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: 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?