Android 12L brings tablet-focused features, like a dock and dual-pane interfaces.
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Android 12 is so last week: Meet Android 12L, now in developer preview
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I suspect the same thing. They do offer some reasonably priced versions of the iPad that some could afford to buy multiple of, but that's pretty unfortunate for the people who can't afford to just buy a duplicate of everything for everyone in their family, or even just for anyone who doesn't need to.
They could totally sell people on "buy everyone an iPhone, buy a single iPad for the whole family, and have your apps sync between your phone and your account on the iPad."
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I think "mid-range" in the US is still quite pricey for the rest of the world.
The vast majority of all Android tablets sold are priced under $250 and that's before sales. Notably, the global Android smartphone ASP hasn't yet cracked $300, so I imagine the Android tablet ASP is significantly less.
It's the same reason why many Ars commenters think Android tablets are "dead", meanwhile Android tablets have outsold iPads every single quarter since Q4 2012 with an impressive nearly 9-year streak. Sometimes Android tablets ship 2x the units versus iPads.
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Chemical Tribe
Ars Legatus Legionis
Yeah, no. I'll use Dex which is way more useful. Plus, it can run off my phone.
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I would really like a Pixel competitor to Samsung tablets. But I can't forego microsd either, so it doesn't matter.
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I'm sure that's part of it, but also the ipads have very little RAM and storage. They are the least robust hardware that they sell.
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I absolutely love that it's 2021, and the most modern of modern operating systems is desperately adding features that were new four decades ago, in DOS.
And this is why I don't care to do anything on my phone. It's just an enormous step back. clipboards, multi-tasking, seeing multiple (way more than two) applications at once, drag'n'drop, what's next?
Oh yeah, playing multiple sounds concurrently. That'd be swell.
How about connecting to a peripheral device when there are three devices and two computers in the same room, all permitted to access each other? Especially when that "room" is traveling at 100mph.
Oh, oh, oh! How about transferring a file.
Raise your hand if you thought you'd hear about dosswap and null modem cables today.
And this is why I don't care to do anything on my phone. It's just an enormous step back. clipboards, multi-tasking, seeing multiple (way more than two) applications at once, drag'n'drop, what's next?
Oh yeah, playing multiple sounds concurrently. That'd be swell.
How about connecting to a peripheral device when there are three devices and two computers in the same room, all permitted to access each other? Especially when that "room" is traveling at 100mph.
Oh, oh, oh! How about transferring a file.
Raise your hand if you thought you'd hear about dosswap and null modem cables today.
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I don't think that it should be a big deal to get large scale app support for tablets and foldables if Google will finally commit to develop the OS and tooling in that direction and implement good examples with their own apps. Any decent Android app uses layout managers for being able to render well on the wild variety of screen shapes and pixel densities. Composing already built views into expandable layouts isn't rocket science either.
What I believe that might have happened internally at Google was a power fight between web/ChromeOS and mobile product groups/teams. The appointment of the Chrome guy as the CEO and his continued success (mostly because of the search and cloud strategies) probably went to the long term disadvantage of the Android factions.
As an anecdotal evidence, I love my Pixelbook's hardware design (thin, light, great keyboard and touchpad) but the OS is really primitive. Many recent design decisions are highly questionable (e.g. the notifications system is a mess). I love Android on my Galaxy Tab s7 plus (except the Samsung "value add"), the chipset and screen are wonderful but it can't ever be a productivity device (flimsy keyboard attachments). Why can't my Pixelbook run Android?
Edited: minor spelling
What I believe that might have happened internally at Google was a power fight between web/ChromeOS and mobile product groups/teams. The appointment of the Chrome guy as the CEO and his continued success (mostly because of the search and cloud strategies) probably went to the long term disadvantage of the Android factions.
As an anecdotal evidence, I love my Pixelbook's hardware design (thin, light, great keyboard and touchpad) but the OS is really primitive. Many recent design decisions are highly questionable (e.g. the notifications system is a mess). I love Android on my Galaxy Tab s7 plus (except the Samsung "value add"), the chipset and screen are wonderful but it can't ever be a productivity device (flimsy keyboard attachments). Why can't my Pixelbook run Android?
Edited: minor spelling
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I'm not sure it matters. I've had at least 7 Android tablets over the years, and there's zero chance even my Samsung from 2019 will end up with an update to this version.
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The app screenshots looks like Android 3.0 when they introduced the new fragment (har-har) support. Now we are going back to it with a new coat of paints, because as far as Google is concerned, it is better to do something badly 10 times than to do it right just once.
Edit: as an Android developer and Android phone user I have grown increasingly annoyed and resentful of all these changes both on the API level and the UI level. Instead of spending time on making the apps better, every year or two we have to accommodate the new "hip" UI trend of the day or to rip out some libraries/coding-patterns becasue Google deprecated them or introduced something purported better
Edit: as an Android developer and Android phone user I have grown increasingly annoyed and resentful of all these changes both on the API level and the UI level. Instead of spending time on making the apps better, every year or two we have to accommodate the new "hip" UI trend of the day or to rip out some libraries/coding-patterns becasue Google deprecated them or introduced something purported better
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I have an iPad and will be happy to toss it if 12L gives me a good tablet experience and Google and App developers deliver some good tablet apps.
This has been needed for a long time. Hope it does well.
This has been needed for a long time. Hope it does well.
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Apple's solution is that every user in a potential multi user setup would buy their own tablet, which has its own positives and negatives.
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iPadOS today supports multi-user.
See https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/s ... f373ef/web
Apple deliberately chose to not make this available to customers but only to businesses and educational institutions using an MDM solution.
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So it's definitely just to force consumers to buy multiple iPads. Well shit.
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I'm a long time Android tablet user, but I have to admit I've been frustrated with the lack of real progress. I very much got the impression that Google had abandoned Android on the tablet format, and that they were focusing on ChromeOS for that area. To that end, I bought myself a Lenovo ChromeOS tablet. And... well, it sucks. It's nowhere near as nice to use as Android is. It's sat pretty much unused and I'm back to my old Huawei Android tablet, which is really showing its age now.
It's damn near impossible to buy a decent smaller (8") Android tablet, which is all I've had up until the Lenovo. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I've not got on with it, it's just too bulky for my needs. I'll be the first to cheer if this leads to a resurgence of a good variety of Android tablet hardware. But, it's Google, so I won't hold my breath.
It's damn near impossible to buy a decent smaller (8") Android tablet, which is all I've had up until the Lenovo. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I've not got on with it, it's just too bulky for my needs. I'll be the first to cheer if this leads to a resurgence of a good variety of Android tablet hardware. But, it's Google, so I won't hold my breath.
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Android already has multi-user support.
Isn't the feature here multi-application support?
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Just in time for Android app support on Windows!
https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/sta ... 84577?s=21
But yeah, I wonder how this affects ChromeOS
https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/sta ... 84577?s=21
But yeah, I wonder how this affects ChromeOS
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TFTFY. If you'd put tablets and smartphone in the same category, tablets would have about 10% sales. But they get absolutely crushed by the usage share. For example 54.6% mobile, 42.9% desktop, 2.5% tablets according to https://gs.statcounter.com/platform-mar ... ile-tablet
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My shitty Lenovo tablet will never make it past Android 10, so ... 
I almost wish Google would have continued to ignore tablets in Android. This pitiful gesture that most current Android tablet owners will never see feels like Google flicking a crumb of desiccated bread onto the floor for us ants to take away, while it grins, "There you go. Enjoy your feast!"
Google loves to build features so it can have a bullet point on a slideshow somewhere saying, "See, we support this product category!" If Google were serious about a tablet ecosystem, it could have laid the foundations, oh, more than a decade ago. What's that? Me, bitter? Never!
I almost wish Google would have continued to ignore tablets in Android. This pitiful gesture that most current Android tablet owners will never see feels like Google flicking a crumb of desiccated bread onto the floor for us ants to take away, while it grins, "There you go. Enjoy your feast!"
Google loves to build features so it can have a bullet point on a slideshow somewhere saying, "See, we support this product category!" If Google were serious about a tablet ecosystem, it could have laid the foundations, oh, more than a decade ago. What's that? Me, bitter? Never!
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I think "mid-range" in the US is still quite pricey for the rest of the world.
The vast majority of all Android tablets sold are priced under $250 and that's before sales. Notably, the global Android smartphone ASP hasn't yet cracked $300, so I imagine the Android tablet ASP is significantly less.
It's the same reason why many Ars commenters think Android tablets are "dead", meanwhile Android tablets have outsold iPads every single quarter since Q4 2012 with an impressive nearly 9-year streak. Sometimes Android tablets ship 2x the units versus iPads.
Most android tablets are bought “because they’re cheap” and dumped because they’re crap. A lesson many people (including myself) learn and relearn. They serve their purpose for the manufacturer but they never really show up for app developers because of it.
Even with a new Android focus, the shitty hardware with nonexistent update policy really needs to be overcome.
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My shitty Lenovo tablet will never make it past Android 10, so ...
I almost wish Google would have continued to ignore tablets in Android. This pitiful gesture that most current Android tablet owners will never see feels like Google flicking a crumb of desiccated bread onto the floor for us ants to take away, while it grins, "There you go. Enjoy your feast!"
Google loves to build features so it can have a bullet point on a slideshow somewhere saying, "See, we support this product category!" If Google were serious about a tablet ecosystem, it could have laid the foundations, oh, more than a decade ago. What's that? Me, bitter? Never!
Lucky you, mine bought 2 years ago brand new never made it past 8.1
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Making an enhanced version of Android for tablets is a good step, but you have to convince App developers to make tablet apps.
To compete with Apple they also have some serious challenge ahead, you need desktop class performance for the Pros and high-end smartphone performance at the mid tier.
Oh and, they need to bring USI pen, it seems to work well on Chromebook with the majority of 2-in-1/tablets having a pen option.
Otherwise, Android tablets will only be useful as cheap media devices (like the Kindles).
To compete with Apple they also have some serious challenge ahead, you need desktop class performance for the Pros and high-end smartphone performance at the mid tier.
Oh and, they need to bring USI pen, it seems to work well on Chromebook with the majority of 2-in-1/tablets having a pen option.
Otherwise, Android tablets will only be useful as cheap media devices (like the Kindles).
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I still have my Nexus 7. Only Google would create near-perfect hardware, then abandon the entire segment. Was that supposed to be a mic-drop gesture?
Related: I still have a Nexus Q. Genius-level device. I weep for the team that developed the Q, then watched it get shelved soon after thousands were given to devs.
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Maybe those Android tablets are predominantly being used in kiosks and other embedded applications rather than as personal devices? That'd explain why the tablets are so low-end, and the unit shipment so high. I can't remember the last time I saw an actual person carrying an Android tablet (it's always an iPad or a Windows tablet), but I do see Android tablets often at checkout counters, museums, help desks, etc. Current iPads would be vastly over-specced for such purposes; the most shabby Android tablet will often be enough. $250 for a low-end Android tablet vs $350 for the cheapest iPad isn't that big of a leap for an individual considering all the additional perks the iPad gives you, but when you're ordering hundreds of them for kiosks, it suddenly becomes a lot more significant.
I think "mid-range" in the US is still quite pricey for the rest of the world.
The vast majority of all Android tablets sold are priced under $250 and that's before sales. Notably, the global Android smartphone ASP hasn't yet cracked $300, so I imagine the Android tablet ASP is significantly less.
It's the same reason why many Ars commenters think Android tablets are "dead", meanwhile Android tablets have outsold iPads every single quarter since Q4 2012 with an impressive nearly 9-year streak. Sometimes Android tablets ship 2x the units versus iPads.
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I also still have my Nexus 7 2013 which I have recently pressed back into service as functionally a small/lightweight VNC client for my astrophotography setup. Big enough to render a proper 1920x1080 desktop without scaling, small enough to not be unwieldy when standing outside in the cold in the middle of a dark field somewhere. I'd love to buy and use something newer but... I really haven't found anything currently sold that beats this now 8 year old device (on its second battery), or at least not without costing an absurd $500+.
Maybe Google's newfound interest in android tablets will mean more affordably priced high resolution less-than-10" devices, but I'm not holding my breath.
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Maybe those Android tablets are predominantly being used in kiosks and other embedded applications rather than as personal devices?
I think "mid-range" in the US is still quite pricey for the rest of the world.
The vast majority of all Android tablets sold are priced under $250 and that's before sales. Notably, the global Android smartphone ASP hasn't yet cracked $300, so I imagine the Android tablet ASP is significantly less.
It's the same reason why many Ars commenters think Android tablets are "dead", meanwhile Android tablets have outsold iPads every single quarter since Q4 2012 with an impressive nearly 9-year streak. Sometimes Android tablets ship 2x the units versus iPads.
Or maybe there are 8 billion people in the world, yet only 330 million live in the US?
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Maybe those Android tablets are predominantly being used in kiosks and other embedded applications rather than as personal devices?
I think "mid-range" in the US is still quite pricey for the rest of the world.
The vast majority of all Android tablets sold are priced under $250 and that's before sales. Notably, the global Android smartphone ASP hasn't yet cracked $300, so I imagine the Android tablet ASP is significantly less.
It's the same reason why many Ars commenters think Android tablets are "dead", meanwhile Android tablets have outsold iPads every single quarter since Q4 2012 with an impressive nearly 9-year streak. Sometimes Android tablets ship 2x the units versus iPads.
Or maybe there are 8 billion people in the world, yet only 330 million live in the US?
Nope. They’re sold and not used much
https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-sh ... /worldwide
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Chemical Tribe
Ars Legatus Legionis
Let's be honest: I have two of those 2013 tablets. Out of those two, one had the infamous sensors issue which meant no rotation until you rebooted. And my original nexus 7 barely escape death from a bad update.
Now, I liked each of them when they came out, but sadly, quality wasn't something they had.
And really, did they abandon it? They made the nexus 10, and the nexus 9. I just turned my 9 off and it's more laggy by far vs my 2nd gen 7.
They ditched them because devs didn't care, and no one in the us kept buying them. And even when they made windowed mode in version 7, the Pixel c never got the feature enabled. Oh and that had hardware issues as well
Meanwhile my tab s2, and tab s3 work well, and if I upgrade the s5e or s6 lite will be what i get.
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Good theory, except not all Arsians are American. I’m not American either.Maybe those Android tablets are predominantly being used in kiosks and other embedded applications rather than as personal devices?
I think "mid-range" in the US is still quite pricey for the rest of the world.
The vast majority of all Android tablets sold are priced under $250 and that's before sales. Notably, the global Android smartphone ASP hasn't yet cracked $300, so I imagine the Android tablet ASP is significantly less.
It's the same reason why many Ars commenters think Android tablets are "dead", meanwhile Android tablets have outsold iPads every single quarter since Q4 2012 with an impressive nearly 9-year streak. Sometimes Android tablets ship 2x the units versus iPads.
Or maybe there are 8 billion people in the world, yet only 330 million live in the US?
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Where does Android end and ChromOS begin, if this release is also aimed at ChromeOS devices?
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I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but the only feature I see that would probably make much of a difference in Chrome OS is the new desktop layout. Chrome OS devices already have their own taskbar, and they wouldn't use the Android notification shade.
I wouldn't get too excited about seeing the new layout in Chrome OS anytime soon. It typically takes quite a while for the Android subsystem in Chrome OS to be updated. Realistically, based on the timeline for the final release of 12L, sometime in the second half of 2022 is likely the earliest it could roll out in the stable channel, assuming it doesn't get skipped for being a minor update. Plus, I assume app developers will need to update their apps to support the new layout, which adds another wrinkle.
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The thing is that is still much more than a decent android tablet, i.e. to be used by your kids to stream music, watch films. We bought two, one samsung (S6 LIte) and one noname for 100 EUR.
I think "normal" people - i.e. people with average income, globally, look for a much more affordable tablet.
Nothing wrong with iPads, just a different price category, that is all.
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Not to mention Fire Tablets, which are often under $100 and are "fine" (and actually pretty great for kids because of the pre-loaded content and smaller size).
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I just don't see what's wrong with running Android apps in ChromeOS if one wants a more desktop-y experience. Or better to say I don't understand the difference/advantage of running Android apps in a desktop-y version of Android vs running them in ChromeOS.
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Since this still in development don't expect release before Summer 2022.
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