The launcher is, but not everything new in Android 16 could be just an app. The new desktop mode, for example likely requires much deeper integration with the OS.

Poor Seang Chau. They wrote this blog post in a total of three paragraphs, but Google was still like "WOULD YOU LIKE AN AI SUMMARY?" at the top.

Literally took me about 45 seconds to read all of the features, but Google is over here burning down another rainforest to process an AI summary of a three paragraph blog post with three pictures.

Was it a Samsung phone? They've had Dex for some time but it was a Samsung specific feature as far as I know.

Capitalisms loyalty is to capitalism, not a political party. You talk as if Apple isn't doing the same thing.

I mean yeah, you're right about the desktop mode, but 90% of new user facing features are going to be in one app or another generally.

Technically the desktop mode itself might also be an app, though a window manager or desktop environment isn't something we conventionally think of as an app.

No idea when I'll get to touch a new enough Android to play with it. My old Oneplus is on shaky custom rom support and my daily driver is an iPhone (which will likely get much longer software support and is newer to begin with)

fanboy

See, that was your first problem. This isn't team sports.

But I can’t personally look past Sundar Pichai being directly at Trump’s inauguration in the front row

Did you not see Tim Cook in the same section?

If you really want to increase your privacy, you're gonna need to use a Pixel device loaded with a custom ROM such as Graphene OS or Calyx OS. Or none at all.

I have both. One for work. Use both everyday.

Same here, personal Pixel + work-issued iPhone. I use Linux ^btw^ and Android for the most part, but my wife has used almost exclusively Apple devices since college; in addition to her iPhone 16PM, she also has a Macbook (A1706 lol) and an 27" Retina iMac (last Intel model).

Safe to say I'm very familiar with Apple's ecosystem and user interfaces.

Which brings me to my point: every time I come into these threads, I can always tell who's only ever used one and not the other. They aren't the same, they both have bugs, and both suck up your data in stock form.

All tech companies threw money at Taco Don, or at least pandered to him/his admin.

Yeah, good luck with that, ain't gonna happen. Best we can hope for is open source teams being able to modify android into that.

If there was ever a reason to get grapheneOS...

I also use LineageOS, which also comes sans Google as a flavour, but it's far less secure and much rougher about the edges than GrapheneOS. I choose hardware by alternative OS support. If you want a new tablet the only option is Pixel.

The desktop experience. Unless you've been using Samsung deX, which this is built upon.

Desktop mode finally? Anything meaningful?

No revanced on iOS either. That alone disqualifies iPhones.

The emoji thing is built into the keyboard, but it doesn't do like on-device generation or anything. They just have a list of pre-made(maybe AI generated) combos. I'm guessing they are AI generating them, then having humans approve it, before including it in the keyboard emoji list. It's kinda neat, in that it expands the options, but really not much. Overall the OS really feels the same. I haven't looked forward to an Android update in many years.

Also, as someone who doesn't use Google's launcher or keyboard, yeah, I get almost none of these features.

New Android 6 features tailored to steal more of your data behind your back. And now $500 more expensive!

I suppose the distinctions between the OS and "just an app" are blurred on any OS. One might argue anything that isn't the kernel is just userland software on conventional Linux.

On Android, anything a third party could deliver without system or root privileges is "just an app". That includes keyboards, launchers, messaging apps, image editors, and smarthome device managers, but not direct management of network connections, notifications, or direct interaction with other apps (i.e. outside of intents or over the network).

If you've used an Android device with root access, you've seen things that fail this test. Anything that needs root to work can't be delivered to most Android users unless it's part of the OS or a system app.

New OS versions feel like threats.

Would you like to kill Son Goku?

That is the duty of bacon. I do like birds though.