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It doesn't help that yesterday's IO announced several "big" new features that sounded very familiar: * AirTags, but for android. Even called "find my device".

It doesn't help that yesterday's IO announced several "big" new features that sounded very familiar: * AirTags, but for android. Even called "find my device". Not "locate my device" or even anything different! * Live Photo wallpaper, but for android. * Emoji wallpaper, but for android. * RCS features to bring it closer to parity with iMessage, for android. in other android news this week, WhatsApp turns the microphone on all night to listen to you snore or whatever: https://9to5google.com/2023/05/09/whatsapp-android-microphone-bug/ https://9to5google.com/2023/05/09/whatsapp-android-microphon... Clearly what the iPhone needs is a real competitor. Google's got a lot of great stuff going on, maybe they should pass the phone baton to another company.

burnte 3y ago
So let's be real. https://www.xda-developers.com/ios-features-borrowed-android/ https://www.xda-developers.com/ios-features-borrowed-android... "Clearly what the Android phone needs is a real competitor. Apple's got a lot of great stuff going on, maybe they should pass the phone baton to another company."
- AmVess 3y ago
  Who did it first doesn't matter. What matters is who does it best.
  - burnte 3y ago
    I agree, and that's really my point. Let's not pretend first means anything here. Apple let notifications be a disaster for way too long (and it's still bad) and Google can't make a bluetooth stack to save their lives.
jeroenhd 3y ago
These features aren't even all that new. The "find my device" name has been used since at least 2017, for one. Live wallpapers have been a feature in Android since at least Android 2 and I distinctly remember apps for setting videos as wallpapers popping up almost immediately (with the corresponding impact on battery life, especially back in the day). I can't say I know what an emoji wallpaper is. From what I can find, it's just another type of live wallpaper? I guess the new Android version may integrate better with the system UI colour theming? RCS is an absolute failure. It's better than SMS but so is Signal, and with Signal your ISP can't read your messages. With the EU forcing companies like Apple to interoperate, Google should really be looking towards initiatives such as MIMI rather than try to force this stupid phone carrier-based protocol down everyone's throats. The new Pixel phone seems to be doing things well. It's well-reviewed, despite its comparatively mid-range processor, and the new Android theme seems to fit the device well. These new Pixel devices all seem pretty good, to be honest. If Google can manage to keep supporting these devices (sounds impossible, I know!) I think they have a find product range on their hands. I don't know what the Whatsapp bug has to do with Google, though? I suspect that's just WhatsApp's calling functionality not giving up a microphone lock after the app is dismissed into the background.
- meragrin_ 3y ago
  > RCS is an absolute failure. It's better than SMS but so is Signal, and with Signal your ISP can't read your messages. RCS has end-to-end encryption.
  - jeroenhd 3y ago
    RCS E2EE is encrypted base64 over standard RCS. By that standard, SMS supports E2EE as well. I don't think E2EE is even part of the standard, I think it's just a hack Google built on top of RCS for their own app.
_ea1k 3y ago
That's fair, although its also fair to remember that some of these are extensions of pretty old Android features. Live wallpapers aren't really a new thing in the Android world. And RCS is something that would get copied by Apple, if Apple wasn't against it for business reasons.

burnte 3y ago

So let's be real. https://www.xda-developers.com/ios-features-borrowed-android/ https://www.xda-developers.com/ios-features-borrowed-android... "Clearly what the Android phone needs is a real competitor. Apple's got a lot of great stuff going on, maybe they should pass the phone baton to another company."

AmVess 3y ago
Who did it first doesn't matter. What matters is who does it best.
- burnte 3y ago
  I agree, and that's really my point. Let's not pretend first means anything here. Apple let notifications be a disaster for way too long (and it's still bad) and Google can't make a bluetooth stack to save their lives.

jeroenhd 3y ago

These features aren't even all that new. The "find my device" name has been used since at least 2017, for one. Live wallpapers have been a feature in Android since at least Android 2 and I distinctly remember apps for setting videos as wallpapers popping up almost immediately (with the corresponding impact on battery life, especially back in the day). I can't say I know what an emoji wallpaper is. From what I can find, it's just another type of live wallpaper? I guess the new Android version may integrate better with the system UI colour theming? RCS is an absolute failure. It's better than SMS but so is Signal, and with Signal your ISP can't read your messages. With the EU forcing companies like Apple to interoperate, Google should really be looking towards initiatives such as MIMI rather than try to force this stupid phone carrier-based protocol down everyone's throats. The new Pixel phone seems to be doing things well. It's well-reviewed, despite its comparatively mid-range processor, and the new Android theme seems to fit the device well. These new Pixel devices all seem pretty good, to be honest. If Google can manage to keep supporting these devices (sounds impossible, I know!) I think they have a find product range on their hands. I don't know what the Whatsapp bug has to do with Google, though? I suspect that's just WhatsApp's calling functionality not giving up a microphone lock after the app is dismissed into the background.

meragrin_ 3y ago
> RCS is an absolute failure. It's better than SMS but so is Signal, and with Signal your ISP can't read your messages. RCS has end-to-end encryption.
- jeroenhd 3y ago
  RCS E2EE is encrypted base64 over standard RCS. By that standard, SMS supports E2EE as well. I don't think E2EE is even part of the standard, I think it's just a hack Google built on top of RCS for their own app.

_ea1k 3y ago

That's fair, although its also fair to remember that some of these are extensions of pretty old Android features. Live wallpapers aren't really a new thing in the Android world. And RCS is something that would get copied by Apple, if Apple wasn't against it for business reasons.