Going to be a bit negative but this is something that’s kinda annoyed me about Android in the last few years. BREAKING: new shortcut available! And then there’s the articles and breaking news for them doing shit like changing the design of the clock slightly every now and then.

What annoys me about all of this is that the very first Android phone that I had, the S4 Mini, that started out on Android 4.3, had custom firmwares around that allowed you to customise every shortcut with anything and choose from multiple styles of clock. Amongst other things.

Which tells me that the folks working on Android could easily make things more customisable but they choose not to so that we can get these articles going on about how awesome a new shortcut is and they get to look like they’re always working on these new ‘innovations’.

They’re running out of ways to add extra cameras, so now they’re acting like adding a new shortcut to a button that should’ve been more configurable in the first place is some sort of technological breakthrough.

For me personally, it’s something that I’m always activating in my pocket and have disabled now.

I want something between ‘feature phones’ and smartphones. A little bit like what Nokia had to offer with Symbian and Maemo but more modern. If you want a rectangle of glass that requires wireless proprietary everything and replacing every time the battery starts packing up, more power to you, I’m a fan of choice and options.

But I want to be able to buy a music phone with great speakers and toys like FM transmitters thrown in. Or a gaming phone with a d-pad, a, b, x, y and shoulder buttons. But like, with Firefox instead of Opera Mini. And social media apps and shit.