Android 4.3 - What do YOU want?

[garublador]

I think everyone can agree that we always want all new OS's to be faster, more stable and use less battery than before.

What I think needs fixing are:

1) The notification shade - It's gotten totally out of control. My notification shade, when pulled down, fills half my 5" screen with notifications of things that haven't changed. It isn't a notification shade anymore, it's a settings shade. I want some sort of UI element that gives me only notifications of things that are new. Perhaps swiping up from the dock or over from the real notification shade (or options that let us pick how it works) could give us this settings shade (which is actually useful), but combining those two functions just makes both of them less useful.

2) Lock screen widget improvements - I'll give them that this is a new feature, but it feels more like something they slapped on at the last minute than something they really put some thought and effort into. My options seem severely limited on what I put on my lock screen without buying an app and some widgets don't even show up correctly. Perhaps some of this is actually a developer issue that will go away, but I don't see why we should be limited to one widget per screen.

 

[SJCT]

Re: Android 5.0 - What do YOU want?

I would add to this by saying that a customizable status bar would solve the issue. Currently, notifications are represented by a static, single-coloured icon. And there are a lot of them. It's kind of hard to tell at a glance whether an app's status is in the status bar since it is just one grey icon in a line of 15 other grey icons. If the icons could be customized to show up as different colours and sizes, that would help old guys like me that need glasses just to see the small icons at the top. Plus, if those icons changed colour (or could be programmed to change colour) when the status of the apps changed (unread email, for example) that would be even better.

So, at a glance, users could tell from the lock screen whether they had email or texts simply by the colour of the icons in the status bar.

 

[kimbobjones]

Re: Android 5.0 - What do YOU want?

Fix the Pin & Password Lock - Straight to Home Screen when entered, rather than having to hit 'OK'.

 

[garublador]

Perhaps swiping up from the dock or over from the real notification shade (or options that let us pick how it works) could give us this settings shade (which is actually useful)

For the record, if Android incorporates this I give them permission to say that they stole the idea from me (who came up with it before the Apple WWDC) instead of iOS 7.

 

[HNNNNNGHHH]

I think everyone can agree that we always want all new OS's to be faster, more stable and use less battery than before.

What I think needs fixing are:

1) The notification shade - It's gotten totally out of control. My notification shade, when pulled down, fills half my 5" screen with notifications of things that haven't changed. It isn't a notification shade anymore, it's a settings shade. I want some sort of UI element that gives me only notifications of things that are new. Perhaps swiping up from the dock or over from the real notification shade (or options that let us pick how it works) could give us this settings shade (which is actually useful), but combining those two functions just makes both of them less useful.

2) Lock screen widget improvements - I'll give them that this is a new feature, but it feels more like something they slapped on at the last minute than something they really put some thought and effort into. My options seem severely limited on what I put on my lock screen without buying an app and some widgets don't even show up correctly. Perhaps some of this is actually a developer issue that will go away, but I don't see why we should be limited to one widget per screen.

1) You could try HALO))), which is already incorporated into AOSPA 3+ ROM builds. it works similarly as the 'notification shade fix' you've mentioned. Notifications that come through may still show up in the status bar notification shade but at least with halo you won't need to pull down the notification shade to see what's new. (You'd need to flash AOSPA onto your handset for HALO))) until the PA devs open the HALO))) sources to the public, but we don't always have the liberty to void our warranty just to flash a ROM that may be less stable than what already came with your phone.)

2) Completely agree with you. The new lockscreen in Jelly Bean 4.2 seems unfinished, as if Google was holding something back for KLP or even 4.3...
Besides that, the only alternative that works well IMO is Widgetlocker, but it's known to lockup every now and then, especially when you use app killers.

 

[srkmagnus]

Give me a good Android experience with balance, speed and a clean look -- that's what I want in the next OS update.