Pros
- New Material Design API rules should make for better, more consistent apps going forward
- Improved battery life and battery saver
- Smart rotation button is simple but ingenious
- Digital Wellbeing is the Alcoholics Anonymous for millions of smartphone addicts
- New look is easy on the eyes
- Editable screenshots
- Long list of new or improved features
Cons
- Recent Apps and other features (including Digital Wellbeing) not offered to third-party developers
- New gestures and navigation bar replacement are a bit much, confusing, but at least you can turn them off.
Bottom Line: Overall, Android 9 is an improvement over version 8, but Google is hoarding some of the more impressive features for its own phones; even so, the expanded AI and other improvements are well-implemented.
Google released Android Pie to its own phones, namely the Pixel brand, in August of last year. Since then, the various manufacturers of Android phones, including Samsung, Motorola, Huawei, Sony, Nokia, Honor, LG, and others, have been adapting the latest version of Android (ver. 9) to their phones.
Some, such as Essential Phone and OnePlus, rolled out in late 2018, while others, including Samsung and its higher-end Note and S9+ models didn’t’ see updates until January and February 2019.
Android Pie, or Android P, as many folks call it, is a huge update from the previous version, Oreo. Android P has a new look, lots of new productivity, convenience, and security features, as well as several functionality changes to existing features.
It’s a lot to cover—far more than I can cover here without writing a review that would require a huge commitment of time on your part. Hence, this review concentrates on the most important and interesting changes.
It’s important to note, though, that not all manufacturers adopt all new features, and sometimes they adapt them different from how Google deploys them on its phones. A good example is that Android P supports taking screenshots by holding down the Power button and then choosing Screenshot from the ensuing menu.
The Samsung Note 9, for instance, already offers several ways to take screenshots, including the traditional Power + Volume Down method, a palm swipe gesture, via Bixby voice activation (“Hey Bixby, take a screenshot”), and via S Pen, the Note’s stylus. It and some other Samsung phones, as well as devices from other manufacturers, have not deployed the Power menu screenshot option.
In addition, for some manufacturers, adopting a new version of Android is an ongoing process, with new features added in subsequent updates. The point being, of course, that depending on your phone, you may not get all the Android P features, or they may not be exactly the same, and some may come later.
And some, because of the monopolistic tactics Google uses against its so-called “partners” (other phone makers), are simply not offered to third-party phones. The only way to know for sure what Android 9 will bring to your phone is to contact its manufacturer or the company web site.
The Samsung Note 9, for instance, already offers several ways to take screenshots, including the traditional Power + Volume Down method, a palm swipe gesture, via Bixby voice activation (“Hey Bixby, take a screenshot”), and via S Pen, the Note’s stylus. It and some other Samsung phones, as well as devices from other manufacturers, have not deployed the Power menu screenshot option.
In addition, for some manufacturers, adopting a new version of Android is an ongoing process, with new features added in subsequent updates. The point being, of course, that depending on your phone, you may not get all the Android P features, or they may not be exactly the same, and some may come later.
And some, because of the monopolistic tactics Google uses against its so-called “partners” (other phone makers), are simply not offered to third-party phones. The only way to know for sure what Android 9 will bring to your phone is to contact its manufacturer or the company web site.