2015-03-09 - Monday - Lollipop

On Friday I received the update on my smartphone to Android 5.0 (lollipop).

I have loved using my Samsung Galaxy s5 since I got it last September. It was very usable, featuring dark screens with white letters that were easy to read and didn't use much battery power. Things were arranged in meaningful ways to make daily life just a bit easier.

I guess we didn't want that.

After Friday's "upgrade" the phone is a complete mess. Everything, including the text keyboard is smaller, flat, featureless, and on a white background. There are no options to change the default colors and we are stuck with Google's hideous 'material interface'.

The only thing I can figure is there is a twelve-year-old somewhere designing this stuff with no regard to functionality because it is a major step backwards in usability.

Old dialer on the left, new on the right.

 

Old settings screen vs. new one.

I'm not posting my contacts screen for privacy reasons, but where there were once large square photos of my contacts making it easier to dial with my presbyopia, there are now minuscule circular photos that I can't recognize without my reading glasses.

All these white pixels are draining my battery more quickly than the black screens. Everything is tiny, flat, and white. Several functions are gone, replaced with less useful ones.

The list goes on and on. Why anyone would think this interface is better than what we had is beyond me.

If the phone looked like this when I was shopping for phones I would not have purchased it.

Just say "no" to lollipop.

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April 18 - Saturday - Around and about

Saturday I was out in the yard working on clearing some of the weeds from the neglected garden beds.  Some of that Johnson grass is so well-established it's like trying to pull out a clump of pampas grass.  I ended up cutting what I could with the hand clippers.

While I was manually harvesting the grass in (what was) the path between the beds I found a trail that the rabbits were using.  The under-grass was all hollowed out by rabbit traffic.  My fear was accidentally opening up another nest with infant rabbits as I did several years ago.  Saying I was cautious would be an understatement.  I was watchful with every move I made since I was worried about rabbits, mice, chipmunks and snakes.  When I got about seven feet into the twelve foot path an adult rabbit burst out of the far end of the path and ran around behind the garage.  That was my cue to quit.

I headed out to the front yard to pull weeds.  I weed the front almost daily.  I think they spring up while we're sleeping.  Since expanding the natural area to most of the front yard last Fall, the weeds are trying to have a party.  It's an uphill battle.

In the evening we got together with some friends for dinner at the Landmark Diner.  They have a HUGE menu and a killer dessert case.  I don't believe anyone left the table hungry.

I also tried using the panoramic function on my Android phone that I didn't know I had, until Karen showed it to me.  Being the gadget geek that I usually am, I'm embarrassed I didn't know about it.  Oh well.

I'm hoping chipmunks live in here.

Lady bug nymph (right) and
pupating relative (left) on my oregano.

On to the front yard...

The autumn ferns are doing quite well.

The hostas have exploded.

One of two oak leaf hydrangea.

On to supper...

My choppy panoramic shot.
Karen, Tom, Daniel, Lisa, Christopher, (me), Chip, and Pam.

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