I agree 100%. I actually chuckled at this line: "Unfortunately, this means that it won't be automatically available to existing applications when users update to Android M."
Users updating? Not likely. There's no incentive for phone makers to update old hardware when they can sell users new hardware. It's a thoroughly broken system. Thank god for projects like cyanogenmod, but even there, unless you have a very very popular device, you're probably not going to see a ton of support.
It is a really annoying problem. Phone manufacturers and OEMs need to stop having uninstallable applications on here. Hell, their launcher should be uninstallable. Their keyboard. I wish the Vanilla Settings was just baked into the OS and just have a section for OEM specific functionality they want to add.
The OEM's launcher, settings/notifications, keyboard and apps are really the main things that can become removable apps/additions on top of Vanilla Android. Make those easily removable and bam, Vanilla Android that can be updated in a timely fashion and you just choose what you want from the OEM (or not if it is hindering your update).
That's one really nice thing about WP, you can remove any preinstalled junk you don't want and all WP devices are stock OS.
Anyway the new permissions looks interesting. My dad would love that. Only question is... will compliance be mandatory for future apps and/or updates of existing apps? If it's something developers can ignore/bypass/opt-out of, it's useless.
The problem really comes when a security flaw is never patched. I think most people can deal with the fact that their phone's UI never changes. At the very least, they've gotten exactly what they paid for, just nothing more, much like feature phones of yesteryear. Then again, sometimes these upgrades aren't even a benefit when poorly implemented. When my LG G2 finally got Lollipop this month, it lost a couple useful features that it had under KitKat (like when you plug in headphones, it pops up a customizable list of apps that you can launch). Now the phone can be noticeably slower at simple tasks. Occasionally when I hit the home screen, it takes a second or two to load the apps on the screen. I thought Android L was supposed to be faster? No wonder adoption is so terrible after this long.
Android has 2 major problems. The lack of updates, and that OEMs customize the OS. The very thing that Android does best (customization and diverse hardware support) is also it's downfall. No one entity can manage to keep all devices current, and the blame is shifted from Google, to the OEM, to the carriers.
I disagree with your OEM problem. After HTC, nexus and now my second Samsung, i think many Samsung additions are valuable. Auto switching away from weak WiFi, floating notifications, restricted WiFi networks, adaptive sound equalizer, color control ... And stock keyboard used to be poor; Samsung licensed Swiftkey but added text shortcuts. touch wiz gets a bad rep but in the keynote about M Google admitted Android has been enriched by OEM innovations (a lot of them come from Samsung.) Security is a fair call although the separate webview app of Lollipop is a breakthrough.
If they are two years behind on L, it just probably means they will be two years behind on M as well, and when that time comes, you'll be happy that two years earlier M was introduced. (Of course you, and we all, would be even more happy if they eliminated or even reduced those two years...)
Nexus 5 user here, haven't really been tempted away by any new phones this year (or last, maybe Z3c) and early 5.0 access was part of that... Yeah I could unlock another OEM's phone and do the whole dance but I'm kinda over that.
Hopefully they introduce another Nexus this year with decent battery life and wireless charging, all I really ask, don't even care about the camera much...
N5 battery life was solid compared to the phones that preceded it (basically only the G2 was significantly better), granted all the larger phones that came after eclipsed it. If they can improve it significantly I might just upgrade.
Type C would be interesting and pretty forward thinking but I imagine if support is just now getting baked in then it won't make it into a phone within 6 months.
Please explain me why do I need to update to Lollipop? I have a Nexus 5 running KitKat and have not read any compelling reason. Material design? I do not like what I have understood of it (black letters on white background) Batery life?: conflicting reports, sometimes better, sometimes worse Speed? seems to be worse Bugs?: a lot
You know, I'm actually enthused by the dearth of new features. Android M, iOS 9, and OSX 10.11 are all focused on going back to the core of the OS and making everything more stable and performant. I'm cool with that. God knows they all needed to. They all needed a Snow Leopard moment. Sans home folder deletion, I hope.
So this "Doze" power reduction won't help with the most common scenario -- someone with the smartphone in his/her pocket during the bulk of the work/school day?
I hope it can be manually configured, or at least have "modes". It would be nice to force the smartphone it do "deeper sleep" after a certain amount of time, like 10 mins or 15.
What I'm curious about is project Volta, seems like it wasn't enough and they needed something a bit more aggressive. God knows Android needs to do something about standby, because it's the most inconsistent aspect of Android and the most major battery hog in the longer run.
Besides the Nexus phones, and phones that get quick updates (like Moto, Asus - with light skins) who will actually be running this until the S7 is released? All the hype surrounding Android and yet I can't even see Android L gaining traction. What was the point of Volta? New devices don't have any battery life improvements in tests. N6 battery actually sucks for its size and capacity. Before they switched to ART, what good did Butter and Svelte and whatever actually do?
Cackling at how much they boast about features but does anyone actually use them? Android might be functional but the updates and development quality is severely broken. Even for Google's apps themselves
Yeah Android will never get rid of its lag unless Google completely redoes the architecture of the OS. The update model is similarly permanently broken until Google takes MS's approach.
No kidding. I pulled out my really old smartphones recently, Sony Ericsson P900 and P990, and I was impressed once again with the camera update smoothness on the P990, less choppy than even a new-ish Android handset with much more power. All with a 208MHz CPU and 64MiB of RAM. It even switches between apps in a reasonable time, and stays pretty responsive. Android has an incredibly bloated feeling these days.
Why is it that whenever Google implements something that should have been there long ago, they still manage to muck it up? Take this per app permissions system, for instance. When, with a rooted phone, you can manually configure permissions, dpi and what have you for every single app for YEARS now, Google's implementation just seems laughable.
Hey, At this place Techdiscussion they have written that with USB type-C it will also support a direct file sharing, but i am confused how this will work please help.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
32 Comments
Back to Article
webdoctors - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Considering the extremely slow deployment of Android L, does M really matter? How many phones will actually have it in 2015 or even 2016?Android 5.x is barely hitting 10% of the market based on dashboard stats: http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/inde...
theblacklaser - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I agree 100%. I actually chuckled at this line: "Unfortunately, this means that it won't be automatically available to existing applications when users update to Android M."Users updating? Not likely. There's no incentive for phone makers to update old hardware when they can sell users new hardware. It's a thoroughly broken system. Thank god for projects like cyanogenmod, but even there, unless you have a very very popular device, you're probably not going to see a ton of support.
bplewis24 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
lol @ cyanogenmod.quiksilvr - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
It is a really annoying problem. Phone manufacturers and OEMs need to stop having uninstallable applications on here. Hell, their launcher should be uninstallable. Their keyboard. I wish the Vanilla Settings was just baked into the OS and just have a section for OEM specific functionality they want to add.The OEM's launcher, settings/notifications, keyboard and apps are really the main things that can become removable apps/additions on top of Vanilla Android. Make those easily removable and bam, Vanilla Android that can be updated in a timely fashion and you just choose what you want from the OEM (or not if it is hindering your update).
Alexvrb - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
That's one really nice thing about WP, you can remove any preinstalled junk you don't want and all WP devices are stock OS.Anyway the new permissions looks interesting. My dad would love that. Only question is... will compliance be mandatory for future apps and/or updates of existing apps? If it's something developers can ignore/bypass/opt-out of, it's useless.
MonkeyPaw - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
The problem really comes when a security flaw is never patched. I think most people can deal with the fact that their phone's UI never changes. At the very least, they've gotten exactly what they paid for, just nothing more, much like feature phones of yesteryear. Then again, sometimes these upgrades aren't even a benefit when poorly implemented. When my LG G2 finally got Lollipop this month, it lost a couple useful features that it had under KitKat (like when you plug in headphones, it pops up a customizable list of apps that you can launch). Now the phone can be noticeably slower at simple tasks. Occasionally when I hit the home screen, it takes a second or two to load the apps on the screen. I thought Android L was supposed to be faster? No wonder adoption is so terrible after this long.Android has 2 major problems. The lack of updates, and that OEMs customize the OS. The very thing that Android does best (customization and diverse hardware support) is also it's downfall. No one entity can manage to keep all devices current, and the blame is shifted from Google, to the OEM, to the carriers.
timrichardson - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I disagree with your OEM problem. After HTC, nexus and now my second Samsung, i think many Samsung additions are valuable. Auto switching away from weak WiFi, floating notifications, restricted WiFi networks, adaptive sound equalizer, color control ... And stock keyboard used to be poor; Samsung licensed Swiftkey but added text shortcuts. touch wiz gets a bad rep but in the keynote about M Google admitted Android has been enriched by OEM innovations (a lot of them come from Samsung.)Security is a fair call although the separate webview app of Lollipop is a breakthrough.
Shidell - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Android's progress isn't tied to adoption. It will continue to move forward.ajp_anton - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
If they are two years behind on L, it just probably means they will be two years behind on M as well, and when that time comes, you'll be happy that two years earlier M was introduced.(Of course you, and we all, would be even more happy if they eliminated or even reduced those two years...)
bplewis24 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Yeah, I don't think you understand the appeal of Android and how it works for most people.Impulses - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Nexus 5 user here, haven't really been tempted away by any new phones this year (or last, maybe Z3c) and early 5.0 access was part of that... Yeah I could unlock another OEM's phone and do the whole dance but I'm kinda over that.Hopefully they introduce another Nexus this year with decent battery life and wireless charging, all I really ask, don't even care about the camera much...
N5 battery life was solid compared to the phones that preceded it (basically only the G2 was significantly better), granted all the larger phones that came after eclipsed it. If they can improve it significantly I might just upgrade.
Type C would be interesting and pretty forward thinking but I imagine if support is just now getting baked in then it won't make it into a phone within 6 months.
piroroadkill - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
It's funny, Z3 Compact is still the only device that interests me too.pgari - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Please explain me why do I need to update to Lollipop? I have a Nexus 5 running KitKat and have not read any compelling reason.Material design? I do not like what I have understood of it (black letters on white background)
Batery life?: conflicting reports, sometimes better, sometimes worse
Speed? seems to be worse
Bugs?: a lot
kuttor - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Nexus device, only real way to go with Android.T1beriu - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
10% of the Android market means 150 million (!!) devices. That's a lot of devices.tipoo - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
You know, I'm actually enthused by the dearth of new features. Android M, iOS 9, and OSX 10.11 are all focused on going back to the core of the OS and making everything more stable and performant. I'm cool with that. God knows they all needed to. They all needed a Snow Leopard moment. Sans home folder deletion, I hope.ssiu - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
So this "Doze" power reduction won't help with the most common scenario -- someone with the smartphone in his/her pocket during the bulk of the work/school day?lilmoe - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I hope it can be manually configured, or at least have "modes". It would be nice to force the smartphone it do "deeper sleep" after a certain amount of time, like 10 mins or 15.What I'm curious about is project Volta, seems like it wasn't enough and they needed something a bit more aggressive. God knows Android needs to do something about standby, because it's the most inconsistent aspect of Android and the most major battery hog in the longer run.
kspirit - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Besides the Nexus phones, and phones that get quick updates (like Moto, Asus - with light skins) who will actually be running this until the S7 is released? All the hype surrounding Android and yet I can't even see Android L gaining traction. What was the point of Volta? New devices don't have any battery life improvements in tests. N6 battery actually sucks for its size and capacity. Before they switched to ART, what good did Butter and Svelte and whatever actually do?Cackling at how much they boast about features but does anyone actually use them? Android might be functional but the updates and development quality is severely broken. Even for Google's apps themselves
sonicmerlin - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Yeah Android will never get rid of its lag unless Google completely redoes the architecture of the OS. The update model is similarly permanently broken until Google takes MS's approach.Ashinjuka - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Hey maybe my Moto X will get *this* one!HAHAHA who am I kidding?
hammer256 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Features, blah blah, fixes, blah blah. I think we are missing the most important question here: does M stand for Marshmallow or Milkshake?rupaniii - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I'm voting for Marmalade. Though it is an SDK too.If not... Milkdud?
kuttor - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I think we will see Mint.kuttor - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Already flashed Android M... it;s ok, app tray is horrible.All I really wanted was more optimizations, better RAM usage, less cpu cycles, better garbage collection, no memory leaks.
No reason Android phones should require 3Gbs of RAM.
piroroadkill - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
No kidding. I pulled out my really old smartphones recently, Sony Ericsson P900 and P990, and I was impressed once again with the camera update smoothness on the P990, less choppy than even a new-ish Android handset with much more power. All with a 208MHz CPU and 64MiB of RAM. It even switches between apps in a reasonable time, and stays pretty responsive. Android has an incredibly bloated feeling these days.jmke - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
those security right updates look like a copy of ios way of handling permission requests (cfr mic in whatsapp or camera access)segin - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
It looks more like they copied Java 2 ME than anything.Gemuk - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Why is it that whenever Google implements something that should have been there long ago, they still manage to muck it up? Take this per app permissions system, for instance. When, with a rooted phone, you can manually configure permissions, dpi and what have you for every single app for YEARS now, Google's implementation just seems laughable.Ishankhan - Saturday, July 4, 2015 - link
Hey, At this place Techdiscussion they have written that with USB type-C it will also support a direct file sharing, but i am confused how this will work please help.fajar122 - Friday, November 6, 2015 - link
Thanks for the review , yes, I 'm switching from kitkat to <a href="http://lollipoprom.net" rel="dofollow">lollipop</a>
fajar122 - Friday, November 6, 2015 - link
Thanks for the review , yes, I 'm switching from kitkat to <a href='http://lollipoprom.net' title='lollipop' > lollipop rom</a>