Anyone using Android L yet?

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Ultimate Geek
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Topic # 148874 3-Jul-2014 14:24

Installed the developers preview of Android L on my Nexus 5 this morning.

Initial impressions are good - haven't found any apps that are not working yet (with the small exception of a display glitch when trying to post a Facebook comment), and have had no instability or crashes...so far!

Can't say it is a stunning change from 4.4.2 so far - will need to dig a bit deeper and of course not all functionality is implemented yet. That said, for the first time I have actually been using the Google keyboard instead of SwiftKey and it is working well for me.

I am fully expecting a dip in battery life, so will keep an eye on that.

hairy1

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Reply # 1079460 3-Jul-2014 16:14

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Trying to find some time to flash this without kids around.

Shouldn't the battery life be better? With ART this was a highlight of L....

Cheers, Matt.

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Kopkiwi

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Reply # 1079468 3-Jul-2014 16:25

Using the keyboard...loving that.

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Reply # 1079499 3-Jul-2014 16:49

hairy1:

Shouldn't the battery life be better? With ART this was a highlight of L....

.

From the scant reading I did, I believe that although it runs ART only, there are a number of mooted intelligence features designed to maximise battery which aren't implemented yet...

It probably isn't fully optimised either, so possible additional drain through inefficiency?

Will certainly drain faster due to my increased fiddling with it at any rate!

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Ultimate Geek
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Reply # 1079500 3-Jul-2014 16:50

Does seem a usable daily driver for me thus far though, which is a pleasant surprise.

Dingbatt

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Reply # 1079508 3-Jul-2014 16:54

Kopkiwi: Using the keyboard...loving that.

Is it a simple download and install? Of is it a little more complicated than that?
I thought I had read it required you to uninstall the existing Google keyboard and then side load the new one.
Certainly it looked clean on the screenshots I had seen. But apart from a new font what is different from the current one?

The reported 30% improvement in battery life with L has got me most excited. A lot of the other things are already available via toolbox tweaks and Xposed modules.

Areas of Geek interest: Home Theatre, HTPC, Android Tablets & Phones, iProducts.

hairy1

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Reply # 1079571 3-Jul-2014 18:23

The keyboard is easy to install. It is in the play store.

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Kopkiwi

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Reply # 1079625 3-Jul-2014 20:16

Straight download from the store

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Ultimate Geek
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Reply # 1080810 4-Jul-2014 11:24

Well, so far battery life doesn't seem any worse than before!

It is telling me I actually have 2 days left of run time which seems pretty damn optimistic to me - assuming that will become more accurate as it learns my usage and charging patterns?

toxicbubble

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Reply # 1081024 4-Jul-2014 15:15

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I've been running the L preview on my N5 as my daily driver since the morning it appeared, followed recommend full wipe (including SD card) to install. Have found it very stable overall, easy to root with updated SuperSU 2.01 (installed a modified boot partition initially to workaround root issues, back to stock boot now - this is no longer required with updated SuperSU). All other apps were working except for minor display glitches / minor layout bugs etc like the already mentioned Facebook comments. Had a couple force closes in some apps in certain places, but no show stoppers. Only real problem was with titanium backup not detecting root, unable to restore apps. Just recently, a new TiBu beta went up on twitter and have managed to get it going and restore my former environment. Everything running smoothly with the exception of some minor feelings of incompleteness around some of the new features. E.g Project Volta I'm sure has a way to go yet, new quick settings could be improved IMO. I've also noticed some intermittent WiFi issues handing over to AP in a multi-unit array, toggling WiFi usually sorts it out.

Battery life has been great for me, although took some time to settle in after first flashing. Now I'm getting better standby and longer screen on time in stock than I was on 4.4.4 with custom ROMs + kernels even with underclocking the CPU and GPU. Have this morning flashed the latest Android L code blue kernel built from some of the newly released sources and am excited to see how that goes over the weekend.

I first found the new UI a little jarring, but it's really grown on me and I'm loving the look and feel now. Can't imagine going back to 4.4. I'm really excited to see how it develops for the final release version as I'm imagining it can only get better. This is why you buy a Nexus!!!

Some links for those interested:

Android L images: https://developer.android.com/preview/setup-sdk.html
Recovery: http://techerrata.com/browse/twrp2/hammerhead
Root: http://download.chainfire.eu/451/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.01.zip
Busybox: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=stericson.busybox
Working Titanium Backup: https://twitter.com/TitaniumBackup/status/484410624672559105
Code Blue L preview kernel: http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/development/kernel-t2803857

Enjoy :)

eXDee

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Reply # 1081510 5-Jul-2014 16:13

Will probably jump to it when we see a bit of maturity from it, both from apps and from what i hope to be second code release update.

networkn

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Reply # 1081512 5-Jul-2014 16:18

URL to Keyboard?

hairy1

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Reply # 1081638 5-Jul-2014 22:13

networkn: URL to Keyboard?

Keyboard is here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.shenye.android.inputmethod.latin

I have been using Android L for a couple of days now. Loving the new notifications on the lock screen. Battery life seems better than Kitkat but a bit hard to tell as am poking around.

A couple of issues with the SDK. Firstly to install the Nexus 5 ADB drivers on Windows 8.1 64-Bit you have disable Windows driver signature enforcement. Secondly when flashing from the command prompt make sure that is run as an administrator. I kept getting fastboot force closing half way through the flash and couldn't figure out why.

Cheers, Matt.

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hairy1

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Reply # 1082779 7-Jul-2014 20:44

I have been using Android L for a couple of days now. It is surprisingly stable. One major issue is that all tethering is not working so if you tether your phone while out and about for data on other devices the current build may not be for you. Cynogenmod USB tether is the current work around.

Battery life is excellent. I have 28% left at 9 pm at night which is pretty unheard of.

Cheers, Matt.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

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Reply # 1083847 8-Jul-2014 08:31

I have found battery life about the same...but! - I now no longer run Juice Defender or Lux, so clearly there is an improvement in the basic OS power management.

Still getting a lot of Google Play Services wakelocks though - other than my screen, these seem to take the lion's share of battery drain.