Android 13 Update
While I'm waiting for LMODroid 13 to get ready, I started porting our features. Power menu is done! I'm sure we really for real will release before Android 14 comes out this time!! :D
While I'm waiting for LMODroid 13 to get ready, I started porting our features. Power menu is done! I'm sure we really for real will release before Android 14 comes out this time!! :D
Hey everyone, I wanted to give a small status update!
Websites and wallpapers are mostly done, OTA backend is being finished as we speak, I've been investing 80% of my free time into platform development lately and our designer didn't slack off either!
We are not dead. In fact, we're almost as alive as in our peak :)
There's 1 planned feature, 4 small yet-to-port features, 1 heavily work in progress feature and OTA admin panel left on our TODO - so wait just a little longer! You won't regret it ;)
- Nick
P.S.: join @iconware, the icon pack channel of our designer, if you want to do us a favour :)
Websites and wallpapers are mostly done, OTA backend is being finished as we speak, I've been investing 80% of my free time into platform development lately and our designer didn't slack off either!
We are not dead. In fact, we're almost as alive as in our peak :)
There's 1 planned feature, 4 small yet-to-port features, 1 heavily work in progress feature and OTA admin panel left on our TODO - so wait just a little longer! You won't regret it ;)
- Nick
P.S.: join @iconware, the icon pack channel of our designer, if you want to do us a favour :)
Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
Of course optional as always, but: presenting AOSP control center :)
Starting with 4.0, we will remove all features because it has gotten too bloated. Enjoy clean and light experience!
To date, we have fixed 3 AOSP bugs and submitted the fixes to AOSP gerrit:
- Freeform resize not working on a multi-display setup
- Low profile SystemUI mode (dim hardware keys) not working for non-fullscreen apps
- App menu only opening once in pre-Honeycomb applications
- Freeform resize not working on a multi-display setup
- Low profile SystemUI mode (dim hardware keys) not working for non-fullscreen apps
- App menu only opening once in pre-Honeycomb applications
Starting today, all of our web services except CI are down for extended maintenance & preparation for the upcoming 4.0 release
This project is on hiatus. We need to reorganize ourselves. Don't expect any releases anytime soon. That said, we have no plans to die ;)
Thank you for staying with us for so long, and we apologize for the disappointment this may cause
Thank you for staying with us for so long, and we apologize for the disappointment this may cause
Hi all,
TL;DR: droid-ng is dead.
Some may have expected this looking at our track record, some may have hoped our hiatus would lead to a revitalization.
During the hiatus, we realized something.
First of all, time passes and real life gets more intense. I have way less free time than I used to. It also applies to @brvn01 who lately has barely had the time to be online on telegram at all. Our designer Qirkl is extremely busy as well, adapting to his new life in Germany after having to move out of Ukraine due to the war.
Second of all, Google changed their mind on what AOSP is.
Apps are no longer part of the deal. It has been coming for a long time, but now Google is really cutting it to the bare minimum.
Dialer and SMS apps are discontinued. Gallery is long abandoned. Music is an artifact from the ancient times. Camera2 is way too basic and has barely any features. It's impossible to just rewrite the majority of the apps. Especially Dialer and SMS are extremely hard to adress - VoLTE, VoWiFi, ViLTE (video telephony!!), TTY (teletypewriters, something required for accessibility) and RTT, Visual VoiceMail, ... these features depend on carriers and cannot be tested everywhere. They are critical for some people, esp. RTT - some people are deaf and can't change that just because the Dialer app doesn't support accessibility. Lineage is trying to solve these issues in their own way: new Music, Camera and Gallery apps and forking Dialer and SMS. As always, LineageOS is basically saving the entire custom ROM community (or at least the part that doesn't like "stock" GApps packages) - nontheless is the focus on making it work, LineageOS - as well - doesn't have the resources to make apps that work great for a majority of people and are very polished and integrated. People still prefer OEM camera apps, Google Photos and third-party music players. For their purpose as basic apps, they do their job very well, but our vision was to offer a great, integrated and polished package and not just puzzle pieces that don't quite fit together. The SMS app still suffers from no RCS (as a side note, what google sells you as RCS is technically not RCS at all - more like a fork of RCS), no bubbles, no proper (multiple notifications combined marked correctly) "mark as read" in notification - which is considered basic functionality by users - and outdated design. The Dialer app and Contacts app have similar issues, but detailing all of these would make this post too long.
Third of all, we set the bar too high. We had a goal which is simply impossible with our manpower. It's a pity that it is - but a redesigned, polished and performant ROM is not possible to do with a team as small as ours. The only way to continue would be to focus on either platform and ignore apps, focus on apps and ignore platform, or ignore both of those and focus on optimized device sources - you can't possibly do all three. But doing that was too big of a sacrifice. Redesigning most of SystemUI is something I have actually prepared for quick settings panel - 2x2 tiles, music player, compact design, you call it - but the last mile was never walked because the change has gotten incredibly large, because I added these features on top of an unflexible AOSP QS panel, and most importantly, hacky. It had many small bugs because of the way I implemented this. Now you read this and say, sure just do it in a different way. The different way is to rip out whatever QS panel AOSP has and rewrite it. Which would mean editing lockscreen and notification shade as they are intervened code. It's too time intensive. Too hard to test. What about tablets? Smartwatches (yes people build ROMs for those - in fact including me)? TVs? Cars? We also don't have an UI designer that could give feedback on the result. In short, it's not possible.
It isn't worth it anymore. We can be another lineage reskin, or we can die, so we gracefully die. That is the conclusion we have come to.
TL;DR: droid-ng is dead.
Some may have expected this looking at our track record, some may have hoped our hiatus would lead to a revitalization.
During the hiatus, we realized something.
First of all, time passes and real life gets more intense. I have way less free time than I used to. It also applies to @brvn01 who lately has barely had the time to be online on telegram at all. Our designer Qirkl is extremely busy as well, adapting to his new life in Germany after having to move out of Ukraine due to the war.
Second of all, Google changed their mind on what AOSP is.
Apps are no longer part of the deal. It has been coming for a long time, but now Google is really cutting it to the bare minimum.
Dialer and SMS apps are discontinued. Gallery is long abandoned. Music is an artifact from the ancient times. Camera2 is way too basic and has barely any features. It's impossible to just rewrite the majority of the apps. Especially Dialer and SMS are extremely hard to adress - VoLTE, VoWiFi, ViLTE (video telephony!!), TTY (teletypewriters, something required for accessibility) and RTT, Visual VoiceMail, ... these features depend on carriers and cannot be tested everywhere. They are critical for some people, esp. RTT - some people are deaf and can't change that just because the Dialer app doesn't support accessibility. Lineage is trying to solve these issues in their own way: new Music, Camera and Gallery apps and forking Dialer and SMS. As always, LineageOS is basically saving the entire custom ROM community (or at least the part that doesn't like "stock" GApps packages) - nontheless is the focus on making it work, LineageOS - as well - doesn't have the resources to make apps that work great for a majority of people and are very polished and integrated. People still prefer OEM camera apps, Google Photos and third-party music players. For their purpose as basic apps, they do their job very well, but our vision was to offer a great, integrated and polished package and not just puzzle pieces that don't quite fit together. The SMS app still suffers from no RCS (as a side note, what google sells you as RCS is technically not RCS at all - more like a fork of RCS), no bubbles, no proper (multiple notifications combined marked correctly) "mark as read" in notification - which is considered basic functionality by users - and outdated design. The Dialer app and Contacts app have similar issues, but detailing all of these would make this post too long.
Third of all, we set the bar too high. We had a goal which is simply impossible with our manpower. It's a pity that it is - but a redesigned, polished and performant ROM is not possible to do with a team as small as ours. The only way to continue would be to focus on either platform and ignore apps, focus on apps and ignore platform, or ignore both of those and focus on optimized device sources - you can't possibly do all three. But doing that was too big of a sacrifice. Redesigning most of SystemUI is something I have actually prepared for quick settings panel - 2x2 tiles, music player, compact design, you call it - but the last mile was never walked because the change has gotten incredibly large, because I added these features on top of an unflexible AOSP QS panel, and most importantly, hacky. It had many small bugs because of the way I implemented this. Now you read this and say, sure just do it in a different way. The different way is to rip out whatever QS panel AOSP has and rewrite it. Which would mean editing lockscreen and notification shade as they are intervened code. It's too time intensive. Too hard to test. What about tablets? Smartwatches (yes people build ROMs for those - in fact including me)? TVs? Cars? We also don't have an UI designer that could give feedback on the result. In short, it's not possible.
It isn't worth it anymore. We can be another lineage reskin, or we can die, so we gracefully die. That is the conclusion we have come to.
Going forward, we will most probably close the chat after a while. OT will stay open, but it will probably die. We will see. :)
I would like to thank all the team members for their support.
@brvn01
Qirkl
@Megh888
@Sreedhar_Santhosh
Honorable mentions: Ayoka_ACR, Lambada10, kiam001
The last years have truly been a wonderful journey.
To quote @brvn01: "it was - back in the day when i have been active - a nice time"
To quote Qirkl: "It has been a good ride, and I appreciate all of you for giving me a huge opportunity to be a Lead Designer of Droid-NG"
Thank you for being part of the community.
I would like to thank all the team members for their support.
@brvn01
Qirkl
@Megh888
@Sreedhar_Santhosh
Honorable mentions: Ayoka_ACR, Lambada10, kiam001
The last years have truly been a wonderful journey.
To quote @brvn01: "it was - back in the day when i have been active - a nice time"
To quote Qirkl: "It has been a good ride, and I appreciate all of you for giving me a huge opportunity to be a Lead Designer of Droid-NG"
Thank you for being part of the community.