Android 12 Your Thoughts

[Heat_Fan89]

See, this is why competition is good for the consumer. This forum on occasion gets the pro Apple crowd telling us why we only need Apple, that Android is not as good or irrelevant. I downloaded Android 12 on my P4a and P4a 5G. Google did a fantastic job with A12.

The enhanced Call Screener (the main app that keeps me from going Apple) as well as Google Assistant. The new theming is just beyond words. My only complaint is that I wish the icon theming also applied to the icon drawer. You can only see it on the Home Screen. Maybe it's just a placebo effect but the scrolling on my P4a 5G seems a little smoother i.e. snappy for the Apple crowd. That's not saying it was laggiy prior to A12.

I'm really pleased with what Google has done with A12. Not only is it a fresh coat of paint but it's delivered some enhancements as well. Competition is always good.

 

[Aneres11]

I haven’t experienced A12 yet, but also like the look of the Material design. However I am also disappointed that the icons don’t extend to the app drawer.
I wonder how long it’ll be before some icon packs replicate them for all apps. Although I’m not sure if stock Android allows you to use icon packs. It hasn’t pre android 12, anyway.

 

[ian87w]

As good Android 12 is, only a few people will be experiencing it. Google only sells the Pixel 6 in like 9 countries (and the Pixel 5a in just 2 countries).

 

[bandrews]

Can anyone get their homescreen to look as good as the promo pics? If you use anything other than stock apps it all looks a bit messy if you want to use themed icons.

As good Android 12 is, only a few people will be experiencing it. Google only sells the Pixel 6 in like 9 countries (and the Pixel 5a in just 2 countries).

It's available for Pixel 3 and up. I've been using the Beta on my Pixel 5 for a few months

 

[ian87w]

Can anyone get their homescreen to look as good as the promo pics? If you use anything other than stock apps it all looks a bit messy if you want to use themed icons.

It's available for Pixel 3 and up. I've been using the Beta on my Pixel 5 for a few months

Elkgibity of other Pixel phones doesn't change the lack of countries where these Pixel phones are being sold...

 

[840quadra]

Pending delivery of my Pixel 6, I am attempting to run my Pixel 3 in 12 with the native launcher. Have been running the beta for quite some time but always with Nova Launcher as opposed to Google’s with their material theme.

Oddly for me, I just don’t like the normal pixel launcher. It feels antiseptic and lacks some of the controls I love using in Nova, and actually feels no better than iOS in this form .

Overall though, I am really happy with 12, love the new AOD info on the screen, battery life is decent, and enjoy some of the other UI tweaks / adjustments.

 

[jamezr]

Android 12 beta on my S21U has been great so far. Smooth and fluid and great user experience.
Android 12 on my Pixel 4 XL has been fantastic. A great overall user experience. This is the way Android is supposed to feel and work imho.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Can anyone get their homescreen to look as good as the promo pics? If you use anything other than stock apps it all looks a bit messy if you want to use themed icons.

It's available for Pixel 3 and up. I've been using the Beta on my Pixel 5 for a few months

Can anyone get their homescreen to look as good as the promo pics? If you use anything other than stock apps it all looks a bit messy if you want to use themed icons.

It's available for Pixel 3 and up. I've been using the Beta on my Pixel 5 for a few months

I found that Home Screen on the Pixel 6 display model at Best Buy. Those wallpapers are exclusive to the Pixel 6 phones.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

Really like Android 12 so far, small but subtle changes. Very quick and fluid on Pixel 5.

 

[bandrews]

Elkgibity of other Pixel phones doesn't change the lack of countries where these Pixel phones are being sold...

But it means there are a lot more Pixels out there than just the ones you mentioned in your post. Pixel 3 and 4 were also available in more countires. It was also available on other manufacturer's handsets.

 

[ian87w]

But it means there are a lot more Pixels out there than just the ones you mentioned in your post. Pixel 3 and 4 were also available in more countires. It was also available on other manufacturer's handsets.

What I meant was there are not that many Pixels out there to begin with. That’s actually serious. Number one is Samsung, second is Xiaomi. So the Android experience that majority of people around the world see is either OneUI or MiUI. Hate to be a Debbie downer, but it’s the sad reality.

And I myself am actually starting to be interested in the Pixel phones as Google seems to be preparing for a twin-app like feature. But I cannot even buy one if I wanted to.

 

[mclld]

I like it but I don't know of if it is Android 12 or my phone but I am having issues where the keyboard doesn't want to pop up, I am using the Pixel 5a

 

[Tig Bitties]

 

[nickdalzell1]

So is this an incremental update because I heard it was a total redesign known as "Material You"

How is it different from Android 11? also is it officially released or is this another beta?

 

[Aggedor]

Resurrecting an old thread:

I have a Samsung Note 20 Ultra, which has just updated to Android 12. And it's... not great? Apps can be stuttery, especially when scrolling, and the elastic-stretch effect when you reach the end of something (whether it's your Twitter feed or your camera roll) is absolutely ghastly.

Also, I seem to have lost audio controls on the lock screen, even though this is enabled.

Anyone else have recently experience with updating to Android 12?

 

[nickdalzell1]

My S20 FE got Android 12 (or more correctly, Samsung's take on it, called One UI 4) and thankfully nothing changed that I can notice!

I have seen screenshots of the way it looks on Pixels and dear god! it was like the 1970s decor was back again! The whole subreddit was filled with complaints the likes of which reminded me a ton of my reactions to iOS 7 in 2013.

Just thankful my S20 didn't get the Playskool treatment. Either that, or 'Material You' is more 'me' than I expected and it kept my skeuomorphic apps/themes intact?

The only noticeable changes were the elastic effect which I kinda like as it reminds me of the way iOS scrolls which was something I've always missed in Android, and given my phone's 120hz refresh rate, makes it on par finally (been complaining about the way Android scrolls since 1.x!) and the fact that every darned widget got the rounded corner treatment. It's funny that even apps from the year 2009 (when Android 2.2 was launched) also got rounded corner widgets. I don't understand society's obsession with rounded corners (another 1970s 'modern' decor thing and very reminiscent of CRT Tv shapes) at all but I have no hate/love for it. It's no dealbreaker, just something I never quite understood. Rounded corners were a part of early Mac UX because of the shape of the CRT, but today why?

I had to use a few Bixby routines to fix my audio not showing a widget on the lockscreen or notification area. What happened before the update was I could put my Buds in my ears and resume playback from my watch (or buds) of whatever app was playing last. I'd quickly switch playlists by unlocking and just tapping a different music player's widget (I have my playlists separated by multiple apps each with respective widgets on a home screen page) but after the update, I notice my watch always shows 'unknown' and can't resume anything. The music controls vanish entirely soon as you tap pause/stop. So I made routines that cue up the appropriate playlist depending on where I'm at, what day of the week it is, or which device I'm connected to. It cleaned up my widget overload at least. But I think it's something to do with how Android 12 shows only 'notifications you need' and it is some half-arsed attempt at cleaning up the notification area.

 

[Ludatyk]

Anyone else have recently experience with updating to Android 12?

There’s a bug when it comes to text input… I cannot enter text without the cursor jumping off to the end of the text field.

For instance… I was bout to respond to this post with Samsung Internet or Microsoft Edge, but I couldn’t type in the field properly with sentences going further down on the text field. I’m typing this on my iPad, but for some reason… I don’t have any issues with text input on TapaTalk. But other than that.. it’s been a smooth experience.

 

[nickdalzell1]

I've also noticed on my S20 FE the face unlock appears borked. As in it never offers it anymore. My face is still registered in settings, and I can re-register fine, but now once Smart Lock times out, it wants my fingerprint or PIN, never offering to use my face as it once did. Anyone else having this bug with One UI (Samsung)?

Used to be it'd let me face unlock for a day, then default to fingerprint, and then PIN after another day. Now it skips the face part entirely.

 

[kaardowiq]

I‘m out of devices or OS. In my opinion they‘re more equal than ever - but the related eco system matters in these days more. The closing of free G photos after all the years was already disappointing but closing the free GSuite (legacy/Google Apps) impacts my primary account. Over the years I lost more and more trust in Google while the hardware (at least Google and Samsung) works quite good, I need to keep in mind that one of my used features could be get lost. However, Apple gave me with iCloud+ what I wanted.

 

[Aggedor]

Yeah my S20 Note Ultra uses One UI 4 as well, of course. I have my screen set to the high res and 60Hz - I might set it to the full HD and 120Hz and see if that helps with stuttering scrolling.

Building Bixby routines to fix audio playback controls sounds... complicated!

 

[ian87w]

There’s a bug when it comes to text input… I cannot enter text without the cursor jumping off to the end of the text field.

For instance… I was bout to respond to this post with Samsung Internet or Microsoft Edge, but I couldn’t type in the field properly with sentences going further down on the text field. I’m typing this on my iPad, but for some reason… I don’t have any issues with text input on TapaTalk. But other than that.. it’s been a smooth experience.

YES! I have this issue on my S21 with OneUI4. I thought it was the browser.... It's impossible to type a response and the reply box keeps getting longer and longer by itself... Good thing my S7FE tablet has not received an update yet...

 

[Ludatyk]

YES! I have this issue on my S21 with OneUI4. I thought it was the browser.... It's impossible to type a response and the reply box keeps getting longer and longer by itself... Good thing my S7FE tablet has not received an update yet...

Yup. I tried switching from Samsung Internet to Microsoft Edge and see if that helped, but nope. Haven't tried using a different keyboard (Stock Samsung Keyboard). But not sure if that's the cause of it because text field is buggy when I use my Bluetooth keyboard. And it's very annoying.

 

[Awesomesince86]

Android 12 is the biggest leap the OS has taken in probably 3 or 4 years. Bugs were to be expected. Aesthetically I think it looks more polished (other than the notification pull down buttons). I think it’ll end up being good but the initial release has been rocky.

 

[nickdalzell1]

I‘m out of devices or OS. In my opinion they‘re more equal than ever - but the related eco system matters in these days more. The closing of free G photos after all the years was already disappointing but closing the free GSuite (legacy/Google Apps) impacts my primary account. Over the years I lost more and more trust in Google while the hardware (at least Google and Samsung) works quite good, I need to keep in mind that one of my used features could be get lost. However, Apple gave me with iCloud+ what I wanted.

I have always been using the Samsung apps because they offer more features (the email app has custom sync schedules, the messages/sms app has the ability to use custom bubbles and backgrounds, their browser offers adblocking) also because Google always had a short attention span on their apps, constantly killing and/or 'rebranding' them where I always had to learn them over and over again. It's almost like muscle memory doesn't exist to Google. I also more recently got burned by them EOLing Google Play Music, but I figured I could still use it for offline play, right? WRONG!

I am not even using a single Google app. I will never know if one day I decide to navigate to find out BAM! Maps is gone, or find out another day that Android Pay is BAM! gone. I already got embarrassed at a store one time when I had a Nexus 6, my Android Wallet was set up a week prior, and I found out at the register and a cart full of groceries that they rebranded it as Google Pay and my card was no longer compatible.

I use Samsung Pay now, and also will never trust their apps long-term. What few remain, such as Gmail (RIP Inbox), Chrome, etc.

thankfully on Samsung devices the notification pulldown was left alone. I feel sorry for those on Pixels/stock where the UI appears designed for either 4 year-olds or very old people.

 

[Ludatyk]

Android 12 is the biggest leap the OS has taken in probably 3 or 4 years. Bugs were to be expected. Aesthetically I think it looks more polished (other than the notification pull down buttons). I think it’ll end up being good but the initial release has been rocky.

Wait a min… you don‘t care for the new Quick Panel toggles on Android 12 that’s on the Pixel launcher?

I definitely like what Google did with it, looks more modern… I was hoping Samsung would take that from Android 12. But nope… Galaxy users still have the same Quick Panel layout. I’m aware they are ways to change it, but it’s going to be an overlay. And I don’t care for that.