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Google on Tuesday published a developer-oriented preview of Android O, which turns out to be a software sequel rather than softcore erotica.
Despite the cringe-inducing caveat that "it's early days" – the public relations equivalent of nutritional supplement disclaimers – Google engineering VP Dave Burke manages to outline a handful of useful improvements coming to the Android world.
A note on the download page offers a less trite version of that message: "Caution: Developer Preview 1 is for developers only and not intended for daily or consumer use."
Android O continues the battery storyline that played out in Android Nougat. Google's avowed goal is to improve device battery life and responsiveness to interaction. Toward that end, the software limits what apps can do in the background, a sensible alternative to gambling with more energy-dense and potentially combustible lithium-ion batteries.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Thursday March 23 2017, @01:06PM (3 children)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 23 2017, @02:24PM (1 child)
Android is an awful system that quickly exposes the humorous assumptions of its developers.
There is no multitasking, or any real control of what's going on.
It was apparently inconceivable to the developers that multiple people could use the same device. I can't pick up one of these phones (including iPhones, too) without ranting about stupid choices within 2 minutes of using them. You're stuck inside someone else's small mind.
(Score: 1) by Sourcery42 on Thursday March 23 2017, @06:00PM
I think you either haven't used android in a long time or have only used crappy phones, maybe both.
It was apparently inconceivable to the developers that multiple people could use the same device.
Android has supported multiple users pretty well since J. They're up to O now so it has been a few years.
There is no multitasking, or any real control of what's going on.
I see that on low end stuff like a POS tablet I have. The low memory killer gets so aggressive and RAM is so limited that on rare occasion the foreground task gets killed. Multitasking is almost impossible on it; flip from one app to another for a second on it and the background program is liable to get killed before you flip back to it. My current phone has way more RAM. I often tap apps and find them still in memory, just like they were several days since I last used them. Android M and N both have pretty workable multi-window support too, especially N. It's only split screen, but how many windows do you really expect to work with at once on a 5 - 6" device. If you don't like how launcher, keyboard, etc. behave, then swap them out. There are few parts of android that aren't configurable. If the system is what's holding you back that's a little tougher to deal with, but if you've got the chops, build your own it is open source. That is unless you have bootloader locked phones or bought from one of the many GPL offenders in the android ecosystem, but then whose fault is that?
I have to agree on iPhones. They're very, very nice devices, but if your way of doing things doesn't match the accepted workflow they're positively maddening. I'll never own one, but I have family that does. Sometimes I get asked to help. That whole iTunes interface to administer with a PC is positively a clusterfsck. Thank $deity I no longer get asked for help often.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2017, @06:43PM
maemo?