With the release of Android 5.0 Lollipop, Google has clearly revamped the features and designs of its mobile operating system. Unfortunately, the new software is still not perfect; it is marred with some odd decisions and a few bugs. Here are five things about Android 5.0 that could disappoint us:

Android5

  1. Simplistic power menu: In earlier Android version, we get a menu with a few options when we press and hold the power button. We could shut down and reboot the device. We could also set up ringer modes and enable the airplane mode. However, the Android 5.0 shows one option only and that is to shut down the device. This is clearly not a glitch and it is just a new way Google wants the menu should be. This could be rather inconvenient for people who use the power menu regularly. These functions are now accessible in the quick settings interface. It should be easy for Google to remedy this problem and the developer team could just put the original menu design back. As comparison, Nvidia has added useful power menu in its Lollipop update for the Shield Tablet.
  2. Non-editable quick settings panel: The Lollipop offers accessibility features that allow the interface more usable for people who have impaired vision or are color blind. One of the ways is by offering the ability to invert the colors of the display and this would show the interface in a very contrasting appearance. However, for people who want to try the feature out of curiosity would find that the accessibility option is placed in the quick settings interface almost permanently. It could actually disappear if we neglect if for a few weeks. But it may feel like forever and the icon would take valuable space. Google should allow us to configure things we want to add or remove in the quick settings interface. Samsung TouchWiz has offered this kind of capability.
  3. Notification ticker is missing: Fortunately, the Android 5.0 still offers a workable notification shade. But this time, chat messages and others will be shown as heads-up notification. Google seems to be rather enamored with this kind of capability that the notification ticker is no longer available in the Lollipop. Notification ticker is scrolling text and icon that appear in the status bar when new messages arrive. Apparently, this new capability is now gone. Notification ticker allows us to know the brief content of the message and the sender of email, without causing interruption. Heads-up notification has the same function, but it is more intrusive and uses the upper part of the interface. It would be better if Google uses the non-intrusive notification ticker again or offers an option to choose any of them.
  4. Unintuitive Priority and None options: The notification system of Android 5.0 could be forcefully intrusive when we set it as a priority. But it could also be rather confusing. It means that we can set specific contacts as priority, so their messages and calls will always get through no matter what we do. The Priority option shouldn’t be an issue if we don’t use it at all or we set it for only one or two contacts. However, there’s also the None option that could cause interruptions with our works if we are not careful. We can configure the Priority option from the system settings interface or the volume pop-up. However, it may involve a rather steep learning curve for average users. As an example, if people unknowingly assigns some contacts with the None option, all notifications related to them will be silenced.
  5. Unintuitive unlocking interface: It is good to know that the lock screen of Android 5.0 has built-in notifications. We could swipe up to unlock the device after we see what is going on. However, the way Google implements the camera and phone shortcuts is rather problematic. The gestures needed to activate these features are not too obvious. Normally, Android users would swipe the unlock button to appropriate icons to unlock the phone or go directly to the camera. The actual unlock gesture is when we apply the upward motion, although we actually try to access the camera. Overall, the unlocking mechanism feels rather unintuitive.

Overall, these issues could be handled with quick fixes and they should be a more minor concern; but still could cause numerous annoyances during daily usages. This should still be an indication on how great the Android 5.0 Lollipop is. There’s actually not much to complain about Google’s new software version.