Android 5.0 Lollipop Includes 'Ambient Display' Feature Inspired by the Moto X

[dgstorm]

One of the slickest new features included in Android 5.0 Lollipop isn't really new at all. In fact, it is obviously inspired by something that the Moto X could already do. The feature is called Ambient Display and it is basically just a fresh version of the sleep screen from the Moto X.

Basically, with the Moto X, the sleep screen will pulse when the device is asleep. This pulse displays the time, notifications for messages, emails, missed calls and more. Ambient Display mimics this concept and will be included in the Nexus 6. Reports indicate it will also show up in all versions of Android 5.0 once that starts pushing out OTA.

The pics above are two examples of the feature. Pretty slick!

Source: AndroidPolice

 

[Ollie]

Pulse as in continually fade in and out?

 

[Dusty]

With Lenovo taking over Motorola in the near future, I suspected that a lot of the Moto X features would get rolled in to stock Android.

The upcoming Nexus 6 is gonna be hard to deny.

 

[Sydman]

Got excited when I saw this post, not seeing it in the latest preview build though.

Guess this could be a factor though,

"Reports indicate it will also show up in all versions of Android 5.0 once that starts pushing out OTA. "

 

[tgyberg]

Cool, can't wait!!

 

[FoxKat]

I would LOVE to see them supporting older devices and bringing them out of the dark ages and into the Lollipop! With it being able to run on less RAM (512Mb), and beign so transportable, it would be a boon for Google and Android overall. Taking everyone with older phones and putting them all on the same playing field with flagship devices in Android would CLOBBER iOS because there would finally be continuity from one device to another - something that Apple iPhone owners have enjoyed for years and one of the few things that has hindered the growth and world-wide acceptance of Android.

This could get really interesting.

 

[jayzero]

The worst part is all these Android phone locked to carrier. That takes so long for an update

 

[cr6]

The same could be said when Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich JellyBean & KitKat was released. "It'll work great on all these devices" they said.....then reality set in. Do you guys not remember any of this the past two years? LOL

S5 tap'n

 

[Ollie]

I'm not sure I am following how Android has been hindered world wide. Don't they have somewhere near 80-85 percent market share?

There aren't any monetary incentives for telcos to pay a team of people to update those aging phones. That is why it won't happen. Jellybean, Kitkat, and now Lolipop were all designed by Google to kill fragmentation. When Google rolled over on its back by letting carriers continue to not update phones they switched to something the carriers couldn't control...Play Services.

 

[Dusty]

I would LOVE to see them supporting older devices and bringing them out of the dark ages and into the Lollipop! With it being able to run on less RAM (512Mb), and beign so transportable, it would be a boon for Google and Android overall. Taking everyone with older phones and putting them all on the same playing field with flagship devices in Android would CLOBBER iOS because there would finally be continuity from one device to another - something that Apple iPhone owners have enjoyed for years and one of the few things that has hindered the growth and world-wide acceptance of Android.

This could get really interesting.

If Google could have it their way many of the past OS updates would be rolled out to any device that could physically run the software. You have the carriers and OEMs to blame for the older devices that don't get updated.

 

[Obsidian...]

Omg guys... Oems have to add their skins to the new OS. It has nothing to do with being locked, Google or anything else. Also ICS couldn't run on 512mb so that's why those devices lost support. If the OEMs didn't add their stupid skins all devices would be updated to the new OS like Nexus devices.

 

[cr6]

The fact is, it's not in their (manufacturers) best interest to push this to older devices, regardless of whether it will run smoothly on said device or not. It takes money out of their pocket by, in essence, making upgrading to a newer device much less attractive, especially for those who are on a budget. Manufacturers are more concerned with the bottom line....for that reason alone, I don't see it happening.

S5 tap'n

 

[FoxKat]

I'm not sure I am following how Android has been hindered world wide. Don't they have somewhere near 80-85 percent market share?

There aren't any monetary incentives for telcos to pay a team of people to update those aging phones. That is why it won't happen. Jellybean, Kitkat, and now Lolipop were all designed by Google to kill fragmentation. When Google rolled over on its back by letting carriers continue to not update phones they switched to something the carriers couldn't control...Play Services.

Yes, Ollie, you are right. Android does have nearly 85% of the marketshare worldwide (see below), however a large portion of that is with many older models and fragmentation is still a huge issue across the entire spectrum of Android phones, old and new.

Marketshare worldwide (IDC Smartphone OS Market Share 2014 2013 2012 and 2011)

Period Android *iOS* -Win- BB Others
Q2 2014 84.7% 11.7% 2.5% 0.5% 0.7%
Q2 2013 79.6% 13.0% 3.4% 2.8% 1.2%
Q2 2012 69.3% 16.6% 3.1% 4.9% 6.1%
Q2 2011 36.1% 18.3% 1.2% 13.6% 30.8%
Source: IDC, 2014 Q2

But the "telcos" wouldn't be tasked with the process of updating the older phones, the manufacturers would, and only if they wanted the phones to look and feel like they did when originally released. The downloads and flashing would be a Google process and from the Google website (or the play store). Otherwise the hardware would be the same, the only difference would be the OS and GUI. The phone would lose the manufacturers' custom "skin" and become like a Nexus device. In fact, Google could "assume" first position on the phone and make the OS more "Google" representative, thereby taking over older phones and making an instant "google phone" marketshare.

My argument is that when it comes to Android, it's clearly what people want as evidenced by the rapid trend and huge position now, however it comes at a price...fragmentation. Those who "enjoy" the uniformity of the iOS experience are unaware of the benefits of Android, or they're unwilling to give up the "it just works" mentality they've been trained to believe that the iOS iPhone experience is. If fragmentation hadn't been an issue those incredible growth trends would have been faster and steeper. It's all too obvious as well that Android has taken from ALL the other OSs marketshares as indicated by the downward-trending numbers across the other choices.

We all know that from a functionality, versatility and customization standpoint Android blows away the competition (read iOS mainly but all competing OSs in general), but even the remaining 11.7% of the marketshare that iOS holds is still a monumental number in terms of potential marketshare and profits. If you don't believe that, just look at Apple's stock price, having mainly been driven to the stratosphere by the iPhone's monumental success. Heck, I'd give my right arm to have even one tenth of one percent of the 11.7% that Apple enjoys. If I did, I'd be a multi-multi millionaire.

And can we blame Google, well in a way yes, and in a way no. They (and the manufacturers), NEED the carriers to provide the cellular towers for the phones, but the carriers NEED the manufacturers and Google (and iOS, Windows, Blackberry, etc.), for the phones. So it's a two-way street. They're all interdependent. So if one of the interdependent forces (read carriers), makes it clear to the others that it must be this way, they have very strong incentive to comply. The only part that they must comply with though, is the part that connects with their networks and communicates, i.e. the radio communcations and supporting protocols, which is now but a small part of these phones.

But could Google create a plain vanilla OS that could be completely compatible with the majority of older devices and would NOT interfere wih the communications portions of the kernel, allowing the phones to remain compliant with the cellular networks but simply bring them into a commonality as far as the user experience? Sure they could, and I believe that's what they're trying to do. At least that's what I'm hoping they're trying to do. If they couldn't, then the Nexus wouldn't exist.

 

[FoxKat]

The fact is, it's not in their (manufacturers) best interest to push this to older devices, regardless of whether it will run smoothly on said device or not. It takes money out of their pocket by, in essence, making upgrading to a newer device much less attractive, especially diet those who are on a budget. Manufacturers are more concerned with the bottom....for that reason alone, I don't see it happening.

S5 tap'n

I agree, but it's not the manufacturers that drive Google. If Google wants to continue this trend to total market domination they will ultimately have to address the "older" devices. Just because manufacturers make new devices doesn't mean that everyone will buy one, whether it's on a fragmented or non-fragmented OS. Money is in many families so tight that purchasing a new phone is completely out of the question. But you will notice one very obvious and interesting fact...

Older iOS phones retain far more of their value over time than ANY older Android phones do, and I believe it's almost entirely due to the lack of fragmentation or better said, the uniform user experience. They know that if they own an iPhone 3, 4, 5, 6, they can pick one up and it will work and feel almost identical. For them, the only draw to the new devices is any physical advancements to the hardware.

For older Android phones however, one must consider what version of OS it's running on and whether it's a buggy version that is no longer supported, either by the manufacturer or Google.

 

[Dusty]

...But could Google create a plain vanilla OS that could be completely compatible with the majority of older devices and would NOT interfere wih the communications portions of the kernel, allowing the phones to remain compliant with the cellular networks but simply bring them into a commonality as far as the user experience? Sure they could, and I believe that's what they're trying to do. At least that's what I'm hoping they're trying to do.

Of course Google could do that. But I'll use these two as an example, Samsung doesn't want you to NOT use TouchWiz and VZW doesn't want you to NOT have their "bonus" apps (we all know that virtually no one uses them). The other roadblock is that they also don't want to spend money on paying programmers to install that junk on every update. They also don't want to spend money on customer support to resolve the inevitable problems with updates. So what do they do? They simply ignore low volume and old devices. If the the consumer doesn't like it the carriers just say, "Go buy another device." and in turn offer you another contract and new subsidized phone. The OEMs hope you continue to buy their junk because you don't feel like learning another deeply skinned interface. I really don't understand people buying non GP or Nexus devices.

Unless Google flexes their muscles or comes up with an alternative the situation we have now is all we're gonna get.