Android Lollipop Nitpicks and Flaws

[Ddyracer]

So, I thought I would open up this Thread for people like myself who have noticed things they didn't like or were out of sorts. Since I am the thread starter I will start. Device used is Nexus 7 2013.

Disclaimer: Keeping my flame suit on! I still love the robot!

1: Lag. When opening and closing apps. Let me clarify here. It's very smooth (Lollipop) when opening landscape apps or portrait so long as you have them unlocked. When I turn it on landscape or portrait sides and lock it the animation when closing to the home screen and opening to the app doesn't run smoothly. This happens BTW, when switching from a landscape locked app to portrait and vice versa.

Lag. Lag in Google Search. This is just as inexcusable. It is pretty much 100 percent when scrolling up or down. Clicking on settings in the slide out menu and other sub menus is fine, it is just scrolling that needs some optimization.

2: Material and Holo apps. So this one is much more a nitpick and not a real issue but I thought I would point it out for consistency's sake. Google Chrome and YouTube are not fully material. Google Chrome still has the old blue marker when scrubbing through text to move the blinking cursor. YouTube well, lol if you use it you would know what the problem is.

Of course, then, there are so many apps in the Play Store that aren't updated yet. I just thought I would point that out.

3: Bug/Glitch. Going into Android's remote deactivation there is a quick scroll scrubber that shows up to the right then disappears. I have seen that since KitKat, although it could have been there even before that release. Not sure if this is device specific but I can replicate it over and over again.

4: Download icon. It would be very nice if Google could have one icon that indicates multiple downloads like they did with the google play store when you are updating or installing multiple apps. Having something like 10 down arrows looks messy on your status bar.

5: Downloads app. Whatever file manager you have should agree with it. So, if you delete something in /sdcard/downloads/ in your file manager it should be deleted there in your downloads app and vice versa once again.

So that is about it. Most of what I wanted to touch on.

 

[bobenhaus]

So, I thought I would open up this Thread for people like myself who have noticed things they didn't like or were out of sorts. Since I am the thread starter I will start. Device used is Nexus 7 2013.

Disclaimer: Keeping my flame suit on! I still love the robot!

1: Lag. When opening and closing apps. Let me clarify here. It's very smooth (Lollipop) when opening landscape apps or portrait so long as you have them unlocked. When I turn it on landscape or portrait sides and lock it the animation when closing to the home screen and opening to the app doesn't run smoothly. This happens BTW, when switching from a landscape locked app to portrait and vice versa.

Lag. Lag in Google Search. This is just as inexcusable. It is pretty much 100 percent when scrolling up or down. Clicking on settings in the slide out menu and other sub menus is fine, it is just scrolling that needs some optimization.

2: Material and Holo apps. So this one is much more a nitpick and not a real issue but I thought I would point it out for consistency's sake. Google Chrome and YouTube are not fully material. Google Chrome still has the old blue marker when scrubbing through text to move the blinking cursor. YouTube well, lol if you use it you would know what the problem is.

Of course, then, there are so many apps in the Play Store that aren't updated yet. I just thought I would point that out.

3: Bug/Glitch. Going into Android's remote deactivation there is a quick scroll scrubber that shows up to the right then disappears. I have seen that since KitKat, although it could have been there even before that release. Not sure if this is device specific but I can replicate it over and over again.

4: Download icon. It would be very nice if Google could have one icon that indicates multiple downloads like they did with the google play store when you are updating or installing multiple apps. Having something like 10 down arrows looks messy on your status bar.

5: Downloads app. Whatever file manager you have should agree with it. So, if you delete something in /sdcard/downloads/ in your file manager it should be deleted there in your downloads app and vice versa once again.

So that is about it. Most of what I wanted to touch on.

You know the OS is still new so it will be a little laggy and buggy until the next update for it. I wouldnt be too harsh on it yet until at least 6 month down the road. thanks

 

[spinedoc77]

You know the OS is still new so it will be a little laggy and buggy until the next update for it. I wouldnt be too harsh on it yet until at least 6 month down the road. thanks

Holy crap, 6 months to wait for it to be optimized!

 

[Lloydbm41]

Holy crap, 6 months to wait for it to be optimized!

to be fair, iOS 8 is 2 months in and still has a ton of bugs. I wouldn't be surprised if it is 6 months before it is optimized and we are on ios8.2!

 

[AustinIllini]

to be fair, iOS 8 is 2 months in and still has a ton of bugs. I wouldn't be surprised if it is 6 months before it is optimized and we are on ios8.2!

Sure, but I think it's fair to be reasonably critical of both, because this yearly cycle is clearly above both companies' development capabilities.

 

[ecrispy]

It's getting like this with every single software release these days. Bugs/patches are almost expected and users have been brainwashed into justifying them.

Some things I don't like are removal of silent mode, removal of multiple notifications, removal of notification ticker, persistent search bar in task switcher, the really big top bar in material design apps, inconsistent use of hamburger menu vs settings.

But honestly these are minor, the biggest issue is still whether developers will update their apps. On iOS/WP all the devices get the update so devs have an incentive to update, not so on Android.

btw Google doesn't update some of its own apps too, e.g. Finance is still stuck in Gingerbread era from 4 versions ago.

 

[Lloydbm41]

It's getting like this with every single software release these days. Bugs/patches are almost expected and users have been brainwashed into justifying them.

Some things I don't like are removal of silent mode, removal of multiple notifications, removal of notification ticker, persistent search bar in task switcher, the really big top bar in material design apps, inconsistent use of hamburger menu vs settings.

But honestly these are minor, the biggest issue is still whether developers will update their apps. On iOS/WP all the devices get the update so devs have an incentive to update, not so on Android.

btw Google doesn't update some of its own apps too, e.g. Finance is still stuck in Gingerbread era from 4 versions ago.

I wouldn't include WP in your statement. While all phones may 'eventually' get updated, carriers are just as slow as they are with Android. I have T-Mobile and I 'just' got the Cyan update on my 925.

And Google has abandoned several apps over the years. Zeitgeist, Authenticator, Google TV remote, and Voice Search to name a few. I didn't realize outdated or even defunct apps made for things that no longer exist required Google to keep updating them forever?

 

[macdaddy121]

My biggest nitpick is that I have a Nexus 5 and still have not received the OTA update...I'm tired of being patient.

 

[diamond.g]

I wouldn't include WP in your statement. While all phones may 'eventually' get updated, carriers are just as slow as they are with Android. I have T-Mobile and I 'just' got the Cyan update on my 925.

And Google has abandoned several apps over the years. Zeitgeist, Authenticator, Google TV remote, and Voice Search to name a few. I didn't realize outdated or even defunct apps made for things that no longer exist required Google to keep updating them forever?

Wait, they abandoned Authenticator? What replaced it?

 

[mattopotamus]

It's getting like this with every single software release these days. Bugs/patches are almost expected and users have been brainwashed into justifying them.

Some things I don't like are removal of silent mode, removal of multiple notifications, removal of notification ticker, persistent search bar in task switcher, the really big top bar in material design apps, inconsistent use of hamburger menu vs settings.

But honestly these are minor, the biggest issue is still whether developers will update their apps. On iOS/WP all the devices get the update so devs have an incentive to update, not so on Android.

btw Google doesn't update some of its own apps too, e.g. Finance is still stuck in Gingerbread era from 4 versions ago.

what do you mean? Can you not longer hold the power button and choose silent? If not, do you have to toggle the volume all the way down now?

 

[diamond.g]

what do you mean? Can you not longer hold the power button and choose silent? If not, do you have to toggle the volume all the way down now?

When you use the volume button below the indicator are options for priority notifications (DND). You can tap the bell/vibrate icon to go from ring to no ring. But on phones there is no silent but allow alarms option anymore. If you choose none for DND then you don't get alarms either.

 

[Farplaner]

It annoys me that the multitasking view scrolls vertically when in landscape mode...

 

[maximus96]

i updated and rooted my old 2012 nexus 7 this weekend...i have random lags that weren't there before on CM11 rom...I also miss having the "clear all" button on the recent apps screen

 

[mattopotamus]

When you use the volume button below the indicator are options for priority notifications (DND). You can tap the bell/vibrate icon to go from ring to no ring. But on phones there is no silent but allow alarms option anymore. If you choose none for DND then you don't get alarms either.

I actually thought I read somewhere that alarms will still come through with DND enabled.

 

[mattopotamus]

When you use the volume button below the indicator are options for priority notifications (DND). You can tap the bell/vibrate icon to go from ring to no ring. But on phones there is no silent but allow alarms option anymore. If you choose none for DND then you don't get alarms either.

There literally is no silent. You have sound and vibrate. You cannot get notifcations with no sounds and no vibrate.

 

[Kariya]

Ship first, fix later.

Welcome to contemporary software development.

 

[Sensamic]

I'm not liking Lollipop too much. I feel like they made things prettier but less functional.

Examples:

- The notification panel. On my Nexus 7 2013 now I have to pull down twice to get to the quick access toggles. Before I could access them directly from the top right. Way more comfortable. Now it's annoying. I've never used the double finger gesture to pull them down directly. It's annoying having to do that all the time.

- The new multitasking view. Way less practical than before. Having to scroll to just get to the fourth latest app opened? The previous multitasking view was way faster.

- The new settings design is confusing to me because of all the white background and the lines dividing sections are really hard to see. I hate this iOS 7 like design. It doesn't feel organized and it's harder to find what you're looking because these lines are almost impossible to see at first glance.

So I went back to KitKat for the time being. I'm so happy having xposed and gravity box back.

Change is always difficult at first. I'll wait a while until I give Lollipop another chance.

 

[eclipse01]

I'm not liking Lollipop too much. I feel like they made things prettier but less functional.

Examples:

- The notification panel. On my Nexus 7 2013 now I have to pull down twice to get to the quick access toggles. Before I could access them directly from the top right. Way more comfortable. Now it's annoying. I've never used the double finger gesture to pull them down directly. It's annoying having to do that all the time.

- The new multitasking view. Way less practical than before. Having to scroll to just get to the fourth latest app opened? The previous multitasking view was way faster.

- The new settings design is confusing to me because of all the white background and the lines dividing second are really hard to see. I hate this iOS 7 like design. It doesn't feel organized and it's harder to find what you're looking because these lines are almost impossible to see at first glance.

So I went back to KitKat for the time being. I'm so happy having xposed and gravity box back.

Change is always difficult at first. I'll wait a while until I give Lollipop another chance.

Thanks, I may hold off based on your post you made.

 

[mattopotamus]

I'm not liking Lollipop too much. I feel like they made things prettier but less functional.

Examples:

- The notification panel. On my Nexus 7 2013 now I have to pull down twice to get to the quick access toggles. Before I could access them directly from the top right. Way more comfortable. Now it's annoying. I've never used the double finger gesture to pull them down directly. It's annoying having to do that all the time.

- The new multitasking view. Way less practical than before. Having to scroll to just get to the fourth latest app opened? The previous multitasking view was way faster.

- The new settings design is confusing to me because of all the white background and the lines dividing sections are really hard to see. I hate this iOS 7 like design. It doesn't feel organized and it's harder to find what you're looking because these lines are almost impossible to see at first glance.

So I went back to KitKat for the time being. I'm so happy having xposed and gravity box back.

Change is always difficult at first. I'll wait a while until I give Lollipop another chance.

I don't know if it is change, but I actually like KitKat a lot better. The notification menu problem you described is baffling. You can swipe down and tap vs the double pull down though. The same problem with flicking the menu up. It takes two actions now.

I don't like the white app drawer, google now is ugly and slow (it is a real eye sore), no silent while still getting notifications is beyond shocking, adding more google "bloat" (sheets, slides). It is actually make me want to go back to IOS.

The best part is the fade to black and white when you lock the screen and trusted devices. The UI took a step back in functionality like you said.

 

[Vegastouch]

It's getting like this with every single software release these days. Bugs/patches are almost expected and users have been brainwashed into justifying them.

Some things I don't like are removal of silent mode, removal of multiple notifications, removal of notification ticker, persistent search bar in task switcher, the really big top bar in material design apps, inconsistent use of hamburger menu vs settings.

But honestly these are minor, the biggest issue is still whether developers will update their apps. On iOS/WP all the devices get the update so devs have an incentive to update, not so on Android.

btw Google doesn't update some of its own apps too, e.g. Finance is still stuck in Gingerbread era from 4 versions ago.

It has a silent mode.

And the developers always update their apps unless it is being discontinued. Not sure what you mean by removal of multiple notifications. Are there not multiple notifications? What got removed?

----------

My biggest nitpick is that I have a Nexus 5 and still have not received the OTA update...I'm tired of being patient.

Depends on what batch you bought. Mine was in the second batch and got it quickly.

----------

what do you mean? Can you not longer hold the power button and choose silent? If not, do you have to toggle the volume all the way down now?

You use the volume button....up or down(just tap either one) and it pops up options. All is everything is on for notifications, Priorities is silent mode and you can set a time for how long you want it in silent mode IF you want but you dont have to. Your alarm will still work in priority mode.

None is all sounds are OFF including alarms.

 

[mattopotamus]

It has a silent mode.

And the developers always update their apps unless it is being discontinued. Not sure what you mean by removal of multiple notifications. Are there not multiple notifications? What got removed?

----------



Depends on what batch you bought. Mine was in the second batch and got it quickly.

----------



You use the volume button....up or down(just tap either one) and it pops up options. All is everything is on for notifications, Priorities is silent mode and you can set a time for how long you want it in silent mode IF you want but you dont have to. Your alarm will still work in priority mode.

None is all sounds are OFF including alarms.

I will try to explain it a little better. I am not talking about the Do Not Disturb type modes. If you set priorities, all, or none that effects the notifications actually sending you a notification. For example, if I set the phone to priorities, anything that is not a priority would not send me a notification on my pebble or on my phone. If I pick silent, nothing will send me a notification on my pebble or phone. I would physically have to open the app. It effects not only the sounds, but it also effects the notification actually displaying.

I am talking about an actual silent. Notifications still coming through, but without ringing or vibrating. There use to be a silent mode that allowed all notifications to come through, but it would not ring or vibrate. I actually have to place the phone on vibrate now and manually turn vibrate off in all of my apps.

I hope that makes sense. Actually, disabling the "vibrate" in the app does not work. I have vibrate off in gmail and it is still vibrating if the phone volume is set to vibrate (makes no sense). It is a simple feature, but I just want my phone to be silent and not vibrate, but still get notifications. There is no central control like IOS where you can chose how the vibrate setting works.

I now basically have to pick what I like the least. The phone vibrating, or the phone just barely audible. There is no such thing as silent any more while still getting notifications.

 

[diamond.g]

There literally is no silent. You have sound and vibrate. You cannot get notifcations with no sounds and no vibrate.

Basically, though I read there is a bug that if you have the phone on volume 0 (or 1) and reboot then lower volume again it will put the phone on silent.

Note this change apparently only affects phones, tablets still get a silent option.

 

[maximus96]

The notification panel. On my Nexus 7 2013 now I have to pull down twice to get to the quick access toggles. Before I could access them directly from the top right. Way more comfortable. Now it's annoying. I've never used the double finger gesture to pull them down directly. It's annoying having to do that all the time.

if you pull down with two fingers it opens straight into the quick access toggles

 

[diamond.g]

if you pull down with two fingers it opens straight into the quick access toggles

It has been that way since KitKat.

 

[mattopotamus]

Basically, though I read there is a bug that if you have the phone on volume 0 (or 1) and reboot then lower volume again it will put the phone on silent.

Note this change apparently only affects phones, tablets still get a silent option.

wow thanks! It makes the phone reboot with the volume at 0 and no vibrate