Happy weekend!
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With the release of Android 14, which is slowly making its way to more devices, it seems like a good time for a community discussion on the direction of Android development.
Discussion Questions:
- What do you think about this latest release?
- Do you think things are going in the right direction?
- Is there anything you’d like to see prioritized in future releases?
- Which device are you on?
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Is Android going in the right direction?
Not really, IMO. As a user of Android since v1.5 Cupcake, it’s disappointing to see how locked down Android has become over the years. I still recall how I took a leap of faith when I ditched the then highly customisable and feature-full Windows Mobile, to the barebones Android - I believed in the opensource nature of Android, thinking how exciting it was to be on what could be a developer’s and power user’s dream mobile platform. Although the Android dev scene at the time was nascent, I could forsee an explosion of root utilities, mods and custom ROMs. And I was right - the early Android dev scene was so exciting. From cool and useful utility such as DriveDroid or Chainfire’s CF.Lumen, to innovative custom ROMs such as Paranoid Android with their per-app DPI, Halo, Pie controls etc, the early Android scene was full of activity and really exciting as a power user.
But even as Android got more and more locked down and killed my favorite apps, mods and ROMs, I still enjoyed following many of it’s developments such as the projects Butter, Svelte, Volta, Treble and Mainline. However, I can’t recall anything major or exciting in recent years.
As someone else here mentioned, nowadays all the good stuff seems to be Pixel exclusives (like motion deblur, 7 years or software updates etc). Plus, Google keep pushing more and more stuff towards their proprietary Play Services stack, encouraging developers dependency on them - including anti-freedom features such as Play Integrity (SafetyNet). All of this makes it increasingly harder to break free from Google’s grasps, and as former fanboy of a company which once claimed to “not be evil”, it makes me sad that the ecosystem I once looked fondly towards, is now something that I’m looking to move away from.
I do agree with some points. However, most of these changes are somehow related to security. As someone working in FinTech, play integrity and the likes are something you cant escape, as rooted devices,ROMs, emulators and such are 90% are ‘hackers’. Shame google didn’t think of a way to bake it into Andorid itself… Having it in their services is locking Android so much.To add, lately all the “new” features are something that Samsung already had for years. Like Knox work profile container added to Android. Samsung seems to be evolving Android more than Google which is just sad.
They’ll give the excuse of ‘security’ for any anti-consumer feature, but I’ll never accept exchanging control over my device for ‘security’.
Would you sacrifice NFC/Wallet features to have that freedom back? I personally would not.
I do see a genuine market for a phone you can root and apply custom ROMs etc on, but not do banking or public transport tickets or anything else that needs a layer of trust between the merchant and the phone user.
Windows is both more open, and more secure, than android in every practical sense, while being closed source.
I’m a fervent believer in open-sourcs, but Google and their advertising funded business model has poisoned Android.
No. Its still more customizable and capable than iOS, but it’s been getting more locked down, with more new features integrated into Google’s proprietary services. I still would get an android phone over an apple one, but that’s only because I can root it and replace it with a better custom ROM.
I got the update recently, and don’t really notice anything interesting? It has been running slower recently though
edit: Some apps are busted now too. Spotify is having playback issues for example
This has been my feeling lately. The updates aren’t exciting and all of the goodies are tucked away as Pixel exclusives or Google-specific services (e.g., Google Photos).
Pulling features out of the core os and into apps is better for users though. Keeps the os lean and updates can roll out to users quicker.
Imo no.
Android used to be exciting and customizable.
I think this aspect has been decreasing over time and the development of new features has stagnated somewhat.
Of course, the os is also more mature and you can’t expect such growth forever.
Still, they promised “feature drops”, I’ve had my pixel 7 pro and the pixel watch for a year now and they have added like 1 or 2 very minor features, and most of them are features in Google apps lol.
I don’t like that seemingly everything gets tied to googles own BS now.
iOS seems more and more appealing to me honestly, especially considering all the hardware issues with the Pixel.
I agree. I used to eagerly wait for a new Android version, now I don’t even care, nor I would be able to tell the difference between Android 13 or 14.
That was my feeling when my Pixel updated to 14. “That’s… that’s it?”
I actually had to look up what’s supposed to be new.
In my opinion, no. At least not under the reins of Google.
Android 11 added scoped storage, severely limiting file access from apps, although app developers have found ways to work with it.
Android 12 did a lot of UI redesigning, including the horrible Internet toggle and it just seemed like there is way too much whitespace.
Android 13 did something right: Made you confirm if you want notifications from apps. IDK why it took this long for such a basic feature even iOS had for forever.
Android 14… Nothing really useful, but they are limiting sideloading of old apps that tend to be super efficient on storage, memory, and CPU. It’s a defeat in the ongoing war between Google and sideloading. They also are trying to force the volume down when it’s too high for too long, even when it’s paired with a Bluetooth device at low volume, another braindead move with possibly good intentions but terrible execution.
With other OEMs (Samsung, BBK, Xiaomi, etc), they still sometimes add useful stuff, but I have a Motorola, so I don’t have much of an opinion on the extra stuff.
Google is saving their actually innovative and useful features for the Pixel line of phones. Many of these features are really software that Google arbitrarily locks to the Pixel.
And many of the Google stuff has just been getting worse and worse, they’ve been getting more and more pushy on me when I do something they don’t like (disable location, for example). Google likes the idea of trying to make Android more like iOS and restrict user freedom. This is why Android market share is declining in the US: If you want iOS, buy an iPhone.
I can’t decide if I agree or disagree with you, but perhaps readers and yourself would enjoy some added discussion through a shared love of Android and wanting to see Android succeed.
Scoped Storage is perhaps the best change in Android 11. This was the end of applications polluting your file system with junk that doesn’t get removed when you uninstall an app. There’s also a privacy issue with applications unintentionally exposing data to any other application that might try to access it. In my experience as a developer, you have to force developers to comply with good security policy or else it’s seen as a cost center to be avoided rather than a feature. For apps that can’t work with scope storage, Google provided an escape hatch through all files access, but they only allow applications to request to this permission in specific cases.
The Android 12 internet toggle makes me feel stupid. I understand the difference between different methods of connecting to the internet. It feels like extra taps for no reason for all but the lowest common denominator of users. Let’s strive for greatness and not sufficiency.
Android 14 sideloading restrictions are necessary from a security and privacy perspective. A lot of compatibility work goes on to enable old applications to work, and this often involves bypassing checks in the interest of not breaking things. I believe this intended to address malware in developing markets where alternate app stores are used. Even so, I don’t agree that Google should make this mandatory. A sufficiently scary warning message about potential malware would be a more reasonable first step, perhaps with a countdown timer to encourage users to actually read before bypass.
The Pixel line of phones is seeing increasing success. I understand the company focusing on products that make money. Google has a complicated relationship with vendors by being both collaborator and competitor at the same time.
Yesterday, I was trying to simply automate turning on/off Wifi via Tasker at a set time. Turned out Google has removed API access for this pre Android 12 only and can’t be done. If Google wants to be make an IOS clone, then it is doing very wrong, IMO.
In android 14, they still allow sideloading via stuff like F Droid or apk’s downloaded from internet? Or does the user has to confirm a prompt everytime? At the rate Google is restricting stuff, maybe some years down the line, the only way to sideload apps would be via adb.
