[trandz]

They should rework the base home screens more. From the home screen it still looks like Android 1 IMO Im surprised there isnt any new widgets to match the flat look also.

[LeoRex]

NICE! They took that annoying IME chooser notification and dropped it on the nav bar next to the recents button.....

[Aquila]

They should rework the base home screens more. From the home screen it still looks like Android 1 IMO Im surprised there isnt any new widgets to match the flat look also.

That's part of what the devs will work on; creating and updating apps with the new APIs and design guidelines.

Nexus through spacetime.

[gettysburg11s]

Android L is very cool. I had it on my Nexus 5 briefly. Ultimately, I had to go back to Android 4.4.4 for several reasons, I enjoyed it. Obviously, as expected, it was buggy and a little unfinished. The notification shade is kinda slow and it stutters sometimes. Also, guess what? No "clear all" button.

One thing that was unexpected was that Dropbox was dead. No workie. So, that in itself required I go back to 4.4.4. Oh well, it was fun to try it. I can't want to get the final product on my Nexus 5 in the fall.

[spawndoodling]

They should rework the base home screens more. From the home screen it still looks like Android 1 IMO Im surprised there isnt any new widgets to match the flat look also.

I'm assuming they'll do this for the final release, but I could really use some updated icons that are all the same size. And an updated app drawer that let's you hide apps you don't use all the time.

[krifor03]

I found tethering doesn't work, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. On top of that when you try to make the connection it kills data for the phone. Everything looks like it should be ok but it's not going to work until you restart the phone

Posted via Android Central App

[mogelijk]

Really impressed (also, while the Back-home-multitask button layout seems a bit odd, it actually looks nice). I think it's a beautiful design upgrade for Android and brings more consistency into the UI. Google Now is awesome and Google has been veering in the cards direction for nearly a year and a half now, so Android has, even in Stock form, looked inconsistent. L really seems like a streamlining of Android's design philosophy.

That being said, I'm a full package guy! I want hardware. And good hardware too. I feel like the writings on the wall for Nexus, but if Android Silver is indeed a real thing, everyone better be bringing it. Stock Android plus an awesome camera with OIS, a low-power battery saving feature, MICROSD, and IP67 would seal the deal.

One of the reason why I've stuck with Samsung and TouchWiz all these years is that my objections to software are nowhere near as intense as my objections to hardware. The Nexus line has looked compelling, but I still have reservations. So this is an exciting step, but I'm still waiting for a Nexus worthy of flagship status.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk

Google's Dave Burke says that there will still be Nexus devices. From his comments, through he would not comment on Silver, it sounds as if it will replace the GPE devices, not the Nexus devices.

[Giuseppe Muratori]

I'm sure you'll be able to remove or tone down animations when the official 5.0 is released.

Posted via Android Central App

[thatguy97]

I've noticed better antialising on the widgets when they resize

Posted from my Nexus 7 2013 running Android L or Samsung galaxy S5

[thatguy97]

You already can in developer settings

Posted from my Nexus 7 2013 running Android L or Samsung galaxy S5

[I Can Be Your Hero]

I like it. It's very forward-thinking. I haven't flashed the developer preview to my devices, so I don't know how it looks/feels while actually using it, but just from the images/video it looks really nice.

My only concern is that while it looks very clean, very minimalist, I hope that it doesn't come at the price of functionality and speedy usage.

I don't want the experience to be slower just because I have to go through more menus to access stuff that's now hidden just so the screen can look cleaner.

[wess580]

Is it me or do the settings menu remind you of HTC one series settings menu

Posted via Android Central App

[zedorda]

Is it me or do the settings menu remind you of HTC one series settings menu

Posted via Android Central App

Settings menu actually had me thinking old LG UI.

[tr-1]

I think it's awesome. I actually thought that KitKat finally has a good and consistent design language but once I saw L, it's in a different league. I'll go as far as saying that it's better than iOS in terms of GUI aesthetics.
In addition to more consistent and beautiful design, it is also gonna be applied to all Android devices (naturally) from watch to TV as well as Google web services and ChromeBook. It's gonna be a great ecosystem

[bjrosen]

I've been using Android L for a few days and I'm not very impressed. As far as I can tell there are no new features or significant improvements and there are some things that are a step backwards.

1) ART vs Dalvik. Things do feel snappy but I can't say I really notice any siginficant speedups, I never noticed any sluggishness on KitKat.
2) Battery. Seems to be worse. This is hard to measure but one thing that I've noticed is that the QI charger in my car mount doesn't quite keep up with Sygic. Under KitKat I could run Sygic and the battery level would still rise, under L the battery level slowly drops.
3) Quick Menu/Notifications. They've really messed this up. Under Kit Kay the notifications were on the left and the quick menu was on the right, now they are mixed together which makes for a big mess. Also I've found that the WiFI button on the Quick menu is nearly useless, it's only On/Off. On KitKat it got you to the WiFI control panel which allows you to select an access point.
4) Still no multitasking. The late Palm Pre had multitasking five years ago, you could swipe from one application to another. Android still limits you to a single application open on the display at once. To switch you still have to go to the history list which close the current app and opens another.
5) New button icons. A triangle, circle and a square? Who thought those were better than the old icons?. This is a minor gripe because it doesn't effect functionality, but still why did they do it?

I hope that Xposed gets ported soon so some of this can get fixed, specifically the quick menus. It's a shame that you still have to root the device just to change the menus. You also still have to install Nova Launcher to change the number of icons in the task bar. At least Nova Launcher works with L, but it really should be necessary. Simple customizations should be built in by now.

Does anyone have anything nice to say about L?

[mogelijk]

From what I saw (I removed L from my phone), the WiFi quick settings button is "backwards" to how it is in 4.4. In 4.4, you press and it takes you to the WiFi settings but if you long press it turns WiFi on/off. I believe in L that you merely press to turn it on/off, but a long press will take you to WiFi settings. I believe the reason for it is to make the quick settings consistent (they all toggle on/off).

[bjrosen]

Long press of WiFI on the quick settings down nothing.

[Aquila]

I miss having a battery % and a shortcut to the battery section of settings in the quick settings. Also, I put color inversion on that panel thinking I could put other things on and take other things off - turning it off doesn't take it out of there and hardly any settings have the ability to be sent to quick settings.

[EnigmaticPsychotic]

Flashed L yesterday. So far it's pretty solid. Way more stable than I was expecting. I'm digging the new appearance. Havne't encountered many bugs. Not having Netflix is a bit annoying, but tolerable. I think I can handle using it as my daily until the final release. Barring something tragic anyway. The Dalvik to ART switch isn't an issue since made the change not long after I got the phone a couple of days after launch. Extra battery life has been a nice surprise.

[xchange]

I've been using Android L for a few days and I'm not very impressed. As far as I can tell there are no new features or significant improvements and there are some things that are a step backwards.

1) ART vs Dalvik. Things do feel snappy but I can't say I really notice any siginficant speedups, I never noticed any sluggishness on KitKat.
2) Battery. Seems to be worse. This is hard to measure but one thing that I've noticed is that the QI charger in my car mount doesn't quite keep up with Sygic. Under KitKat I could run Sygic and the battery level would still rise, under L the battery level slowly drops.
3) Quick Menu/Notifications. They've really messed this up. Under Kit Kay the notifications were on the left and the quick menu was on the right, now they are mixed together which makes for a big mess. Also I've found that the WiFI button on the Quick menu is nearly useless, it's only On/Off. On KitKat it got you to the WiFI control panel which allows you to select an access point.
4) Still no multitasking. The late Palm Pre had multitasking five years ago, you could swipe from one application to another. Android still limits you to a single application open on the display at once. To switch you still have to go to the history list which close the current app and opens another.
5) New button icons. A triangle, circle and a square? Who thought those were better than the old icons?. This is a minor gripe because it doesn't effect functionality, but still why did they do it?

I hope that Xposed gets ported soon so some of this can get fixed, specifically the quick menus. It's a shame that you still have to root the device just to change the menus. You also still have to install Nova Launcher to change the number of icons in the task bar. At least Nova Launcher works with L, but it really should be necessary. Simple customizations should be built in by now.

Does anyone have anything nice to say about L?

#4?
I've never had an issue with an app having to start over from the beginning state when using the multitasking menu

[ahaxton]

3) Quick Menu/Notifications. They've really messed this up. Under Kit Kay the notifications were on the left and the quick menu was on the right, now they are mixed together which makes for a big mess. Also I've found that the WiFI button on the Quick menu is nearly useless, it's only On/Off. On KitKat it got you to the WiFI control panel which allows you to select an access point.

Um, you can. In the quick toggle there is a line between the WiFi strength indicator and the name of the access point or the word WiFi. If you tap above the line on the icon, you turn WiFi on or off. If you tab below the line on the name, it takes you to WiFi settings. Best of both worlds.

[e_roz]

So how with internet tethering there? I heard that it doesn't work properly

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app

[Ronald Geiken]

I bought a refurbished Nexus 7 on e-bay, so in effect it is a test bed for me. I have other Android Tablets with other version for daily use. I really like what I have seen so far, and the one thing that impressed me most of all is that you can set an external Blue Tooth Keyboard as the default and if you are kind of using it in a desktop application, both the BT Keyboard and Mouse worked flawlessly. If Android is going to truly become a favorite of the computer users in the world, then a reliable way of pairing a Keyboard and Mouse were paramount. They have done that, and for that I will be eternally thankful. My Nexus 10 and Note 10.1 both have problems with the BT Keyboard. The Nexus 10 is on 4.4.4 while the Note 10.1 is on 4.1.2.
BT had been a constant problem in previous versions, so this will likely be a real plus to potential users. I use external keyboards on my W7 computers and they have always worked good. Most of the Google Apps seem to work OK, but so far Fox News will launch and I can read the news there, but the videos are not playable. Will try some other apps that use video to see how they go. I have only had Android L on my Nexus 7 for about 3 days now, and if you are not a real techie, it can be a problem to install it. Like they have said, it is not a good idea to install it on a tablet that you want to use every day, but since mine is not intended to be used that way, I will be able to enjoy seeing Android L develop.

[zedorda]

I bought a refurbished Nexus 7 on e-bay, so in effect it is a test bed for me. I have other Android Tablets with other version for daily use. I really like what I have seen so far, and the one thing that impressed me most of all is that you can set an external Blue Tooth Keyboard as the default and if you are kind of using it in a desktop application, both the BT Keyboard and Mouse worked flawlessly. If Android is going to truly become a favorite of the computer users in the world, then a reliable way of pairing a Keyboard and Mouse were paramount. They have done that, and for that I will be eternally thankful. My Nexus 10 and Note 10.1 both have problems with the BT Keyboard. The Nexus 10 is on 4.4.4 while the Note 10.1 is on 4.1.2.
BT had been a constant problem in previous versions, so this will likely be a real plus to potential users. I use external keyboards on my W7 computers and they have always worked good. Most of the Google Apps seem to work OK, but so far Fox News will launch and I can read the news there, but the videos are not playable. Will try some other apps that use video to see how they go. I have only had Android L on my Nexus 7 for about 3 days now, and if you are not a real techie, it can be a problem to install it. Like they have said, it is not a good idea to install it on a tablet that you want to use every day, but since mine is not intended to be used that way, I will be able to enjoy seeing Android L develop.

Just wait till the BT devices go into sleep mode then you will start hating BT keyboards and mice with Android.

[zedorda]

#4?
I've never had an issue with an app having to start over from the beginning state when using the multitasking menu

Then you have not used many apps because alot of them do not support it. Try it with Clash of Clans.