https://9to5google.com/2023/10/04/google-android-14-pixel-launch/
While there are a handful of meaningful Pixel additions and changes, Android 14 is not a particularly flashy launch with Google choosing...
So wallpapers, clock changes on lock screen, and updated credential manager which I assume is the latest push for Passkeys.
That qualifies a major version change? It kinda sucks that we've stagnated in mobile OS improvements. You just don't really see anything radically different or innovative anymore.
Feature wise most mobile OS's are pretty mature so it's only natural to see less "improvements" compared to the early days.
Use your favourite Lemmy client for example, the first month of development every release brought a bunch of new features and improvements but these days the releases are all pretty small.
That's fair. I've switched to thinking of it like a rolling release. This is the latest edition. It's like a maintenance release with the few treats baked in rather than the bare minimum security patches.
See am I crazy or didn't google say this was a thing coming ages ago?
Also disabling apps. Am I also crazy or did that come and go and only ever work on certain ones? I really do sometimes find it useful to disable apps instead of uninstalling them. When you uninstall you need to configure them all over again when you do the reinstall.
Having 2 different instances of the same app. Samsung provides this for most messaging apps.
Because when someone tries to be radical and innovative everyone screams "GIMMICK! JUST GIVE ME AN UPDATE THAT ADDS BASIC FEATURES!"
What would be considered radical according to you, then?
Not that I disagree with you, though..
Significant battery life improvements
Granular Internet Acess Control (Give users option to prohibit apps from connecting to data or Wi-Fi)
Something native like KDE Connect or Your Phone from Microsoft
Something like Samsung Dex
Unlimited Paypal money generator
There are so many things Google could do.
I'm on board with the unlimited PayPal money generator.
For the battery life, honestly I could live with phones being 2mm thicker for 24 more hours of battery power. But people (or companies) are obsessed with slim devices.
Maybe I'm confused on the KDE connect part, but you can install KDE connect on windows.
Dex is cool, wanted this too, I'd probably make good use of this type of capability on the steam deck instead though.
That's actually a really cool feature, and I'm surprised this wasn't done before given how powerful phones have been for some time now.
That's so they can stop supporting phones earlier (my theory). By saying "you got three major os versions" they make it look more impressive than "you got 2 new features, and 6 cosmetic tweaks".
But 3 major versions? What more could you expect from a poor small bean startup??? They're already being so generous!!!!!!!
And yes I know the pixel 8 is getting more years of support. Finally. Anything to get people to buy it, because otherwise Google has a lot of useless bricks in its warehouses.
We? No, there's a tonne of innovation still to be had, but when the goal is profits, it's easier to play it safe and protect those margins.
What happened to the webcam-over-USB feature that was promised? Just updated to 14 and went into charge-settings but no webcam option. Tried two USB-cables and both mac and Windows but no go. Was this confirmed to be scrapped? Was my most hyped feature 😭
It's listed on their official update video so it does exist. But it says "on compatible devices and countries" so might only be on the newest phones so far?
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/wEVaHobjbPw
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
I'm on Pixel 6a so not ancient... Seems like it will release in another update before year end so here's hoping 🙏
I think it's in the current QPR beta. You need to register for the beta program, which will give you access to the new features they're testing for the December feature drop.
I hope it has the ability to remove the Google search bar from the home screen
EDIT: got the update, still can't get rid of the search bar on the default launcher :(
You could always use a different launcher to do this. I like Nova Launcher, but there are lots of good options.
Nova being bought out by a third party ad company made that a no go for me nowadays :(
You can still use the APK of the version before the buyout. That's what I'm doing until I find a mature replacement
Custom launchers are a huge no to me if they don't support Quickswitch... thanks again to Google/Android for breaking the animations....
I hope that A14 fixes this.
In loving Kvaesitso. It integrates really well with Nextcloud and Google Drive. And has a ton of other cool features.
lawnchair works best for me atm but it's really out of date and hasn't been updated in ages 😭
Search and ads are their bread and butter, Android is there to get you personalized ads. They're not going to give them up as defaults.
They even mess up split screen when you choose a different launcher. that's just a dark pattern to make you use google more
Huh, the update is going out to 4a 5G but not the 4G version... Is my phone already depreciated?
Didn't expect a lot out of A14 tbh. I think that Operating Systems have matured to become mostly an intermediary between the user and apps as opposed to the conductor. As long as they stay out of the way, most users will be content.
Personally tho, I wouldn't be surprised if 15 is a huge release. Right now, the next frontier seems to obviously be transitioning phones towards AI personal assistants and w/ full integration. Microsoft is already leading the charge from the desktop OS front, but phones imo will be the most familiar integration opportunity.