 |
| Checking Lollipop version - also you can play game using this |
I
felt my Nexus 4 is reborn after the upgrade. I was scared to update
initially after reading some posts about WIFI connectivity issue and
battery issues. I am running from yesterday and did not find any lag
or issues.
Here
are the features / changes in lollipop
1)
Faster
I
felt significant improvement in the performance compared to 4.4. Apps
are starting faster. Lollipop is running in ART (Android run time)
instead of Dalvik and may be one of the reasons for performance
2)
Fresh
There
are animations everywhere and it is done beautifully. Let it be
alarm, tool tips, Google now – all these apps are using the power
of animation and material design. The color and font is mild and
pleasing.
3)
Lock Screen
Lock
screen is looking great with new gestures and notifications. It will
show estimated time to fully charge. I was using dynamic
notifications in 4.4 for notification summary and it is not required
in 5.0.
 |
| Charging indicator in lock screen |
 |
| Notifications in lock screen |
4)
Pull down notification panel
This
is one of the best features. More options are available in
notification panel to enable wifi, mobile data, flash light etc.
 |
| Pull down notification; last set of ugly icons are coming from Notification toggle app |
5) Battery Saver
mode
This
mode will stop most of the background running apps to improve the
battery. Apps like WhatsApp, Facebook won’t notify me for every
update and it will be refreshed only after opening them. Also most of
the animations will be automatically disabled
 |
| Orange shade for status bar |
I
felt 15-20% improvement while running in this mode. Your notification
and action panel will appear in orange in this mode. It is similar to
using apps like Greenify to hibernate resource hungry apps
6)
Recent Tabs
It
is highly inspired from Chrome. Recent apps will appear as tabs
instead of stack. Looks beautiful and easy to switch recent apps
 |
| Recent apps in Chrome style tabs |
Multi-user
support
This
is not a new feature for Android since Android used to support multi
users from 4.1. But this was available for Nexus tabs and some other
custom ROMs like Cyanogenmod. It was not made available out of the
box since phone was considered as personal device and it was not
supposed to be shared with others.
 |
| Switching users |
Things
have changed… Line between tablet and phone is getting thinner and
people started using phablets.
I
can add guest user and allow them to use the phone. Guest will not be
able to access any apps or personal data (including gallery). This
becomes handy if your kid wants to play some games or colleague wants
to make some urgent phone call
7)
Screen Pinning
Another
useful feature and it is an abstract version of multi user. I can pin
one of the app and give the phone to someone. He/she will be able to
use only the pinned app
Go
to Settings à Security à Screen pinning
 |
| Enabling screen-pin option |
You
will be able to see pin button in recent tabs. Pin any one of the app
and it is the only app user will be able to use. Click on back and
recent button to un-pin. You can add additional security feature
using lock pattern or pin. User will be redirected to lock screen if
they tried to unpin and they have to know the pattern to view home
screen.
8)
Dialer
Dialer
interface and gesture animations are good
 |
| Dialer with quick search and dial pad |
 |
| Right gesture to view recent contacts |
9)
Google Chrome
Chrome
works differently in 5.0. Add new tab button is moved to menu and
switch tab was missing. Later found that chrome tabs are also listed
along with recent apps. It was bit annoying in the start and now I’m
used to it
10)
Gallery
I
am disappointed to see that there is no gallery app and only Google
photos app is available. It is difficult to view the folders since
the way it is organized is not so user friendly. I was expecting a
redesigned Gallery
11)
Camera
No
improvements in camera even after upgrading. The same camera app used
in 4.4 is available in 5.0 as well
12)
Battery
I
did not find any major improvement in battery life compared to 4.4. I
was expecting huge improvement since I read about Project Volta – a
project to improve the battery.
Quick recharge - Nexus 6
supports fast charging - charge for 15 minutes and use for 6 hours.
Looks like it is not a feature of 5.0
13)
Other issues
Most
of the apps used in 4.4 works without issues. MX Player did not work
and hopefully they will update the app soon
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