Discussion: Is Android going in the right direction?

Curated_Android@lemdro.id to Android@lemdro.id – 162 points –
Happy weekend!

You might have noticed that !android@lemdro.id has reached 15K subscribers, with over 400 active visitors per week!

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?

P.S. Subscribe to !askandroid@lemdro.id if you haven't already. It's the best place to ask questions, seek advice, or to help steer others in the right direction for all things related to Android.

83

You are viewing a single comment
View all comments

I'm some ways yes, in others no.

They've been slowly removing power user things that once set Android apart from Apple. For example, a few versions ago, they stopped allowing apps to disable WiFi. I liked having it off when away from home.

The amusing thing is that iOS Shortcuts allows users to disable Wi-Fi.

It's a surprisingly capable tool. I'm still surprised we don't have a system-level Tasker or Shortcuts tool.

Samsung's built-in routines function is great for automating things like wifi on/off. Can Tasker no longer do this?

You can still do this without root, but the app needs to target an older SDK version, meaning you can't install it from Google Play. And even if you get the APK, Android will only let you install it through ADB. You can run an ADB shell on-device with Shizuku, so you don't need a computer. Still annoying they made it so difficult though.

Love Shizuku. I just dislike that I need to re-enable wireless ADB every reboot.