# Android L



## elbows (Jun 26, 2014)

So the next version of Android was previewed at google IO yesterday. I haven't had time to fully absorb the details yet so will reserve comment for later. If I can get my old 'original' Nexus 7 to power up then I'll probably take a look at the developer preview when it comes out later today.

For now here is a bit more info.

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone...ime-pie-release-date-news-and-rumours-1091500


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## mack (Jun 26, 2014)

Just backed up my Nexus 5 - they're releasing a developers L release today - gonna bung it on and see what it's like.


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## editor (Jun 26, 2014)

Ooooh, please report back!


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## elbows (Jun 26, 2014)

Oh bollocks, the developer preview isn't available for the 2012 Nexus 7, only the 2013 model. Thats it for me then, my upset with what Nexus was supposed to mean compared to how fickle Google are in practice has reached a new level, and I'm done. Ordering an iPad mini with retina display and not looking back.


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## editor (Jun 26, 2014)

elbows said:


> Oh bollocks, the developer preview isn't available for the 2012 Nexus 7, only the 2013 model. Thats it for me then, my upset with what Nexus was supposed to mean compared to how fickle Google are in practice has reached a new level, and I'm done. Ordering an iPad mini with retina display and not looking back.


I don't remember Google promising that there would be support for all versions of Nexus when it came to developers versions?


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## editor (Jun 26, 2014)

I'm loving the clean look of the L OS in that video. Google really are nailing sharp OS design now.


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## editor (Jun 26, 2014)

And that intelligent lock screen is genius.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 26, 2014)

I like the smartwatch/password thing. That's one very useful thing I hope becomes standard across all platforms/smartwatches. However you secure yor phone it's a pain in the hole when you need to regularly check stuff to keep unlocking it. Even the fingerprint thing on the iphone feels like a chore and gets it wrong quite a lot.

Couldn't really get a sense of the 'Material Design' thing. Will have to see it to see how useful it will be but looks like aesthetic bells and whistles from here.

I didn't really get his joke about power saving and being useful for long hiking (and protests, lol what?). If they really wanted to be as helpful in this regard they'd stop making their Nexus devices with un-replacable batteries


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## editor (Jun 26, 2014)

skyscraper101 said:


> I like the smartwatch/password thing. That's one very useful thing I hope becomes standard across all platforms/smartwatches. However you secure yor phone it's a pain in the hole when you need to regularly check stuff to keep unlocking it. Even the fingerprint thing on the iphone feels like a chore and gets it wrong quite a lot.
> 
> Couldn't really get a sense of the 'Material Design' thing. Will have to see it to see how useful it will be but looks like aesthetic bells and whistles from here.
> 
> I didn't really get his joke about power saving and being useful for long hiking (and protests, lol what?). If they really wanted to be as helpful in this regard they'd stop making their Nexus devices with un-replacable batteries


That lock screen is one of those changes that seems quite small but will make a real difference. It irritates me having to use it every time when I'm at home, and this is a very, very clever solution.


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## mack (Jun 26, 2014)

So far so good - did a clean install, having everything backed up on google makes it a cinch to restore apps and settings etc.

It seems pretty nippy (always is when you wipe everything), the main nav buttons are different and app icons are bigger, the notification bar has changed quite a lot.

It all looks very clean and tidy. I'm sure there are one or two apps that will have a problem but I haven't encountered anything yet.

 from me

eta. Not sure I like the layout of the new keyboard - might just take a while to get used to it, and dropbox is f/c at the moment.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/06/26/initial-hands-on-android-l-developer-preview-on-the-nexus-5/


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## elbows (Jun 26, 2014)

skyscraper101 said:


> I didn't really get his joke about power saving and being useful for long hiking (and protests, lol what?). If they really wanted to be as helpful in this regard they'd stop making their Nexus devices with un-replacable batteries



The keynote was interrupted by protesters. I missed it as I was only able to watch it live at work and couldn't give the video my full attention.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28020654


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## elbows (Jun 26, 2014)

editor said:


> I don't remember Google promising that there would be support for all versions of Nexus when it came to developers versions?



As far as I'm aware this is the first time Google have ever made developer previews of Android available. That it's taken them till this year to do so says plenty about why I've not exactly been overwhelmed with love for the way their efforts to woo developers have evolved over the years. I'm happy they continue to improve, but progress is slow, in stark bloody contrast to how quickly they expect us to move on when it comes to hardware.

I am pissed off in part because yesterdays announcement just said 'the Nexus 5 and the Nexus 7':



> We'll also post early system images for Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 so you can start developing for L.



( from https://plus.google.com/ AndroidDevelopers/posts/KNvHXuHS9pH )

I also feel sad for anyone who took a gamble on developing for larger android tablets and, for example, bought a Nexus 10 and now ends up in the same boat as me.

I do not consider this rant to be as significant to the wider world as my previous rant about not getting KitKat on my Galaxy Nexus phone, because on that one I was ranting as an end user more than a developer. And the stuff I am ranting about this time should not be confused with what devices will be compatible with Android L upon its final release.

Oh well, perhaps they've done me a favour as you know I've said 'fuck android' before and then flip-flopped a bit and not given up on it completely. But this is it, I have limited resources and I can't be doing with fragmentation and fickle google shit any more. It destroys the lower cost that Android appears to offer on the face of it, and I'm actually better off spending more up front on Apple kit but having increased confidence that I won't have to upgrade hardware so often to be able to develop for their latest OS iterations without delay. I've got the iOS 8 beta on my iPad 2 which I bought a lot longer ago than my Nexus 7 ffs.


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## editor (Jun 27, 2014)

elbows said:


> Oh well, perhaps they've done me a favour as you know I've said 'fuck android' before and then flip-flopped a bit and not given up on it completely. But this is it, I have limited resources and I can't be doing with fragmentation and fickle google shit any more. It destroys the lower cost that Android appears to offer on the face of it, and I'm actually better off spending more up front on Apple kit but having increased confidence that I won't have to upgrade hardware so often to be able to develop for their latest OS iterations without delay. I've got the iOS 8 beta on my iPad 2 which I bought a lot longer ago than my Nexus 7 ffs.


Enjoy your iPad. I can't help thinking that all the real exciting innovation is happening on Android now, but the choice is yours.


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## elbows (Jun 27, 2014)

Well happily its a wide world with plenty of different areas of innovation and variation in what people are after and what excites them. Google have done a lot of interesting things, most of which don't happen to interest me. That says more about me than Google, because I don't want to share various bits of data with them that they can do clever things with, and I don't live anywhere interesting or travel very much or have a varied schedule. I got lucky that iOS did very well on the music creation app front, and Apple keep putting plenty of effort into adding audio stuff for developers that smells of useful progress. I'm not expecting the vast multitude to be interested in inter-app audio and low-latency midi over bluetooth LE, but I'm using this to make a point that what matters more to me is what innovations that are of interest and use to me come along, not which platform has the most new innovations in any particular iteration.

And make no mistake, from a developers point of view both Apple and Google are willy waving this year by going on about how many thousands of new APIs are available in their upcoming mobile operating systems. So from my point of view both platforms evolution continue to be very interesting, and thats why I got pissed off that I can't get my hands on Android L.


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## elbows (Jun 27, 2014)

On a similar note, I'm very happy that both Apple and Google have refined and refreshed the visual design of their mobile operating systems and not let things stagnate. And that both have invested plenty in continuing to erode bottlenecks that affect 3D graphics performance. Thats exciting for me as a developer, and since I'm at a minimum temporarily locked out of playing with the new android stuff, I guess I'll spend the rest of my spare dev time over the summer playing with Metal for iOS 8.

If we must try to turn this into a battle of innovation between Google and Apple, then I'd say its far too early to draw any conclusions regarding four fronts that are part of todays 'innovation landscape' - Smart TV/casual console gaming, wearable computing (mostly smart watches at this stage), interfacing with vehicles, and interfacing with smart devices in the home. We know plenty about where each OS is starting from on these fronts, but many pieces of the jigsaw are not in place and certainly not ripe or reviewable. Both companies clearly see the potential and don't want to miss out, so I won't write any off on those fronts yet.

As for Microsoft, I like what they've done with the stylus on the Surface Pro 3, seems like quite a leap, but they are the only one of these companies I could call a loser at this stage, and even they still have time to turn some things around.


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## editor (Jun 27, 2014)

The more I see of L, the more I like it.


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## Fez909 (Jun 27, 2014)

Auto-rotate in the quick settings by default - finally!


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## editor (Jul 2, 2014)

Looks like it's delivering on the battery promise:









> Thirty-six percent more battery life. Installing the L preview on our Nexus 5 gave us two extra hours of runtime. These tests were done on a beat up, daily-driver phone, so the final numbers aren't necessarily indicative of what the L preview could achieve on a new device. It's the difference that matters.
> 
> Android L also has a "battery saver" feature that lowers the device performance and cuts the background data and screen brightness when the device hits 15-percent battery, but we disabled this feature for our tests. We like to have our devices at full power, and we don't want a hyper-aggressive phone-crippling feature messing with our results. Presumably, you could gain even more runtime by turning the battery saver on. This test is more about the general under-the-hood improvements that are running all the time.
> 
> This is just an early look at Android L's battery life. The current release is a "developer preview," but Google has already been able to make a meaningful difference in the runtime of L devices. Some of the new power-saving features, like the job scheduler, require app support, so there's probably room to improve not only in the OS but in Google's bundled apps, too. By the time the final version of L comes out, things could be even better. Google definitely looks to be on the right track.



http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014...ta-we-put-android-l-through-our-battery-test/


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## joustmaster (Jul 2, 2014)

its just some slightly different colours. 
its hard to get excited about it. i guess if you are the sort of person who loves to constantly change the themes and stuff, then it might be exciting.

i'd prefer to see some innovation in the functionality.


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## editor (Jul 2, 2014)

joustmaster said:


> its just some slightly different colours.
> its hard to get excited about it. i guess if you are the sort of person who loves to constantly change the themes and stuff, then it might be exciting.
> 
> i'd prefer to see some innovation in the functionality.


Um, there's a little bit more to it than that. 35% extra battery life for starters.


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## joustmaster (Jul 2, 2014)

editor said:


> Um, there's a little bit more to it than that. 35% extra battery life for starters.


yes, i read the link. 
Its not an amazing jump in functionality, though.

I will be interested when something new happens. not just putting a hat on something and calling it new.


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## editor (Jul 2, 2014)

joustmaster said:


> yes, i read the link.
> Its not an amazing jump in functionality, though.
> 
> I will be interested when something new happens. not just putting a hat on something and calling it new.


I'd call a massive leap in battery life pretty new. I guess you're harder to impress.


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## Fez909 (Jul 2, 2014)

joustmaster said:


> yes, i read the link.
> Its not an amazing jump in functionality, though.
> 
> I will be interested when something new happens. not just putting a hat on something and calling it new.


There's no much else to do on phones these days.

Battery life and damage protection are going to be the two main areas of improvement over the next few years. And seeing as we're on a software thread, not a hardware one, that only leaves Google to mess around with power consumption.

There'll still be the odd little thing but we're definitely in the incremental improvement stage of things rather than the revolutionary phase.

Phones? Meh.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jul 2, 2014)

Indeed. I'd much rather have a genuine two day battery life on a smartphone then any other new feature I can think off.


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## joustmaster (Jul 2, 2014)

Fez909 said:


> There's no much else to do on phones these days.
> 
> Battery life and damage protection are going to be the two main areas of improvement over the next few years. And seeing as we're on a software thread, not a hardware one, that only leaves Google to mess around with power consumption.
> 
> ...


people said this sort of stuff in the victorian era. that everything had been invented/discovered.
there are loads of new things yet to come, its just we don't know what they are yet.


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## joustmaster (Jul 2, 2014)

Global Stoner said:


> Indeed. I'd much rather have a genuine two day battery life on a smartphone then any other new feature I can think off.


me too.
i'm ok to carry an extra 10g, if it means a long lasting battery.

the OS dimming the screen and switching background data off isn't the innovation that's going to push the frontiers of battery life.


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## ska invita (Jul 2, 2014)

joustmaster said:


> people said this sort of stuff in the victorian era. that everything had been invented/discovered.
> there are loads of new things yet to come, its just we don't know what they are yet.


limited by the size of a screen and size of my fingers


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## Bob_the_lost (Jul 2, 2014)

The phone/watch unlock is the biggest feature for me. Do we have an ETA that I've missed or are we assuming it'll be around for Christmas with the annual refreshes?


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## Fez909 (Jul 3, 2014)

joustmaster said:


> people said this sort of stuff in the victorian era. that everything had been invented/discovered.
> there are loads of new things yet to come, its just we don't know what they are yet.


Two things:

1. They didn't really say that and mean it: http://patentlyo.com/patent/2011/01...g-that-can-be-invented-has-been-invented.html

2. They were talking about the entirety of human invention, not just one technological aspect.

Three things actually:

3. I didn't say that "everything that can be invented (on phones) has been invented", only that the most significant advances have already happened. And I don't think you'll find many people who disagree with that.

New features, breakthroughs annd advances will, of course, still happen. But to expect radical change on a year by year basis now is madness, IMO.


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## Awesome Wells (Jul 3, 2014)

I've just downloaded 700mb update on my tab 3. I think it was for the OS (android, that is). It's made things worse and of course a confused complaint thread will be forthcoming on here.


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## ddraig (Jul 3, 2014)

what has that got to do with this thread?


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