Android 12 😱

 

So after much mithering from my phone, having already downloaded the latest Android 12 software, I let it update today. My reluctance stems from the fact that the change was huge, covering pretty much every feature and for years I have been using a different GUI in the form of Apex Launcher. But having tried to do a backup the other evening and getting error messages against all manner of backup and restore options I was a tad nervous about what the new GUI would look like. I like each new phone to look as comforting as the old one and wasn't too keen to relinquish control.

Downloaded Nova Launcher instead and spent ages setting everything up to more or less match what I'd had before, following screenshots I'd done during the week. Very laborious but it did allow me to backup the new settings before switching to the built-in GUI. 

I subsequently set this up as well, which was surprisingly easy, and quicker, and then bit the bullet and let the software install. Obviously the Android GUI's have improved over the years, allowing folders on the screens although not every widget allows resizing which is annoying plus everything in the app drawer scrolls horizontally rather than vertically. There's also only one page for the dock so some regular apps have had to migrate to a more accessible folder instead.

Still it's back up and running again, things look similar enough to get me by and I've opted for one of the new tweaks to allow colour changing based on the wallpaper - something that might prove interesting.

Nova is still there, sitting in the background, just in case, but it would probably be prudent to live without it going forwards if I can, makes these mahousive updates less scary. Especially given that it's impossible to roll the phone back to a previous version of Android - certainly without rooting it.

Apex Launcher has been uninstalled, disappointed that it appears to have stopped working after all these years. No idea at what point the backups started to fail but it makes the app pretty much unusable if such a basic feature doesn't work. I'd hoped that Nova would offer an import option using a backup from another launcher, especially since it and Apex were rivals back in the day. I'd found an old backup to use just in case but sadly importing wasn't an option.

Still everything else appears to be working OK so fingers crossed it stays that way 🤞🏻