Android 4.4 [realistic] Wishlist?

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I'm curious as to what users like. Please, let's keep this to a more "realistic" featureset. Think of this like CyanogenMod. The forums are filled with idiotic suggestions "please give me swipe2wake!!!!" but really only the higher quality suggestions make it in. I'll add that this is for AOSP.

For me:

• Some sort of sync center. I have a widget that refreshes every 2 hours, and another one that refreshes 2 hours as well. Wouldn't it make sense to sync the sync times? Instead of 2 separate wakelock, I'll take 1 longer wakelock and capitalize on race to idle.
  
• A much better AOSP camera. The 4.3 camera UI is still not the best IMO. It might be a little cleaner than 4.2 where your thumb won't cover up some of the options, but it's annoying to slide up to go deeper into the menu. In addition to this, I'd like some additional options like maybe continuous shooting or whatever. Let's be able to compete with the OEMs for photos.
  
• No more launcher redraws. Fix this once and for all. This should NOT be an issue for any user with a phone with more than 1gb of RAM.
  
• Not as important, but maybe some sort of multi-window or overlay window like PA's HALO.
  
• For tablets, the multitask button should give a "Expose"-like look. Why the hell does my Nexus 10 only use like 1/3 of the screen for the multitask screen only? I'm not sure if something like expose would work for 4" phones, but I suppose it can be explored with new 1080p screens.

 

[Jodell88]

WebOS cards. Matias, make it happen.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I'd like to see a way to backup a phone (apps, settings, user files) to a PC easily like iTunes without rooting needed.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I'd like to see a way to backup a phone (apps, settings, user files) to a PC easily like iTunes without rooting needed.

is there still no way to back up my app data? I'm long past Angry Birds, but as restrictive as iOS is, it's rather easy to wipe my iPhone and restore my apps with their data and continue with my high scores for Temple Run for example.

Sure I can do it on Android, but with TB. What about non root users? Does the backup option do anything on Android? It may restore my settings, but in terms of app data, is that even retained?

WebOS cards. Matias, make it happen.

Don't we kinda have a vertical cards system? It's not as great, but it's not like we need WebOS cards. WebOS might have looked nice, but that's probably it. It was lacking in almost everything else.

 

[shabby]

I'd like to see a way to backup a phone (apps, settings, user files) to a PC easily like iTunes without rooting needed.

Why google hasn't made this boggles the mind.

 

[jhansman]

I'd like to see a way to backup a phone (apps, settings, user files) to a PC easily like iTunes without rooting needed.

Amen. Just be able to image your phone and restore it out of the box should be standard.

 

[ChronoReverse]

There's an app that can do it now without rooting (Helium) but yeah, google should have built it into the system.

 

[Apex]

An easy way to tell if anything is misbehaving and killing your battery life.

 

[Sheep]

I'm curious as to what users like. Please, let's keep this to a more "realistic" featureset. Think of this like CyanogenMod. The forums are filled with idiotic suggestions "please give me swipe2wake!!!!" but really only the higher quality suggestions make it in.

Swipe to wake/turn off screen is actually my top request. I can't believe it's not an option on all phones in 2013. I use these gestures so much on my Galaxy Nexus that I find myself trying to use them on other touchscreen devices the same way to no avail.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Regarding the Sync issue, I think that Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, and all their "contacts sync" options are annoying and cause wakelocks. It'd be nice if we could set these to be wifi only sync.

Right now there's only a master on/off switch for syncing, but it'd be nice to have more granularity. Perhaps we can blame Whatsapp, but I don't understand why I woke up to a 5 minute wakelock by the app for "fullsync" per BBS.

 

[Red Storm]

Double tap to turn screen on. Already exists, just need it incorporated. Bonus would be a way to turn off the screen via gestures (I know there are apps for it, but I want a built in function).

 

[lopri]

Built-in ad-blocker
Built-in firewall
Built-in app blocker (i.e. greenify)
Built-in capability of disabling system apps via virtualization

/unrealistic wishlist

Realistically they should add a built-in flashlight, though. It's ridiculous that one has to download an app (which comes with ads) for that.

 

[Red Storm]

Realistically they should add a built-in flashlight, though. It's ridiculous that one has to download an app (which comes with ads) for that.

HTC One comes with a flashlight app by default. Also I don't actually remember any flashlight apps that had ads, although I almost always just used a simple widget toggle to do that stuff.

 

[cliftonite]

More of Google apps on the play store. Stock launcher, dial pad, etc. Maybe figure out a way to allow sense/touchwiz to run in a way that can be reverted to stock Google apps.

 

[gorcorps]

is there still no way to back up my app data? I'm long past Angry Birds, but as restrictive as iOS is, it's rather easy to wipe my iPhone and restore my apps with their data and continue with my high scores for Temple Run for example.

Sure I can do it on Android, but with TB. What about non root users? Does the backup option do anything on Android? It may restore my settings, but in terms of app data, is that even retained?

The last update they had that added Google achievements and such was supposed to help that. Your app data can sync to the cloud so that when you log in on other devices you're playing from the same "game save" in theory.

It's there now anyway, so it's up to the dev to make use of it.

 

[foghorn67]

Agreed on the sync center.

I also want the camera, AOSP and anything that uses Android 5 or above to have improved standards in image quality. And I don't mean size.

I think most IQ issues with cameras are due to smearing where the color is uniform. That might be okay with the sky, but not on grass, tree lines, walls, etc.
Take a detailed pic of something like a craft beer label...turns out awesome. Take the bottle away, you get smeared crap.
It's not ISO either, can happen on ISO 80 in bright daylight.

 

[BD2003]

More responsive scrolling.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Proper multitasking
A better Google Play app

 

[kasakka]

Unified settings. It makes no sense that each app has its own set of settings in an arbitrary location: sometimes it's under the menu button, sometimes it's just somewhere in the sidebar etc. Either cram them under settings or just tell developers to put them in the same place.

Better notification customisation. I want to be able to choose which LED color to use for different notifications etc. These could also use some unification so that all apps have the option to use notification LEDs if the phone has them.

Better lock screen. Choosing a different security method should not have any effect on what widgets you can use. Having both security and convenience shouldn't be that hard.

Quick toggle for flashlight.

Better stock camera app.

Better use of multitouch gestures. I really can't understand why two and three finger swipes are completely unused on most mobile devices. You should be able to bind these to things like locking the screen, switching apps etc.

 

[Brian Stirling]

OS integrated stylus support for third party pens like Wacom.

Finger print reader support.

Better/easier support for map data when there's no internet/cell connection.

More windows like file management.

Better control of notifications and the sounds associated with it like the ability to disable at night time.

Better battery life. (buttery)


Brian

 

[gsaldivar]

A way to kill the phone manufacturer's UI skin while keeping the phone stock.

Add a "Reboot" option to the power off screen.

Add an option to automatically schedule a reboot at a certain time of day.

Better control over mobile network and WiFi connections (in a certain area, tag 3G or a specific hotspot as "preferred", regardless of signal strength).

Better user notification and resource management in low memory situations.

 

[vshah]

Proper multitasking
A better Google Play app

what exactly do you mean by proper multitasking? Android has the most "proper" multitasking of any mobile OS currently...

You mean a better task switcher?

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Better user notification and resource management in low memory situations.

What. The entire point of memory management is that you never notify the user of it. The system takes care of itself.

Memory management hasn't been an issue since like, 2.1

 

[Shackanaw]

Well, they've recently filed patents that would allow Android to reduce image quality to save battery life, and another to change device unlock requirements based upon the location of the device (e.g. require a PIN outside the house, but swipe to unlock at home), so those seem like possibilities.

Palm rejection would be fantastic.

They could build upon the hidden app permissions built into 4.3, allowing us to select what apps are allowed to access.

Backup and sync SMS messages across devices.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

What. The entire point of memory management is that you never notify the user of it. The system takes care of itself.

Memory management hasn't been an issue since like, 2.1

Yes while memory management is supposed to be automatic, it certainly isn't perfect is it? Apps get killed too recently.

Memory management hasn't been an issue since 2.1? Says who? I hear talk about how 512mb is outdated, 1gb is outdated, you need 2gb. No you need moar! No matter 256mb, 512mb, 1gb, 2gb, my launcher still redraws. It gets killed. Guess what? Lightflow gets killed (go read the XDA thread now) and notifications will get missed. It's inconsistent at best, this whole Google memory management system.

Why do you think there's a thread with thousands of posts about memory management? My point is there's a lot of room for improvement, and I'd love to see Google work on it.