Technical Tuesday: Android Pie is as easy as π.

Recently all the android phones that were running Oreo were pushed into getting a slice of Pie 🥧.

Yes. I make corny jokes. ;P

The first thing that I noticed when my phone updated was that the application Icons look different they are all more color oriented it seemed. Also some of the colors changed. Like messages were orange before and now they are blue (on my phone)

The second thing that I noticed was that the setting panel (the one that you drag from the top) or the quick menu as I have heard it called has changed. Many people have reviewed this portion of the update and honestly it looks just the same to me. The Icons are the same, I can still move things to where I want them and they just seem to have changed it to were they are more of Icons then pictures on a flat screen.

The major change for me was Dark mode or Night mode. This is just the best thing since sliced bread. I suffer from light sensitivity and when I am on my phone or even my computer for long periods of time the white with black text hurts my eyes. I actually have been using a “dark theme” with no background and inverted colors and my brightness all the way down with the blue filter all the way to opaque to compensate for the white light that comes from my phone normally. So for someone with Light Sensitivity I would totally recommend this.

On many of the videos for android 9.0 (PIE) they have been showing the Google Pixel phone and while that’s great… I have a Samsung S8. So many of the settings are in different areas and also my phone works a little different. Such as my Volume Control being on the left of my phone, along with the Bixby Button and the Power/Lock Button being on the right.

So I watched these videos (Thank you YouTube) and decided to share a slice of my PIE. lol. (yes, I know that was dorky)

(I don’t guarantee that the following actions here will only work on a Samsung phone or that you wont find another way to complete the same task)

The Things that I changed

You know that pesky lock screen? well… you know how on every single phone there are two apps that you can get to from the lock screen. Phone and Camera and you know how its annoying that they are there and seem to not be able to be changed. Now they are. I really shouldn’t say now…as I never actually tried before, but it was annoying my boyfriend and I was checking out the settings and stumbled upon it

So here is how to change that:

Go to Settings, Select Lock Screen. Then scroll to the bottom and Select “App Shortcuts”. You are then given the choice of Left or Right app shortcut. Then you can change them by selecting each one and then choosing an app from the list.

I changed “Phone” to “Messages” cause I barely ever call anyone and you still need my password either way. So I am going to try this out.

Another two changes that you can easily make that will change the lock screen on your phone are as follows.

In the same Lock Screen Settings, you now have “Facewidgets” (once again, Something I have never noticed before) But you can choose to have Music, Today’s Schedule, Next Alarm, or the Weather displayed on your lock screen.

The other is Clock Style- Now I had heard about this one previously but had never found it myself. So check it out and remember that you can also change the color of the clock.

Overall…

not a lot really seems to have changed, but the entire phone seems different and also to run more smoothly…Also and I don’t know if this goes for anyone else, but my battery life has improved tremendously! This could have to do with the Adaptive Battery feature. If you haven’t turned that one… get to it. You will find that in settings also.

 

 

As always Happy Computing…/ and I hope that you Enjoyed this slice of Pie. lol :0