The new version of the Google operating system is fast approaching: Android 16 has already shown itself, during its Betas program and with the announcement of Google, all its cards. With equipment 3 expresses as the great novelty, Android is involved in new shapes and colors.
From now on, the whole system will adapt to the accent color of the wallpaper, “Google applications” are redesigned with new guidelines and blurred effects are added. It is a more than remarkable change, although it is a logical evolution, but Google has neglected one of the characteristics of its platform.
Android looks better than ever and is less Android than ever
Google already has the Android 16 full performance machinesWith a launch planned for the coming weeks, which will fall in June, as reported by the American company. With each new version, he has polished a formula that is now making a big jump with the evolution of your equipment.
However, in this modernization layer, an uncomfortable question arises: is Android dilated its essence? Maybe it has not become the most used platform in the world for its personalization, but presumed of great freedom that Google treated the blocking.
His almost infinite customization capacity made him a refuge for more enthusiastic users who wanted to tighten their devices to the maximum. The winds have changed: I have a certain feeling that something fundamental of Android is lost.
The initial promise of material design, with a system that adapts to the user, is good. Visually attractive, Today he feels as imposed: Even manufacturers in their personalization diapers try to follow it. And this implies a sacrifice, leaving less space for deep customization. Are you looking for a greater “expression” in Android to the detriment of the user's own expression?
Not to mention what my partner Ricardo commented Xataka, also a lot of expressive design and little adaptation: The incostistence between applications is always as much as in the past. “”Giving freedom is incompatible with a coherent ecosystem“And in addition to not being consistent, he has lost the capacity for personalization.
Beyond the problem of fragmentation, the problem is that Google requests so that manufacturers respect their design lines are not too strict
An operating system that is no longer for geeks
We see it on Android, also on the iPhone. Take a look at the aesthetics of the starting screen of iOS 16 to see something in common: Colors everywhere, rounded icons And an aesthetic far from the traditional diagram. In the Google system, launchers, icon packs, widgets … but have lost bellows, in fact, many of these launchers also follow the design of “Android de Google” together.
The memory of a more frozen Android weighs. Before we can radically transform its interface, it now seems more content or channeled what Google wants (and manufacturers). Citing a reader's comment, I aim to change the trend: “It seems that Android's goal is no longer geeks for those who like to optimize a tool, but young people attracted by colorful lights. “” He has his share from part. Do you agree?
He is not the only user to have a negative reflection on the evolution of Android: communities based on AOSP demand Google for greater freedom, some even think that Google limits the system to promote their commercial interests. NOW, What was lost along the way? The Android 16 Rediseña notifications and the quick adjustment area seem pretty, but as I said previously, it does not differ from other “flavors” (resemblance to a user interface or hyperos is there).
The exception is perhaps precisely Samsung, which, thanks to Good Lock, offers modules with which “potoretous” in each section of the galaxy system. Of course, I will not stop recognizing that this trend is the product of the market evolution itself: Google has put the massification of identity in balance. It is understandable that the owner want to make Android more accessible and attractive to the mass audienceAfter all, they get a lot of income from this platform.
And this accessibility consists in transforming Android into a simple, understandable and modern system, with many similarities with iOS that do not share. Can you be made without alienating an enthusiastic niche user base that was essential in their growth? Complicated.
Anyway, Android 16 will arrive soon and with the update, endless aesthetic changes with many colors. I think it was a Lost opportunity to find a balanceAnd this is the confirmation of a new address where users more “geeks” have fewer maneuvering room. This implies offering a better healed experience and everyone.
In Xataka Android | All mobile phones that update Android 16 and when they start updating
