Now I can't wait for JB on the S3...I silence my ringtone, and still get the bejesus scared out of me at night when an email comes in and I forget to turn down the notifications. Oh, never mind, they were linked on the Gnex all along...Trust me, you don't want them delinked.
I see your point, but I have a counter one-
I work in IT and am frequently on call. When a nightly job fails, a text alert is sent out that I need to hear so I can get up and deal with it. On nights when I am not on call, I turn down the volume for just my text alerts so that they don't wake me. Since my cell phone is my only phone, I leave the ringer on at all times.
With the volumes combined, I cannot do this without a third party app. I think it's better to give us the choice than to take away functionality that we've always had.
And, yet, Google's own site states that you can control the two independently now:
Notification volume | You can now control the volume for notifications separately from your phone's main volume. | Press the volume button on the side of your phone, then touch the Settings icon . Drag slider to change the volume for notifications.
I see your point, but I have a counter one-
I work in IT and am frequently on call. When a nightly job fails, a text alert is sent out that I need to hear so I can get up and deal with it. On nights when I am not on call, I turn down the volume for just my text alerts so that they don't wake me. Since my cell phone is my only phone, I leave the ringer on at all times.
With the volumes combined, I cannot do this without a third party app. I think it's better to give us the choice than to take away functionality that we've always had.