Android 9 'Pie' has officially launched with a focus on artificial intelligence

[Polycount]

Highly anticipated: Google's latest Android update has finally arrived, and it has yet another dessert-oriented name: Android Pie. The update's major focus is on artificial intelligence - many of the features arriving with the update will learn your habits over time and use that information to streamline the Android experience.

By using AI, Google hopes Pie will make your phone smarter, simpler, and "more tailored to you." The update will arrive with a slew of new features designed to accomplish just that, including new device brightness and battery management tools.

Those features, appropriately named "Adaptive Brightness" and "Adaptive Battery," will take advantage of past usage information to lower your device's brightness at opportune times and reduce the amount of power little-used apps receive. If those tools don't sound terribly exciting to you, Android 9 has plenty of other tricks up its sleeve.

One such trick is "App Actions," an AI-based prediction tool that operates in the background, offering you suggestions for the next app you might want to use. For example, if you wake up at the same time every morning for your work commute, App Actions could begin to suggest navigating via Google Maps and resuming a podcast or music playlist.

Android Pie also features a new app navigation system, which essentially replaces the hardware or software-based app select button found on many modern smartphones.

By simply swiping up once, you'll be given an at-a-glance view of all the apps open on your device, with the ability to swipe between them at will.

While you're in this app view, you can highlight text to put Pie's AI tech to work. If you select the name of a diner, for example, Pie can show you a Yelp Reviews button in addition to the standard copy, search, and share options.

The final Pie feature worth discussing is Digital Wellbeing, which is an in-beta dashboard that lets you see how you use your device. Within the Digital Wellbeing interface, a pie chart will reveal which apps or services you use the most, allowing you to pause apps or snooze notifications to avoid mindless content consumption and reduce distractions.

The Digital Wellbeing feature will also contain a "Wind Down" tool, which will switch on Android's Night Light feature and fade your device's display to "grayscale" before you go to bed.

Android Pie is launching for Pixel owners today, but everyone else will have to wait a bit longer - Google hopes to roll the update out to its partners' devices sometime "this year," but the company hasn't offered any further details.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/75835-android-9-pie-has-officially-launched-focus-artificial.html

 

[Teko03]

Correction: Google wants to learn from you

 

[Nobina]

I'm used to manually adjusting settings I like. I don't like most of automatic options and disable them. I also don't trust this AI learning my behaviour because if I break the pattern it won't know how to adapt. I don't need a helping hand in using my phone which is already easy to use, I'm not disabled.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

I'm used to manually adjusting settings I like. I don't like most of automatic options and disable them. I also don't trust this AI learning my behaviour because if I break the pattern it won't know how to adapt. I don't need a helping hand in using my phone which is already easy to use, I'm not disabled.

Perhaps... but have you ever seen a geriatric try to use a smartphone? It's pretty painful to watch. Not that these two features are all that useful for the elderly.

Really all I want to see in a new Android is a proper dark theme for OLED panels to take advantage of the power savings there. And a limited function mode with lots of customization like Samsung's Ultra Power Saving Mode, which is actually quite nice but lacks customization. Oh and an option to just unlock after entering the correct PIN without having to press OK. Other than that, Android is just fine the way it is and we don't need all this gimmicky machine learning when you visit pornhub to automatically turn off your sound crap.

 

[SirChocula]

Google and AI, two words when paired together lets me know that I'll be avoiding the product. No thanks.

 

[petert]

Sounds like more crap I need to disable in the future ...

 

[Theinsanegamer]

We need a third phone OEM. Google is all about those ads, but the only alternative is apple and their thin, short battery life vegetable choppers, err, phones.

I suppose a phone running AOSP is an option, but you have to track one down. track down the ROM, and install it yourself, which isnt always an easy process.

 

[p51d007]

Since they named it Pie....will it only work for 3.14 days between reboots???

 

[p51d007]

Google and AI, two words when paired together lets me know that I'll be avoiding the product. No thanks.

Just install Adguard (can't get it from the play store though, they banned it).
It will pretty much firewall everything google spies on you.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Since they named it Pie....will it only work for 3.14 days between reboots???

Don't be silly... That's pi, not pie.

 

[Boilerhog146]

We need a third phone OEM. Google is all about those ads, but the only alternative is apple and their thin, short battery life vegetable choppers, err, phones.

I suppose a phone running AOSP is an option, but you have to track one down. track down the ROM, and install it yourself, which isnt always an easy process.

Windows phones are still available,aren't they?
Edit: Yup, HP Elite x3 is on sale for 299.00 and the Alcatel Idol 4s is on for 169.00 @ the micrsoft store..both great deals IMO .but that just me.with no headaches.



I'm just so glad that I stuck with a windows phone.no million aps to try and choose from.no funky updates
.I could be wrong but I don't think my phone is spying or listening in when I'm not using it, but the thing just works and does what I need it to. .

 

[tipstir]

Well I don't know why they just won't fix the OS and just come out with upgrades. Android from 1.6 to now 9.0 is that bug free too or is it going to be another push to Android 10. Poor Oreo 8 just didn't last too long. Oreo 8 like the last OS version as so many issues. I don't see them improving the OS just adding more features to existing problems. AI Hey Google and the maps boy the map are malfunctioning press Start and it reverts back to same screen how do you like that can of worms. Giving you the wrong directions. No fun at all. What happen who's the Project Manager in charge of that App task. Need to have their Project Engineers go back to the drawing board, but wait they're coming out with Pie 9. Hooray !