4 Android options that make me wish to throw my telephone

Android has developed through the years. It was as soon as a nerdy tinker’s dream gadget with modding, overclocking, and customized ROMs. Whereas that’s nonetheless attainable, the working system has develop into a mature platform. Options we used to must shoehorn into the telephone have develop into commonplace choices. Immediately, Android smartphones are overflowing with so many options that it is easy to miss them.

I like the variability within the Android ecosystem, however with so many decisions and Google’s allowance for OEMs so as to add brand-specific aptitude to gadgets, there are certain to be misses. I narrowed down the software program options throughout the handfuls of smartphones I’ve used that bug me probably the most. Some are restricted to particular producers. Others are frequent throughout all Android telephones. Regardless of the annoyances’ broad or restricted scope, I need them squashed earlier than they develop into commonplace follow.

Consistency, please

Android launched an app lengthy press shortcut function in 7.1 Nougat in 2016, and I exploit it almost day-after-day. Relying on the app icon you lengthy press, you get completely different choices. For instance, should you lengthy press chat apps like Messages, you get a listing of current conversations and a button to begin a brand new one. With Spotify, I get a search possibility and a current playlist.

The one I exploit probably the most is with the Google Play Retailer to verify for app updates. I prefer to lengthy press and faucet My Apps to go to the replace display. Whether or not it’s a quirk in a software program model that removes some choices just like the My Apps or by way of an OEM selection, these long-press menus differ between telephone manufacturers.

The inconsistency is irritating. Even with my Google Pixel 9 Professional Fold, Google’s long-press menus differ throughout its apps. The variety of variations grows when evaluating gadget manufacturers. The opposite long-press possibility I exploit extra frequently than I might like is the App Data. That is useful for leaping to that app’s settings menu to drive shut it if it acts up or to regulate permissions. Nevertheless, some telephone manufacturers do not have that possibility on the menu. My OnePlus Open did not have it till the Android 15 replace.

No, the long-press menu is not a serious function, and many individuals in all probability do not understand it is there. However once you do and bear in mind to make use of it, the function turns into ingrained in your gadget utilization habits. Google has tweaked the long-press menu since its launch, and that is effective. Please standardize the menus and do not ditch the function.

3

Cut up notification shade

Please, no

After I drive myself to make use of an iPhone for some time, it is an experiment to see if I can perceive the draw. I do not, and probably the most irritating and annoying function is the cut up notification shade. I do not wish to swipe on completely different components of the display to entry what I need. The upper-left nook for notifications and the upper-right nook for fast controls or one thing like that.

Some Android manufacturers are adopting this function, and it must cease. Honor carried out it in its MagicOS, and OnePlus additionally launched it. OnePlus means that you can persist with the usual, right manner of swiping down from the highest that will get you all the pieces or go along with the cut up variation.

I can see how there is usually a profit to the cut up possibility, however I do not suppose there is sufficient to justify its frustration. I am positive that, like most anything, should you use it sufficient occasions, you’ll be able to prepare your self to recollect the place to swipe mechanically, however that is not one thing I am enthusiastic about studying. So, cease this function from rising, or take the OnePlus route and permit customers to decide on.

2

Apps on the homescreen

Cease making it an iPhone

The app drawer is one in every of Android’s greatest and most longstanding options. Till iOS 18, iPhone customers have been caught with pages of apps organized in a grid, and also you could not select the place apps may very well be specified by that grid. Immediately, iOS means that you can choose the place within the predetermined grid measurement you’ll be able to place your apps, and there’s a makeshift app drawer to scale back muddle. Android OEMs are beginning to convey a few of that disorganized chaos to our beloved OS.

I’ve had just a few telephones that I needed to reset. After I restored the gadgets, all of the apps have been within the drawer and on the homescreen. Perhaps this was as a result of I had completed a restore, although the apps weren’t initially on the homescreen. So, I reset and began from scratch. After I put in the apps, all the pieces went to the homescreen. After clearing the info from the house launcher, the apps left the homescreen, and I needed to deactivate new apps going to the homescreen. This follow is beginning down a path I do not like.

I like Android for its personalization throughout all features. This features a clear homescreen if I need and permits me to place my apps the place and the way I need. The iOS-like method some Android OEMs are taking is a cluttered one which I wish to finish.

1

App drawer navigation

It should not be so troublesome

After I wish to open an app I haven’t got on my homescreen or in a folder, I wish to discover it in my telephone’s app drawer rapidly. Looking out within the app drawer is good, however typically, even that takes extra faucets than I like. Some Android telephone manufacturers, like OnePlus, put the alphabet alongside the best aspect of the app drawer so you’ll be able to faucet a letter and go to apps beginning with it. This selection is not too dangerous. However not all OEMs provide this.

Some telephones provide a type of sensible app drawer that places the apps it thinks you will need on the high of the drawer for fast entry. Nevertheless, it would not all the time work effectively and is not on all Android gadgets. Google has develop into good at it, although. On Pixel gadgets, the app drawer has 5 ceaselessly opened apps ready for you on the high. As well as, when looking out, it is aware of what apps you usually use which have the letters you typed and brings these first.

In an ideal world, I might need a mixture of how Google and types like OnePlus deal with the app drawer. Deliver the AI of the auto-app options and the search on Pixel telephones with the alphabet fast buttons of different manufacturers.

Nitpicking as a result of I care

None of those annoyances are dealbreakers and will not make me go away Android, not less than not but. I like utilizing my Android telephone and experiencing merchandise from completely different manufacturers. I additionally acknowledge that many individuals choose up a telephone and use it for a few years. Then, when it’s time for a brand new telephone, many persist with the identical model, so the utilization expertise is essentially the identical.

Nevertheless, even with the identical model, the expertise can change based mostly on OS variations. Nevertheless, the way in which you utilize a tool can change between manufacturers. Once more, I am all for individuality and selection, however these 4 Android quirks want some decision.