Hands-on: Android 5.0 Lollipop new apps and features [VIDEO]

[phandroid]

We went hands-on with the new Android 5.0 Lollipop Developer Preview and almost lost it over some of the new features arriving in the new update. For a list (and video) of some of the new features, check out the post.

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[kate]

Android 5.0 Lollipop is looking pretty nice

Never though there'd be an Easter-egg game.

 

[AnonGuy]

Is there an option to shoot RAW in Google Camera?

 

[bjacks12]

I'm not sure. I do hope they've improved their camera app. I do miss some of the settings that even my Galaxy S1 had. Not a huge deal as I'm not a big picture taker though.

I just wish it was November already. My body is ready.

 

[nickdalzell]

Are they seriously going to call it 'lollipop?' time to rethink converting to Windows RT. Android is losing my interest with each 'upgrade' and being so dumbed down. the interface is looking about as ridiculous as the names they're giving it.

Kit Kat was also a stupid name. Key Lime Pie sounded far more professional. now the releases given their previews are starting to give me deja vu from iOS 7.

 

[bjacks12]

The name lollipop is about the dumbest reason to switch operating systems. Just call it 5.0 if it burns your britches.

I think the interface looks really nice. Perhaps it could use a little less white on the menus, but otherwise I think it's a nice upgrade. Don't get me wrong, I liked holo. But after 3 years it was time to change.

Is there anything you do like btw?

 

[nickdalzell]

I like a lot of things. but what Google is doing to Android is to me 'dumbing down'. it is looking more and more like iOS 7 which killed any interest I had in Apple. 5.0 is also entirely dependent on Google which has led to bad experiences across the board. i'm not a fan of the 'cloud' nor Google apps which is why I use a skinned Android ala Samsung or LG. but interest in Windows is getting better for me, so I keep an Android phone merely for compatibility with my Smartwatch. Windows Phone doesn't support *any* watches including Pebble.

I can't take the OS seriously with such dumb names and catering to a dumb iSheep market apparently. Key Lime Pie will remain far more professional than 'KitKat' and 'lollipop' is just stupid. I never liked Kit Kat anyway due to the whole horse meat scandal. I hated having any of my devices feeling like a buy-in to Nestle.

 

[Revenant Ghost]

Being able to restore apps from other devices seems to be a useful feature.

 

[bjacks12]

Is there an option to shoot RAW in Google Camera?

Missed this earlier, but I was just rereading the feature list from Android.com:

A range of new professional photography features for Android Lollipop that let you:
Capture full resolution frames around 30 fps
Support raw formats like YUV and Bayer RAW
Control capture settings for the sensor, lens, and flash per individual frame
Capture metadata like noise models and optical information.

 

[nickdalzell]

Restoring apps has been part of Android since version 4.0. restoring game saves is still a problem. Apple has been able to do both data and apps for ages.

 

[bjacks12]

Restoring apps has been part of Android since version 4.0. restoring game saves is still a problem. Apple has been able to do both data and apps for ages.

TBH, the app restore has not been particularly great in the past. I've only even had it work once, and it didn't restore all of the apps I had used. And it only has worked if you're restoring, not switching devices.

I'm excited that Google has heard our complaints on this one and is working to change it. I hope it works great.

As far as game saves, that is 100% on developers. I don't play a lot of games, but on my last restore, I only had one game that didn't restore the data. It's a setting that the developer has to enable.

Other things I'm excited for on Lollipop:
-Notification prioritization and improved customization.
-Trusted bluetooth devices
-Project Volta
-The ability to automatically fallback on 4G if your wifi has no internet connection.
-Monkey Fetching Auto Rotate in the quick settings. I missed that from Touchwiz.
-ART on all devices(although my N4 already has it, I'm happy to see it extend to everybody).


I think Lollipop is a sign that Google IS listening. They heard the outrage over the 18 month support window and now they're bringing this update all the way back to the N4 and N10. And I don't think they're going to hold out any features unless the hardware simply can't perform certain tasks(like always listening or USB audio).

 

[nickdalzell]

Given their lack of support for the Nexus line including devices still in their support period (the Nexus 10 Kit Kat upgrade was a huge disappointment) you can be sure I learned my lesson about buying any more. I doubt they will change their track record of lousy excuses regarding omitted features.

 

[AnonGuy]

Missed this earlier, but I was just rereading the feature list from Android.com:

A range of new professional photography features for Android Lollipop that let you:
Capture full resolution frames around 30 fps
Support raw formats like YUV and Bayer RAW
Control capture settings for the sensor, lens, and flash per individual frame
Capture metadata like noise models and optical information.

That says nothing about whether or not they make this option available in their camera app, cause I don't expect Samsung to update older devices and make it available. They rarely do that with updates.

 

[Revenant Ghost]

Restoring apps has been part of Android since version 4.0. restoring game saves is still a problem. Apple has been able to do both data and apps for ages.

Even longer than that, if you consider root. But being able to restore your data along with apps from other devices without so much hassle as shown in the video is a selling point. And Apple is just one phone, among thousands of Androids.

 

[nickdalzell]

Still I don't like having to play very long games from the very beginning just because I either wipe or buy a new device. Too much grinding on many games that took a year to complete. Apple icloud has always saved game data. Not sure what point there is in Google Play Games if cloud saves aren't being done.

 

[Lysias55]

I like a lot of things. but what Google is doing to Android is to me 'dumbing down'. it is looking more and more like iOS 7 which killed any interest I had in Apple. 5.0 is also entirely dependent on Google which has led to bad experiences across the board. i'm not a fan of the 'cloud' nor Google apps which is why I use a skinned Android ala Samsung or LG. but interest in Windows is getting better for me, so I keep an Android phone merely for compatibility with my Smartwatch. Windows Phone doesn't support *any* watches including Pebble.

I can't take the OS seriously with such dumb names and catering to a dumb iSheep market apparently. Key Lime Pie will remain far more professional than 'KitKat' and 'lollipop' is just stupid. I never liked Kit Kat anyway due to the whole horse meat scandal. I hated having any of my devices feeling like a buy-in to Nestle.

You do understand that both apple and Google are going to material Design in both of their OS platforms right? it's sleeker and simple.

 

[bjacks12]

Still I don't like having to play very long games from the very beginning just because I either wipe or buy a new device. Too much grinding on many games that took a year to complete. Apple icloud has always saved game data. Not sure what point there is in Google Play Games if cloud saves aren't being done.

That's going to be a consumer demand front. Google has provided the tools. It's stubborn-ass developers who won't implement it, although I think more and more are. My games reinstalled with saved data when I did a factory reset a few weeks back. Only Temple Run 2 did not restore anything.

 

[Kalinskym]

I don't particular like the keyboard in Android L found it easy to press the wrong keys. Loving the predictive texting, Its no better than Swiftkey in my opinion

 

[Slug]

I can't take the OS seriously with such dumb names and catering to a dumb iSheep market apparently

Firstly, wth cares what the codename is? A label has zero bearing on how the product performs.

Secondly, please leave the implied insults at the door. You don't like something? That's fine. Just don't suggest that anyone with a contradictory viewpoint is somehow less intelligent.

Key Lime Pie will remain far more professional than 'KitKat'

One is a dessert little-known outside the US, the other a chocolate bar known worldwide. Neither is in any way, shape or form "professional". Again, its just a codename.

I never liked Kit Kat anyway due to the whole horse meat scandal.

I've never found any trace of horse meat in my phone.

 

[nickdalzell]

i was speaking of Nestle in re: the horse meat scandal. hence my disdain at the name KitKat being part of a Google/Nestle partnership. being an animal lover myself, it felt as if i was buying into a company i want nothing to do with.

As for UI design, yea, the flat simple crap is really getting on my nerves. here we were with actual futuristic UIs, far from the flat 2-D monochromatic look of the MS-DOS Shell and System 6 from the first Mac, and now look! we're going BACK to the 1980s! worse yet, it's not bad enough OSs are doing it, now websites are doing it. what makes me cringe now is that i am fearful that flat design won't die off like it did in the mid-1990s. i fear it will be around and in worse and worse incarnations into the future, and unless i want to hold onto a very ancient tech product, there's no recourse from it. it's inevitable. i'm sure it won't be long before we start seeing low resolution screens because flat design doesn't need uber-high resolutions.

When i hear a name like 'lollipop' (which will no doubt be advertised or listed as the OS version in stores) i think of something a little 3 year old girl sucks on. is this the marketing that Google is going for? selling UI and an OS that is supposed to be for little kids? it sounds a bit childish.

I know they've always used dessert names for Android but up until now they have used very adult sounding titles. Eclair, Donut, etc. not candies often seen in the hands of kindergartners. so pardon my disdain at being a part of it. as i said i'm looking for alternatives if this is the direction that Google is taking Android.

Seeing the whole flat design/Material Design/whatever they call it now UI design does come off looking a bit like the old PC Games i played as a child myself. or at least the early attempts at GUIs back before computers could handle fancy 3-D graphics. now it appears we're going backwards and using dated looking UIs that either look like a 1970s brochure for Pan-American Airlines, or come off as cartoony as a PC Game from The Learning Company. i got out of those colorful, whimsical UIs when i stopped playing Super Solvers' Midnight Rescue. Where's the futuristic UIs i see in science fiction?

 

[Lysias55]

i was speaking of Nestle in re: the horse meat scandal. hence my disdain at the name KitKat being part of a Google/Nestle partnership. being an animal lover myself, it felt as if i was buying into a company i want nothing to do with.

As for UI design, yea, the flat simple crap is really getting on my nerves. here we were with actual futuristic UIs, far from the flat 2-D monochromatic look of the MS-DOS Shell and System 6 from the first Mac, and now look! we're going BACK to the 1980s! worse yet, it's not bad enough OSs are doing it, now websites are doing it. what makes me cringe now is that i am fearful that flat design won't die off like it did in the mid-1990s. i fear it will be around and in worse and worse incarnations into the future, and unless i want to hold onto a very ancient tech product, there's no recourse from it. it's inevitable. i'm sure it won't be long before we start seeing low resolution screens because flat design doesn't need uber-high resolutions.

When i hear a name like 'lollipop' (which will no doubt be advertised or listed as the OS version in stores) i think of something a little 3 year old girl sucks on. is this the marketing that Google is going for? selling UI and an OS that is supposed to be for little kids? it sounds a bit childish.

I know they've always used dessert names for Android but up until now they have used very adult sounding titles. Eclair, Donut, etc. not candies often seen in the hands of kindergartners. so pardon my disdain at being a part of it. as i said i'm looking for alternatives if this is the direction that Google is taking Android.

Seeing the whole flat design/Material Design/whatever they call it now UI design does come off looking a bit like the old PC Games i played as a child myself. or at least the early attempts at GUIs back before computers could handle fancy 3-D graphics. now it appears we're going backwards and using dated looking UIs that either look like a 1970s brochure for Pan-American Airlines, or come off as cartoony as a PC Game from The Learning Company. i got out of those colorful, whimsical UIs when i stopped playing Super Solvers' Midnight Rescue. Where's the futuristic UIs i see in science fiction?

This^^^ haha. Issues much bro?

 

[bjacks12]

This^^^ haha. Issues much bro?

Ah, you're new.

Don't mind Nick, he doesn't like anything

 

[mikedt]

That says nothing about whether or not they make this option available in their camera app, cause I don't expect Samsung to update older devices and make it available. They rarely do that with updates.

Apparently shooting raw is a core feature of Lollipop 5.0, and if Samsung do update their devices to Lollipop, then they should have it.

Some phones can already shoot raw with their stock camera apps, even with 4.3 and 4.4, like Oppo and Vivo. But this is something those manufacturers have done and is proprietary.

 

[mikedt]

i was speaking of Nestle in re: the horse meat scandal. hence my disdain at the name KitKat being part of a Google/Nestle partnership. being an animal lover myself, it felt as if i was buying into a company i want nothing to do with.

As for UI design, yea, the flat simple crap is really getting on my nerves. here we were with actual futuristic UIs, far from the flat 2-D monochromatic look of the MS-DOS Shell and System 6 from the first Mac, and now look! we're going BACK to the 1980s! worse yet, it's not bad enough OSs are doing it, now websites are doing it. what makes me cringe now is that i am fearful that flat design won't die off like it did in the mid-1990s. i fear it will be around and in worse and worse incarnations into the future, and unless i want to hold onto a very ancient tech product, there's no recourse from it. it's inevitable. i'm sure it won't be long before we start seeing low resolution screens because flat design doesn't need uber-high resolutions.

When i hear a name like 'lollipop' (which will no doubt be advertised or listed as the OS version in stores) i think of something a little 3 year old girl sucks on. is this the marketing that Google is going for? selling UI and an OS that is supposed to be for little kids? it sounds a bit childish.

I know they've always used dessert names for Android but up until now they have used very adult sounding titles. Eclair, Donut, etc. not candies often seen in the hands of kindergartners. so pardon my disdain at being a part of it. as i said i'm looking for alternatives if this is the direction that Google is taking Android.

Seeing the whole flat design/Material Design/whatever they call it now UI design does come off looking a bit like the old PC Games i played as a child myself. or at least the early attempts at GUIs back before computers could handle fancy 3-D graphics. now it appears we're going backwards and using dated looking UIs that either look like a 1970s brochure for Pan-American Airlines, or come off as cartoony as a PC Game from The Learning Company. i got out of those colorful, whimsical UIs when i stopped playing Super Solvers' Midnight Rescue. Where's the futuristic UIs i see in science fiction?

This is the best post of the thread. LOL

 

[Slug]

Where's the futuristic UIs i see in science fiction?

The same place I found my Android L UI.... customisation. There's a world of launchers, mods and themes out there to make your Android look however you want. As an example, take a look at some of the icon packs created by stealthychief if you want a vivid, 3D look.

Apparently shooting raw is a core feature of Lollipop 5.0, and if Samsung do update their devices to Lollipop, then they should have it.

Ditto Sony. Lord knows, I've requested the feature enough times. It'll do wonders for the sale of large-capacity microSD cards too.