Google launches Android 14, rolling out today to Pixel
Google launches Android 14, rolling out today to Pixel
While there are a handful of meaningful Pixel additions and changes, Android 14 is not a particularly flashy launch with Google choosing...
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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.
Also cloned apps which is big for me
I think that didn't make into Android 14
Cloned apps?
Having 2 different instances of the same app. Samsung provides this for most messaging apps.
Oh nice!!!!
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.
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..
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Significant battery life improvements
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Granular Internet Acess Control (Give users option to prohibit apps from connecting to data or Wi-Fi)
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Something native like KDE Connect or Your Phone from Microsoft
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Something like Samsung Dex
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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.
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Samsung Dex, coming to Android when the Pixel 8 releases.
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.