[Nexus 7 General] I am Q:
I) precise, itemized privacy controls would be really, really nice. I don't like the idea that installing apps has this all or nothing approach with permissions. sure you can get 3rd party apps for this, but then that means you have some other app that needs to running all the time.

I want to be able to enable or disable permissions natively and selectively and know what the dependencies are.

I like what an app like Divide does: it creates an encrypted user space for people who use their devices for work and play. ok, cool -- but that should be included already. I don't like the idea that some overzealous techie gets the ability to wipe my entire device remotely if I happen to use it for work or school email --it's overreaching and completely unnecessary. if they want to delete the account that's fine. they can find a way to encrypt THAT, so it can be deleted 'securely' and leave the rest of MY device alone.

on the flip side of that, IF the device was provided by the employer, then sure, they should be able to implement a full device lock or wipe remotely.

android was supposed to be about having options -- I want the option to be left alone.

II) Functionality that allows one to upgrade and make use of older phones.

I posted another word fortress a week or so ago about how many ways the HTC EVO 4G can still be put to good use even though it's dated. much of what I suggested there can be applied to most android phones. The gist of it is that our smartphone have caught up with where desktops were only a few short years ago --but they suffer severe limitations due to being crippled by the software. change the software. unleash the full computer capabilities of these things.

and finally...

III) another thing I would like to see developed more is a voice command interface or VCI if you prefer.

but for that to work, better APIs for voice controls that use google's servers for recognition must be implemented. many people have developed apps that use Google's API for voice recognition but it's limited to 10 seconds or something like that. why not make that longer for requests coming from android devices?

also, part of the same problem -- everyone wants to duplicate siri. forget siri -- apple didn't invent it, they bought it and you can buy it too if you want. the magic there however is that they integrated it into the system and TRIED to make it more than a really neat gimmick, but their overbearing control freak approach to everything has limited what the thing can do - even though it has full access to the device. it's kind of sad really, but probably more frustrating than anything else.

we need to stop thinking of voice controls as just another app, and start thinking of it as an INTERFACE. we have command line, we have GUI -- now voice control needs to be treated and developed in that same vein: VOICE COMMAND INTERFACE. it should be something like your app launcher only more, WITHOUT getting in the way or slowing you down.

knock apple all you want, but if you don't study the competition, you will never beat them. in the 1980's they produced a concept video called "knowledge navigator". those of you helping to develop code for this need to study this stuff. this shows the same tech they helped bring to life on screen in star trek, in a 21st century context using their own GUI and ideas for things that are practical in THAT particular context. the key word there is PRACTICALITY, it has to make things simpler to do without making them simple. remember: apple didn't invent it, they got the idea from the work they did with the producers of the Star Trek series and movies that were being produced at that time and the sets that were built using their computers. so it's okay to go to the source for inspiration - not siri, LCARS: Library Computer Access Retrieval System.

One of the many displays of genius by Gene Roddenberry showing us practical, functional technology that empowered people, enabling people to be more efficient without running their lives and without spying on them or reporting every activity to some marketing company or government agency. technology built around people, not the other way around.

on that note, I recently stumbled on something that may be of use here. search for "SiriServerCore" by Eichhoernchen. this runs on ubuntu and allows iphones to have siri functionality without ever talking to one of apple's servers. another coder by the name of Linus Yang turned it into a daemon that runs locally on the idevice -- it is a python implementation that uses google's servers for voice recognition instead of apple's. currently there is only one app in the google marketplace that can use this server. why? every other assistant app in the market should try to use it as part of whatever other system they are using as it is open source, customizable and completely free.

here is a cobbled together list of some of what I think we need for this to work better:

1) it needs to be able to work offline. it will NEVER be reliable or truly practical unless it can work with or without an internet connection.

you don't need an internet connection to get to the GUI, so you shouldn't need one for voice control. it's okay if it's more limited in offline mode, but it still needs to have core, essential functionality. it should still be able to do whatever a normal desktop can do without an internet connection.

2) when it uses the API to talk to google servers, it needs more than 10 seconds, I already mentioned it, but I feel that it must be mentioned again.

3) forget graphic intensive avatars and giving a face to this thing -- all that does is take up resources anyway. make it smarter, give it the ability to be customized and to take full advantage of any hardware installed in the device, memory card, radios, wifi, bluetooth, headphones -- it should be able to do anything you can do with the device, except without you having to actually pick it up, take it out of your pocket or press anything and you should be able to turn that feature off just as easily. on that note, google now is a little creepy. I'd prefer control that is designed to be accessible to the user without having to click through 6,000 menu items.

4) complete control over the way it works. a user should be able to decide which servers or other computers the device talks to, when it talks to them and under what circumstances. this would also allow for some pretty interesting customizations.

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I think that's it for now. I hope someone finds this word castle useful. also, please forgive my tone, i know it can seem harsh or intense at times... I just get really excited about this stuff.