Top Five: Android Lollipop Features
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my full review of Android 5.0 Lollipop right here!
Although not many of you are currently running Lollipop. It has been released and out in the wild for some time now. After prolonged usage in the real world, often used features and elements of the operating system have stuck out. Here are the Top Five Lollipop Features:
Material Design(#PraiseDuarte)
I cannot stop marveling over how gorgeous Lollipop really is. Kit Kat was an immensely functional, powerful operating system. Lollipop builds upon that framework and makes it beautiful, playful, and full of life. Material Design is the new design standard for Google. It translates wonderfully across all platforms and screen sizes. Every interaction has a playful reaction. Matias Duarte spoke about the rules of Material Design quite simply here, “You want things to behave in a predictable way”.
Battery Saver
Phone batteries are a fickle beast. Everyone wants a bigger phone battery, but in a thinner package. Those two desires mix about as well as sardines and milk, not well at all(If that combination is appealing to you, you might need help). We live in a world where phone batteries are finite and limited in their capability. Until we can transfer our smugness about our phones into electricity, we need workarounds like Quick Charge and Battery Saver. While Quick Charge is a hardware feature, Battery Saver lies within the software. Battery Saver is pretty basic. It turns off background processes and scales back performance. You’re left with a sluggish, but useable device that will last for quite a bit longer than it normally would. As soon as your device drops to either 15% or 5%, Battery Saver kicks on, and you have another hour or so of usage.
Smart Lock
Face it, we all have things we want to hide from prying eyes. Whether it be a text messaging thread, embarrassing selfies(you can search my phone, there are none), or whatever else you want to keep private. The fact of the matter is, unlocking your phone with a password or PIN every time is annoying. Enter Smart Lock, Google’s intelligent phone or tablet lock. To set up Smart Lock, you set up a PIN, Password, or Pattern.
You then add a trusted device, trusted place, or trusted face. If the device you’re using is connected to your Moto 360, for example, it will not require an extra security measure to unlock. This functionality gives you peace of mind in a variety of different scenarios. It’s stonewall security, but smart.
Camera2API
Android camera software has long been disappointing in certain regards, especially on Nexus devices. The Camera2 API in Android 5.0 Lollipop looks to finally address some of those issues. The API looks to deliver manual camera controls, RAW image capture, and asynchronous burst capture. For those uninitiated in photography jargon let me put it simply. You will have the choice to have much more control over the photo taking process. If you have ever wanted to tinker with photography past point and shoot, this new framework allows you to do so. RAW image capture might seem a little silly for a phone camera today. But the future implications are huge. As cameras in smartphones become more and more powerful, this RAW ability will be incredible. As for asynchronous burst capture, it seems as though burst mode on Android phones will maybe not be terrible. I've had shoddy results using burst style shots on Android phones like the Moto X, this addition looks to alleviate that.
There are already great camera apps available that utilize this API in the Play Store, giving you more creative control.
Restore/Back-Up
I write about devices, clearly I am going to have to switch between multiple devices at any given time. The revamped restore and backup function is a great way to get up and running with minimal fuss. Have your old phone laying around? You are a singular NFC tap away from making your old phone transfer apps and data to your new phone. Now, the process can become more involved when you have to re-authenticate apps. It can sometimes bug out. But overall, the procedure is painless and quite wonderful. I restored a backup of my Nexus 9 with a few taps and no fuss.
