Android is getting a big AI overhaul in 2026
- Thread starter JournalBot
- Start date
So basically nothing interesting at all.
As someone who has used android since the beginning, I'm considering jumping to iOS.
As someone who has used android since the beginning, I'm considering jumping to iOS.
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Thanks Google, for reinforcing my decision to not replace my Pixel 6a with a different Pixel. After the way they handled the battery fire issue, I had already decided it was time to change brands. This confirms that to be the right call. I guess I'll see when it'll be time to replace this 6a, but it won't be with a Google device. Probably some other company that supports right to repair to a greater extent.
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Great, sounds like I'm going to have to spend a bunch of time on my account settings trying to figure out how to turn so this crap off when Google inevitably forces them on at launch. It's bad enough that Gemini is a mediocre try-hard of an AI to begin with, but Google's insistence on forcing it to be enabled and littered in every useable space of Android and Chrome is the exact sort of behavior that make people hate AI. AI has lots of problems, but maybe the one driving negative consumer sentiment the most is M$ and Google's ham fisted forcing of it everywhere it's not needed nor wanted.
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That looks interesting. Completely new OS, or based on Android or Linux?
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Great... The enshitification continues. More crap I'm going to have to turn off.
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Who travels by saying, "Book me somewhere that looks like this". I swear, most of these AI use cases are from people who have never touched grass.
Even if you offload the work of planning a trip to a travel agent, it involves at a minimum a few conversations about what you are looking for and relies on their expertise to provide you options they think you'll like.
Even if you offload the work of planning a trip to a travel agent, it involves at a minimum a few conversations about what you are looking for and relies on their expertise to provide you options they think you'll like.
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So much this. There is zero chance I'll ever let an "AI" handle trip planning for me. I know what I want, and prefer to plan my trips personally, so I know exactly what is going on. I'd have a hard time letting another human do it for me, never mind an unreliable AI.
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I'm impressed by the size of Google's Wall To Throw AI Shit At To See What Sticks.
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We absolutely need a 3rd player in the mobile OS stalemate. Apple and Google can absolutely do whatever they hell they want and what are users going to do.
Pity that Linux is at least 10 years away from being a credible alternative. (Using a web browser for everything is not an alternative to apps on a 6" display.) And that carriers are platform gating their network.
Pity that Linux is at least 10 years away from being a credible alternative. (Using a web browser for everything is not an alternative to apps on a 6" display.) And that carriers are platform gating their network.
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I can see the usefulness of a few of these features...
I've long wished that Android Auto could communicate with the vehicle more: for example if you put in a destination that's beyond your vehicle's estimated range, it should be able to take that information and go "here are fuel/charging options in your preconfigured 'miles to empty' threshold".
A number of the examples of the widgets from the article would be better served folded into the Pixel's At A Glance widget, but since that's (as far as I know) Pixel exclusive, I can understand why they aren't.
Improved security features are always welcome, IMHO.
I've long wished that Android Auto could communicate with the vehicle more: for example if you put in a destination that's beyond your vehicle's estimated range, it should be able to take that information and go "here are fuel/charging options in your preconfigured 'miles to empty' threshold".
A number of the examples of the widgets from the article would be better served folded into the Pixel's At A Glance widget, but since that's (as far as I know) Pixel exclusive, I can understand why they aren't.
Improved security features are always welcome, IMHO.
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I don't see Microsoft trying again anytime soon. They're too busy trying to right the ship with regards to Xbox...
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Pretty sure it's Android under the hood. A Screenshot, that could be easily fake, showed Netflix, Uber, Gmail on the home screen. So either they are hyperlinks to a webpage or Android as Google and Netflix would never build an app for a out of the box new platform.
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Do it, I have few regrets making the switch. For me the trigger was having my Google phone totally bricked by a faulty new Android feature. They did ultimately replace it, but it took multiple weeks and I'd moved on by then (there's a lesson here for tech companies).
It's generally been positive. I don’t love everything about iOS, but iOS and Android have a lot more in common these days than I think most people are willing to admit. Apple seems to have a somewhat more sane approach to AI integration (or when not to do it), though.
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Yeah, the subscription seems a little steep:
$120/year (or is it £120, $160/year?) seems pretty pricey - they should just raise the price of the $699 phone and include 5 years of updates and then maybe offer subscriptions after that.
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Oh, great ... a subscription fee-based OS??? You are kidding, right? Talk about out of the frying pan, into the fires of damnation.
Perhaps you could have recommended the FOSS GrapheneOS (which the subscription-fee based AphyOS on that device you recommended, is apparently based on anyway).
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Fuck this. I resent all of these companies pushing AI, and will resist this technology as much as I am able.
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I'm honestly leaning toward something like the Light Phone than something like this. It might be painful to go back to a non smart phone (or very limited purpose smartphone) but there doesn't seem to be a lot of options if you don't want AI, care about privacy/tracking, don't want social media, etc.
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Also, lest we forget those other changes that are soon coming:
https://keepandroidopen.org/
Google-fied Android disgusts me these days. How did we ever go from the insanely free, simple and open early Android versions, to this locked down, AI-ridden, franken-monster of an OS?
https://keepandroidopen.org/
Google-fied Android disgusts me these days. How did we ever go from the insanely free, simple and open early Android versions, to this locked down, AI-ridden, franken-monster of an OS?
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So Google looked at what MS has done to Windows with the Copilot infestation and their response is "hold my beer". Great
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Why not pay for a subscription? Nothing else is free, including Google's Android: they just hide the price you're paying. And a five year subscription costs about $4.15/month. I'd far rather that, than put up with Google. You don't like the idea, fine. But there are possibilities other than Google and Apple, neither of which looks good to me.
And yes, I'm aware of GrapheneOS; in fact, the OS under the Punkt phone is based partlky on GrapheneOS.
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I switched to the LightPhone II about a year ago. It's not for everyone, to be sure. But it's been fine by me --- in its niche: phone calls and simple text messages only. Unfortunately, there are too many situations that demand an actual smartphone. Were it not for that, the LightPhone II would be more than acceptable, and it has some rare virtues: I got 7 full days out of the last charge.
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I just ran through all of my apps and did a little thinking about what I need from my phone. I think it's finally time to switch to iOS. I really don't like the interface, but frankly I've dialed my phone habit way back, so it just doesn't matter anymore. ProtonMail and the other Proton apps are well supported there, so this will be a nice step away from Google. Kagi's Orion browser is on iOS too, or I can stick with Vivaldi.
I'll probably miss Podcast Addict the most. Oh well.
I'll probably miss Podcast Addict the most. Oh well.
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Please, no. Why are they so determined to add features I don't want to solve problems that don't exist? Even if this feature worked perfectly (it won't) and I trusted it to work perfectly (I wouldn't), the time it would save me would still be measured in minutes per month.
It's so obvious they're starting from the technology and asking what cool things they could do with it. That's backwards. The correct approach is to start by watching people use their phones, see how they actually spend most of their time, and identify the major inefficiencies that could be improved.
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iOS still has a big OFF switch for all AI.
Save for the questionable UI, the fact that all browsers are Safari skins, and the lightly walled garden that doesn't allow apps such as a native torrent client, it really does everything well.
It's actually boring, which is actually good.
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Wow, I'm impressed! Google seems to have made the next version of Android worse than Copilot. Who knew this was possible?
I moved to iOS for my phone, it is so much better than Android now (once you turn off the Liquid Glass shit, nothing's perfect). Still stuck on Android for tablet, though, will watch this with interest and horror.
I moved to iOS for my phone, it is so much better than Android now (once you turn off the Liquid Glass shit, nothing's perfect). Still stuck on Android for tablet, though, will watch this with interest and horror.
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I guess I'll join the chorus in adding I don't want any of this. Classic case of a "solution" (if you can call AI that) in search of a problem. What's billed as AI in products I've tried has been shit. And it's negatively affecting my interest in tech. Everything from worsening the experience to rapidly increasing prices.
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The best thing about android 17 isn't even mentioned: The wifi and cellular buttons are split again. But they somehow didn't manage to make the wifi button disable the wifi, it only makes it disconnect.
Also the cellular button asks for confirmation when turned on; something that would have saved me a couple of bucks in the past.
Also the cellular button asks for confirmation when turned on; something that would have saved me a couple of bucks in the past.
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Well anyhow, Microslop at this point literally can only make something worse than Android or iOS. They proudly advertise that they're all vibe coding now and every single product they have is rapidly getting worse (except a few game studios that are somehow avoiding it). And they would attempt to make the entire phone AI first - Copilot would be the OS. Slopya would totally get on board and push that. So even worse than Android in every single way.
Google bought Android. Like Waze, for a long time 'Android' was fairly well siloed from Googlefication, but those days are gone. Eventually everything gets Google Enshittified in the name of serving up more ads, or they absorb it into another product then kill it. If Google Search isn't safe (and it wasn't), nothing is.
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