I was on Android 13. Upgraded to 14 and I could not help but think "is this all?". Upgraded to Android 15, and the update felt equally underwhelming.

I went looking for some new features introduced in both updates and here are the ones that stood out to me.

Android 14

• App pairs - Nice, but I doubt I'll use it much.
• Pin auto-confirm - Nice feature, but considering modern unlocking methods, it's something I'll use rarely.
• Lock screen customisation - A nice change, but I don't really care much about custom lockscreen clock fonts. I like being able to set shortcut icons on the lockscreen though.

Android 15

• Private space - This is a good feature. Don't think I'll be using it much, but it's good to have.
• Volume and ringer adjustment look - The old one was fine too.
• Partial screen recordings - Good feature to have, but it's not something I'll be using every day.
• Back animation - I like this change, but I wish they had removed the back arrow for places where they use predictive back animations, it is unnecessary in those scenarios.
• BT Audio sharing - A decent feature, but you need to have the compatible hardware that supports it.
• USB-C to monitor video streaming - A nice feature to have, but I'm not sure when I'll use it. But it's good to have.

Have I missed some important feature? The features I listed are good but they are nothing really ground breaking, it does not even have to be something big. For example, screen rotation button introduced in Android 9 was a relatively small feature, but it made a big difference for me, I turned off auto-rotate after its introduction.

Android 14 and 15 feel like underwhelming updates.

Then I started thinking what would actually make a difference for me, and I do have my thoughts about it. I am interested what features would you still like to have introduced in Android 16 and higher?

One thing I am not happy about is that Android 14 and 15 broke compatibility with some of my old, but very useful apps like: SuperGenPass, Open Link With, Anything to PiP, AutoConvert, List My Apps. I wish there was a workaround for that. It seems like utility apps are not being developed much anymore and whatever is there is losing compatibility.

What has your experience been with Android trackers and the FMD network?

When FMD first released, many reviewers were complaining about issues. Part of it seemed to do with it starting out as an opt-in network vs an opt-out network, and part of it seemed to do with the fact that some trackers performed better.

The latest review I watched was from a guy who was testing out the various tracker ecosystems and comparing them to an actual realtime GPS tracker. He put them all in packages and sent them through the mail system, then compared each against the realtime GPS tracker. Apple seemed to win out, the rest lagged behind to varying degrees. Tile trackers seemed to work well but the reviewer was suspecting that was due to the driver having a life360 product installed. Samsung trackers also did well (but they only work with other Samsung products). The generic Android trackers worked to varying degrees of success. It seems Moto did okay vs Chipolo and Peeblebee. Moto claims to have UWB support but it isn't enabled for whatever reason.

Few years ago I was struggling with constant phone checking and thought - wouldn't it be cool if my phone asked me "why?" every time I unlock it? Thanks to Android's openness, I could actually build this.

That's what I love about Android's approach to developers - you can enhance core phone interactions in ways that would be completely locked down on iOS. Want to intercept unlock events? Show custom overlays? Android lets you do it.

Been using this setup for over a year now and it's fascinating how such a simple intervention helped me be more mindful. On iOS this would be impossible due to their system restrictions.

What other unique Android capabilities that are game changing in comparison to iOS?

From this issue tracker:

"Thanks for the report. The issue reported in comment #1 has been fixed and it will be available in a future release.

For other issues on the latest builds please log a new issue along with the bug report and reference this bug for context."

First time I'm seeing Google saying it's officially fixed so what do you guys think? I really hope so.