Mini-review of Android 5.0 on my Nexus 4

[JTunn]

Looks like I'd want to wait for the next firmware in order to upgrade. Kitkat and Jellybean have both been really disappointing at launch, and I prefer having an "outdated" but a reliable OS.

[watercooled]

I agree, but annoyingly 5.1 still isn't out for many devices. As it stands, it breaks far more than it improves IMO, and the few improvements seem mostly subjective.

I don't remember the Kitkat launch being such a disaster, but it was more of a minor update compared to Lollipop.

[watercooled]

I got the 5.1 update a couple of days ago and I'm not really sure what bugs it's supposed to have fixed but it's brought a couple of new bugs with it, which is nice!

I keep getting a popup, it seems about once every couple of hours, saying something like 'Hangouts has stopped' with an option to ignore or report it. I've never even used Hangouts so I've no idea why it's doing it. I've tried rebooting, clearing it's cache+data but it's made no difference.

When I first installed 5.1, the pulldown menu was acting strangely. If I pulled down the second time from near the 'no notifications' location it would spring back, but it seems to be working OK again now.

And the OS has already rebooted itself for no apparent reason - I just heard the USB disconnect jingle on my PC and saw the Android splash screen a few seconds later.

Battery life subjectively doesn't seem much different. And that graphical glitch in the URL bar of Chrome is still unfixed.

On the bright side, data usage monitoring seems to be fixed for apps (by that I mean third-party apps that monitor data usage). I'm not certain yet but after resetting the counter it's showing more sane values. And I haven't been able to check the captive portal dropping yet.

[ik9000]

5.1.1 is out. Just did OTA sideload onto my wife's N5. Will keep you posted how it shapes up, but hope it improves things as Lollipop has knackered her phone something chronic. (5.1.0=multiple reboots and app configuring every time, battery life of a fraction of previous, random hangs, and the phone switches off every 3rd photograph taken!) If it doesn't work we'll flash it back to kitkat and there will end our google buying. Fed up of this crap.

[watercooled]

Likewise. I keep saying it but I reckon any remaining issues with 5.1.1 will be the final straw, and I'll be rolling back to kitkat which was completely fine for me. Cheers for the heads-up though, I hadn't noticed it becoming available for the N4.

[ik9000]

Likewise. I keep saying it but I reckon any remaining issues with 5.1.1 will be the final straw, and I'll be rolling back to kitkat which was completely fine for me. Cheers for the heads-up though, I hadn't noticed it becoming available for the N4.

I kept the N4 on jellybean. Preferred the user interface, but turns out it's done me a favour as app-ops lets me block it from doing any updates to kitkat. Shame they got rid of that app, it could have been so good but they took it away. Typical google. Job half-done and move on to something else. Too many innovators and not enough finishers in that company IMO

[watercooled]

Yeah I agree, an awful lot of their software seems to lack thorough testing before public release, like they've completely skipped beta testing. Yeah, some feature might work fine on a developer's computer but it's quite a step from that to stability testing. Even stuff which has worked completely fine suddenly breaks on certain devices, ironically even Nexus and Chromebooks, and bug reports even for fairly critical issues I've followed seem to get ignored or played down.

They seem to always want to 'fix' things which aren't broken; I'm not against adding or improving features where it makes sense, but it shouldn't be at the expense of stability. That's what open beta tests are for. And removing choice by forcing major software updates often leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. Sometimes you just want something to continue working as-is i.e. with stability/security updates if necessary, not complete UI overhauls and a load of bugs which overall harm rather than improve user experience.

Anyway, I've just received the 5.1.1 OTA myself so I'll give it a try for a while.

BTW, any idea how to clear data from WebView? I've noticed things like form history for captive portals appearing when I select the relevant boxes, but unlike other web browsers I can't seem to find where this data is stored or how to remove it. Viewing it in the installed app list, the clear data/cache buttons are greyed out.

[ik9000]

Yeah I agree, an awful lot of their software seems to lack thorough testing before public release, like they've completely skipped beta testing. Yeah, some feature might work fine on a developer's computer but it's quite a step from that to stability testing. Even stuff which has worked completely fine suddenly breaks on certain devices, ironically even Nexus and Chromebooks, and bug reports even for fairly critical issues I've followed seem to get ignored or played down.

They seem to always want to 'fix' things which aren't broken; I'm not against adding or improving features where it makes sense, but it shouldn't be at the expense of stability. That's what open beta tests are for. And removing choice by forcing major software updates often leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. Sometimes you just want something to continue working as-is i.e. with stability/security updates if necessary, not complete UI overhauls and a load of bugs which overall harm rather than improve user experience.

Anyway, I've just received the 5.1.1 OTA myself so I'll give it a try for a while.

BTW, any idea how to clear data from WebView? I've noticed things like form history for captive portals appearing when I select the relevant boxes, but unlike other web browsers I can't seem to find where this data is stored or how to remove it. Viewing it in the installed app list, the clear data/cache buttons are greyed out.

off the cuff no, but have you tried looking under developer options (assuming you have that activated, you can scrub quite a bit under those options). I will have a look when I get chance (my wife has the N5)

[watercooled]

aaaaand the packet data bug still exists.

If I've not mentioned it before, I think it first appeared in 5.1 and what happens is the modem randomly drops a packet data connection and falls back to a GSM/UMTS connection and any Internet access fails. This happens roughly once per day for me and a flight mode toggle will normally fix it. I used device feedback to report it in 5.1 but I've no idea who reads those reports.

[ik9000]

my wife has same issue. going back to kit kat tomorrow night.

[watercooled]

Think I might join you, honestly can't think of any major issues I had with KitKat, and 5.0 hasn't brought any considerable improvements in my opinion. Nothing I'd sacrifice stability for anyway. Performance seems about the same or slightly worse, I prefer the KK interface, battery life is inconsistent and seems to vary between about the same and significantly worse.

Not sure if I'll go with the stock ROM and it's possible lack of security updates etc, or something like Cyanogenmod.

[peterb]

Interesting thread. as a recent user of Android 5 on a phone, this thread really sums up the problem with Android: it seems to be half finished and requires too much tinkering to get it working well.

At the end of the day, I want a phone that will do what I want out of the box, with minimal setting up. I have got 5.1.whatever working pretty much as I want, but it has taken me a long time to get it like that, and if I was charging for my time, it would have been cheaper to buy an iPhone which would have been up and running within an hour.

Now part of that is because I have adopted the Apple infrastructure, and it is thanks to some android developer (and help from HEXITES) that I have managed to get most thinks to sync.

I do have reservations about linking so closely with a company whose main business model and revenue stream is targeted advertising, and while Apple is sneered at (by some) for the cost, it's worth tempering that there is no such thing as a free lunch, you either pay for it up front, or pay in receiving ads, or submitting your personal information for targeted adverts.

But that said, Android is working for me, although it does feel clunky and the GUI in 5.1 looks as if it was designed by a 5 year old. The mail app isn't that good and feels like a work in progress, especially the pop3 facilities (can't find any way of moving a deleted mail back to the inbox, can't set message notifications per sender are just two of the irritating shortcomings), but it'll do, and maybe those will be addressed in future updates.

[DanceswithUnix]

But that said, Android is working for me, although it does feel clunky and the GUI in 5.1 looks as if it was designed by a 5 year old. The mail app isn't that good and feels like a work in progress, especially the pop3 facilities (can't find any way of moving a deleted mail back to the inbox, can't set message notifications per sender are just two of the irritating shortcomings), but it'll do, and maybe those will be addressed in future updates.

Genuine POP3 is ISTR an email downloading system and very limited. Have you tried connecting as IMAP, which is a proper email client protocol and can cope cleanly with moving emails and reading them without removing them from the server?

Edit to add: Just had a look, and it seems POP hasn't moved on much since I used it back in Demon Internet dialup days where it was a useful mail transport to get emails into a local copy of Sendmail or similar. There seem to be some half baked attempts to add folder management, but I think the world has generally moved on. Use IMAP if you possibly can, that is the right tool for the job.

[peterb]

My own mail server users IMAP, but one of my commercial ones still uses POP. This is the first time I have ever had problems in folder management on a device though.

[kalniel]

Interesting thread. as a recent user of Android 5 on a phone, this thread really sums up the problem with Android: it seems to be half finished and requires too much tinkering to get it working well.

Your post sums up my worries about Android very well. It's hard to see past the value for money in the handset for Android though. But I am desperately hoping MS can produce something equivalent to the Z3 Compact for WM10, as if so I'm heading right over.

[peterb]

I suppose an analogy is that it's like the old Mini I used to own. It would get me from A to B, but it was an effort, and you knew you had done journey. Most weekends were spent tinkering with it, and it was a useful learning experience. Just like Android. The basic instrumentation was there, reasonably laid out, and I could add more refinements if I wanted it, but they weren't factory fitted options. (There weren't any)

My modern car gets me from A to B effortlessly, I feel relaxed when I get to my destination, and the last time I lifted the bonnet was to top up the screen wash. Everything is there, laid out in a standard way, all fitted at the factory, with some options if needed. Bit like IOS. Of course same it is bland, and just like every other modern car, which may be true, but it does what I want, when I want, effortlessly.

Of course my modern car costs more than my old mini in financial terms, but the savings come in that fact I don't need or want to spend every weekend tinkering with it.

Not a perfect analogy, but reasonably close.