Android 5 Lollipop Hi everyone. So today we're taking a look at Android Lollipop running on the Nexus 5.
Now in many ways this is the pure Google experience. So if you happen to have a Samsung device,
or a HTC device or other it won't look exactly like this by the time those manufacturers
have done skinning. But first of all, let's take a look at the notification area which
has changed quite considerably. What we nowhave are notifications which sit in the centre
area. Double tapping will send you into the response app notification and you can then
take action from there. Within the main Android interface as it were they've given all of
the icons a major tickle. Everything is now quite flat and generally speaking they've
done a good job at making sure all the icons are the same vertical height. It's not perfect Android 5 Lollipop
but it's getting better. Now generally, as we move around the interface you'll notice
all of those Google in-built icons are looking really nice and slick. Obviously as I've been
adding and testing other apps and so on you can really kind of see the difference in the
style being moved to this material design interface. Now, technically, everything is
working very well here. The Android L operating system is fast and responsive. That move over
to ART for loading applications does make a big difference. One area which has probably
seen the one widest range of changes is this notification shade. It now looks much more Android 5 Lollipop
slick than it ever did before and you can now dismiss any notifications using a small
chicklet at the bottom or a hamburger as some people call it. Within the notification shade
area you have access to all of the usual suspects, wifi, Bluetooth, your flashlight, location,
and also now the option of casting the screen as well. Now a casting screen, if you have
a Chromecast device plugged into your TV, you can hit the cast screen option and send Android 5 Lollipop
your display directly over to that screen. A really cool little feature and it's built
directly into the operating system itself. Coming into the settings area, again things
have been given very much a Material Design makeover. Much more simplistic use of white
space and very flat icons that don't add anything massively to the aesthetics but at least are
doing everything down, making things a little easier to read. Your text and fonts are now
a light grey colour within this area as well. Again, aesthetically it just looks a little
bit nicer than it did before. There's not really any major changes here that you can
kind of show from the settings area. One major change in the improvements really in the background
is how battery life is being handled. It should be considerably better than it has been before.
When we actually come and look in Google's main apps, we can see the biggest sets of
changes. Certainly when we look at Calendar you can see this Material design ethos is
really running through it quite fantastically. When you come into particular months you can
get a lovely parallellx effect over that month's image. It looks really really slick. Likewise
adding an event is available though this floating roundel at the bottom, this add button. And
this is common to all of the different apps that Google have built here. Maps likewise
has also taken on a bit of a new look and feel. Things are considerably more slick as
it were in comparison to previous versions. YouTube has seen the smallest number of changes
purely because it's something that gets updated separately from the main Google effect as Android 5 Lollipop
it were. But as you can see, nothing much has really changed there. Likewise, keep has
taken on a slightly new look and feel but it's really just a tickle up of Material Design,
nothing functional. Phone dialler has probably seen the biggest set of changes in the interface.
It now looks more slick than it ever did before with lots of sliding panels and so on. Really
showing off the Material design layered effect within the ui. Play Store likewise has taken
quite an update but we've kind of seen this already dropping down into devices previously
so nothing major to really show you here. It's all just looking quite nice and slick.
Now, mention should really be given to some of the technical issues that seem to be plaguing
Nexus 5 devices that have had the Android Lollipop update added to them. Unfortunately
wifi is still causing problems outside the USA. This all seems to be down to the fact
that Android L for some reason isn't able to see the full range of channels available.
Channels 12 and 13 which are available outside of the US, don't seem to be available to this
device. If you happen to have your wifi router set to channels 12 or 13 you're going to have
to drop back into 1-11 if you want your Nexus 5 to connect successfully. Overall, I'm quite
impressed with what Google have done with Android Lollipop. Whilst there's not a major
raft of changes here it's more of a tickle in my opinion than Material Design but overall
it makes Android feel fresh again. The changes they made to the underlying code speeding
up the interface again are going well and fitting in with this new Material Design it
makes everything feel so slick and fluid in ways that we haven't really had from previous
Android releases. It will be a while before we see the full range of Android L features
kind of adopted across different apps and devices. For instance, it would have been
nice if Google had actually put in place raw mode support for that camera app. They didn't Android 5 Lollipop
bother but it is there within the Android L api for other apps to make use of. It would
have been a major boon I think for Google to have that Android L raw support available
in their own apps. It's a bit of a shame they simply can't showcase that at this time. Likewise
things like battery life are going to take a while before we really know the full impact
there and it's so variable on the general conditions you happen to be using the device
in, it could be quite a while before we really nail down the new changes have made any substantial
difference to battery life. But overall, I love what Google have done here. It's a major
improvement over what we've had previously and it shows the way hopefully for the next
three years or so of design elements within the Android ecosystem. What we now need is
developers to really adopt this for Android so we have common use across all the different
devices. Unfortunately, what I think will probably happen as usual, is a fragmentation
within the design scheme. Facebook will do its own thing, everybody else will probably Android 5 Lollipop
follow Material Design. Thanks for watching. Don't forget to subscribe on YouTube and Twitch
and do please like and comment on these videos as well. We love to chat. We're 100% independent.
Help keep us that way. Become a patron on Patreon and support us with $1 a month to
help keep us 100% independent. "An Honest Opinion Direct from the UK". All patrons are
entered into our monthly prize draw to win items from our review bag. And once again,
thanks for watching.