Android execs talk about Lollipop: Why it's a big update - CNET

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In a few weeks, some Android phones on the market will be completely transformed, as Google and operators will gradually push the latest Android 5.0 system, Lollipop, to users. As the most significant version update of Android so far, Lollipop provides developers with up to 5,000 new API interfaces, and the user interface and interactive animations have also been completely transformed.

Why is Lollipop the most significant version update of Android so far? What is the story behind the Lollipop system? Where will Android go in the future? Recently, in an interview with Business Insider, Hiroshi Lockheimer, vice president of Android technology, explained the above questions one by one.
Why is Lollipop a big update?

Lockheimer mentioned that the birth of Lollipop is a multi-year effort, and iteration is a normal job for both Google and the Android team. After iterating Gingerbread and Honeycomb, the team has been brewing the next UI update, which is Lollipop.

Lockheimer believes that Lollipop's major update to Android was not planned from the beginning, but the result of a combination of efforts. He mentioned three factors:

First up is Material Design. “This is a huge effort and a milestone in rethinking user interfaces and motion.”
On the technical level, it is due to the change in runtime. The new runtime is very smooth in multi-tasking management, which makes the user interface more fluent.
Another is the progress of the industry - the processor has evolved from 32 bits to 64 bits.

How to iterate functions?

Lockheimer said that the team has been committed to making the product more advanced, but some features may need to go through two system versions before they are gradually upgraded.

Take the Face Unlock feature as an example. This feature first appeared on Ice Cream Sandwich. Although it is very creative, its usability is actually not high - the phone can only recognize the user's face slowly under extremely good lighting conditions.

Lollipop has improved this. In order to ensure a faster response speed, the system will automatically activate the face unlock function when the user picks up the phone to handle the message notification on the lock screen interface.
The eternal division problem

Ecosystem competition and division are eternal topics for Android. Lockheimer explained the division of the Android system from the positive side of ecological development. He believes that it cannot be "one size fits all":

"It's about orientation. From the first day of creating this operating system, we knew it was not just about one company. It's not just about Google or HTC. It's a huge ecosystem involving many companies. There's an alliance behind it, and that's why it can grow faster."

Take screen size as an example. The open ecosystem has indeed created devices with different screen sizes. In the early days, Lockheimer considered this a "growing pain" - application developers have to constantly adjust for different devices. But now, it is not just a negative. People are benefiting from it. It has created a diverse device ecosystem. According to different scenarios, devices with different screens are also meeting the needs of different people.
Lollipop is a product of the post-Andy Rubin era

Looking back at the iteration process of Android, Lockheimer said:

"Android has gone through 12 versions, 6 devices, and we have gained more than 1 billion mobile users running our system. Android is no longer what it used to be. I can't even call it a startup team anymore, but sometimes it does feel like a startup team to me. The role we play and the size of the team are much smaller than people outside expect."

If we look at the influence of key figures on the Android team, as Android's CEO, Andy Rubin had previously been the core of the team leading the development of the Android system. But as early as a year ago, this key figure who made Android soar was transferred out of Android, and Android fully entered the Sudar Pichai era.

Lockheimer revealed that Lollipop was the first system version led independently by Sundar Pichai after he took over the Android project, while the KitKat project started with Andy Rubin and ended with Sudar Pichai.

"One of the clear goals for Android this year is to expand the platform to include things like TV," Lockheimer said.