Android Daily Superthread (Oct 13 2021) - Your daily thread for questions, device recommendations and general discussions!

Daily Superthread (Oct 13 2021) - Your daily thread for questions, device recommendations and general discussions!
Google Clock 7.1 rolling out with new ‘Stopwatch’ widget and Material You ‘clock styles’
[Invitation] Galaxy Unpacked Part 2
Google Presents: Pixel Fall Launch - YouTube
We had a great chat with Chet Haase about the book of the moment: Androids, the team that built the Android Operating System
Evleaks on Twitter - Full Pixel 6 renders
Twitter app finally let's you sync dark mode to match your device settings
Samsung's 'Exynos' counterattack... Shipments will double next year
Samsung Foldable OLED: 'Folding Test in Extreme Cold'
Pixel 4A at the end of 2021
Honor 50 Global Version WITH Google Unboxing + First Look
Oxygen OS 12.0 hands on
Behind the Scenes of How Samsung Tests the Galaxy Z Fold3 | Flip3 5G
Daily Superthread (Oct 12 2021) - Your daily thread for questions, device recommendations and general discussions!
OnePlus Nord 2 x Pac-Man teaser - Max Jambor
Study reveals Android phones constantly snoop on their users

Daily Superthread (Oct 13 2021) - Your daily thread for questions, device recommendations and general discussions!

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Note 1. Check MoronicMondayAndroid, which serves as a repository for our retired weekly threads. Just pick any thread and Ctrl-F your way to wisdom!

Note 2. Join our IRC and Telegram chat-rooms! Please see our wiki for instructions.

Please post your questions here. Feel free to use this thread for general questions/discussion as well.

The /r/Android wiki now has a list of recommended phones and covers most areas, the links have been added below. Any suggestions or changes are welcome. Please contact us if you would like to help maintain this section.

Entry level (most affordable devices costing under $250 (US)/ $325 (Canada)/ €200 (Europe)/ £200/ ₹12,500 (India)

Midrange section, covering the $250-500(US)/$300-700(Canada)/€200-500/£200-450/₹12,500-30,000 segment

Flagship section, containing the most expensive devices with the highest end specifications

submitted by /u/curated_android
[link] [comments]

Google Clock 7.1 rolling out with new ‘Stopwatch’ widget and Material You ‘clock styles’

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 06:01 PM PDT

submitted by /u/LankeeM9
[link] [comments]

[Invitation] Galaxy Unpacked Part 2

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 05:18 PM PDT

submitted by /u/FragmentedChicken
[link] [comments]

Google Presents: Pixel Fall Launch - YouTube

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 07:03 AM PDT

submitted by /u/Coconuttery
[link] [comments]

We had a great chat with Chet Haase about the book of the moment: Androids, the team that built the Android Operating System

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 01:28 AM PDT

Hi, I'm one of the hosts of Code With The Italians.

Yesterday we had a fantastic chat with Chet Haase. The original stream was on Twitch, and now the recording is available on YouTube.

We talked about Android, life at Google, the people, the journey to write the book, the reasons for writing the book.

We had a great couple of hours chatting, but you can 2x us and speed it up 😂

Enjoy the video and let us know what you think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qofj1-f5FdA

submitted by /u/ivanmorgillo
[link] [comments]

Evleaks on Twitter - Full Pixel 6 renders

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 12:56 PM PDT

submitted by /u/Coconuttery
[link] [comments]

Twitter app finally let's you sync dark mode to match your device settings

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 01:54 PM PDT

https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1448005916931067905?t=a3WzDec0_obb5RlAl004nw&s=19

This has been one of the most annoying things about the Twitter app, it was the only app I regularly used that didn't change themes with the system. So glad it's finally fixed (the setting is already live on my device)

submitted by /u/Hupro
[link] [comments]

Samsung's 'Exynos' counterattack... Shipments will double next year

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 06:38 AM PDT

submitted by /u/Genghis_Khan_40
[link] [comments]

Samsung Foldable OLED: 'Folding Test in Extreme Cold'

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 03:15 PM PDT

submitted by /u/FragmentedChicken
[link] [comments]

Pixel 4A at the end of 2021

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 01:15 PM PDT

Reasons leading to the Pixel Purchase

To lay some context, I've owned a variety of smartphones ranging across brands like Samsung, Apple, OnePlus, Moto and HTC.
I started out with budget phones but the last few years have seen me indulge in flagships because the experience matters to me so much.

I usually switch phones often because rarely am I satisfied with what I buy. But I do keep a phone for a longer time when I really like it. The last phone I did that with was the OnePlus 5T. The first time I did it was with the OG Moto X.

My recent purchase before the pixel was an LG flagship from 2019. I bought it because I wanted to try LG and it was up for a great deal. I was reasonably happy with it and then the Android 11 dropped last month. While it made the phone smoother, the UI and aesthetics took a nosedive. The skin looked like a weird mix of Samsung's OneUI design language with a blend of Chinese OEMs' style like MIUI. The experience felt incoherent and annoying to me.

Buying the Pixel 4A

I decided to change my phone and started looking for options. This time I was motivated by the software experience, not pure horsepower. I started considering Pixels. I had previously brushed aside pixel phones while shopping because of their slower SoCs and also because they have never been consistently available in my region since the Pixel 3. While the Pixel 1-3 were made available, they were priced exorbitantly compared to the US or parts of EU. The exception was the Pixel 4A which was surprisingly very well priced here (equivalent to the 349$ plus import duty). This price had further dropped to 249$.

I looked for the 5G version as well as the 5A to get a bigger battery but they were never launched here. I realised even if they were launched, the price would not be this pocket friendly largely owing to the "5G" which is completely irrelevant to me. What is also irrelevant to me is wireless charging which I am unwilling to believe is friendly to battery health in the long term. So I told myself this is a blessing in disguise and immediately placed an order last Friday. After exchange, it costed me 130$ - I think was a steal.

First Impressions

I got a quick delivery on the same day I placed the order and I excitedly unboxed the phone.
I appreciated the inclusion of the charging brick and cable. The OTG dongle was an added bonus.

The phone itself was beautiful in a minimalistic way. I thought I would miss the metal and glass but honestly, the soft plastic feels like a breath of fresh air. Makes the phone light and the texture ensures I will never see any fingerprints.

5.8 inches makes for a decently sized screen but the lack of bezels make the phone feel compact in my large hands. In my opinion, it is a nice balance - making it handy while also making sure media consumption and gaming feels comfortable. I have seen reviewers complain about the lack of an indent for the fingerprint scanner on the back. I prefer this stealthy, flush design though.

Turning the phone on made me immediately notice the haptics. The haptics are built into the phone everywhere. Every swipe and tap gives a satisfying feedback that adds a whole new dimension to the phone's UX. After my my previous phones, this felt like taking off my rubber boots and walking barefoot on the sea shore. There is more haptic elements built in than on iOS and I love it.
The second thing I noticed was the smoothness. Everything was so snappy and fluid. It was not about quickness but about clean animations. The software had a lightweight feel to it that I have never experienced in other OEMs. Including OnePlus back when it had clean OOS - it was snappy but felt like there was some weight to it.

The display with a hole punch cut out is far better than notches including the tear drop one I had on my last phone. Google has kinda enlarged the status bar height to make sure the cut out sits entirely inside it. While this should technically be a bad thing due to the reduced real estate of the screen, the slightly low hanging status bar and notification icons are aesthetically pleasing to my eyes for whatever reason.

The set up was fairly simple and straightforward and I sighed and smiled at the clean, bloat free home screen, app drawer and elegant notification panel that greeted me afterwards. I had ditched my last phone and bought this one for this basic reason and it all felt worth it.

Camera

I didn't get a chance to dabble with the camera until the next day when I went for a drive outside town. The evening countryside with a cloudy sky and lot of sunlight were perfect conditions to see how good the pixel camera is. I clicked a quick snap from the moving car and the dynamic range blew me away.

Images are sharp with a lot of detail and contrast. I like what the processing does with the photos and I like the overall style. But that is subjective.

Each click takes a second to process since there is no image processing chip. I reckon video is just above average. I am more of a stills guy anyway, so no complaints.

Overall, its easily the best camera among mid-range phones and can give most flagships a run for their money.

Later Impressions

Real world use gave me a lot more insight into what this phone can do. I game on my phone to kill time sometimes and from what I have seen so far, the 4A is capable of running even heavy games like Genshin Impact without hiccups but incapable of long sessions of the same. Want to play for 30-45 mins? No sweat! Want to play Genshin for 4 hours with high graphics? Except heating and lag. This phone can do a quick sprint but is not a work horse.

The basics are flawless on this phone with great buttons and solid network connectivity. The network and call quality was far better than my previous phone.

I expected problems with the battery despite the optimisations and efficient SoC due to the small mAH count. While it isn't as bad as I feared, it isn't an easy all day battery either. I can get by a day with 5-6h of screen time when its light use. Lots of GPS navigation, streaming movies and games will have you reaching for your charger before sunset.

Having used the phone for 4 days now, I can say I finally understand many things that I had failed to understand or had straight up been very mistaken about. I now understand the value of optimisation in a phone. I understand that a phone can be powered by a 800-series SD chip and can still seem sluggish compared to a well optimised mid-ranger. I understand the sheer bulk and drag a skinned android phone has and can truly appreciate the vanilla google software so many people go on about. They aren't wrong. It really is that good.

I unexpectedly fell in love with the simple aesthetics of this phone that I thought I would just like - hardware and especially software. Picking up to use the phone is a joy I hope I don't get too used to.

I have begun to appreciate the small, thoughtful features built into the OS like flip to shhh and the best damn implementation of Ambient Display and AoD. I am already so accustomed and cannot do without the "At a glance".

Ending Note

I always thought Google lags behind Apple in terms of their Pixel phones' overall experience but I stand corrected. The Pixel is the vision that Google has for what a phone that runs Android should be like. Google gets a lot of flak for many things about Android but credit where it is due - its pixel ideas are good. These phones are average looking on paper but its takes holding and using one to see the quality and premium-ness they offer.

The Pixel 6 will launch next week. 5A just hit the shelves. If you are on the fence about buying a pixel or considering a bunch of options with a Pixel in your budget range, I encourage you to go for it. You won't be disappointed.

submitted by /u/Asc3ndis
[link] [comments]

Honor 50 Global Version WITH Google Unboxing + First Look

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 08:25 PM PDT