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Google's Next Android Overhaul Will Embrace iPhone's 'Notch' (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the up-next dept.

Google is working on a "dramatic redesign" of its Android operating system, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The company has stuck with a single look for its mobile operating system (OS) for quite some time now, but it's now reportedly looking at Apple for inspiration. The new version of Android -- which Bloomberg says is called "Pistachio Ice Cream" internally -- will apparently be designed with the space for a cutout at the top, much like the iPhone X and its so-called "notch." From the report: The operating system refresh, Android P, will emphasize Google's Assistant, a digital helper that competes with Apple's Siri and Amazon.com's Alexa. Developers will be able to integrate Google's voice-based technology inside of their apps. The company has also weighed integrating the search bar on the Android home screen with its assistant, although neither of these changes are finalized for introduction this year, according to one of the people familiar with the situation.

15 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Good luck on that one... by ctilsie242 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Apple can do a notch because they know the dimensions on what their sensor array is going to be. With Android, this is a different story. An inexpensive phone may just have an IR sensor and a low-end camera. A more expensive phone might have more front facing stuff. Will this be a one size fits all notch, or something that is wider/narrower depending on the device? If it is one size fits all, that may hurt hardware makers. If it is variable, that would stomp on devs trying to make their apps have the right dimensions and contribute to the complaints of fragmentation.

    I wonder how Google will handle this.

    1. Re:Good luck on that one... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Essential Phone has a small notch and runs Android. So clearly it was possible with a bit of work and it looks like Google is just formalizing support for it. Presumably the width of the notch will be manufacturer defined.

      BTW, the Essential Phone was released before the iPhone X. In any case, I doubt anyone is copying anyone here, it's just a question of LCD manufacturers starting to offer non-rectangular shapes. Started with aircraft and car manufacturers wanting round LCDs to replace dials, and then smartwatches.

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    2. Re:Good luck on that one... by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I wonder how Google will handle this.

      I really hope they handle it by throwing in the towel and relegating those ugly notches to the dustbin of history where they belong.

  2. Dramatic is the right word. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 5, Funny

    So of all of Apple's ideas, they decided to copy that atrocity...

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    1. Re:Dramatic is the right word. by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      To be fair, can you think of any recent Apple "feature" that would not have provoked this response?

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    2. Re:Dramatic is the right word. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      Maybe not. I wasn't all that happy with the demise of the 3.5mm jack, but at least the new iPhone is sort of waterproof now, and I got a pair of Airpods... Now there's a product that looks, feels and works like old-school Apple stuff.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  3. Makes sense by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because I use devices that compete with Apple with interfaces and features that I prefer to use over anything Apple offers, that MUST mean that I want the platform I use to mimic Apple!

    God dammit!

    1. Re:Makes sense by dbialac · · Score: 2

      Yep. Now everyone can have a phone that looks like something from "There, I Fixed It".

  4. Oh, FFS by enjar · · Score: 2

    First they copied the stupid "headphone jack delete" idea, now this nonsense. Guess I'll just keep putting batteries in my 6P as they wear since they are evidently out of fresh ideas and have started copying bugs made into features.

    1. Re:Oh, FFS by djlemma · · Score: 3, Insightful

      AGREED.

      Removing useful features and giving me more features I have no interest in is NOT progress.

      Give me a phone with plenty of battery life, storage capacity, and the ability to interface with all the things I already own, and I'm happy. But, marketers gotta market, I guess.

    2. Re:Oh, FFS by cyberchondriac · · Score: 2

      Finally someone has said it, thank you. The tribal mindset over smartphones is idiotic and second only to the tribal mindset of politics.
      The both copy from each other, they both have pros and cons, but far more pros.
      I happen to use both (one personal, one issued by work) and frankly, as an old fart, the whole idea of a small pocket sized slab of a computer with a killer color display that can play HD movies, take quality digital pictures, make phone calls, play music, and connect to a world wide network through the air is pretty damn impressive; certainly the stuff of dreams and science fiction when I was a kid.
      I remember having a dream when I was a young kid, somewhere around the late '60s or early '70s, where I was walking though a dept store and I had a Magic 8 ball in my hand except where the round prediction window was it was a little round television screen. That was so cool, that as I woke up my hands were groping underneath my pillow searching for it. When I fully woke up and realized it was just a dream, I was crushed. Today we have something far better, for real. The hate just isn't justified.

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  5. Nooooo by fubarrr · · Score: 2

    >will apparently be designed with the space for a cutout at the top, much like the iPhone X and its so-called "notch"

    NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

  6. Already done by Merk42 · · Score: 2

    iPhone previously showed the current time in the middle, and thus, had to be changed for iPhone X's 'notch'. Android doesn't show anything there to begin with, which is why phones like Essential, were able to have a similar, albeit much smaller, notch.

  7. never update by jbmartin6 · · Score: 2

    This is why I never update. Yet another "upgrade" introducing pointless and gratuitous interface changes. No doubt they will "improve" my user experience by moving, removing, or renaming settings, adding new "features" I can't delete or turn off, and if they are feeling really ambitious perhaps break some of the apps I use and make the device generally slower.

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  8. How else? by joh · · Score: 2

    Everybody wants to stretch the display over all of the front or at least do that as far as possible. Since there are a few things (like the camera) that have to stay there too, you have to make room for them. So the only options right now are either a "notch" or a "full-width notch" (having the display not cover all of the height of the front). Since you can make good use of the display areas left and right of the notch you get more usable display area this way compared to leaving empty a strip on the top or bottom of the front just to put the camera there.

    What's so hard to understand about this?