Android 13: I like the lock screen much better. It displayed a nice picture of the book I was listening to on my walk this morning, on top of which was the option to pause. And it displays the main notifications prominently and puts the rest of the notifications in a little bubble to the bottom left of those prominent ones. I like it.
It’s amazing to me that something so gorgeous is something I’ve gotten so used to by now. I don’t even look at it and delight in how pretty the font is anymore.
Canuck
3798
I’ve always had to so the lock screen pattern first thing in the morning upon waking on my Pixel 4a. I think it’s one or those security features.
That’s interesting and I would like to know where that setting is, but in my case it doesn’t just say “pattern required for extra security” or whatever but specifically says “pattern required after system restarts” which is why I find it strange.
Let’s see, there was KitKat, Lollipop, Marshmallow?, Nougat, Oreo, P?, Q? R? S? and now Tiramisu.
Pistachio ice cream
Quince tart
Red Velvet Cake
Snow Cone
Tiramisu
According to the internet
Upside Down Cake is next, I’m calling it. (What else can it be?).
I should check out the design changes to 12; so used to Nova Launcher that my last 3 phones have basically looked the same.
Canuck
3803
I’m not aware of any setting. I’ll pay more careful attention when I wake up tomorrow! Perhaps your phone is restarting every night, which would be strange.
Had to look that up. Purple yam? Interesting. Like a red velvet cake… but purple!
That led to finding a Filipino bakery not far from me that has ube ice cream and other purple treats I’ll have to check out sometime.
There’s a super cute episode of Steven Universe focused on ube. It’s more interesting with character context, but the whole series is great and worth watching, hah.
Canuck
3807
So I guess I’ve had the Surface Duo for a couple months now so I’d better leave a quick review. The TL;DR is that I love it, but I don’t think I would ever actually use it as a phone. The form factor just isn’t practical as a phone device. It’s terrible one handed and I would never want to try to pull something like this out of my pocket while sitting at a red light on my bicycle. I’m also terrified of damaging this because it seems fragile as hell. But I’ve never had a phone with glass on the front and back so maybe that’s why. I also find that the edges are a little uncomfortable and dig into my palm when I hold it one handed.
Now with all of those niggles out of the way, I have to say that I love this friggen thing! I love the dual, independent screens. I love the hinge which lets me use it as a mini tablet by having it sit on my stomach in bed while I’m watching Netflix. I love how damn thin this thing is. The Fold 4 looks like a literal brick when it’s folded.
I have the original Duo and I was concerned whether or not to go for the latest gen or not but I’m happy to say that this device is plenty speedy and I ended up saving a lot of money by not going for the Duo 2. I know that the camera isn’t as good but I don’t have to worry about the camera bump and I don’t plan on taking any photos that I care about on this device. I’ll mainly use it for documentation reasons for work (I teach kindergarten).
I find the keyboard to be so-so. I’m using gboard after getting frustrated with SwiftKey and right now I’m typing this post with it and it’s doing fine. I don’t really play games on it so I can’t comment about the performance or anything but I’m sure it would do just fine with the games I play (chess, euchre).
I’ve found two screens helpful for work (like when I’m writing an email to a parent and use the other screen to open up my Excel parent info list so I can get their email address. I’m hoping to also put OneNote to good use to help with student documentation for report cards. I’m not sure if OneNote has been optimized for dual screens or not.
Anyways I just love having two screens available. Here’s one instance where it came in handy. I was reading the Ukraine war thread and there were some Twitter posts showing where the Russian air force base on Crimea was bombed and I was able to pull up the same location on Google Maps and compare the before and after shots.
Anyways, I’m really loving this device as a toy/work device/mini tablet but I would never give up my regular phone. If you come across an original Duo for dirt cheap I highly recommend picking one up. It hasn’t lost a step despite being OG and Microsoft is doing such an amazing job at providing regular updates. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming 12L update.
Enidigm
3809
I aspire to be the sort of person that needs a Surface Duo, rather than wants one.
I missed the first hour! Google event.
Pixel 7, 7 Pro, headphones, watch, and a tablet coming in 2023.
Amazon has pre-orders up on all models with up to $200 in giftcards added.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/38C335A3-5267-4F60-BF63-84E19A02E990/
Looking forward to seeing reviews on this. My Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has a janky GPS and very modest call quality, and abandoned headphone jacks and SD card slots altogether, so the only thing keeping me mildly invested in that ecosystem is the camera quality. If the 7 Pro performs better, I’ll probably make the swap after I pay off the Galaxy. Or, hell, just pay it off early.
A tablet, you say? Let’s hope they don’t promptly abandon it like they did with the Nexus 7.
Best buy as well have $200 gift cards for the pro and $100 for the regular, they also have very generous trade-in amounts. Google store has similar in store credit but trade-in amounts are slightly lower.
I traded-in my 6 for a 7, cost net $200 but I get $100 of store credits back if I find a use for them.
