10 ms·

Android 14 review: There's always next year

55 points by ossusermivami 3y ago

usrusr 3y ago
As long as it gives device manufacturers an excuse to pat themselves on the back for updating some almost-current devices and phase out some others, they will be happy. And customers rejoice because UI change for change's sake is rarely an improvement.
jeffbee 3y ago
Sure would be cool if Ars had someone to cover Google who didn't hate Google and every Google product. There have been some pretty minor iOS releases but each and every one of them got a 90-page review by a person who was actually interested in the product. I only just started using Android yesterday after many years away, and as a reader I would have appreciated more information and less detached snark.
- flutas 3y ago
  For better or worse...that's Ron's whole personality. He used to be good at holding the manufacturers a little bit responsible using it back in the A.P. (not _that_ AP) days, now it just feels like every article is "why does google hate you? These features are why." I don't know the full situation, it could be because of Ars' editing policies, or it could be any number of factors. Me saying this isn't to knock him, just that I don't enjoy his writing on Ars.
  - edrxty 3y ago
    Sure, but it seems pretty clear that Google __does__ hate you so it doesn't exactly feel misplaced.
- worthless-trash 3y ago
  Sometimes, its easier just to ignore certain editors on Ars.
- alwaysrunning 3y ago
  It's always been amazing to me the 'apple blindness' that goes on. They really can do almost no wrong and everything is almost magical. Fortunately, for most readers here we don't need someone else to tell us what crap this "upgrade" was, but I agree it would be nice to get unbiased reviews, but it is owned by Conde Nast so I wouldn't expect it to change.
  - solarkraft 3y ago
    Maybe I could be the Ron of the Apple world. I use Apple products because they probably suck the least, but I can tell you a lot of ways in which they suck.
pawelduda 3y ago
I'm on Google Pixel 7 Pro with Android 14. The amount of random UI glitches since I got the phone (recent app picker button stopped working 10 min ago, Google Photos UI not working randomly til I restart phone) is inexcusable. Samsung went from horrible laggy touchwiz to UI better than stock Android based on my experience Oh. And Android 14 update rearranged camera UI which was already fine
- kmac_ 3y ago
  Samsung OneUI has good UI and performance, but the 3-year support limit is terrible and unacceptable. I own various Samsung devices, their policy of abandoning 'old' products to bit rot or quietly making them disappear from SmartThings with an update convinced me that they are not as dedicated to their products as Apple is. Today's phone OSes aren't "just" OSes but whole ecosystems of devices. When I buy TV or smartwatch I expect that it won't become e-junk in 3/4 years. The rate of change is currently so slow, that new devices don't bring any new features that are forcing for the upgrade. They are just a refresh.
blinkingled 3y ago
> With Android 14 comes ART 14, the Android Runtime. Google numbers the ART releases like major software projects now, and because the runtime is a Mainline module, it will be installed on older versions of Android, too. Ever since ART became a Mainline module in Android 12, users on that version or newer will get a better, faster app engine no matter how long their OEM takes to update the phone. This to me is the most exciting update! With most apps already being updated from the store including the Launchers/Browsers and all Google stuff including Play Store and libraries - adding ART to the list makes the OEMs not updating Android as often problem much less of an actual problem. (It basically leaves the kernel/drivers and maybe a few more super low level things in the problem category - IIRC even the modem driver/firmware stuff is separately updated now a days.)
anuraaga 3y ago
For anyone finding the qr reader unselectable for the lock screen buttons, don't forget to first enable it in the quick settings tile. To anyone that didn't know Android has a proper built-in qr reader (camera app UX isn't very good for qr), same here. Just learning that and finally uninstalling 3rd party was probably the most important feature of this update...
- jeffbee 3y ago
  Isn't is ubiquitously available via Lens? By default, it's right there on the home screen.
  - anuraaga 3y ago
    Assuming someone actually knows it (most non-engineers will likely install an app not finding one called QR), I find the UX to show a small, non-persistent link hover on top of the code difficult to use compared to a normal qr reader (both built-in or 3rd party) which freezes with a large clickable region when it detects a code. Especially when outside and lighting conditions or angles can make scanning a code a challenge, having to actually click to complete a scan would always be a big problem for me, so eventually I installed a third party app. Finding the built-in "app" was nice to allow uninstalling that. This may be a more important issue in Japan where I think? QR codes are more used than in the US and often require scanning around other people, or other physical challenges. I guess most here get around the problem by using an iPhone though which has a built in and highly obvious QR app.
- fomine3 3y ago
  Wait, doesn't Pixel camera app support QR code? I agree that its not ideal app to read a code, but it's better to have by default. It's the same feature as iPhone, so beginner user will find (or taught by iPhone user) it works
NelsonMinar 3y ago
The reason I'm excited for Android 14 is it includes support for passkeys being managed by third-party software like 1Password. Android 13 has passkey support but you are required to use Google's passkey store, now in theory you can use anyone's. It is all working, sort of, and was the last major component I needed to start using passkeys to log into things for real. Unfortunately it's exposed a bunch of other unfinished parts of the passkey ecosystme; the user experience is still not very good. But Android 14 is part of the march of progress, even if it goes slowly.
iamcalledrob 3y ago
Honestly, a "no bells and whistles" OS release is welcome. The less the OS APIs change, the easier it is to build for the OS. As a small developer, constant API thrash is a nightmare. For example, the Android storage permissions API whiplash between 9, 10 and 11 was particularly painful. Win32, for all its flaws, is brilliant in that regard. The most disruptive change in 14 is probably the "full screen notifications" permission, which makes me a bit sad. Now, only alarm clocks and VOIP apps are allowed to use full screen notifications. The motivation is good (prevent abuse), however this approach of "only these approved, pre-existing use cases are allowed" is an innovation stifler. This was functionality that made Android a lot more powerful than iOS. There are plenty of valid use cases for a rich full screen, interactive notification-e.g. something that is extremely time sensitive. The policy should be "don't abuse full screen notifs", not "only alarm clocks and voip". The latter ensures that there will be no further innovation in this area, and we'll never know if the limitations were overly strict or not.
- ajsnigrutin 3y ago
  > There are plenty of valid use cases for a rich full screen, interactive notification-e.g. something that is extremely time sensitive. Like ads? Yeah... Is there ever a thing that wasn't abused by ad companies yet?
  - iamcalledrob 3y ago
    It's a real problem. There's a huge overlap between "things that can be abused by ads" and "things that allow boundary-pushing products". On Desktop, historically we chose the "buyer beware" route which, for all its 10-IE6-toolbars flaws, led to an environment that felt like it was full of possibilities. On Mobile we are going for a "you get your little sandbox" route, which delegates innovation to the OS vendors only.
    - Analemma_ 3y ago
      I understand the frustration, but it is a different threat model. Your phone more-or-less knows your exact location at all times (and has to, by design). In my view this calls for a different set of tradeoffs re: application permissions.
iAkashPaul 3y ago
Been hearing quick OS updates with project Treble for 6+ years now & no OEM has it as good as Pixel series. Lineage & PixelExperience ROMs are what's pushed my older devices to the latest OSes & be functional beyond manufacturers EOL
- andrepd 3y ago
  Absolutely. It's been ~10 years since I last had a phone that wasn't running Lineage.
- fomine3 3y ago
  Pixel is the fastest device to receive latest version by definition. IMO it's not good characteristic for average user because some apps (that haven't tested with Android beta or slow to fix) tend to have problem when latest OS launched. It will be fixed within month, so delaying upgrade works. Anyway Android upgrade is no longer fun.
i_am_a_squirrel 3y ago
Android 14 has been my favorite update ever. It seems like my Pixel 5 battery lasts wayyyyy longer!
habosa 3y ago
Ron Amadeo has such a strange life. He spends most of his time following Google just to write up how much he hates everything they do. It would probably be healthier for everyone if he got a new beat.
- brookst 3y ago
  He’s definitely gotten increasingly negative and aggrieved. IIRC correctly, he used to be fairly enthusiastic about Android. Definitely time to move on.
- meiraleal 3y ago
  If that's what he do I'm thankful for his work
foolswisdom 3y ago
Let's not forget the big bug though <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38043574 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38043574>.
- throw0101a 3y ago
  I thought you were referring to "Support for DHCPv6 (RFC 3315)": * https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/36949085 https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/36949085 Marked as WONTFIX.
  - robertlagrant 3y ago
    What a painful read that was. It's really hard to understand the Google position from that thread when the representative engineer seems to only answer things very selectively, and even after four years of discussion, writes and gets pushed through an RFC that sides with his viewpoint.
andrepd 3y ago
Customisable lockscreen is a really funny selling point, considering 10 years ago you could put any widget on the lockscreen and there was stuff like dashclock
- freedomben 3y ago
  I lolled at that too a little bit, but then saddened because I think it's the result now of 10+ years of tech industry "best practices": 1. Ruthless data-driven decision making for products (not allowed to use any subjective judgment, gotta go only on metrics). And assume that the data is always painting a clear picture, not one that is easily subject to all the pitfalls known in statistics, and goes through subjective interpretation (especially impacted by confirmation bias). Don't use your intuition or judgment to question the validity of the metrics and try to figure out a better way to measure! 2. Dumb down the product, aka remove features. "simplify" is the euphemism we all use now, even though it doesn't always simplify things (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't). 3. Make changes to get promoted. Removed a feature? Great, promotion! Added a new feature people wanted? Promotion! (never mind it was the same feature in both cases)
sanitycheck 3y ago
I've been using Android since version 2 and for most of the time since about 4/5 I feel it's been getting worse, not better. With every new phone there are more things to disable or work around or re-learn or just plain live with the irritation of. It seems Google is still trying to chase Apple when it comes to UI but if I wanted an Apple UI I'd be using one already, and I don't. I only hope Linux (yes yes, Android is Linux, but you know what I mean) is ready for day-to-day use on phones by the time Android finally becomes too horrible to use, much as it has become on the desktop fairly recently as Win10 nears EOL.
- tejohnso 3y ago
  > I only hope Linux (yes yes, Android is Linux, but you know what I mean) is ready for day-to-day use on phones I'm not sure what you mean. Are you talking about having a typical desktop Linux distribution on the phone (eg: Ubuntu, Arch) instead of an OS that is made for a phone? What is wrong with something like LineageOS or other alternatives?
  - emilsedgh 3y ago
    He means GNU/Linux.
  - petabytes 3y ago
    Probably means one of the GTK based distros running on a phone, like on the Purism phones
  - jeffbee 3y ago
    He means he wants to adjust the ringer volume with alsamixer in an xterm.
  - sanitycheck 3y ago
    The names didn't come to mind while I was bashing out the previous post, but kind of - Mobian, PureOS, Ubuntu Touch, Postmarket, etc. (Though I have zero interest in using a command line or editing config files on a touch screen, so hopefully a little more polished than desktop Linux.) Lineage is a great version of Android, but it tracks AOSP so it's always (I think?) going to be a fork of whatever Google is doing and probably won't diverge massively from wherever mainstream Android goes.
ashenke 3y ago
I enabled the Predictive Gesture Flag in the settings, played with it a bit in the settings panel, thought "That's nice, it's going to be fun having this in Android 15"... And then launched the Harmonic HN app and was pleasantly surprised that it already worked!
sillywalk 3y ago
I find Google's Material design horribly ugly, and like all flat UIs with abstract monochrome icons painful to use. I need my UI elements to have text labels.
marinanunier403 3y ago
[dead]

55 points by ossusermivami 3y ago

As long as it gives device manufacturers an excuse to pat themselves on the back for updating some almost-current devices and phase out some others, they will be happy. And customers rejoice because UI change for change's sake is rarely an improvement.

jeffbee 3y ago

Sure would be cool if Ars had someone to cover Google who didn't hate Google and every Google product. There have been some pretty minor iOS releases but each and every one of them got a 90-page review by a person who was actually interested in the product. I only just started using Android yesterday after many years away, and as a reader I would have appreciated more information and less detached snark.

flutas 3y ago
For better or worse...that's Ron's whole personality. He used to be good at holding the manufacturers a little bit responsible using it back in the A.P. (not _that_ AP) days, now it just feels like every article is "why does google hate you? These features are why." I don't know the full situation, it could be because of Ars' editing policies, or it could be any number of factors. Me saying this isn't to knock him, just that I don't enjoy his writing on Ars.
- edrxty 3y ago
  Sure, but it seems pretty clear that Google __does__ hate you so it doesn't exactly feel misplaced.
worthless-trash 3y ago
Sometimes, its easier just to ignore certain editors on Ars.
alwaysrunning 3y ago
It's always been amazing to me the 'apple blindness' that goes on. They really can do almost no wrong and everything is almost magical. Fortunately, for most readers here we don't need someone else to tell us what crap this "upgrade" was, but I agree it would be nice to get unbiased reviews, but it is owned by Conde Nast so I wouldn't expect it to change.
- solarkraft 3y ago
  Maybe I could be the Ron of the Apple world. I use Apple products because they probably suck the least, but I can tell you a lot of ways in which they suck.

pawelduda 3y ago

I'm on Google Pixel 7 Pro with Android 14. The amount of random UI glitches since I got the phone (recent app picker button stopped working 10 min ago, Google Photos UI not working randomly til I restart phone) is inexcusable. Samsung went from horrible laggy touchwiz to UI better than stock Android based on my experience Oh. And Android 14 update rearranged camera UI which was already fine

kmac_ 3y ago
Samsung OneUI has good UI and performance, but the 3-year support limit is terrible and unacceptable. I own various Samsung devices, their policy of abandoning 'old' products to bit rot or quietly making them disappear from SmartThings with an update convinced me that they are not as dedicated to their products as Apple is. Today's phone OSes aren't "just" OSes but whole ecosystems of devices. When I buy TV or smartwatch I expect that it won't become e-junk in 3/4 years. The rate of change is currently so slow, that new devices don't bring any new features that are forcing for the upgrade. They are just a refresh.

blinkingled 3y ago

> With Android 14 comes ART 14, the Android Runtime. Google numbers the ART releases like major software projects now, and because the runtime is a Mainline module, it will be installed on older versions of Android, too. Ever since ART became a Mainline module in Android 12, users on that version or newer will get a better, faster app engine no matter how long their OEM takes to update the phone. This to me is the most exciting update! With most apps already being updated from the store including the Launchers/Browsers and all Google stuff including Play Store and libraries - adding ART to the list makes the OEMs not updating Android as often problem much less of an actual problem. (It basically leaves the kernel/drivers and maybe a few more super low level things in the problem category - IIRC even the modem driver/firmware stuff is separately updated now a days.)

anuraaga 3y ago

For anyone finding the qr reader unselectable for the lock screen buttons, don't forget to first enable it in the quick settings tile. To anyone that didn't know Android has a proper built-in qr reader (camera app UX isn't very good for qr), same here. Just learning that and finally uninstalling 3rd party was probably the most important feature of this update...

jeffbee 3y ago
Isn't is ubiquitously available via Lens? By default, it's right there on the home screen.
- anuraaga 3y ago
  Assuming someone actually knows it (most non-engineers will likely install an app not finding one called QR), I find the UX to show a small, non-persistent link hover on top of the code difficult to use compared to a normal qr reader (both built-in or 3rd party) which freezes with a large clickable region when it detects a code. Especially when outside and lighting conditions or angles can make scanning a code a challenge, having to actually click to complete a scan would always be a big problem for me, so eventually I installed a third party app. Finding the built-in "app" was nice to allow uninstalling that. This may be a more important issue in Japan where I think? QR codes are more used than in the US and often require scanning around other people, or other physical challenges. I guess most here get around the problem by using an iPhone though which has a built in and highly obvious QR app.
fomine3 3y ago
Wait, doesn't Pixel camera app support QR code? I agree that its not ideal app to read a code, but it's better to have by default. It's the same feature as iPhone, so beginner user will find (or taught by iPhone user) it works

NelsonMinar 3y ago

The reason I'm excited for Android 14 is it includes support for passkeys being managed by third-party software like 1Password. Android 13 has passkey support but you are required to use Google's passkey store, now in theory you can use anyone's. It is all working, sort of, and was the last major component I needed to start using passkeys to log into things for real. Unfortunately it's exposed a bunch of other unfinished parts of the passkey ecosystme; the user experience is still not very good. But Android 14 is part of the march of progress, even if it goes slowly.

iamcalledrob 3y ago

Honestly, a "no bells and whistles" OS release is welcome. The less the OS APIs change, the easier it is to build for the OS. As a small developer, constant API thrash is a nightmare. For example, the Android storage permissions API whiplash between 9, 10 and 11 was particularly painful. Win32, for all its flaws, is brilliant in that regard. The most disruptive change in 14 is probably the "full screen notifications" permission, which makes me a bit sad. Now, only alarm clocks and VOIP apps are allowed to use full screen notifications. The motivation is good (prevent abuse), however this approach of "only these approved, pre-existing use cases are allowed" is an innovation stifler. This was functionality that made Android a lot more powerful than iOS. There are plenty of valid use cases for a rich full screen, interactive notification-e.g. something that is extremely time sensitive. The policy should be "don't abuse full screen notifs", not "only alarm clocks and voip". The latter ensures that there will be no further innovation in this area, and we'll never know if the limitations were overly strict or not.

ajsnigrutin 3y ago
> There are plenty of valid use cases for a rich full screen, interactive notification-e.g. something that is extremely time sensitive. Like ads? Yeah... Is there ever a thing that wasn't abused by ad companies yet?
- iamcalledrob 3y ago
  It's a real problem. There's a huge overlap between "things that can be abused by ads" and "things that allow boundary-pushing products". On Desktop, historically we chose the "buyer beware" route which, for all its 10-IE6-toolbars flaws, led to an environment that felt like it was full of possibilities. On Mobile we are going for a "you get your little sandbox" route, which delegates innovation to the OS vendors only.
  - Analemma_ 3y ago
    I understand the frustration, but it is a different threat model. Your phone more-or-less knows your exact location at all times (and has to, by design). In my view this calls for a different set of tradeoffs re: application permissions.

iAkashPaul 3y ago

Been hearing quick OS updates with project Treble for 6+ years now & no OEM has it as good as Pixel series. Lineage & PixelExperience ROMs are what's pushed my older devices to the latest OSes & be functional beyond manufacturers EOL

andrepd 3y ago
Absolutely. It's been ~10 years since I last had a phone that wasn't running Lineage.
fomine3 3y ago
Pixel is the fastest device to receive latest version by definition. IMO it's not good characteristic for average user because some apps (that haven't tested with Android beta or slow to fix) tend to have problem when latest OS launched. It will be fixed within month, so delaying upgrade works. Anyway Android upgrade is no longer fun.

i_am_a_squirrel 3y ago

Android 14 has been my favorite update ever. It seems like my Pixel 5 battery lasts wayyyyy longer!

habosa 3y ago

Ron Amadeo has such a strange life. He spends most of his time following Google just to write up how much he hates everything they do. It would probably be healthier for everyone if he got a new beat.

brookst 3y ago
He’s definitely gotten increasingly negative and aggrieved. IIRC correctly, he used to be fairly enthusiastic about Android. Definitely time to move on.
meiraleal 3y ago
If that's what he do I'm thankful for his work

foolswisdom 3y ago

Let's not forget the big bug though <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38043574 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38043574>.

throw0101a 3y ago
I thought you were referring to "Support for DHCPv6 (RFC 3315)": * https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/36949085 https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/36949085 Marked as WONTFIX.
- robertlagrant 3y ago
  What a painful read that was. It's really hard to understand the Google position from that thread when the representative engineer seems to only answer things very selectively, and even after four years of discussion, writes and gets pushed through an RFC that sides with his viewpoint.

andrepd 3y ago

Customisable lockscreen is a really funny selling point, considering 10 years ago you could put any widget on the lockscreen and there was stuff like dashclock

freedomben 3y ago
I lolled at that too a little bit, but then saddened because I think it's the result now of 10+ years of tech industry "best practices": 1. Ruthless data-driven decision making for products (not allowed to use any subjective judgment, gotta go only on metrics). And assume that the data is always painting a clear picture, not one that is easily subject to all the pitfalls known in statistics, and goes through subjective interpretation (especially impacted by confirmation bias). Don't use your intuition or judgment to question the validity of the metrics and try to figure out a better way to measure! 2. Dumb down the product, aka remove features. "simplify" is the euphemism we all use now, even though it doesn't always simplify things (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't). 3. Make changes to get promoted. Removed a feature? Great, promotion! Added a new feature people wanted? Promotion! (never mind it was the same feature in both cases)

sanitycheck 3y ago

I've been using Android since version 2 and for most of the time since about 4/5 I feel it's been getting worse, not better. With every new phone there are more things to disable or work around or re-learn or just plain live with the irritation of. It seems Google is still trying to chase Apple when it comes to UI but if I wanted an Apple UI I'd be using one already, and I don't. I only hope Linux (yes yes, Android is Linux, but you know what I mean) is ready for day-to-day use on phones by the time Android finally becomes too horrible to use, much as it has become on the desktop fairly recently as Win10 nears EOL.

tejohnso 3y ago
> I only hope Linux (yes yes, Android is Linux, but you know what I mean) is ready for day-to-day use on phones I'm not sure what you mean. Are you talking about having a typical desktop Linux distribution on the phone (eg: Ubuntu, Arch) instead of an OS that is made for a phone? What is wrong with something like LineageOS or other alternatives?
- emilsedgh 3y ago
  He means GNU/Linux.
- petabytes 3y ago
  Probably means one of the GTK based distros running on a phone, like on the Purism phones
- jeffbee 3y ago
  He means he wants to adjust the ringer volume with alsamixer in an xterm.
- sanitycheck 3y ago
  The names didn't come to mind while I was bashing out the previous post, but kind of - Mobian, PureOS, Ubuntu Touch, Postmarket, etc. (Though I have zero interest in using a command line or editing config files on a touch screen, so hopefully a little more polished than desktop Linux.) Lineage is a great version of Android, but it tracks AOSP so it's always (I think?) going to be a fork of whatever Google is doing and probably won't diverge massively from wherever mainstream Android goes.

ashenke 3y ago

I enabled the Predictive Gesture Flag in the settings, played with it a bit in the settings panel, thought "That's nice, it's going to be fun having this in Android 15"... And then launched the Harmonic HN app and was pleasantly surprised that it already worked!

sillywalk 3y ago

I find Google's Material design horribly ugly, and like all flat UIs with abstract monochrome icons painful to use. I need my UI elements to have text labels.

marinanunier403 3y ago

[dead]