Yesterday's mobile phone pain was at least partly due to the fact that Android, or maybe Xiaomi, have changed the way they want calls
answered. I don't understand how that could happen, since I haven't updated anything. But
they seem to do that, either from one brand to another, one Android release to another, or
maybe the phase of the moon.
Looking back through the years, I have:
My first reaction was to think that the wrong digit was raised, but yes, it really wants to
say “Accept incoming call” or some such. And yes, I can just press on it:
I've grumbled for years about the use of the term “swipe” to describe the motions needed to get the
attention of a mobile phone. The Oxford English Dictionary has a number of definitions: “to drink hastily and copiously”, “to strike at with the full
swing of the arms”, “to deal a swinging blow or hit at”, “to steal”. But for some never
reason I never checked a US American dictionary. Did that today in my Webster's New
Encyclopedic Dictionary (“all new 1994 edition”). To my surprise, the much less detailed
definition was a noun meaning “a strong sweeping blow” and a verb meaning “to strike or
wipe with a sweeping motion”, presumably strong.
But on revisiting the OED, I find that
they also have another definition “To pass (a credit card, identity card, etc.) through an
electronic device in order to read and process data magnetically encoded on it”. Somehow
this action with mobile phones is crying out for a different term.
For reasons almost completely unrelated to my pain answering phones, I decided to put a
second SIM in Yvonne's phone. We're currently both using ALDImobile's $15 card with 365 day
expiry. But it charges a lot for data, and currently we're using a lot. Yvonne's card lasts
for about 2 months before needing recharging. A second card for data? I've been doing that
for a while, and I think that it just comes in cheaper. I had the SIM card that I had
planned for hirse. Put it in, activate it. That's simple, says the packaging.
They lie, like they have lied before. Their web site has bugs, and after entering my code
the NEXT button did nothing. For some reason I called their support line before
trying a different browser, and of course that's what they asked me to do. But though I got
further with Chromium, it still kept erasing things. Finally I had to identify myself, and for
some reason I chose my driver license. Don't do that! They want the number written on the
back in 3 point text partially obscured by the larger text.
This time was different. It just said “authentication failed”, and that I would have to pay
$1 by credit card to complete the authentication. No option to go back and try again, no
refund of the $1. I still had <mumble> on the phone,
and asked him to do something. He did: he hung up.
Dammit, $1 is a small price to pay if it solves the problem. So I paid, and how about that,
it was activated. But why is everything such a pain nowadays?
I seem to have spent the whole week fighting “modern” technology. Yesterday I established that the method of answering a mobile phone had changed with
neither warning nor explanation. Today, while searching through the maze of twisty little
menus, all different, I found that Google had updated the phone app yesterday. Admire the
formatting in the description:
Q: Why has the Google phone app changed the way you answer an incoming call?
A: Google has recently rolled out a major redesign for its Phone app, which
includes a new way to answer incoming calls. This change is part of a broader "Material 3
Expressive" update, aimed at refreshing the look and feel of several Google apps.
Here are the key reasons and details behind the change:
New Gestures: The most noticeable change is the move from a vertical swipe (up
to answer, down to decline) to a horizontal swipe (right to answer, left to
decline). This gesture is more similar to the one used on iOS, which some users may
find more intuitive.
Preventing Accidental Actions: Google has stated that this change is intended
to help reduce accidental answers or declines that can happen when a phone is taken
out of a pocket. The horizontal gesture is less likely to be triggered by mistake.
Aesthetic Redesign: The change is part of a larger visual overhaul. The new
interface features a cleaner, more streamlined design with bigger, more defined
buttons (often described as "pill-shaped"). This includes a prominent red "End Call"
button.
User Feedback: While some users appreciate the new, modern look and find the
horizontal swipe easier to use, the change has been met with mixed reactions. Many
users have expressed frustration with the sudden, unannounced shift and the new
design's "oversized" and "blocky" appearance, especially since they didn't manually
update the app.
Can you change it back?
While you can't revert the entire app redesign, you can change the incoming call gesture
back to the old style:
Open the Google Phone app.
Go to Settings.
Look for an option like "Incoming call gestures" or similar.
Change the setting from "Horizontal swipe" to "Single tap."
This will replace the swipe gesture with the more traditional "Answer" and "Decline"
buttons.
There's this “intuitive” word again.
Clearly “some users” are the people migrating from Apple, since it's anything but
“intuitive” to people who are already using the app.
So what is this really saying?
Google has found a reason to change things for what appears to be cosmetics at best.
This is probably in keeping with the industry habit of changing appearance for change's
sake.
Google didn't see any reason to inform users
Google didn't give users any choice. A vertical swipe would be an easy enough alternative.
Another pain I had yesterday was activating the new SIM card. I could barely read the
partially obscured tiny text on the back of my driver license, even with a magnifying glass,
so I ended up having to pay $1 to bypass it.
But I have this digital driver license. Does that show the second number as well? Yes! It hides it
behind a misleading layer of false security, but it's easily legible.
And it's clearly not the same as the one on my physical driver license! Never mind, I have
two, in case one fails. Look at the other one. The text is in a different place, much more
legible, and the same as on the digital license.
How do I have two licenses? I lost it two years ago and applied for a replacement, which received the same number. Then
only a month later I found the same one, identical in every respect.
Well, no. This one detail was different, and it seems I gave my best guess at the old
number. Somehow this all still seems really silly.
A whole week fighting “intuitive” modern technology!
This page contains (roughly) yesterday's and today's entries. I have
a horror of reverse chronological documents, so
all my diary entries are chronological. This page normally contains the last two days,
but if I fall behind it may contain more. You can find older entries in
the archive. Note that I often update a diary entry
a day or two after I write it.
Do you have a comment about something I have written? This is a diary, not a
“blog”, and there is
deliberately no provision for directly adding comments. It's also not a vehicle
for third-party content. But I welcome feedback and try to
reply to all messages I receive. See the diary overview for more details. If you do
send me a message relating to something I have written, please indicate
whether you'd prefer me not to mention your name. Otherwise
I'll assume that it's OK to do so.
