He followed this up this morning by saying that the reason it was removed was that it was not being used. So keeping the code in there increased the overall package size.
Spread out over billions of devices and small changes make a huge difference. He also stated metered data plans as a primary motivation.
So tinfoil hats off.
Removed from system and moved in an automatically downloaded package doesn't make it smaller nor use less data. The opposite.
You're referencing a different thing. This is the open source version bundled into AOSP, not the Google Play Services version.
Directly from the source:
So, as I suspected, Fast Pair code was deleted from AOSP because it wasn't being used by anyone.
And because it wasn't being used, it was just taking up space unnecessarily. Although HalfSheetUX was only a few megabytes in size, Mainline modules are served to many millions of people, a decent portion of whom are on metered connections.
Note: This has no implications for the Fast Pair feature you're already familiar with. Fast Pair started out as a feature bundled in Play Services and will remain that way for the foreseeable future. This news just means there's no longer an open source version of Fast Pair.
He followed this up this morning by saying that the reason it was removed was that it was not being used. So keeping the code in there increased the overall package size.
Spread out over billions of devices and small changes make a huge difference. He also stated metered data plans as a primary motivation.
So tinfoil hats off.
Removed from system and moved in an automatically downloaded package doesn't make it smaller nor use less data. The opposite.
You're referencing a different thing. This is the open source version bundled into AOSP, not the Google Play Services version.
Directly from the source:
And because it wasn't being used, it was just taking up space unnecessarily. Although HalfSheetUX was only a few megabytes in size, Mainline modules are served to many millions of people, a decent portion of whom are on metered connections.
Note: This has no implications for the Fast Pair feature you're already familiar with. Fast Pair started out as a feature bundled in Play Services and will remain that way for the foreseeable future. This news just means there's no longer an open source version of Fast Pair.