cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19387476 Plus, one of Android’s most essential accessibility features is also getting an update with Gemini infusion.

  • @mlg
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    6812 days ago

    Remember when android releases had groundbreaking new features and really cool dessert names?

    Good time, good times.

    • KingJalopy
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      4112 days ago

      I used to spend hours loading roms on my Nexus. Now I just spend hours removing Google from themselves

    • L3ft_F13ld!
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      11 days ago

      I love how the title says finally, as if it has some super amazing improvements we’ve all been excited about for ages. But, like you said it’s just a bigger, slower version of the same thing we already have.

    • Skull giver
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      1411 days ago

      New features include satellite support, loudness control, 16 KiB pages, upstreamed support for features like locking/hiding apps, OpenJDK 17, app archiving/unarchiving, making Health Connect actually usable on a system level, native storage for end-to-end encryption keys in the contact system, and finally being able to select the vibration pattern for notifications. A lot of small changes for the end user, some pretty large changes under the hood.

      I remember going from Android 4.0 to Android 4.3 and seeing nothing change. Moving from Android 5 to Android 6 was also pretty minor. Even back when I updated Android 2.2 to 2.3 there was very little that actually changed on the OS level.

      I do remember major changes, like everyone hating Android 4’s interface, and then everyone hating Android 5’s interface, and then everyone hating Android 7’s interface, and then everyone hating Material You, and then everyone hating gesture controls.

      Generally, the “nothing happens” updates seem to go down the best. I’m fine sticking with the Material You redesign for a few updates, change for change’s sake is just programmer busywork.

    • Ghoelian
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      911 days ago

      They still have the dessert names, they just don’t use them in their marketing. This one is called vanilla ice cream, android 14 was upside down cake or something iirc, 13 was tiramisu.

      10-12 don’t seem to have dessert names for some reason though. Those were just q, r, and s.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 days ago

        They did.

        • Android 10 Quince Tart
        • Android 11 Red Velvet Cake
        • Android 12 Snow Cone

        But yeah, the codenames are almost never mentioned.

      • @CallMeButtLove
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        511 days ago

        That name seems to imply they’re aware of how boring an update it is.

        • Ghoelian
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          211 days ago

          Yeah, I feel like most of the updates lately have been pretty boring. The last “big” change was material 3 I think, but even that was just some visual changes.

    • SanguinePar
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      811 days ago

      Yeah, there was that brief period, maybe 4-6 years where each release had at least something exciting. I guess they’ve just run out of genuinely useful/innovative stuff to add.

      • @m4m4m4m4
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        711 days ago

        I mean, iOS is not doing better in that sense. They both are already mature systems and I think it would be great if they concentrate in polishing and perfecting what they already have (and hope AOSP doesn’t fall into the AI crap) but I guess that’s just me.

        • SanguinePar
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          111 days ago

          Oh yeah, I agree with all that!

      • @TheYang
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        311 days ago

        I still wait for the day where smartphones become the only computer for most people.
        dock it, (maybe cool it) and the available power is significant.

        google is definitely taking steps there with their virtualization work and desktop mode, just slow.
        Apple may be too, with their switch to ARM on desktop.

        • @foggenbooty
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          311 days ago

          Samsung has been doing this for a long time with DeX an it’s awesome. However it won’t really be a thing for most people until Apple does it.

    • @Mango
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      711 days ago

      Remember when they were still making features instead of taking them away to artificially limit us? Why does my phone have to snitch to my service provider that I’m using my hotspot instead of my phone? Why can’t I use my wired headphones without a ridiculous hassle anymore? Why is there any price difference between 64gb and 128gb when I can buy a terabyte microSD from microcenter for $12? Surely they’re not using the leverage of their market position to squeeze more money out of the entire population right?

    • katy ✨
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      411 days ago

      i mean phones are mostly incremental now than they were in 2011 anyway and google has made a lot of inroads to bake major changes into the play store to avoid carrier issues, which is better anyway.