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Google bans Android phones from having three or more notches
Google is building official notch support into Android P, but it's laying down some ground rules first: two notches is the limit. In a blog post for developers yesterday, Android UI product manager Megan Potoski wrote that Google is working with device partners "to mandate a few requirements" for app compatibility purposes. Among those are limits on notches.
The mandate says that Android P phones can't have "more than two cutouts on a device." Only one notch is allowed per side, and notches are only allowed on the top and bottom edges — not the left and right.
At this point, we haven't even seen phones with two notches, so the ban on tri- or quad-notch phones and left- and right-side notches is all theoretical. But the switch over to notched phones felt like it happened overnight (well, in the span of a few months), so putting some restrictions in place before things devolve should be helpful for making sure that apps continue to run properly on these strange new screens.
But I want a notch on my notch.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by b0ru on Wednesday August 01 2018, @07:45AM (12 children)
Perhaps I'm just getting old, but WTF is a 'notch'; neither TFA or the summary explain it. Is it just another google buzzword?
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Wednesday August 01 2018, @07:55AM
I guess that would be the current name for
drillingcutting holes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notching [wikipedia.org](Score: 5, Informative) by coolgopher on Wednesday August 01 2018, @07:57AM (7 children)
I know this suggestion goes against the spirit here a bit, but if you follow any of the links in TFS, you'll get a visual. Effectively it's where the screen goes all the way out to the edge, but some feature (e.g. camera) has been "notched into" the screen. So you have a non-rectangular viewing area. Because obviously.
(Score: 4, Funny) by PiMuNu on Wednesday August 01 2018, @08:28AM (5 children)
TFA has a photo of a phone, with no explanation for what feature TFA is referring to. Notch is the lead dev on Minecraft right?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @08:32AM
I'm guessing its the receding hairline.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @08:38AM (2 children)
Notch sold Minecraft to Microsoft and is now on some beach enjoying margaritas.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday August 01 2018, @10:57AM (1 child)
So Google has up to two notches but Microsoft has none?
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Wednesday August 01 2018, @01:00PM
Natch.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday August 01 2018, @04:24PM
The explanation is there; you just have to follow the link in the first line of the "official notch support" article to a different article that explains it.
So 2 links deep.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @03:15PM
That is just crap on the iPhone
why bother? For what? A couple of pixels at the top?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @11:08AM (1 child)
Oh FFS. It's the thing you carve into your headboard after you get laid.
The article is saying "an Android phone can only get laid one more time than a typical nerd."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday August 01 2018, @04:33PM
Or on your gun for killing someone.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Wednesday August 01 2018, @03:41PM
The notch is the phone protruding into the screen. The pictured device in the article has one notch at the top.
Google's limitation is one notch per edge, and top and bottom only. As the article states, phones with two notches do not exist yet.
I'm curious notches will turn into a requirement in the future, similar to soft buttons or the 16:9 screen. Even when it is not a hard requirement, app developers struggle handling different screen formats and LED manufacturers will only want to supply the most in-demand market.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @09:12AM (5 children)
What's next, an egg shaped screen?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @12:49PM (2 children)
Maybe a donut shaped screen. Or a cupcake.
(Score: 3, Funny) by coolgopher on Wednesday August 01 2018, @01:04PM (1 child)
I'd put my money on snowflake. Special snowflake shaped.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @09:57PM
With 17 notches (one for each gender)?
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday August 01 2018, @05:56PM
According to Bibi and friends, all phone screens should be star-shaped, with six points. Wouldn't be surprised if someone undeserving people ended up with mandatory background colors, too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @03:19PM
Square. Not kidding.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @02:13PM (7 children)
What different does it make to them how many stupid notches a company puts in their phone?
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday August 01 2018, @04:22PM (1 child)
If you had taken 5 whole seconds to skim the article, supporting the notches with the display logic is a pain for the software guys.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:44AM
Look! I am incompatible with everything out there! Any effort on your part to make me work is clearly a violation of my intellectual property!
But I have the Logo everyone wants, because I have the marketing skills to make everyone think I am better than the other options.
When I saw the picture of it, all I could think of is what a pain in the ass to code for when every Tom, Dick, and Harry starts putting notches into different areas so as to not step on each other's copyrighted and patented positions.
What a fsckin' mess! Only Apple and Microsoft are in a position to make something like this work. Corporations that are so large they don't need to be compatible with anyone. If patent and copyright law is not enough, incompatibility is just another corporate tool to keep others from building interoperable stuff.
People will continue to buy the stuff anyway because... well, because.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @04:28PM (3 children)
Their display protocols and system wide-gestures APIs weren't designed with non-continues multiple surfaces in mind and there's backwards compatibility issues with the kernel modules regarding those. And you sorta need those for low-power wake-up gestures and the likes.
In other words: Google is concerned that if they were to write a whole new gestures API, the SoC fabs won't update the kernel modules which will effectively mean older phones (as in, year or two old) won't see new kernel versions.
(Score: 2) by Marand on Wednesday August 01 2018, @05:47PM (2 children)
Considering the abysmal track record Android phones tend to have for updates, I'm surprised Google even cares about this.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @06:16PM (1 child)
If you had been paying attention, you have noticed that Google has been trying for a long time to improve that situation. The fact that most phone manufacturers are still crap with pushing out updates isn't their fault.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Mykl on Wednesday August 01 2018, @11:49PM
I think that Android's dreadful update situation is absolutely Google's fault. They designed an ecosystem that requires updates to go through phone manufacturers rather than direct to the customer - what did everyone think would happen?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday August 01 2018, @04:35PM
In contrast to those above, because you just GOTTA have your display reaching to the very edges of the surface with no bezel whatsoever. Because.... because.... oh, because people think it looks cool.
This makes me want to develop a phone with notches all around the screen bezel and have my screen start after the bezel. You know, the way that actually makes sense instead of looking cool.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Informative) by tangomargarine on Wednesday August 01 2018, @04:19PM (3 children)
No, I wasn't. Well I guess smartphone manufacturers have to do *something* to keep things interesting, since they've already kind of maxed out the size and resolution of the things...
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @04:39PM (1 child)
I thought the "next big thing" was going to be screwing with the screen ratio until the cellphones are 1 inch wide and 12 inches long. Kinda shaped like a ruler. Designers who (over) design their products to the point of unsuitability, unreliability, and undesirability should be shot, or at least made to use their own product. That'd teach 'em!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Wednesday August 01 2018, @06:00PM
Next-gen phones will have a 360 degrees curved screen going all around. They'll be 8 to 10 inches tall, and about 2 inches diameter, because that's a shape known to be aspirational, guaranteeing great sales.
Don't you think for a second that designers haven't considered it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by stretch611 on Wednesday August 01 2018, @09:50PM
That article seems to imply that the reason why it is a bad idea is that they are copying apple and that blindly makes them all non-innovative knock-offs. I think it is a bad idea because notches are stupid.
Its one thing for apple to do this... then all a dev needs to know is that the screen is missing for the tiny area at the top and its dimensions are documented. On android with all the different models and manufacturers, it will be a pain in the ass to determine. And, ofc, google will allow them to have two notches. So developers are screwed, even non-developer graphic artists are screwed too.
Personally, as a user, I think that notches are useless. Any screen in that corner outside the notch will be useless. Golly gee... I can fit a clock up there maybe... but how big an area is it... and what do I do with the other corner? and the bottom corners if there is a 2nd notch... or the middle if there are two notches on the top.
Maybe instead of being like apple, (and newsflash... many android users probably aren't interested in apple or they would own an apple already,) maybe just leave the top 1/4" without a screen... or move everything off the front face of the phone and have a real edge to edge screen... The front facing camera, if used at all, can pop out from the side the rare times it is used. Microphones and speakers can be put into the bezel on the edge. Be innovative... If you are following someone else, you will never be a leader and all you see constantly is their ass.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @06:23PM
As a game developer who also works on PC to mobile ports, I can't wait until I get the chance to spend more development effort on conforming to new interface guidelines, and developing and testing for these special snowflake devices with this notch thing to ensure important UI elements are not being obscured, in addition to all the other mobile development constraints. /s
PS. Whenever you read about a device with a notch, remind yourself to replace every occurrence of the word 'notch' with the more appropriate: 'hole in the screen'. Alternatives like 'dead pixel zone' or 'broken bit' also suffice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @09:16PM (1 child)
And there I was, about to file a patent for a Sierpinski Notch...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @05:24AM
Awww, go ahead and go whole hawg and get a Prince Albert.