Well after a lot of annoyance, I was finally able to replace my old Android 5 with Lineage OS 14 (basically Android 7) since my phone was good enough that it didn't make sense to buy a new one but was no longer properly supported by the manufacturer. I mostly upgraded because I heard about the privacy guard feature which sounded pretty cool. I think it's now been two weeks and I am not particularly impressed with Android 7 (and lots of things) so this is my chance to vent a bit.
Why do phones even need manufacturers to support operating systems in the first place? Why can't you just install the operating software the same as with a PC. It should be written to take into account different hardware. That entire aspect of phones makes no sense.
The Android 5 lock screen was superior. I understand there are supposed to be some new features that do cool stuff or whatever but lets start with the fact that all phones should be locked. That's just a basic security procedure. So why does Android 7 make you have to wake up your phone, then swipe to put in your code? That's an unnecessary swipe which just wastes time. You can set it to go directly to the password screen, which I did but which brings up another problem. You can't see the clock or notifications on the password input screen. So if you just want to check the time (I use my phone as my clock) then you need to push the back button. Another unnecessary gesture because the old lock screen showed the password input and the clock and if you had notifications in the top bar. Yeah... I think you're supposed to be able to quickly reply to messages now but that's just another bad privacy aspect. I made it so nothing shows if the phone is locked. What's the point in having any security if you're going to just bypass it?
I can't uninstall the Google App. That's bugging me a lot. I shooed it off the home screen by switching to a different launcher which has it's positives and negatives but at least the Google search bar is gone.
Whose stupid idea was it to limit the recent apps list to 5? That is one of the most annoying things on the phone. Now, instead of easily going to the list of previously opened apps (1 button) and easily flipping through (doesn't require moving around the screen), I have to keep going back to the home screen to get to the app menu and then finding whatever I want to use (if it's not in my shortcuts anyway). The old Android let that list get as long as you wanted which was far more user friendly.
The last issue is with Opera Mini. It's been my default phone browser since my first feature phone. It was pretty cool and it still is more useful to me than Firefox mobile (though its a lot closer now). They felt the need to change a perfectly good UI to some new atrocity. which replaces the refresh/stop button with a home screen button. Who even uses a home button? It's completely superfluous yet is now in the most conveniently location. To say nothing of the frustrating habit of the controls of disappearing when you are scrolling. I get you want to make more screen space but those buttons are more valuable and the changing screen is endlessly frustrating. By all means take away the URL while scrolling but not the controls. Now if you want to go forward or back or refresh or change tabs, instead of simply pressing the button you have to scroll upwards (or long press) until the controls reappear. It also opens new tabs in a most peculiar direction as well but never mind that.
| Viewed: |
9 times |
| Added: |
7 years ago
29 Mar 2017 21:51 CEST
|
|
|
.gif "Rakuen"){kind=avatar}
