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ROFL, amazing, they actually flat out lied about the Android situation. In this post, they show a screenshot of stock Android with no Google search bar visible

ROFL, amazing, they actually flat out lied about the Android situation. In this post, they show a screenshot of stock Android with no Google search bar visible. Except you can't remove the Google search bar in stock Android 11 unless you switch to a custom launcher: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/73306757?hl=en https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/73306757?hl=en Edit: Correction, they show a screenshot specifically of a Samsung phone, which presumably is customized by Samsung. In effect, this is lying by omission, as they present that experience as though it's a universal Google product experience--they even precede those screenshots with the phrase "Look how easy it is to add a different search app or widget on Android."--when in fact it's specifically not supported in Google's own stock version of Android.

axaxs 6y ago
Exactly! I returned my last Pixel because the Google search bar was unremovable. This was the case for Android 10 as well.
sxp 6y ago
Isn't that sort of like complaining that you can't use an Bing unless you "switch to an custom [search engine]"? Does Google do anything to block you from switching to a different launcher? Or block Bing from writing a Bing launcher? The AOSP launcher is open source and anyone can easily built their own launcher on top of that without Google integration. Disclaimer: I used to work at Google and worked on the Launcher + Search integration. It was trivial for devs to fork the launcher and there are tons of alternate launches. I recommend Nova launcher which was my launcher for many years due to its layout customization.
- CarelessExpert 6y ago
  I'm not complaining. I'm saying the blog post is lying about the situation on Android, as you yourself have admitted (by pointing out that you'd have to fork AOSP and alter the code in order to achieve the behaviour Google is presenting here). That is a simple statement of fact irrespective of one's personal values and beliefs about the facts.
  - sxp 6y ago
    "you" in this context refers to the devs who want to build an alternative launcher from scratch without writing one from scratch. User's just download the launcher and select it just like they would download & select a search engine app.
- Barrin92 6y ago
  Are you seriously under the impression that the average user of Google Search is a software developer or even someone who knows how to install a new launcher on their phone?
- tpoacher 6y ago
  > Isn't that sort of like complaining that you can't use an Bing unless you "switch to an custom [search engine]"? No. > Does Google do anything to block you from switching to a different launcher? Yes. What you are effectively claiming is that integrating solutions to dominant products which do not otherwise need to be integrated for the product to function, is fine and does not constitute abuse of monopoly, because there are (non-straightforward) ways to work around those. Which did not work too well for microsoft windows and internet explorer mandatory integration back in the day, and there's no reason it should work well with Google-branded phones and google search today.
webmaven 6y ago
It's only on screen for a moment, but if you look for the little dot navigation that indicates which screen you're on, it is slightly off-center to the right. I don't own a Samsung phone, but I think that would indicate that it isn't actually the default home screen (though I can't quite make out whether there is an unhighlighted circle to the left), but a second home screen. And, while the Google widget would be removable there on most Android phones, it wouldn't be there by default in the first place.

axaxs 6y ago

Exactly! I returned my last Pixel because the Google search bar was unremovable. This was the case for Android 10 as well.

sxp 6y ago

Isn't that sort of like complaining that you can't use an Bing unless you "switch to an custom [search engine]"? Does Google do anything to block you from switching to a different launcher? Or block Bing from writing a Bing launcher? The AOSP launcher is open source and anyone can easily built their own launcher on top of that without Google integration. Disclaimer: I used to work at Google and worked on the Launcher + Search integration. It was trivial for devs to fork the launcher and there are tons of alternate launches. I recommend Nova launcher which was my launcher for many years due to its layout customization.

CarelessExpert 6y ago
I'm not complaining. I'm saying the blog post is lying about the situation on Android, as you yourself have admitted (by pointing out that you'd have to fork AOSP and alter the code in order to achieve the behaviour Google is presenting here). That is a simple statement of fact irrespective of one's personal values and beliefs about the facts.
- sxp 6y ago
  "you" in this context refers to the devs who want to build an alternative launcher from scratch without writing one from scratch. User's just download the launcher and select it just like they would download & select a search engine app.
Barrin92 6y ago
Are you seriously under the impression that the average user of Google Search is a software developer or even someone who knows how to install a new launcher on their phone?
tpoacher 6y ago
> Isn't that sort of like complaining that you can't use an Bing unless you "switch to an custom [search engine]"? No. > Does Google do anything to block you from switching to a different launcher? Yes. What you are effectively claiming is that integrating solutions to dominant products which do not otherwise need to be integrated for the product to function, is fine and does not constitute abuse of monopoly, because there are (non-straightforward) ways to work around those. Which did not work too well for microsoft windows and internet explorer mandatory integration back in the day, and there's no reason it should work well with Google-branded phones and google search today.

webmaven 6y ago

It's only on screen for a moment, but if you look for the little dot navigation that indicates which screen you're on, it is slightly off-center to the right. I don't own a Samsung phone, but I think that would indicate that it isn't actually the default home screen (though I can't quite make out whether there is an unhighlighted circle to the left), but a second home screen. And, while the Google widget would be removable there on most Android phones, it wouldn't be there by default in the first place.