realization with the Autodesk Eagle 9 blog post[1]. There was over 45MB of animated gifs on that page. 1. https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/blog/autodesk-eagle-9/ https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/blog/autodesk-eagle-...

LifeLiverTransp 8y ago

I cant wait to see what horrific tumors of software the phone producers can get to grow on these improvements.

cryptos 8y ago

I'm tired of the throw away culture of Android device manufacturers. With the exception of Google Pixel and the Samsung top models, where you get up to 3 Years (security) updates, you can throw your Android device away after 2 years, sometimes only after a year. The hardware is usually still fine after this time, but you won't get no more updates and will have an insecure device.

josefresco 8y ago
That's the beauty and power of the Android ecosystem. You aren't forced to buy an expensive "flagship" phone which makes it (and smartphones) accessible to many more people. While we all wish manufacturers would support their low end devices for years, it just doesn't make economic sense. That being said, there are plenty of mid-range and even high-end Android devices that are left out to rot. Samsung and Google are the "winners" here.
- Qwertie 8y ago
  Buying a low end android phone every year isn't doing the planet any favors.
jhasse 8y ago
You can install LineageOS after two years on many devices.
- cryptos 8y ago
  I've tried the predecessor, CyanogenMod, on an older tablet and there were hardly any update. And the installation was absolutely not fun! Another downside of rooting your device is that some Apps will no longer work (like banking apps). So, no, this is not the solution I'm looking for. And it is definitely not the solution for the average user. But thanks anyway for the suggestion.
  - jhasse 8y ago
    The rooting issue has been fixed, you can now deativate root after flashing LineageOS. There are also apps which hide the fact that you unlocked your bootloader. As for the updates: This depends on the device. Check the list of supported devices and you'll see that there are quite a few with weekly updates.

mderazon 8y ago

All I care about is to know if they fixed the horrible direct share issue that makes the share sheet unusable for couple of seconds everytime I share something. https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/05/05/google-please-fix-androids-slow-bloated-share-ui/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/05/05/google-please-fix-a...

eythian 8y ago
At first glance, no obvious change.