Android Help Daily Superthread (Nov 01 2021) - Your daily thread for questions, device recommendations and general discussions!

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• Daily Superthread (Nov 01 2021) - Your daily thread for questions, device recommendations and general discussions!
• Android 12 November security patch rolling out to Google Pixel, factory images & OTAs live
• Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+ to bring few design changes
• Google Assistant Driving Mode is slow, buggy, and fundamentally unsafe.
• November Android patch available
• Confirmed: Galaxy S21 FE launch is planned for CES 2022
• All-round Redmi Note 11 Series debuts in Mainland China
• Did anyone else get a transparent background on their notification shade for a minute?
• Pixel 6 Pro "concerning things you've heard" thread - David Ruddock
• "Photographer" mode - Google should add a camera feature that allows you with a single click to automatically take 5 to 10 photos that are spaced 1 to 5 seconds apart. Would be perfect for when you're trying to take selfies or group pics -- would eliminate running back and forth to the camera.
• RetroArch Android running on Windows 11 WSA
• Found my old Nexus One in a closet today
• Samsung Z Fold 3 long-term review: Truly 3-in-1
• A useful spreadsheet for Fabricated Overlays (a non-root app for custom theming and other tweaks)
• Android 12 Changing Up Power Menu Controls

Daily Superthread (Nov 01 2021) - Your daily thread for questions, device recommendations and general discussions! Posted: 01 Nov 2021 05:00 AM PDT Note 1. Check MoronicMondayAndroid, which serves as a repository for our retired weekly threads. Just pick any thread and Ctrl-F your way to wisdom! Note 2. Join our IRC and Telegram chat-rooms! Please see our wiki for instructions. Please post your questions here. Feel free to use this thread for general questions/discussion as well. The /r/Android wiki now has a list of recommended phones and covers most areas, the links have been added below. Any suggestions or changes are welcome. Please contact us if you would like to help maintain this section. Entry level (most affordable devices costing under $250 (US)/ $325 (Canada)/ €200 (Europe)/ £200/ ₹12,500 (India) Midrange section, covering the $250-500(US)/$300-700(Canada)/€200-500/£200-450/₹12,500-30,000 segment Flagship section, containing the most expensive devices with the highest end specifications submitted by /u/curated_android [link] [comments]

Android 12 November security patch rolling out to Google Pixel, factory images & OTAs live Posted: 01 Nov 2021 10:57 AM PDT submitted by /u/Tornado15550 [link] [comments]

Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+ to bring few design changes Posted: 01 Nov 2021 02:49 PM PDT submitted by /u/beefJeRKy-LB [link] [comments]

Google Assistant Driving Mode is slow, buggy, and fundamentally unsafe. Posted: 01 Nov 2021 02:18 AM PDT I have used Android Auto every day for at least a year and, while it had its quirks, the concept was sound. Maps opened by default, tabs for media and calls - simple, effective and most importantly - predictable. Android 12 has forced the use of Google Assistant Driving Mode, and I hate it. Maybe it's because I'm using a Pixel 4a, but it is consistently slow to load, fails to respond to presses and often the toolbar at the bottom just doesn't load, and instead there's just a white bar. Bugs I guess I can excuse, but the fact that it changes every time means there's no way to build muscle memory and instead I have to stare at my screen, navigating unintuitive options ideally before I set off, but sometimes once I'm driving. The alternative is to just set everything up manually before I get into the car, but then what's the point of having a driving mode? So: The home screen with suggestions has decided to relabel my home and work to "[Nearby pub]" and "Parking lot". Tapping them actually starts navigation about 50% of the time. The "for you" section seems to just open Spotify, not to the specific item I touched. Not to mention that once you're navigating somewhere there seems to be no way back to the home screen? Maybe you get lucky and navigation starts and you get the bottom toolbar - does your media start autoplaying from last time? Toss a coin. If it doesn't, get ready to brave the app drawer - press the button, wait 2 seconds. Press it again, only for it to register the first press too and close the app drawer. Press it a third time, wait, wait, then you can finally select your media app from the list of things you mostly will never use - why is maps in the drawer? I was just there! I don't want Google Play Books, YT Music or Google Podcasts. Why is the settings its own app?! Why can't I customise this list in any way? You've finally opened your media app - now you can choose the same thing you always do, right? WRONG! Here's a random selection of options that changes every day, and a call to action suggesting you use the voice controls - which I would, if I could make my phone use the in-built microphone! Instead, it tries to use my car's microphone through bluetooth which only activates when I have a call, rendering every voice control option useless to me. If you decide you would like to listen to something not algorithmically selected for you and tap the "All" button, there's another list which changes all the time. Where are my playlists? Where's my liked songs? The same thing happens with Pocket Casts too. Once you've got your media playing, there's an icon at the bottom on the map screen. Pressing it once pops open the "Pause" and "Next" buttons. Couldn't possibly fit a back button in there..? Now when you try to close it, it's again 50/50 whether it drops back down, or instead opens the fullscreen player view. If you're reaching over to a phone on a wobbly windscreen mount, you can't be relied on to have perfect accuracy of touch - which makes the fine distinction between these two options a dangerous decision. I tried using it for a few days, but have come to the conclusion that it's far too distracting and confusing to use while driving, and have instead delegated control to the passenger. Even they, with full attention, struggle to get it to do what we want to... Dynamic layouts, unresponsiveness, multi-layer menus, and critical bugs leave this an unsuitable product for drivers, all just to get us to use the assistant a bit more? No thank you. submitted by /u/Inigox5 [link] [comments]

November Android patch available Posted: 01 Nov 2021 11:36 AM PDT submitted by /u/kbDL- [link] [comments]

Confirmed: Galaxy S21 FE launch is planned for CES 2022 Posted: 01 Nov 2021 05:07 PM PDT submitted by /u/_sfhk [link] [comments]

All-round Redmi Note 11 Series debuts in Mainland China Posted: 01 Nov 2021 11:03 AM PDT submitted by /u/FragmentedChicken [link] [comments]

Did anyone else get a transparent background on their notification shade for a minute? Posted: 01 Nov 2021 04:23 PM PDT I'm on Android 12 on a 6 pro, and the notification shade below the quick controls went transparent for like 5-10 minutes. I didn't update or anything, it just showed up. I'm at work and unfortunately didn't get a screenshot, but now it's returned to it's dullness and emptiness. Anyone seen this lately? submitted by /u/thundershaft [link] [comments]

Pixel 6 Pro "concerning things you've heard" thread - David Ruddock Posted: 31 Oct 2021 04:53 PM PDT Source I'm going to go through some of the issues I've encountered so far and try to describe them in more detail for anyone who's still on the fence about this phone. 1/x: Battery life! I can't speak enough to this yet, but after a couple of days, my instinct is that what you've read (battery on 5G/mobile data isn't great, battery on Wi-Fi is good) is probably correct. Samsung modem PPW is just not going to be as good as Qualcomm's. 2/x: Auto-brightness Really bizarre to me how bad Google is at auto-brightness. The algorithm seems to be learning (as it does on Pixels), for sure, but I'm still noticing some really wonky behavior in very low light with auto brightness. How this still happens is beyond me. 3/x: Fingerprint scanner is slow / inconsistent Yeah, I hate to say it, but this is spot on. Google does not appear to have done a very good job on the in-screen FPR. It's slower than Samsung or OnePlus (by a LOT), and it's pretty finicky. Not a fan. 4/x: Photo processing is noticeably slow Depends. Some shots process very quickly, some take 3-5 seconds or more. I imagine this depends a lot on the lighting and how many frames the camera decides it needs to bracket together for the shot. Haven't done any night shooting yet. 5/x: Performance weirdness You can tell Google did a very very very good job optimizing performance on the Pixel 6 Pro, this phone does feel very fast. But there is some weirdness at times. I've never seen TikTok make a phone noticeably hot. And yet it happens on P6 Pro. Overall, these are the only real things I've noticed so far from a software UX perspective that are less than great. Can and will any of them be fixed? Modem: I highly doubt it. Fingerprint: Also highly doubt it. The rest, I think, can be addressed in software. I suspect the fingerprint scanner will get updates down the road, but I've never seen a manufacturer take a straight-up bad fingerprint scanner -- which this is -- and make it good. Google could prove me wrong! But I sure do wish they'd kept face ID. submitted by /u/FragmentedChicken [link] [comments]

"Photographer" mode - Google should add a camera feature that allows you with a single click to automatically take 5 to 10 photos that are spaced 1 to 5 seconds apart. Would be perfect for when you're trying to take selfies or group pics -- would eliminate running back and forth to the camera. Posted: 31 Oct 2021 11:23 PM PDT "Photographer" mode or "Model" mode -- Google should add a camera feature that allows you with a single click to automatically take 5 to 10 photos that are spaced 1 to 5 seconds apart. Would be perfect for when you're trying to take selfies or group pics because it would eliminate running back and forth to the camera. They could even add a visual countdown/indicator for each picture. (blinking flash, etc.) We were taking group photos last night and having to run back and forth to the camera made it take so much longer than it needed to, especially because the phone was balanced on a ledge and everytime we touched the phone we needed to reposition it so we were all in frame. iOS allows you to take photos with your Apple Watch, but this just simplifies/automates that process without requiring a watch at all. submitted by /u/arashtp [link] [comments]

RetroArch Android running on Windows 11 WSA Posted: 31 Oct 2021 06:27 PM PDT submitted by /u/NXGZ [link] [comments]

Found my old Nexus One in a closet today Posted: 31 Oct 2021 11:28 AM PDT We were digging around for candles to put in jack-o'-lanterns, and stumbled across my old Nexus One. I thought some of you might enjoy a blast from the past. Scroll ball! Hard-coded buttons at the bottom of the screen Made by HTC. Look at that camera. Slide-off back panel reveals a removable battery and SD card slot! It feels so tiny in my hand. comparison to my wife's Pixel. Cyanogen Mod 7 Crap, what's my passcode? submitted by /u/zookeeperme [link] [comments]

Samsung Z Fold 3 long-term review: Truly 3-in-1 Posted: 31 Oct 2021 09:12 AM PDT submitted by /u/FragmentedChicken [link] [comments]

A useful spreadsheet for Fabricated Overlays (a non-root app for custom theming and other tweaks) Posted: 31 Oct 2021 12:05 PM PDT Fabricated Overlays Summary To learn more about Fabricated Overlays check out this post by u/The-Dragonborn. They explain what the app is and how to get it. To summarize here briefly, the app allows you to change your theme colors exactly to your liking instead of relying on "Material You". (It's best if you enable the paint chips widget to help) Along with modifying the colors, you can also tweak some of the UI. This includes: Changing the number of quick tiles you see when you open your notification shade Increasing/decreasing the size of the main clock on the lock screen Separating the Wifi and the mobile data quick tiles In Fabricated Overlays you search for the app you want to tweak, and then you search for an attribute you want to change like "Accent1_100" and Fabricated Overlays will let you change its value to 0xff98cbff (formatted 0xaarrggbb). More information can be found in Dragonborn's post. Spreadsheet Info My friend (u/Hig13) and I, have created the beginnings of a spreadsheet to help others use Fabricated Overlays. In it we've specified what the attributes do and a few visual examples of the outcome. We want your help to find more useful attributes to tweak and their results. Please comment your findings on the sheet and one of us will add it to the sheets when we have time. We want this to be a collaborative project! Here are a few images to show off just how many colors Material You changes (courtesy of u/Hig13): Blue Theming, Green Theming. submitted by /u/MagnificentTiger [link] [comments]

Android 12 Changing Up Power Menu Controls Posted: 30 Oct 2021 06:29 PM PDT I was excited to update my Pixel to Android 12 only to realize Google completely changed the power menu by removing two useful additions from 11. Previously, by holding down the power button I could access my wallet and home controls. Such a good implementation. I use the wallet occasionally but have gotten so used to home controls. Now I'm having a really hard time getting adjusted to swiping down and trying to get to those controls from quick settings. Truly wish they revert back. submitted by /u/killgravy [link] [comments]

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