lundi 5 octobre 2015
MicroG GmsCore Brings a FOSS Framework for Play Services Compatibility
XDA Senior Member MaR-V-iN has undertaken a project to bring Play Services compatibility for apps to run on devices without Play Services. This is done by making available various API’s for services and backends that relied on Google’s API for functioning.
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MultiBootloader Tool For Nokia X2: Use Multiple ROMs and Kernels
XDA Senior Member symbuzzer has compiled a multi-bootloader kernel which allows for booting from a choice of two (theoretically unlimited) kernels upon boot, along with having fully working TWRP recovery included. The member has posted an installer file which will flash this bootloader and kernel onto your device.
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dimanche 4 octobre 2015
The ASUS ZenWatch 2 Lands in the Google Store
After unveiling the ZenWatch 2 in September, the second generation Android Wear smartwatch from ASUS is finally available for purchase in the Google Store. You can get the 49mm version in Navy Blue or the 45mm version in Light Aqua for only $149.99. The 45mm version is marked as ‘coming soon’, but the 49mm model is said to leave the warehouse in 1-2 business days.
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Material [Re]design: Part II, “Are We There Yet?”
When Google announced Material Design at I/O in 2014 many hailed it as a much-needed change to unify the appearance of the many varied apps available, uptake was slow but many developers converted the UI of their apps and reasonably widespread adoption was achieved.
But does the community still appreciate Material Design in the way they did before? We take a look at the more critical comments you have made over the last few days regarding MD and its adoption.
This is directing your attention. Image by Miroslav Vitula.
“I think the concept is very awesome. Directing a person’s attention to your focal point(s) is the most important thing in all design. Digital media hasn’t found a consistent way of conveying this. There are “rules” based on studies that show how to manipulate people’s attention, where to place things, the “optimal” layouts, etc.; but when it comes down to directing attention from one “page” to another, every speculation and design is scattered and artistic, at best. A design scheme created specifically for assisting non-user interaction, focusing attention and optimizing conversions interests me. Is it perfect? No. I believe it goes a little too “mobile first” and can destroy the desktop experience (Inbox). While trying to get everyone on the same design concept, personality can be lost; think bootstrap. Like bootstrap, rounded corners, shadows, “3D”, flat, tie-dye, etc.; it can be overused, underused, misused or used to make things that are so amazing and beautiful, it is inspirational.” – Eric Chaffey
“It’s interesting, it’s complicated but Google themselves still cannot use the full potential of it. Look at stock android it looks unfinished and dull, they’re making changes all the time to the design they say that there are standards but they keep improving/changing those standards. Many people are unhappy that Google can’t decide their default language because of that, but they state that it’s a long-term thing I hope they will develop it to the full potential. But for me personally at the moment it’s still not good enough and gets boring very quickly, I prefer other interfaces like LG UX and others.” – F-L-Y-E-R
“I hate material design so much, it’s terrible, the whole UI feels like it has been hit by a blizzard. It looks nice at first but when you need to get things done you soon realize that this pretty interface gets in the way. There is just so much white space, with so little content, you need to scroll all the time and all that white drains battery on AMOLED. The reload and FAB look so detached and out of place in the interface, I have learned that it is there but it just isn’t very logical because many other buttons are placed on top. And who thought it was a good idea to place most UI elements on top anyway!? That’s where they are hardest to reach, if you are a right handed/single-handed user, even Android 1.x got that right (as was the placement of the back button, bottom right, where Samsung still puts it)! And that hamburger slide out, it looks so messy, why leave like 20% of the UI visible in the background, it looks messy and is otherwise ugly.
“Why didn’t they just place hamburger and menu in the nav bar where they’d be easily accessible and save screen real estate? Duarte has turned the Android UI to crap, gingerbread might not have looked very pretty but it was intuitive and easy for single-handed users” –
“MD was one of worst things in LP, not in terms of unifying the Android system, but in how google made it. The large amount of small shadows and layers, that maybe 5% of devs use.
Image by Miroslav Vitula
Thinking about what you are doing with apps is seriously terrifying. I helped make a few apps, and even if it’s easier to “design” the look of an app, I see that most devs, including Google itself, mess so much with it, that it needs more and more power to hide those problems.
No one give a flying pig about making apps more optimized, because phones are powerful right? well NO. If the system itself and apps would be made with head on shoulder and devs would spend a few more days to make good app (instead of fixing it for rest of their lives) apps would not only take less space, but it would take less resources. I know that apps need to have few version of graphics and today’s phones have high res screens, but still it’s not an excuse to make such a mess like MD is now.” – Akinar
It can be seen that the community still have mixed and strong feelings about MD, as many popular apps have yet to update to a more material theme it can give a sporadic feeling. but in the coming years as more devices move to Android 5+, it is likely that many of these concerns will be addressed and we will see close to 100% adoption.
Check out part one here!
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TUFFS Shortcuts Put Apps On Your Notification Panel
Despite having phones capable of running tens of apps simultaneously, we all primarily rely on a handful of apps which we use a lot more than the others on our phone or tablets. These apps usually reside on our homescreen for easy access, because we end up frequently cycling through them in our daily usage.
TUFFS Notification Shortcuts puts these apps directly on to your notification panel. While the idea of putting your favorite apps on the notification panel is not new to seasoned Android users, TUFFS provides a specially unique experience in getting this job done. TUFFS can not only add your favorite apps on to the notification panel for quick launch ease, it can also add Android system shortcuts, thereby extending this ease of launch to even one-click opening your favorite website or instantly calling preset contacts. You can add up to 8 apps in a row, and add a second row via IAP.
The app itself uses elements of Material Design, embracing and implementing a lot of its philosophies, especially those related to transition and animations. The developer claims that the app does not have any background service, which I found to be true through my usage as the app did not have any active services aside from a cached process.
TUFFS does have IAP’s, but these were very non-obtrusive. The app is ad-free and without any internet permissions, so the user experience is focused on getting the job done rather than facing a money-grabbing piece of code. Some features are unlocked via IAP’s, but these mostly relate to customizing the launch area, or adding the second row or the “enable on boot” setting. The core functionality and minor UI tweaking are open without the need of making purchases.
I did have one qualm with the app, mainly in the way that there is no clear demarcation where the free features end even though the IAP’s are tucked away neatly. Accidentally tapping on an IAP base feature will you take to the IAP screen, with the back button functionality bringing you back to the first screen of the app rather than the menu screen you were previously on. My personal qualm, however, does not affect the core functionality of the app at all.
If you were looking for an unobtrusive way of putting your favorite apps withing finger’s reach, take a look at TUFFS (XDA Forum Link | Play Store Link). Even if you aren’t, give it a spin. You may not realize you need it till you start using it!
Read on for related content:
- Find The Best Apps With Google’s Categoric Top Charts
- Google’s Ways of Monetizing Android — What They Know
- MiniMap, a Clever Floating and Resizable Map Overlay
- Encore Music: an Open Source, Extendable Music Player
- Notification Memos & Action Shortcuts Using Memo Reminders
- Scan Resistors with ScanR
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Sunday Debate: Do Newer Nexus Phones Offer Competitive Bang-Per-Buck?
Join us in a fun Sunday Debate on Nexus Value. Come with your opinions and feel free to read some of our thoughts, then pick your side or play devil’s advocate to get your voice heard and engage in friendly discussion. You can read our food-for-thought or jump straight into the fray below!
The Nexus 5 offered one of the best values for its time, and now the first true “affordable flagship” is back with a revision and an update for its bigger brother as well. These devices offer some of the best specifications out there and in their respective form factors, but many were quick to point out that there are still some places where the phones fall behind the rest of 2015. Nevertheless, the new Nexii bring with it extra perks that other phones don’t, such as swift updates, guaranteed support and a promising developer scene.
However, one cannot ignore that the market has fundamentally changed since the Nexus 5 and even the Nexus 6. Chinese manufacturers have broken into the mainstream, to the point where Huawei is building one of these phones. The average price of smartphones has gone down, and one can get flagship specifications for under $400 on a variety of offerings from various OEMs. The new Nexus phones have to compete with companies such as OnePlus, Motorola, and a plethora of smaller OEMs from China that managed to squeeze in plenty of horsepower in stylish chassis’s while keeping the price down as well.
| Phone | 16GB | 32GB | 64GB | 128GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nexus 5X | $379 | $429 | — | — |
| Nexus 6P | — | $499 | $549 | $649 |
Enthusiast purchasing habits have changed since then, and with the prices shown above, some find it hard to justify going the extra mile despite the glowing camera reviews, nice designs and the Nexus family name. So considering the global smartphone context and everything these new Nexus phones offer,
- Do you think the new Nexus phones are competitively priced?
- How good of a value do they offer in comparison to other devices in hardware?
- Are the software virtues of Nexus phones a big factor in 2015?
- Which of the Nexus phones offers a better value?
- If these phones weren’t Nexus devices, would you still buy the hardware?
Global Context
As stated above, the smartphone world has rapidly changed and it now favors affordability over kitchen-sink feature approaches and genuinely premium experiences. Google was smart by bringing two offerings instead of one, but many feel these are inadequately priced when considering that the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 kept low prices through a practical “subsidy”, while these new phones don’t seem to have the same backing. The Nexus 5X, in particular, is priced above the Nexus 5’s original price while only bringing a handful of improvements, and not the across-the-board upgrade that one would expect after two years of advancements. When you consider that Chinese OEMs are doing more for much less (for example, the Xiaomi Mi4C), the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P do not live up to the value of previous Nexus phones, particularly the 5X which is the one that was expected to remain affordable. While the Nexus 5 was on impulse-buy territory, the Nexus 5X is not. However, the guaranteed support, amazing camera improvements, and bigger battery should make it an optimal phone.
Nexus vs. Nexus
Interestingly enough, the price-drops that older Nexus devices saw recently, particularly the 5 and 6, put these as some of the most competitive offerings today. While the Nexus 5 grows harder and harder to find and purchase, the Nexus 6 has seen many sales lately that put its price at around $350, with some retailers trying to clear stock by disposing of them at $300. These two price-points mean that one can get an amazing processor (which likely performs better than the Nexus 5X’s), 3GB of RAM, a high-resolution screen (albeit with worse color accuracy), a big battery, a great camera sensor (which will hopefully benefit from new Google Camera software) and more for a fraction of the price of the newer Nexus phones. The older Nexus even remain competitive alternatives to all other flagships, especially when you factor in their brilliant developer scene.
Debating
One one hand, these devices pack improvements in key UX areas, such as the seemingly magnificent cameras and the ultra-fast fingerprint scanner. They also get guaranteed support and longevity, even over older Nexus phones. One gets the privilege of getting Marshmallow out of the box, and the way it was meant to be experienced. That being said, the smartphone context has changed. So, we ask you:
- Do you think the new Nexus phones are competitively priced?
- How good of a value do they offer in comparison to other devices in hardware?
- Are the software virtues of Nexus phones a big factor in 2015?
- Which of the Nexus phones offers a better value?
- If these phones weren’t Nexus devices, would you still buy the hardware?
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