In July I got an update to Android on my phone (an otherwise wonderful Galaxy Note 3). It’s not awful, but the choices it has made are very annoying. In particular:
* email – I cannot now just have my email update when I click the refresh icon because I need to have auto sync data enabled. So to have manual syncing of data I need to go into settings ->connections->data usage, press the menu button, select “auto sync data”, then go to my email app and click its refresh icon (then, technically, go back again to turn off auto sync again)
* wifi – everything is now dependent upon whether or not I’m connected to wifi, because, if I’m connected to wifi everything must be ok right? Well, you genii, who put wifi hotspot functionality into my phone? Now, I can’t actually use my wifi hotspot without worrying whether my tablet is going to auto-download a ton of stuff and blow my cap when I least expect it. Thanks, thanks a lot.
* internet – I used to be able to have a number of windows open, and scroll through the open ones. Now only my last _four_ are visible. What the hay? Sort of undermines the point of being able to have a number of windows open much? (Internet in general has a heap of odd design choices – forcing new tabs to open in the foreground being a pet hate)
* background data – if I want to have background data restriction on it puts a permanent notification in the notification bar. Get that junk out of there. I’m a responsible adult for heaven’s sake.
* wifi direct (not actually from the update): why can’t I use wifi to transfer files directly between my phone and tablet without without going via a third router? My phone can act as a wifi hotspot, why do I have to connect both devices to a third device?
These mind boggling UI choices make me wonder what’s going on with Android and whether it’s turned a corner – the wrong corner.
Brendan Scott's Weblog 