The most notable development with Android this year was the success of mid-range phones from major manufacturers as flagship phones continue to be priced out of the range of most consumers.
That directly affected me. Up until this year, I used Samsung Galaxy phones, the last being a Galaxy S8. In September, I switched to a Google Pixel 4a, and so far I'm happy with my choice. The phone is reliable, reasonably fast, and takes great pictures. I also like having the latest version of Android and getting monthly updates from Google. I thought about waiting for the Pixel 4a 5G, which has a wide-angle camera as well as the standard lens, but I was trying to save money, and I have no need for 5G service.
I don't have much to say about Android 11. It's very much an incremental upgrade from Android 10. About the best feature is the increased granularity of control over notifications. Otherwise, it just works.
In switching away from Samsung, I had to change some of my standard apps, and others got updated for various reasons. Here are a few I especially liked.
- Blue Mail: Samsung Mail wouldn't install on the Pixel, so I had to find another email app. Blue Mail was easy to install and configure and is fast and flexible, with more features than I am likely to ever use.
- Talon: My Twitter app of choice, TweetCaster, stopped working early in the year (it's back, now), so I switched to Talon and am quite happy with it. If you use Twitter, it's a vast improvement over the stock Twitter app.
- Infinity: This is a front-end to Reddit and is easier to use and faster than the stock Reddit app.
- Google Photos: Google has been adding quite a few editing features to the basic Photos app along with some AI-generated "suggestions". It works quite well and is easier to use for quick touch ups than loading up another app like Snapseed.
No comments:
Post a Comment