Anyone else dreading Android 4.5 rather than anticipating it?

[ponyo]

Nexus updates are hit and miss. I got tired of being Google beta tester. I like Google app updates more than Android system version updates.

 

[toughtrasher]

Nexus updates are hit and miss. I got tired of being Google beta tester. I like Google app updates more than Android system version updates.

App updates take like 30 seconds to install, system updates take weeks (for AT&T users lol) to roll through

 

[theeedude]

4.1.2 was the best on GNex. 4.2 was a disaster. 4.3 is OK, and 4.4 is not happening at all :|
So these OS upgrades are a mixed bag on existing hardware.

 

[Oyeve]

The only thing I dislike about 4.4.2. is the lack of renaming of file on the SD card.

 

[TiredEngineer]

I still don't fully believe the rumors the Nexus program is over. Google I/O will be interesting to see what happens. I love my Nexus 5 (except mediocre camera and battery...but I live with those), and want the Nexus 5 v2 (everyone seems to call it the Nexus 6, but after the Nexus 7 Google shifted to naming by screen size instead of version).

Also...I use Google Maps for traffic on my commute, and after the latest update the "Alternate Routes" mode is great. It shows a top-down view that actually dynamically updates and zooms as traffic changes and I get closer to work/home.

 

[s44]

Maps got lane guidance which is nice and overdue, but a lot of basic Maps 6.x features are still missing such as navigating between 2 pins on a map.

Navigation is somewhat better, but Local is still gone. This was the original killer app for all smartphones! Plug-pulled because el Goog had to pimp its stupid Zagat acquisition.

 

[ElFenix]

i just want my damn spark update

 

[Bateluer]

Eagerly awaiting it as every Android OS update brings at least some cool stuff. Not really sure what they could intro in 4.5/5.0 though . . . seems like they've got all their bases covered while their competition at MS and Apple are squatting in a ditch poking berries up their nose.

 

[A5]

Navigation is somewhat better, but Local is still gone. This was the original killer app for all smartphones! Plug-pulled because el Goog had to pimp its stupid Zagat acquisition.

Did anyone actually ever use Local? I don't even remember what it did.

 

[MrSquished]

I am really sad to see Nexus go as well, I have been buying Nexus phones since the first one and I have enjoyed having the vanilla experience on good quality hardware.

this article tries to argue Android Silver is better than Nexus.

http://androidandme.com/2014/05/opi...s-line-but-android-silver-sounds-even-better/

he has one good point, since now multiple manufacturers will be making Android Silver phones at the same time, we will have more choices for phones with speedy updates and practically naked Android, and to Android Silver standards.

but i really liked that i could buy a phone from Google unlocked. losing that is what hurts.

 

[cronos]

this article tries to argue Android Silver is better than Nexus.

http://androidandme.com/2014/05/opi...s-line-but-android-silver-sounds-even-better/

he has one good point, since now multiple manufacturers will be making Android Silver phones at the same time, we will have more choices for phones with speedy updates and practically naked Android, and to Android Silver standards.

but i really liked that i could buy a phone from Google unlocked. losing that is what hurts.

The whole Android Silver concept sounds great, except for one aspect: price.

That's what a lot of people are concerned about. If the Silver is just basically a rebranding of the GPE line, then we can say good bye to Nexus-type pricing structure.

 

[gmaster456]

I am reserving judgement until I actually see what 4.5 brings to the table. None of us have seen it yet. I haven't had any real issues with Android updates for the past year and a half. Ever since I got my Nexus 4 and later a Moto X I have been pretty happy overall.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The whole Android Silver concept sounds great, except for one aspect: price.

That's what a lot of people are concerned about. If the Silver is just basically a rebranding of the GPE line, then we can say good bye to Nexus-type pricing structure.

The issue was the Nexus phone was always a limited release anyway. The Silver phone seems to be a push to the mainstream. I'm all for lowering the prices, but Google also holds back on the Nexus line by not making it a true flagship. If we want to push prices down, then we need to make a real push for flagship + $300 like OnePlus is doing.

 

[soccerballtux]

Used to be that every version brought major improvements. But since 4.1 the only functional upgrade for most people was TRIM in 4.3. Instead Google seems to spend a lot of time -- both in new OS versions and in app updates -- doing design tinkering that often reduces functionality *and* ensures that there's no consistent design language on the platform (as app devs end up on an endless redesign cycle themselves).

Not to mention that each new version introduces significant bugs that aren't ironed out until one, two, or even three point releases (4.4's stupid camera power-drain bug).

I'm looking forward to the device announcements at next month's I/O, but basically dreading the rest.

yeah I'm getting pretty sick of if too

 

[soccerballtux]

This is just the way it is, I think.

Let's be honest. Android had a LOT of catching up to do in between Gingerbread and ICS. They're there now. Great. Wonderful.

So now you go in to, what I'm going to call, "Apple-like maintenance mode".

I know people complained for years that iOS 1-6 looked so similar and bland, but I think that's a testament to Apple's original design. Hell, I'd even argue that iOS 7 is, functionally, very similar to iOS 4-6. New features can be added, face lifts can be given, but the core OS is intact.

And that's where we are with Android. 4.1 was pretty complete. We'll get new features, for sure, we'll get little tweaks, maybe even for 5.0 we'll get a face lift.

But until there's some sort of paradigm shift in usage, I'm expecting what are going to essentially be maintenance releases for the time being.

but they're not maintaining. The new Maps is a lagfest and crashes uncontrollably with much CPU undervolting whatsoever. Camera battery drains sometimes. There's weirdo glitches that need to be fixed like the pull down effect on notifications sometimes doesn't work if the shade is full of notifications (should I scroll or expand this notification?), still ambiguous back button functionality (how many times should I press it? depends on the app esp if I'm in a text box writing something. Ooops pressed it one too many times now app is closed.) Sometimes mediascan won't update and I have to force it with a widget. The virtualized SD Card sucks too, it can't handle multithreaded writes and abstracts things like copies from the filesystem so that when I copy via the Explorer window connected via USB, it literally pulls it from the folder, loads it across USB, and Explorer writes it back via USB to the new folder.

Not to mention I'm sick of every app getting to write to its own little SD card folder, making it impossible to find all my documents and the actual folders I really store stuff in. Make ALL that crap fit inside /.data and /.android on the SDcard or something. Jeez.

 

[soccerballtux]

Totally agree with you.

Google has at best just been tinkering with things lately and at worst, taking a wrecking ball to things that used to work better. I dread any new Google update more than anticipate it. I'm relieved when I'm wrong, but it can go either way.

They seem to me to have moved past a certain phase in some roadmap of theirs. First phase was build up products and services that were really good and got users hooked. Check on that. Phase two seems to be once people are hooked, tighten the noose and corral users into doing things the Google way... but the emphasis on making things great has slipped down to a lower level of priority.

I never felt there was an emphasis on getting it great...they've perpetually released 90% complete software that is missing features that it previously had before redesign, that does XYZ annoying thing, etc. Just hire me to playtest and give me an iron curtain of control to make developers improve performance and consistency among google apps and then we'll have the fluidity and consistent experience of iOS with the control of Android. That's all anybody really wants.

 

[cronos]

The issue was the Nexus phone was always a limited release anyway. The Silver phone seems to be a push to the mainstream. I'm all for lowering the prices, but Google also holds back on the Nexus line by not making it a true flagship. If we want to push prices down, then we need to make a real push for flagship + $300 like OnePlus is doing.

When you said 'mainstream' you are really just saying US Verizon/Sprint and/or subsidized phones. Other than those, Nexus devices plus their GPE brethren are already mainstream enough. The rest of the world gains absolutely nothing with a change to the current arrangements.

I know you've been wanting a true flagship Nexus for a long time, but I personally don't care much about sacrificing the ideal of a Nexus device (pure Google with bang for buck pricing) for mere penetration to old fashioned carriers/subscription model. To me what we have right now is a perfect balance. You want pure Google with competitive pricing, get a Nexus. If you want as close as you can get to a pure Google device but you want a flagship, get one of the GPEs. There's enough options for everyone.

I know we're all just speculating here about the Silver program, but I really think we're going to say good bye to Nexus style pricing. Whether this will end up to be a good thing for us customers, we'll see.

 

[destrekor]

I'm at the point where I don't notice a whole lot between updates, but then I've always been on a custom rom so I would have more options anyhow. Maybe that's why, I dunno. The rest of the under the hood stuff I don't think I'd ever benefit from directly.

Well, I used to ROM like crazy.

I've been on Android since 2.0 on the original Motorola Droid.

Sweet baby jesus, the OS has come a long way.

I was almost always running a custom ROM, notably Cyanogen most of the time on my various Android devices. My Droid wasn't stock for all that long, maybe a month since the dev comunity was so new? The only device that stayed stock was the Bionic. Then again, while I upgraded from the Droid to the Bionic, I barely stayed there - the Galaxy Nexus was out not too long after, and I gave in. The GN was stock for a day.

I had the BN Nook Color and rooted/ROM'd that. Then I got the Nexus 7 (original), though I barely use that much anymore.

My Moto X is tweaked, the boot loader unlocked, and a custom recovery has been flashed - but the OS itself is stock. Xposed and Busybox is all I need, and I absolutely love it.

What I've noticed in time is that, just about every feature I've loved about CyanogenMod or other community mods, has slowly been incorporated into the main Android experience. The only last things I feel like I need to add, can now be added to the stock experience with Xposed or Busybox.

I remember reach update to the main OS, I was very excited and looking forward to new features. Now, I have a phone I no longer really feel a need to customize or obsess over anymore. The Moto X is just what I want, when I want. If it wasn't already a "Stock + bonus" experience, I probably would have modded it far more, but the stock Android experience is rather nice.

What's helped Google keep updates a little slower, more maintenance, is the fact that updates that used to be included in major feature releases, are now simply released app-by-app, or in the core Google Services package. That has REALLY helped move Android to this more maintenance-style OS release. All phones, regardless of carrier and/or manufacturer bloat and custom ROMs, now receive many feature and security updates through the Play Store. Google was able to separate some of the core code from all these custom versions of Android, so they can push updates regardless - no more waiting for manufacturers and carriers to test, code, test again, deploy four months later, or worse yet, never.

They still have those updates for what they cannot directly patch, the system code that cannot be separated and patched on the fly.

 

[RollWave]

the lack of smoothness is whats bugs me about all android things. The stuttering is just maddening

 

[destrekor]

I hadn't been following the latest Android rumors at all. Heh.

That's kind of funny, considering when I was actively involved in constantly customizing my phone, I was a regular reader of various Android and general smartphone websites/blogs. Now, I rarely ever read the new stuff.

I'm actually content! Damn, this never happens. LOL

Anywho... seeing that the rumors are now pointing toward Android Silver, that's got my thinking:
I thoroughly expect the Moto X 2, or whatever Motorola calls their next flagship, to be among the first phones of the group. That is, unless Google prevents even the minor additional customizations Motorola would include. However, since they are all application-based and not system-level, I don't expect they'd prevent such minor additions. If it can be basically patched almost direct from Google, with minor manufacturer and carrier-level tweaks (for specific hardware and radio/cell performance), that will probably qualify.

 

[toughtrasher]

I hadn't been following the latest Android rumors at all. Heh.

That's kind of funny, considering when I was actively involved in constantly customizing my phone, I was a regular reader of various Android and general smartphone websites/blogs. Now, I rarely ever read the new stuff.

I'm actually content! Damn, this never happens. LOL

Anywho... seeing that the rumors are now pointing toward Android Silver, that's got my thinking:
I thoroughly expect the Moto X 2, or whatever Motorola calls their next flagship, to be among the first phones of the group. That is, unless Google prevents even the minor additional customizations Motorola would include. However, since they are all application-based and not system-level, I don't expect they'd prevent such minor additions. If it can be basically patched almost direct from Google, with minor manufacturer and carrier-level tweaks (for specific hardware and radio/cell performance), that will probably qualify.

Same here bro. Sometimes I either get too involved with customizing my phone and go crazy with it, spending hours on end each night. Then I go for long stretches of time where my phone wouldh ave nothing to do with customizations lol.

 

[Raduque]

I disagree with Google's design and UI philosophies.

I disagree with their movement to the cloud and everything it entails (cutting functionality, on existing hardware, of uSD cards, selling low local storage Nexus devices, etc).

I disagree with their flat, card-based UI design.

Thankfully, Samsung is still doing most things the way I like them. If Samsung starts following lock-step with Google, I'll probably switch to Windows Phone.

 

[mikeymikec]

I don't know whether it's Android, my Nexus 5 or some app that's causing a problem, but I've had more app crashes in the short time I've had my N5 than I did for the whole time I had my previous phone (Android 4.0.x). I would guess at 1 or 2 app crashes a week on the N5.

 

[destrekor]

I disagree with Google's design and UI philosophies.

I disagree with their movement to the cloud and everything it entails (cutting functionality, on existing hardware, of uSD cards, selling low local storage Nexus devices, etc).

I disagree with their flat, card-based UI design.

Thankfully, Samsung is still doing most things the way I like them. If Samsung starts following lock-step with Google, I'll probably switch to Windows Phone.

lol

So, you'd then prefer to move to a platform that has:

flat design
no MicroSD
cloud integration
low storage on affordable phones


Why did you want to switch, again?

Oh, right, you hate the card interface!

 

[Tsaar]

the lack of smoothness is whats bugs me about all android things. The stuttering is just maddening

My Nexus 5 is smoother than my wife's iPhone... Never seen a stutter at all. This is with encryption enabled and it still blazes. I have had this phone for many months if you were wondering if it was a fresh device.