Android O: What we’d like to see

It’s never too early to start thinking ahead.

Now that we know what to expect for the next year or so with Android Nougat, it’s time to start a wish list for Android O. We’ll start guessing the name later, I’m sure.

Android is a far different animal than it used to be, and major platform updates don’t actually look very major on the surface. The jump from Marshmallow to Nougat is a good example — large portions of the underlying code changed how things are done but other than a few features like multi-window, much of it looks and feels the same. We may want something that looks exciting, but big shifts in the way things look and operate usually break plenty of other things, so slow and gradual adjustments are the norm.

Refinements not replacements.

And that’s good. Doze, for example, was refined in Android 7. When it works, it’s pretty great. A good path to follow would be to find out why it doesn’t always work and see what’s needed to fix Android and third party apps so everyone can enjoy the benefits. Making changes so apps like the camera don’t need to try and open when they’re not needed is great for overall performance. Extend those ideas to other system-level apps to make even more gains. That’s the sort of thing that we’re sure google is working on with Android O.

But there are certain things we really want from Google and Android going forward, and some of them are related to the way Google does their mobile services. Have a read and see our list.

Clarity about what’s Android and what’s Google

People who enjoy reading developer documentation don’t make the bulk of Android users. That means Google needs to go a good job of telling everyone what Android does while they’re telling us what their fancy new phones that use Android can do.

The Pixel event left most of us scratching our heads over why Google would force round icons and a new opaque-ish application tray on everyone, and when we’ll all be able to use Assistant and fingerprint sensor gestures on phones like the LG V20. They didn’t make it clear that the launcher and Assistant are not part of Android — the launcher and it’s round icons are for the Pixel only (for now) and Assistant is another Google service like Gmail, which also happens to be Pixel-only (for now).

If you want to announce a new version of Android at the same time you announce a new Google phone, you have to do a better job here.

There’s a big world out there

Google wants every person in every country to use all of their services. Laws and regulations don’t make that as easy as we think it is, though.

But that can’t be an excuse. Android O will also have some awesome new Google feature to go along with it, and that feature needs to come to everyone right away — not just Americans. Other companies are able to do whatever deals or magic is needed to have services work in many places at once, so we should expect Google to do the same.

Security, security, security

Having monthly patches for security exploits — both existing and potential — is great. Listing everything that was updated and linking to the changes themselves is great, too. Doing as much as they can to prevent them in the first place is even better because sometimes those updates don’t trickle down through the companies who make Android phones.

We know Google cares about Android’s security, and they have a lot of mechanisms in place to prevent unknowns from doing much damage, as well as clean things up if it does happen. They need to continue to focus on how your phone boots up and how changes for critical system files are monitored. More of those fixes that make it hard for folks to get root also make it hard for anything else to get root.

Better tools for desktop management

Samsung, LG and everyone else has their own programs for your computer to make things like transferring files and backing up your things easier. They have to do it because Google doesn’t offer anything.

Yes, Android is a cloud-centric OS. That doesn’t matter because it’s obvious that some folks want to manage some things locally. You can still design everything around being connected and have it all done through the phone itself but take the time and money to write desktop software for the people who need it. You sell very expensive high-end phones now, and pretending that the people buying them won’t have access to a computer isn’t the best position to take. Especially when your competitors don’t.

Themes

I like the brighter colors we’ve seen in the past few versions of Android. A lot of other people do, too. But an equal number of people don’t.

You fix that and make everyone happy by adding a theme engine. Developers and Google Play would quickly fill out an Android themes section. Feel free to leave out the crazy fonts, though.

The status bar needs some love

My lock screen has a clock. There’s a pretty slick clock widget or two in Google Play (as well as one included on almost every phone). Not to mention those watches you want us to buy and their primary feature. Why would I want a clock that can’t be removed in the status bar?

The same goes for the rest of the icons up there. They offer useful information, but plenty of other ways to get that information are available. Expand what was started with the System UI tuner, then maybe make it a little more visible so people know it’s there.

A certified accessory program is good for everyone

No, not like Apple’s, but with the same goals — get companies excited to make things that work with Android.

Make it free. Publish papers and guidelines that help anyone wanting to participate. Encourage and incentivize partners to participate. Showcase great products at Google Play. This would make it easier for people to recognize products built to work best with Android, and reward companies that do so. Everyone wins.

Curated sections of Google Play for more things would be awesome

Let everyone download all the things, but also give people a place to look for specific apps. Expand from sections like Android Wear apps or apps for kids into apps that are great for some of the most popular models. People know where to look in the Galaxy App Store to find what works great with an S Pen. They should be able to do the same in Google Play, right from the Play Store app. I would download every app from a section titled “Games that use Google’s backup service so you don’t lose your progress and IAPs.”

You’re the king of search, so you know the current system based on keywords is broken. Fix it.

Tailor Android for better hardware

Everyone in an emerging market deserves a well-built low-cost phone with access to Google Play. Everyone who spends $1,000 on a phone with the highest specs available deserves software built to take advantage of it. Having an OS that melds these two things is hard, and doing so means not everything available works well on every phone.

Make use of the horsepower in our $1,000 phone.

A few changes that let phones with plenty of GPU and CPU power take full advantage of it without trying to be backward compatible so it can be used elsewhere could be easier than the one-size-fits-all solution. Keep the core APIs the same, keep the features the same, but differentiate the way developers can interface with them.

I want an Android One phone to be lean and functional. I want apps to work well on it. But I also want whatever we see next from the folks who push hardware limits to be able to harness what the hardware can do. Fragmentation be damned — expand on what NVIDIA has done and give us a better way for apps and games and a UI to use all that horsepower that will be in our next high-end Android that uses the same base features available to everyone.

Don’t forget AOSP

This ties in with the first thing on our list as well as the one above. Things you do that make Android better need to live in AOSP (the open-source version of Android). Having your own services is fine, but don’t neglect Android itself in favor of them. Anyone who has built Android 7 without Google’s services knows that it’s a fully functional OS for a phone that’s missing everything that makes Android compelling to use.

Give the world an open-source front-end for Gmail or for Google Movies and TV and all the other things that make Android great. You know that someone would be able to take the code and do a great job with it if you let them have a way to access things properly and a fully detailed set of rules to follow while doing it.

If you didn’t know that, download Carbon or Falcon Pro and compare them to Twitter for Android. Just don’t be a dick to developers like Twitter is.

Android has reached a point where major shifts aren’t needed. Refining what’s already there and adding a few well thought out services and features to Android, and the Google ecosystem itself will be a good way to add some polish and keep things from getting stale.

We’ll think of plenty more changes we want to see, and I’m sure everyone has their own list of wants and needs. Some will be valid, some will be silly and some might even happen. But it’s always fun to think about how things could (or should) change.

Samsung Canada offering $100 credit to exchange Note 7 for another Galaxy phone

Samsung Electronics Canada has announced two credit options for Canadian Customers who have yet to return their Galaxy Note 7, with incentives for those who opt to exchange their recalled phone for a Galaxy S7 or S7 edge.

Starting today, Note 7 owners returning their device at the original point of purchase can receive the following credit options:

• A $100 credit for customers exchanging their Note 7 for a Galaxy S7 or S7 edge.
• A $25 credit for customers requesting a full refund or exchanging for a non-Samsung smartphone.

Customers who bought their Note 7 through Samsung.com will receive their refund option once Samsung has received the recalled device. Samsung is also offering a refund on Note 7 specific accessories purchased at Samsung or an authorized reseller, provided you have proof of purchase.

If you’ve yet to return your Note 7 yet it’s certainly worth considering Samsung’s offer — Android Central named the Galaxy S7 the best Android phone of 2016.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Galaxy Note 7 fires, recall and cancellation: Everything you need to know
• Do not buy a Galaxy Note 7
• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

This is the final trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

This will be your last look at Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

In terms of trailers, anyway. Rogue One already has a teaser and a full trailer, but this latest one, which debuted on Good Morning America Thursday, is apparently the last one we’ll get before the year’s most anticipated film opens in theaters in 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D on 16 December. It contains a lot of new footage and is packed with tonnes of clues and hints about the story line.

Directed by Gareth Edwards, produced by Simon Emanuel, Kathleen Kennedy, and Allison Shearmur, and executive produced by John Knoll and Jason McGatlin, the sci-fi action film, which follows seven other series installments, stars Riz Ahmed, Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Mads Mikkelsen, Genevieve O’Reilly, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen, and Forest Whitaker.

LucasFilm hasn’t revealed much about the plot, but according to the official synopsis, it’s centered in a time of conflict, when “a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction”. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together “ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things…”

Although the synopsis is a little vague and cliche, the trailer looks epic. We see a bit of Jyn Erso’s past, the origins of the Rogue call sign, incredible battle scenes, and interesting clues, including an opening look at the Imperial forces advancing on a farm. Galen Erso can be heard telling his young daughter that he’s doing “it to protect her”, and then an adult Jyn wakes up in a prison. 

The trailer also shows the Alliance forces breaking her out of prison. We even see Darth Vader! Rogue One is set before Star Wars: A New Hope. Unlike the biggest movie of 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One is a standalone film. It’s not a continuation. It’s the first major film to be earmarked as separate from the original saga. Two more standalone films are in the works.

Rogue One’s first trailer debuted in April and was followed by a teaser in August.

Smart trash can helps educate reluctant recyclers

France and recycling go together like hammers and fromage frais, which is why the country has some of the worst recycling rates in Europe. Local startup Uzer is hoping to encourage better habits with Eugene, a smart trash can that’ll tell users what they can recycle and track what they’re consuming. Essentially, it’s a pedal bin with a barcode scanner bolted onto the top, but if that’s what it takes to get folks separating their cardboard and plastic, it might just be worth it.

Let’s say that you had a microwave meal that you’d eaten and you were about to discard the packaging. Simply wander over to Eugene and scan the product’s barcode until the display leaps into life. It’ll say, for instance, that the cardboard body and hard plastic tray can be recycled, but the thin film has to go in general waste. Then you can go about your day with the feeling of satisfaction that can only be gained from knowing you’re helping not destroy the very planet we live on.

Naturally, as a connected product, Eugene comes with its own smartphone app that’ll offer a variety of additional features. For instance, the app can track what you’ve thrown away and add it to a shopping list for your next trip to the supermarket. Alternatively, it can add each discarded item to your online order, enabling you to replenish your supply. Uzer CEO Clément Castelli also thinks that brands may want to incentivize use of the system with discounts based on how much of their products you recycle.

Unfortunately, the startup is still in the prototype stage and isn’t expecting to have Eugene ready for sale until well into 2017. But the company has promised that it’ll have a second product, with the barcode scanner and display separated from the bin, ready to show at CES in January. The cost for the full-fat bin is pegged at €299, although that could change depending on how many people continue to struggle with the concept of throwing cardboard and thick plastic into bin marked cardboard and thick plastic.

Oh, and if you’re wondering why a recycling startup would call its flagship trash can product Eugene, it’s a French in-joke. In 1884, politician Eugene Poubelle decreed that all Parisians had to dump their trash in specialized cans. Resentful locals nicknamed these bins la Poubelle, and the name eventually became the official French term for trash can. That’s a fact from us, for free, that you can use to impress your friends this weekend.

Source: Uzer

Pandora’s iMessage app lets you share songs and stickers

Yesterday, Pandora unveiled a new brand image, but today they’re actually putting some new features into the app. iOS users now have access to an iMessage app that easily lets you share what you’re listening to with your friends. Of course, since Pandora doesn’t have on-demand music (yet), your friend will only have the option to start a new Pandora station based on the artist. They’ll at least be able to hear a preview of the song you shared, though.

When you open up the Pandora app in iMessage, you’ll see whatever song you’re currently playing as well as a a few different lists of songs, including top trending tunes and a couple categories (“I like you” and “rage” were two of the more diametrically opposed options). There’s also a search bar so you can find a specific tune to send to your friend. Naturally, because this is an iMessage app, Pandora also included stickers. There are a few goofy emoji faces, some Pandora logos and some thumbs-up and down options.

Music sharing was demoed by Apple back when iMessage apps launched, using Apple Music of course. But Apple Music lets you hear entire songs (provided the recipient is a subscriber), while Pandora is stuck with only samples for now. That said, Pandora appears to be the first major music service beyond Apple Music to embrace iMessage, so that’s better than nothing we suppose. And Pandora will be set to go when its long-awaited on-demand streaming service is ready to go.

Source: Pandora