After Using Android 12 For One Week
A little over a week ago I installed beta 4 of Android 12 on my Google Pixel 4a. I have not experienced any significant issues with running this version of Android, even though it is still a true beta and not a release candidate.
Like most men, I imagine, I carry my phone in my front pants pocket. In the past I occasionally discovered that the flashlight feature of the phone turned on while the phone is in my pocket, causing an odd, if not humorous, appearance. After installing Android 12 I found this occurring much too frequently.
Two lock screen settings appear to be the culprits: Tap to check phone and lift to check phone. Movement while walking is being interpreted by Android as either a tap or a lift, so I have disabled both features. I notice that Android seems to be smart enough to know the phone is in my pocket because it turns off the ambient display, so it should also disable the tap and lift to check functions, and I have provided feedback on this to Google.
App suggestions, which many people do not like and probably disable, are not working. Google added this feature in Android 11 that changes which app icons appear in the dock at the bottom of the home screen and at the top of the app drawer with the ones most commonly used at a particular time of day. Right now the icons displaying are the ones that were present in the dock at the time I installed the upgrade and have never been changed by Android. I might be the only person who likes this feature enough to report it not working.
I like the changes to the UI that Google has made, particularly increasing the font size in settings. The changes to the notifications are nice, although I am not sure whether I am a fan of the increased size of the Quick Settings icons, I think I wish they were the same as in Android 11.
Of course, the big change in Android 12 is the new design language called Material You with includes automatically changing the overall color appearance to the wallpaper on the phone. I have the Landscapes wallpaper changing daily to see changes with the appearance of the phone, and I am pretty pleased with what I am seeing.
I have not noticed any significant difference with over all performance or battery life, which is good. Ideally we would get better battery life in each release, but at the least we don’t want to lose battery life. Beta 4 marks Android 12 reaching the platform stability phase, which marks it as feature and API complete so that developers can test against a reliable version. One more release, release candidate one, will be made available before the final release of Android 12.
Android 11 was released on September 8, 2020, if Google is to meet that same early September release date we should see the release candidate late next week, which might coincide with the launch of the Pixel 5a.
This article in 9to5Google suggests that the Fossil Gen 6 may be available by the end of September and will have the Qualcomm 4100 chip.
The only way decisions made by the governors of Florida and Texas change in the future is if these guys lose their next elections bigly.
The Pixel 5a launch day is August 26, which is likely to be the date when Android 12 launches. Last year the 4a shipped with Android 10 but Android 11 was available about a week later.
My Google Pixel 4a is now last year’s phone and no longer sold by Google. In its place is the new Pixel 5a. The good news is that Google continues to produce the more affordable “A” line along with the premium “number” line. The bad news is that Google no longer makes a phone with a six inch screen.
“The window on the talent the Cubs do have is getting smaller and it will be a shame if they only make it to one World Series.” –Me, two years ago. Now that talent is all gone.
We tell ourselves this was different than Vietnam because the kids weren’t drafted, but it wasn’t. And right now a boy or girl in Afghanistan is watching his or her parents being killed, knowing it’s the American’s fault, and vowing to make us pay. You reap what you sow.
App Suggestions do not appear to be working in Android 12 Beta 4.
I’ve enabled Focus Mode on my Pixel 4a that is running Android 12 Beta 4 so that I do not get less important notifications during the work day. When enabled Focus Mode displays a priority notification the consequence of which is that it continually displays on the lock screen and thus causes the clock to display in the smaller upper left while in ambient mode.
My home network has both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi bands and each band has a different SSID, which I created to easily know which of the two a device is connected. My Pixel 4a can connect to either band but when it does the MAC address is different between the two, which is odd.
“The Galaxy Watch 4 just isn’t Wear OS’ flagship, it’s a Samsung watch that just happens to be running the platform.” 9to5Google.com
A bit surprised then that there isn’t an official Pixel watch in the rumor mill.
Finally lower humidity
Not a cloud in the sky.
“Yes, currently we are in the middle of a tennis ball shortage,” said Nancy Zinn, a customer service representative for Fromuth Racquet Sports, a tennis equipment distributor." source
It seems to happen over and over again. I read about a new app, so I click the link (assuming the author of whatever I am reading provides a link) and usually see two things that turn me off. First, the app only runs on one platform, often iOS or MacOS. Next the app has some type of subscription fee. Both are significant constraints, either I can’t run the app or I can’t afford to pay for the app.
The subscription pricing model is the most out of control. No more pay once for a version that you can use as long as one wished. Worse, are monthly subscriptions that add up to paying $100 or more per year. I get the allure for the sellers but how much in total money do these developers think people are willing to pay?
Google Wear Is A Hot Mess
Google Wear OS is a hot mess. During Google I/O earlier this year I got the impression that due to the partnership between Google and Samsung the pending Galaxy Watch 4 would be more in line with standard Wear OS watches. Given that it appears the Samsung watches will be the only ones to get Wear OS 3 this year, I was considering buying one.
However, as I read more reviews about the Galaxy watches I am becoming less likely to buy one. First I read that Google Assistant is not preinstalled. Next I read that the watches don’t easily pair with non-Samsung phones, nor work the the Android Wear OS app.
Amazingly, it looks like there will not be a serious Wear OS watch to buy in 2021, and there wasn’t one last year. It feels like Google has or should just give up. As the Fossil Sport I have been wearing is getting more finicky, I am contemplating my next step. Buy a Mobvoi that is expected to be the first to get Wear OS 3 next year, or dump Wear OS altogether and buy a Fitbit?
What’s worse are suggestions that Wear OS 3 may not work best on the Qualcomm 4100 chip in the Mobvoi, the chip that is the next generation smart watch chip from Qualcomm. What the heck?
Hot mess indeed
“If you’re vaccinated, you did the best thing you can do, and there’s no reason to feel pessimistic,” Inci Yildirim, a vaccinologist and pediatric infectious-disease expert at Yale, told me. “You’re safer. But you will need to think about how safe you want people around you to be.” source
A virus that does not discriminate and a egocentric country/society is a match made in Heaven, if you are a virus.
“One of my perennial complaints about the current crop of “tools for thought” has been that most of them aren’t really about thinking per se, just about improving memory. We can take down information into apps like Roam Research or Notion and recall them easily later, but it’s an overstatement to call them tools for thought. Recollection is such a small, basic part of thinking! " – Linus Lee
I think people who actually apply zettlekasten using their tool of choice may be using the tool for thought, but I am not one of those people. My “second brain” is more like non-volatile RAM.
Apparently I misunderstood and the beta of Android 12 that I installed is not the last beta. None the less, so far it has been stable for me.
First Impressions Of Android 12
Yesterday Google released the final user beta for Android 12, and as I did since version 10, I have installed it on my Pixel 4a. First thing I looked for is how the new UI colors and fonts look and I found that to really see that you need to be in light mode rather than dark mode. I’ve been using dark mode full time with Android 11.
I did the update late last night so one of the new features I experienced first is the update to the ambient display, the larger clock display is handy at night when I wake up and want to see the time.
I think I like the changes to the notification shade but the larger quick setting buttons look off. Everything in the UI seems larger, which I appreciate.
One other change I looked forward to is the use of the power button to activate Google Assistant, which you have to specifically configure in settings. I disable “Hey Google” mostly to save battery life, but also because I find I don’t use it very much. Wish Google would add a gesture to the fingerprint scanner in which if I press and hold the phone would unlock and activate Assistant. If I just tap the scanner the unlock the phone, if I keep my finger in the scanner then unlock and activate assistant.