Android Archive

Seeing is believing, but the signs are at least somewhat positive. I doubt all of these will get the fix, though.

That being said, as the linked article explains, this bug really isn't as worrisome as people made it out to be. Security researchers (often working for companies selling security software) have cried wolf so many times I really don't take any of them seriously at this point, no matter which operating system's users they are trying to scare into buying their crap.

I'm not going to make the joke about Android updates.

This phone's got some standout features I really like - aside from its price - such as a hardware switch on the side to cycle between the three default notification settings in Android Lollipop (all, priority, and none), similar to the hardware switch every iPhone has had since day one. I've always wondered why Android phones never included this incredibly useful feature. The software is very close to stock, so it's got that going for it as well. There's downsides too - it's still not truly stock, so yeah, expect update problems. It'll only be sold - again - through a silly invite system, and it lacks NFC and an SD card slot.

This is very close to what the Nexus 6 should have been, or what the next Nexus should be.

Yet another random, disparate, limited, little, and utterly insignificant 'effort' to merely test bringing regular updates to Android devices. This is pointless. This is not what Android needs. At all.

Android needs Google to step up and reign its OEMs in.

A major reason not discussed in this article: the large companies - Twitter, Facebook, etc. - as well as the major technology press outlets, are all US-based, and clearly have a very US-centric view of the world (or maybe at the very least an Anglo-Saxon view). In the US, iOS and Android both sit at around ~45% market share, so it makes sense that developers working for these companies focus on iOS more than on Android, simply because iOS development tends to be an easier experience (I'm simply echoing what I hear from developers on both sides of the aisle). The same applies to the technology press.

Outside of the English-speaking countries, however, Android reigns supreme. If these companies had a more world-centric view, their Android efforts would surely improve - because as it stands right now, most major companies' Android applications lag behind their iOS counterparts considerably. Over here in The Netherlands, though, every major new local application - banks, brands, stores, etc. - are always iOS+Android on day one.

It'd be great if American companies finally started getting their acts together too. Don't assume that veteran iOS developers are automatically also good Android developers (they're not), and hire real, proper Android developers. I translate English to Dutch, and my clients would never ask me to translate, I don't know, Spanish documents into Dutch. Small indie Android developers have proven that, even if it may be a little harder, it's perfectly possible to create Android applications that are just as good as, and often even better, than their iOS counterparts.

In 2015, there's no excuse for releasing lousy, crappy Android applications. You only have yourself to blame.

Play Services is a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because it makes the lives of developers easier and because it bypasses incompetent carriers and OEMs so that users get considerable updates. It's a curse because they're closed source - making it impossible to dig into the code. They make your device less your device, and that's always a bad thing, especially in today's world.

So much of this could be addressed if Google opened up as much of it, but that's very unlikely to happen.

When Android Wear came out over the course of last year, Google promised that the young, new platform would receive updates "early and often". While it wasn't said with so many words, it's easy to read between the lines: Google was going to make sure Android Wear users wouldn't face the same headaches as Android users when it comes to updates. Wear would be a more tightly controlled platform, built in such a way that updates could go straight to users' devices without meddling from carriers or roadblocks thrown up by crappy customisations.

Fast forward to June 2015, and Google has recently released Android Wear 5.1.1, which, despite its humble version number increase over 5.0.1, is a pretty significant update to the smartwatch platform. It enables WiFi on devices that support it, adds new ways to interact with your watch, and makes it easier to launch applications. All in all, it looks like a great update.

Sadly, I can only go by what others have told me, despite owning the poster Android Wear device - the Moto 360.

Nice overview of some of the things Google has done to make Android development - a pain point for many developers - a little easier. The new testing initiative is pretty rad.

Google I/O is here, and the company's big keynote is still underway. The biggest announcement so far is - as expected - Android M, the next major Android release scheduled for Q3 of this year. Much like how the last few iOS releases played catch-up to major Android features, Android M is really catching up to a number of major, stand-out iOS features - and all of them are very welcome.

The biggest new feature coming to Android M is App Permissions - and it's exactly what you're thinking. Instead of applications asking for all possible permissions during installation time, they will now only ask for a permission the first time you use the specific feature of the application that requires it. If you've ever used iOS - well, it's that, essentially. In addition, you can go into the Settings application and revoke an application's individual permissions, or the other way around - look at which applications have a specific permission.

If you're familiar with Android, you'll be aware of the incredibly long and confusing list of possible permissions. Alongside implementing an iOS-like permission system, Android M will also pare down the number of permissions to a much smaller number (I think I saw 8 or 10?), making them clearer and more straightforward. All good so far, and yet another example of how competition between the major platforms makes both of them better - consumers, win.

There's bad news, though, and it's this: the new permission system will only work with applications built with the Android M SDK. "Legacy" applications will, sadly, default to the existing permission system. While that in and of itself is disappointing enough, it also means we'll be using two different permission systems at the same time for at least several months, and possibly years.

Another major new feature in M is a new power state, called Doze, which is basically a deeper form of sleep. Your device will learn your usage patterns, and move to this deep sleep state when it's not being used. According to Google, tablets will benefit the most from this, doubling their standby time. For phones, which get used more often, this will deliver less benefit.

Android's intents system is also getting an upgrade, allowing applications to directly link to each other, without throwing up that "open with" dialog. Google Wallet is getting an upgrade and a name change - Android Pay - and now works pretty much exactly like Apple Pay, and it will be available on all Android phones with NFC. In addition, it supports fingerprint readers. Support for these readers will be further integrated and standardised in M.

There's a lot more in Android M, but these are the biggest features. Google is releasing a developer preview for select Nexus devices today, and the final release will happen somewhere in Q3. This being Android, though, the biggest elephant in the room remained unmentioned: updates. As great as Android M looks, you'll most likely not be getting it until somewhere next year. Such is life.

If you're into Microsoft Android, Cyanogen is just the thing for you. I wouldn't trust such a venture capital-backed startup spouting such grandiose words only to bite the hand that feeds it - Google - while being in bed with Microsoft. New Microsoft or no, it has a history of patent abuse towards Android and Linux, and by letting it infect your Android device you're just asking for trouble.

Do we have an Indian readers with Android One devices? How has the experience been?