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

What do you think about this latest release?

Like the last few releases, it’s mostly a nothing release since Google put all their effort into pixel exclusive features now. I absolutely detest the current UI and how locked down the whole thing is becoming.

Do you think things are going in the right direction

Definitely not. Google are trying to make the pixels into iPhones, and they’re basically ignoring AOSP.

Is there anything you’d like to see prioritized in future releases

Customisation, especially of the UI. Let us change the size of the quick settings tiles for example so we can make them smaller like they used to be to have more of them.

Which device are you on?

I use an iPhone as my daily phone but I have a S21 Ultra and a Pixel 6 Pro that I use too.

AOSP deserves to be split out from Google into some kind of open source nonprofit similar to Linux. It's obvious that Google has no intent of maintaining AOSP in a usable form, they've become completely distracted by Pixel software features.

The quick settings tiles and settings app are perfect examples. No custom color picker for the UI either? I HAVE to use one of the "AI"-generated suggestions, or one of 6 incredibly boring barely-different pastel variations? These things technically work, but almost seem designed to piss off the end user.

I honestly don't see why they cannot even hide custom colours behind the developer settings