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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 inertnet on Thursday March 23 2017, @01:59PM (3 children)
I recently got a new Android phone with a huge battery and to my surprise it lost 25% overnight, just sitting on my desk. After some investigation it appeared that Google had kept the microphone open all that time. After switching off that eavesdropping service and some other unneeded stuff, I now only lose 10 to 20% per day, depending on how many hours of calls I get.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 23 2017, @02:27PM (1 child)
I woke up to a phone that had auto-updated without my giving the OK. All of a sudden, my personal-photo desktop background of many years was gone (and I can't find it anymore), and it was replaced with an animated background that just sucks up the juice like nobody's business.
Just... just..... JUST FUCK OFF!
Why can't these people just fuck off. Give me a computer that does what I tell it; god, I miss the dark days when computers were stupid.
(Score: 1) by Alias on Thursday March 23 2017, @08:03PM
Agreed. I keep waiting for the open device that is the Linux equivalent of a smartphone but it hasn't happened yet. I guess we need to fix the last mile problem first. All the power struggles come back to the last mile eventually.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday March 23 2017, @04:53PM
This.
My phone didn't last the day right out of the box. Went around and disabled every useless setting (voice commands, tap-to-wake, screen-off displays, animated wallpaper, 30-second e-mail polling, and at least I don't have the social apps bundled)..
I also do something that's oddly getting rare: turn it off, or at least go airplane mode, when I'm sleeping.
Now it last 5 days.
It's still a smartphone, but not a tantrum child in need of constant attention.