
Android 5.0 Lollipop - koesie10
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/android-be-together-not-same.html
======
fakename
"Improved network selection logic so that your device connects only if there
is a verified internet connection on Wi-Fi"

jfc, I can't believe this is just now being fixed. This has to be the most
infuriatingly stupid thing about android. I don't have hopes of them adding
the ability to intelligently switch from a weak wifi signal to a strong cell
signal, but this is a step in the right direction. No more assuming I have no
new emails/texts when I'm in an airport because my phone quietly joined a wifi
network and is waiting for me to open a browser and log in.

~~~
ZoFreX
> I don't have hopes of them adding the ability to intelligently switch from a
> weak wifi signal to a strong cell signal, but this is a step in the right
> direction

Android (supposedly) already has that feature. From the about page for
Jellybean 4.2[1]:

> A new setting lets you stay on mobile data and avoid nearby Wi-Fi networks
> with poor connections.

Weirdly this seems to be off by default. In Wifi settings go to the more
options drop-down and tap Advanced, and it's in that list. Give it a try!

[1] [http://www.android.com/about/jelly-
bean/](http://www.android.com/about/jelly-bean/)

~~~
georgemcbay
I had no idea this option existed, and like you I'm surprised this isn't the
default.

Thanks for posting this, you may have just improved my Android experience by
quite a lot (just enabled this, need time to see how well it really works)
since this is something I've been constantly annoyed by and didn't realize
this existed as an option despite being a heavy Android user since Eclair.

~~~
ZoFreX
I only noticed it because I got bored and looked through all the settings.
There's also an obscure option to tell Android that a particular wifi point is
a mobile hotspot (i.e. should be subject to the same data restrictions as the
3G/4G connection). I have no idea how many apps pay attention to the setting
though. Bizarrely it's under data usage > more options > mobile hotspots,
rather than being an advanced option on wifi networks.

------
spindritf
Motorola will also update their older phones to Lollipop. Including Moto X and
G starting with the 1st gen.

[http://motorola-blog.blogspot.com/2014/10/its-official-
andro...](http://motorola-blog.blogspot.com/2014/10/its-official-
android-50-lollipop-coming.html)

~~~
agumonkey
Just got a 2013 Moto G, and really curious to see if the 4x speed improvement
ART can bring are frequent enough to matter. Also hope for stability, you
know, like the battery bug.

------
obsurveyor
> As previewed at Google I/O, Lollipop is our largest, most ambitious release
> on Android with over 5,000 new APIs for developers.

As a developer not initiated to the Android platform, the second half of this
sentence is a very scary thing to read.

~~~
on_and_off
As an Android dev, Lollipop is indeed a big release but not a 'throw
everything you have and start over' style change.

Some things have been completely rewritten :

Notifications have been using the same expanding API since version 1, it has
been strongly revamped. The RemoteControlClient (which manages the lockscreen
and is used for some other things like communication with Chromecast) was one
of my least favorite parts of the Notification code, it is being phased out
and replaced by a new, simpler (and hopefully more reliable) one.

The ActionBar API (the bar of controls at the top of every android app) was
initially based on the old menu API (from the time when we had menu buttons on
Android). It was a very nice move to soften the menu button > actionbar
transition but it is now adding unnecessary friction. Since the ActionBar has
been redesigned, it was a very good opportunity to deprecate its API and
replace it by a completely new one.

ListView (the widget that handles lists) is one of the oldest Android widgets.
It has been conceived in an era where displaying a static list was all you
wanted. It is a central piece of almost every app UI and it is comically
inadequate. It is going to be replaced by RecyclerView, which take into
account modern requirements on lists (adding, removing items, handling
gestures, ...).

Many other changes are just additions. A better animation system, a tinting
system for on screen elements, some new widgets, ... There are also some
completely new APIs but many of these will only be used by a handful of
developers (it is not every day that you need to convert the content of your
screen to a PDF and print it).

~~~
JamesSwift
RE: ListView

Are they providing first-party horizontal lists (i.e. something to compete
with UICollectionViews)? Still waiting for an official Gallery replacement...

EDIT: Did the reasonable thing and actually looked it up myself [1,2]. Turns
out they provide RecyclerView paired with a LinearlayoutManager to achieve
arbitrary UI on top of a dataset. This is nearly identical to the iOS setup of
UICollectionView with a UICollectionViewLayout (and LinearLayoutManager is ==
to UICollectionViewFlowLayout as far as I can tell).

    
    
      [1] - http://www.grokkingandroid.com/first-glance-androids-recyclerview/
      [2] - https://developer.android.com/preview/material/ui-widgets.html

~~~
on_and_off
RecyclerView in fact only knows how to manage a pool of views that get
recycled.. hence the name. Recycling is a very common approach to that problem
on mobile, nothing new here, RecyclerView just specializes in recycling as
best as possible. In order to use it, you need to specify a LayoutManager that
will handle how elements are displayed on the screen. Google provides a linear
one, and the community has already been working on Grid and staggered grid.

Compared to ListView, RecyclerView does not make counterproductive assumptions
on what it is going to do. ListView has been written in the Blackberry era.
Its only goal was to display a static list of item. No animations, no
operations on the items, no gestures. It is possible to implement some of
these, but for all advanced operations you hit the assumptions that ListView
made on how its items are displayed. In the end, you spend more time fighting
the widget than building on top of it. RecyclerView shows a good separation of
concerns. You want to implement gestures ? here you go, implement the
RecyclerView.OnItemTouchListener interface and you are good to go.

You want custom animations on addition/removal/replacement of an item ? No
problem, just implement your own ItemAnimator.

Many parts of the widget have been thought out in order to be customizable and
get out of your way and let you build on top of it.

Also, it is part of the support library. Google can update it as many times as
necessary and make the changes available on all terminals since it is no
longer a part of the platform.

I am sure that RecyclerView has its own quirks and limitations. In fact in the
dev preview while ListView only handle Headers and Footers very badly,
RecyclerView does not handle them at all. However, it is a very strong
foundation on top of which it will be possible to efficiently build an Android
app without having to reinvent the wheel.

------
eggoa
A guest user mode is a great idea. It would be nice to be able to lend someone
my phone without effectively handing them the keys to my entire life.

~~~
Too
Android 4.4 already has this. Anyone know what's new in regards to this?

~~~
tonfa
Wasn't available on phones iirc.

------
UnoriginalGuy
I am really curious to see if there will be noticeable "real world" battery
life improvements. On paper they have done things which SHOULD give us
improvements (ART, and "Project Volta" scheduling), however it remains to be
seen just how well those theoreticals will translate into improvements on the
ground.

I have read reports from people who have tried the developer preview, however
their anecdotes vary so wildly (e.g. 10-60% improvements) it is hard to
believe any of them. Need something more scientific than people's vague "I got
more hours today than yesterday."

~~~
ojiikun
Speaking just as a developer updating code for L-devices, the new scheduling
interface almost guarantees an improvement depending on how many apps that
sync in the background you have installed.

The paradigm went from "wake up every 10 minutes, turn on the CPU, check for
network, try to do stuff, if you fail, try again in 10 minutes, keep waking up
the device" to "tell the device to do my stuff when next there is network and
sufficient battery and the CPU is already on for the sake of running other
tasks".

------
solrwnd
Looks like no fine-grained control of app permissions, either dynamic/on-
demand or manual. This approach (all or nothing) is one major issue that
cripples Android usability for me. :(

~~~
MichaelGG
Google does not want people taking over permissions and privacy. This is
demonstrated by the deliberate design of the phone state permission. Any app
should be able to query "is the user on a voice call", but Google wrapped that
up in a "get my device serial, as well as phone numbers I call or call me".

Download a flashlight app, then call your cancer or fertility clinic? Awesome,
now some random developer has that information.

~~~
josho
Just wow. I was considering making a switch from ios, but this reality just
put me off until their next release.

~~~
MichaelGG
Chrome does other tricky stuff that's "evil". When you go to turn on "Do Not
Track", they put up a very big warning. Much more than other privacy related
features. But then!... They flip the OK and Cancel buttons around. Literally,
for that one feature, they intentionally go out of their way to mess up the UI
to trick people into keeping DNT disabled. Chrome doesn't do this for any
other critical options.

The permissions on Android are further weakened, with apps able to add
permissions without any indication via updates. (So long the permission is in
the same group.) It's well-known that all-or-nothing, say-yes-or-it-dont-work
is a busted model -- MS proved that with ActiveX and Vista's plethora of UAC
prompts. So it's very unlikely that Android's permission model and UI is
accidental.

And even then, consider the rampant abuse in the Google Play store. It's hard
to find small apps, like a flashlight, that doesn't request all permissions.
Yet Google does nothing, and takes no effort to inform users that such apps
are likely to be doing things the users don't want.

I've realized, unfortunately, Google is not a force for good. They're happy to
protect users against other threats (like code execution exploits or SSL
attacks), but they are actively working against privacy, openly hostile. Do no
evil indeed.

~~~
lunarcave
Are you sure? I think it's just a flip switch which is tap, on and tap off
[0].

[0] [http://bit.ly/1u8avx3](http://bit.ly/1u8avx3)

~~~
MichaelGG
[http://imgur.com/zaZTRns](http://imgur.com/zaZTRns)

Compare to when enabling "OK Google" where OK and Cancel are flipped.

I guess they couldn't fit it in on Android?

------
chris-at
Privacy isn't even mentioned in its features :(

[https://android.com/versions/lollipop-5-0/](https://android.com/versions/lollipop-5-0/)

~~~
avree
"More ways to secure your device"

------
4lejandrito
If you read the whole article you'll find that the nexus 4 will be supported

------
jastanton
6 hours of battery life for 15 minutes of charging? Wow.

~~~
aroman
This seems like a misleading claim, based on their "24-hour battery life"
claim, which is in fact 24 hours of _cellular talk time, with Wi-Fi off_.

From [http://www.google.com/nexus/6/](http://www.google.com/nexus/6/)

 _Testing was conducted by Google using pre-production Nexus 6 devices and
software. Talk time tests used default settings with Wi-Fi off and LTE on.
Standby time tests used default settings with LTE on and Wi-Fi on. Wi-Fi
internet tests had Airplane Mode on with Wi-Fi connected to a test access
point, while loading three popular websites cached on a local server. The
Nexus 6 loaded a page, waited 40 seconds, and then loaded a page from the next
site. LTE internet tests had Wi-Fi off and LTE on, and used the same testing
method as the Wi-Fi internet tests._

Edit: If you're going to downvote, please explain why.

~~~
ToastyMallows
I'm tried of companies doing this, they're all guilty of it. At least be
honest about.

1 week battery life!*

*In airplane mode, no apps running and the screen was only turned on once a day

~~~
k-mcgrady
>> "they're all guilty of it"

The one company that seems to be honest about battery life is Apple imo. I
find that when you use any of their devices the battery life works out to be
about what they said.

------
higherpurpose
This is a better link:

[https://android.com/versions/lollipop-5-0/](https://android.com/versions/lollipop-5-0/)

------
avree
Awesome. I'm curious as to when the AOSP public repos will be updated to
contain the release version of L.

------
mpthrapp
Anyone know if there's a way to find out if my phone (HTC One M8) will be able
to upgrade to 5?

~~~
cybrjoe
Yes, per HTC:

> We will begin rolling out updates to the HTC One (M8) and HTC One (M7)
> worldwide within 90 days of receiving final software from Google, followed
> shortly thereafter by other One family members and select devices.

~~~
mpthrapp
Awesome, thanks.

------
dotBen
Wondering if Google will clarify the upgrade path for those of us with Android
L side loaded onto our phones.

My guess is it will require a re-flash back to KitKat so that Lollipop can be
auto-upgrade over the air. In which case I might as well get that going now...

~~~
ChrisClark
They probably aren't going to try to upgrade safely. All the latest Google
apps that have updates, like Photos and Newsstand and Google+ have actually
been broken and crash on the L Preview.

They are just treating it like a true dev preview, not treating it as a daily
driver.

You will most likely have to flash from scratch.

------
mtck
"The songs, photos, apps, and even recent searches from one of your Android
devices can be immediately enjoyed across all of your Android devices."

Catching up to Apple but I'd love to see this across laptops as an app or
through Chrome.

------
Siecje
I would like to be able to view battery as a percent.

------
hayksaakian
No SDK until the 17 though.

------
twobits
Your chains are more golden now.

------
k-mcgrady
So the Nexus 4, which is just under 2 years old, won't support Lollipop?
Considering the device is from Google and not through a carrier I would expect
better. No pricing on the Nexus 6 but I would expect it will cost a lot more
than Nexus devices have in the past. And at only 1 inch less than their Nexus
7 tablet it seems ridiculously large. At what point is it a tablet that makes
calls and not a phone?

Nexus Player is very interesting though - but again it all depends on the
price which they haven't mentioned.

Edit:

As people below have pointed out they changed the page to include the Nexus 4
after my post.

~~~
ismavis
Nexus 6 is $650 for 32GB.

[http://motorola-blog.blogspot.com/2014/10/nexus-6-from-
googl...](http://motorola-blog.blogspot.com/2014/10/nexus-6-from-google-and-
motorola-more.html)

~~~
mscrivo
What have they done? They've killed the single biggest feature of the nexus
program, getting a great phone for an affordable off-contract price.

~~~
danieldk
Yes, but before you couldn't simply get a good mid to high-range phone for
$400. That's not true anymore nowadays, the Moto X 2014 will probably go down
to ~350USD/Euro off-contract like last year's generation. Heck, even the Moto
G is a great phone for most people and is $179 off-contract for the LTE model.

------
ryandvm
a.k.a. iOS 9

------
jarin
Darn, I was hoping for Lemon Cakes.

