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Is Lollipop all it's cracked up to be?

Really don't understand what all the fuss is about re. the release of Lollipop. When looking at some of the options under "Settings", for example, there are some things that are missing that KitKat had. Selecting the font you wanted to use, for example. Seems like there are less options to control your phone.
Maybe there are some other things under the hood that make Lollipop better, but I'm not seeing it on the surface!

There are somewhat less options now but its a different look and feel. Folks get bored and need something new.

MaverickCoast said:
Really don't understand what all the fuss is about re. the release of Lollipop. When looking at some of the options under "Settings", for example, there are some things that are missing that KitKat had. Selecting the font you wanted to use, for example. Seems like there are less options to control your phone.
Maybe there are some other things under the hood that make Lollipop better, but I'm not seeing it on the surface!
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Simple answer is no.
Loss of xposed framework support is huge too.

MaverickCoast said:
Really don't understand what all the fuss is about re. the release of Lollipop. When looking at some of the options under "Settings", for example, there are some things that are missing that KitKat had. Selecting the font you wanted to use, for example. Seems like there are less options to control your phone.
Maybe there are some other things under the hood that make Lollipop better, but I'm not seeing it on the surface!
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Click to collapse
I'd have to agree that , no, there isn't anything magical about it really. I like the look, but something similar could easily be achieved with the proper themeing/ROM combo. The animations are nice, but I usually turn them off anyways. There may be some "under the hood" changes but nothing that will drastically change the user experience. Honestly, I think smartphones as a whole have hit a plateau. Minus some tweaks here and there, nothing really innovative has come along in some time. Perhaps the industry rushed towards advancement too fast. I think this is evidenced by the fact that how many pixels a manufacturer can cram into a screen, how awesome a selfie camera is and now animation styles have become selling points. Just my opinion though.

bjoostema said:
I'd have to agree that , no, there isn't anything magical about it really. I like the look, but something similar could easily be achieved with the proper themeing/ROM combo. The animations are nice, but I usually turn them off anyways. There may be some "under the hood" changes but nothing that will drastically change the user experience. Honestly, I think smartphones as a whole have hit a plateau. Minus some tweaks here and there, nothing really innovative has come along in some time. Perhaps the industry rushed towards advancement too fast. I think this is evidenced by the fact that how many pixels a manufacturer can cram into a screen, how awesome a selfie camera is and now animation styles have become selling points. Just my opinion though.
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Looks like the unlocked developer edition m8 getting the lollipop today.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Premium HD app

Call me a cranky old man. I don't like Lollipop. Have it running on my Nexus 7 (FHD) and another device I'm testing. Just a few things I don't like:
1. Used to be easy to EITHER swipe for notifications OR quicksettings, now what used to be simple takes at least two-taps
2. The dialogue for which app to use is at the bottom of the screen and looks like it's "falling off" the screen instead of in the middle.
3. Really not happy about the need to decrypt on boot (for some devices). It's just too darn easy for someone with evil intent to completely wipe another person's device "just for a hoot."
4. I do not see a speed increase with ART that makes it worth losing Xposed Framework.
5. Material design does not require Lollipop; it's just window-dressing and styling.
That's just off the top of my head. Every couple of days have to put the test device down and return to my M8 for the look and feel I like.
Newer isn't always better.

hgoldner said:
Call me a cranky old man. I don't like Lollipop. Have it running on my Nexus 7 (FHD) and another device I'm testing. Just a few things I don't like:
1. Used to be easy to EITHER swipe for notifications OR quicksettings, now what used to be simple takes at least two-taps
2. The dialogue for which app to use is at the bottom of the screen and looks like it's "falling off" the screen instead of in the middle.
3. Really not happy about the need to decrypt on boot (for some devices). It's just too darn easy for someone with evil intent to completely wipe another person's device "just for a hoot."
4. I do not see a speed increase with ART that makes it worth losing Xposed Framework.
5. Material design does not require Lollipop; it's just window-dressing and styling.
That's just off the top of my head. Every couple of days have to put the test device down and return to my M8 for the look and feel I like.
Newer isn't always better.
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Specifically relating to your first point, I'm not sure what you mean. On Lollipop, you can pull down the notifications menu with a single finger or go straight to quick settings with 2 fingers. Just like Jellybean and KitKat. If you use the single finger swipe down to access notifications on Lollipop, you can simply swipe down again to access quick settings. On JB/KK, you had to tap a button to get to quick settings after pulling down the notification shade with 1 finger. Since the 2-finger gesture to go straight to quick settings still works in Lollipop, I'm really not sure I understand what's so inconvenient about how it's implemented vs JB & KK.

maxpower7 said:
Specifically relating to your first point, I'm not sure what you mean. On Lollipop, you can pull down the notifications menu with a single finger or go straight to quick settings with 2 fingers. Just like Jellybean and KitKat. If you use the single finger swipe down to access notifications on Lollipop, you can simply swipe down again to access quick settings. On JB/KK, you had to tap a button to get to quick settings after pulling down the notification shade with 1 finger. Since the 2-finger gesture to go straight to quick settings still works in Lollipop, I'm really not sure I understand what's so inconvenient about how it's implemented vs JB & KK.
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Sometimes the other three fingers are busy ?
One thing that kinda bugs me is that the notifications overlay the top part of the screen so if you are trying to type there (chrome) and someone is texting you like crazy it gets annoying quick.

maxpower7 said:
Specifically relating to your first point, I'm not sure what you mean. On Lollipop, you can pull down the notifications menu with a single finger or go straight to quick settings with 2 fingers. Just like Jellybean and KitKat. If you use the single finger swipe down to access notifications on Lollipop, you can simply swipe down again to access quick settings. On JB/KK, you had to tap a button to get to quick settings after pulling down the notification shade with 1 finger. Since the 2-finger gesture to go straight to quick settings still works in Lollipop, I'm really not sure I understand what's so inconvenient about how it's implemented vs JB & KK.
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Well smack me upside the head. Had no idea about the two-fingered pull down.....
My name is Harold and I'm a flashaholic.....

I think it's great. I'm running stock Lollipop (GPE), not the Fauxpop that just got released today for the international M8. KitKat is just the latest build of what started in 2011, about three and a half years ago. With Lollipop, we're living in 2015. It's really a lot of little things, though. ICS was, too, when it was new. The big changes came with Jellybean.
Regarding Xposed, none of the blame for that is on Lollipop. The Xposed developer had, I don't know, but I'm sure it was over a year, probably more, since ART came out, to get it working. He/They wanted to wait for the release of Lollipop to port it to ART. Now, having had all this time, it's all on them. But if Xposed was that good, and Xposed was open source, where's the community in porting it to ART on their behalf? Seems to me that not that many people even want Xposed. The supply follows the demand. Google isn't lifting the smallest finger to fight Xposed. They don't care. And apparently neither do the developers. Or maybe Lollipop's market share is too small. Last I heard, it was still under 0.1%.
Yeah, Lollipop's great. I might sooner go back to KitKat than switch to an iPhone, but vs switching to Windows Phone I might have to think about it. Realistically on my M8, I'm never going back to Android 4.x. It isn't worth considering. It's like, why would you go back to Windows XP? Sure, it was stable, but so is 7. So is 8.1. Hell, even the 10 tech preview is good enough for most people. Why would you go backwards? Or to put it another way, why would you make your phone all retro? Retro games are cool. Retro cars are cool. And retro music, or more precisely, classic rock, is cool. But personal computer operating software? Not just no but hell no. Give me the latest code I can safely and securely run.
Seriously... HTC One M8... On Verzion... Running the GPE... I have the best phone, on the best network, running the best software. I envy no phone... okay, the Nexus 6 just a little, but it's too big. M8's a little too big. I think the HTC vanity bar should have been at the top. Better thumb reach. But really, nobody's got it better.

no worries, lollipop will be great

Awwww - now that's just plain cruel! Share or shut up [emoji14]

Is Lollipop Android 5.0 Overrated? No Xposed Framework?

I'm still sitting on 4.4.4 as I was waiting for some bugs to be squashed in Lollipop. Initially my thoughts about Lollipop were probably like most tech addicts, "newer is better." But in reading more in depth about the changes, I'm not impressed. So I pulled the trigger anyway on my LG Google Play Tablet (not my Nexus 5 phone.) And, I was not impressed at all.
- The notifications on the pull-down and lock screen are BUTT UGLY with the white background.
- No lockscreen widgets (which I use Widget Locker anyway, but still)
- No Xposed Framework compatibility (this one is a BIGGIE)
So I'm on the fence about upgrading my Nexus 5. Can someone tell me specifically what is so much better that it would justify overlooking these drawbacks (and other's I didn't mention) and upgrading now instead of waiting for a better version or at least until Xposed Framework supports ART?

jazee said:
I'm still sitting on 4.4.4 as I was waiting for some bugs to be squashed in Lollipop. Initially my thoughts about Lollipop were probably like most tech addicts, "newer is better." But in reading more in depth about the changes, I'm not impressed. So I pulled the trigger anyway on my LG Google Play Tablet (not my Nexus 5 phone.) And, I was not impressed at all.
- The notifications on the pull-down and lock screen are BUTT UGLY with the white background.
- No lockscreen widgets (which I use Widget Locker anyway, but still)
- No Xposed Framework compatibility (this one is a BIGGIE)
So I'm on the fence about upgrading my Nexus 5. Can someone tell me specifically what is so much better that it would justify overlooking these drawbacks (and other's I didn't mention) and upgrading now instead of waiting for a better version or at least until Xposed Framework supports ART?
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Only things that are better is more security loops fixed by google

I personally really like lollipop. It feels a lot more snappy than KitKat. Given that I know exposed framework issue is due to switch to art and the Dev can't find docs on it.

shinji257 said:
I personally really like lollipop. It feels a lot more snappy than KitKat. Given that I know exposed framework issue is due to switch to art and the Dev can't find docs on it.
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I'm curious what "more snappy" really means. Has anyone done any before/after timing comparisons to see how much faster it really is? Would it be any faster than going into Developer Options on 4.4.4 and turning ART on?

I said it feels more snappy as in visually. I think someone benchmarked between kitkat and lollipop on a device an found that lollipop actually ran a little slower in some spots. I think lollipop has only a couple of odd quirks. The biggest one being the lack of a sound toggle button in the notifications area.

Until Xposed works with ART, I cannot possibly upgrade. There are two things I like about Lollipop - 1) the notification pop ups and 2) the soft keys, which I can later customize with gestures. XPrivacy is the biggest deal for me, followed by APM+, App Settings and Secure Settings.

Alternative for Xposed?

Hey ppl,
so I got myself into rooting and things on my device (Elife E7) but it turned out that the phone doesnt properly support Xposed Framework and its modules. I would love to mod my phone and change visual things like themes and especially my navigation bar.
Can you give me some alternatives if there are some? I started modding with my old Galaxy S Advance and I felt in love!
Sadly I would give up this awesome stuff and use my phone like its supposed to.
I hope you can give me some answers and for that I thank you in Advance .
Regards
Christian

Xposed is one-of-a-kind. There's not even really any poor imitations. The only thing that comes close in terms of visual tweaks is finding a custom ROM that bakes those features in. I have no idea what, if any are available for your device.

Oreo vs Nougat

Guys whom have updated, is it any better?
Any key differences

after updating to OREO everything works fine for me.
nothing is missed.
big differences:
* newer security patch level and better battery performance
* (and if it should work: ) project treble
BTW:
dirty over vs. new installation = in most cases it seems to make no differences (my experience)
:good:

Better multitasking, smoother transitions, menus are changed a little bit but overall it looks almost the same as emui 7. There are a lot of under the hood improvements such as notification settings better memory management and battery life.

Visually it's different (because new Android version).
What I found is that the lockscreen notifications for audio and video players have a visual bug - the controls are slightly off to the right so the 'next' button goes over the thumbnail and is hard to see.

Definitely better battery life. Don't really care for the new System settings layout but who cares, you only use it rarely? Never use stock launchers, so again who cares? Other than that it is great.

Better battery life for me ! All is working great.

Thanks gents

Still on the beta 321 version (567 US version)...STILL WAITING
But, the 321 version for me is stable

Oreo has all better things compared to Nougat except custom rom and magisk as well as xposed. It has only root with SuperSU, not enough for me. Will come back to Oreo later if Xposed is compatible

lemonade747 said:
Oreo has all better things compared to Nougat except custom rom and magisk as well as xposed. It has only root with SuperSU, not enough for me. Will come back to Oreo later if Xposed is compatible
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What are you using xposed for may I ask.
I used to run magisk to get YouTube ad free and ad blocker but there are ways around that now

sutty86 said:
What are you using xposed for may I ask.
I used to run magisk to get YouTube ad free and ad blocker but there are ways around that now
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I use xposed for many reasons as well as functions cuz no phone is perfect. And with xposed I can transform my phone to its hidden perfect mode lol It contains wide range of useful modules so it always make you feel interested in exploring and enjoying.

I am experiencing a few little issues that I am hoping will be addressed soon, though to be fair I think the problem is because of EMUI 8. Main problem is some of my widgets wont update. Oreo has some little features like app shortcuts which are cool but I wouldnt rush to upgrade.

Xposed Modules for EMUI 5.0/5.1

Hello, so I flashed Xposed Framework on my Honor 8, its working fine, few modules I tested out work flawlessly, but I'm curious if you guys know some good and useful modules that work.
So far I've tried:
- Amplify
- Greenify
- Flat Style Bar Indicators (even though it has some problems)
- Disable Full Screen Keyboard
- YT AdAway
- YT Background Playback
- Gravitybox (I only tested a few functions and they seem to work)
Thanks in advance! :fingers-crossed:

Almost all of them lol. Modules released for nougat have been out for quite a bit already.

agraceful said:
Almost all of them lol. Modules released for nougat have been out for quite a bit already.
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Oh, that is nice to hear. Actually I'm looking for something to stockify EMUI, gravitybox says that it could cause bootloops on heavily skinned androids like touchwiz, miui etc., so I'm a bit scared of testing it out, so if you know a module which could change the qs menu for example, I'm well aware of the Material Notification Shade app, but it doesn't support fingerprint gestures which I use a lot, and it's a bummer, so if you know anything that could help, I'd appreciate it a lot

Brilex said:
Oh, that is nice to hear. Actually I'm looking for something to stockify EMUI, gravitybox says that it could cause bootloops on heavily skinned androids like touchwiz, miui etc., so I'm a bit scared of testing it out, so if you know a module which could change the qs menu for example, I'm well aware of the Material Notification Shade app, but it doesn't support fingerprint gestures which I use a lot, and it's a bummer, so if you know anything that could help, I'd appreciate it a lot
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Gravitybox works from what I remember. I didn't have too many things enabled but I never experienced a bootloop the entire time I used it. What exactly are you looking to do to the was menu?

agraceful said:
Gravitybox works from what I remember. I didn't have too many things enabled but I never experienced a bootloop the entire time I used it. What exactly are you looking to do to the was menu?
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I want to make it as stock as possible, I don't hate emui's way, but I prefer the whole stock pulldown menu, idk if you can even do that with gravitybox, but I'm looking for something that can, if there is no such stuff, it's fine, I can live without it.