[IT뉴스] 삼성 갤럭시 노트 7 녹색 배터리 아이콘, 안드로이드 호환성 규정과 배치될 수 있어

[IT뉴스] 삼성 갤럭시 노트 7 녹색 배터리 아이콘, 안드로이드 호환성 규정과 배치될 수 있어

삼성전자 갤럭시 노트 7이 배터리 문제가 없는 디바이스에는 배터리 아이콘을 녹색으로 바꾸기로 결정한 데 대해서 Ars Technica는 해당 결정이 안드로이드 호환성 규정(CDD)에 위배될 수 있다고 지적했습니다. 안드로이드 자체는 오픈 소스이지만, 플레이 스토어 등 구글 프로그램을 탑재하기 위해서는 라이센스를 받아야 할 필요가 있습니다. CDD도 라이센스를 받기 위해 준수해야 할 규정 중 하나입니다.

 

CDD "3.8.6 테마" 항목에는 다음과 같이 규정되어 있습니다.

안드로이드 디바이스는 아이콘이 문제를 나타내거나 프로그램이 SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LIGHT_STATUS_BAR 플래그로 밝은 상태 바를 요청하지 않는다면 시스템 상태 바 아이콘(예를 들어 신호 세기와 배터리)과 시스템에서 보내는 알림에 대해서는 흰색을 사용해야만 한다[MUST]  프로그램이 밝은 상태 바를 요청할 때에는 시스템 상태 아이콘은 검정색으로 바뀌어야 한다

Samsung has issued another update on the explosive Galaxy Note 7 situation, this time informing consumers how they can differentiate fixed devices from unfixed devices. Through a software update, Samsung says it is going to give non-explosive Note 7s a green battery icon, giving people a quick way to tell a Note 7 is no longer dangerous. There's just one problem with the green battery icon: it's against the rules.

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The core Android platform is open source, but Google's Android apps—like the Play Store, Gmail, YouTube, and others—must be licensed from Google. Licensing these apps means adhering to several terms from Google, including complying with the Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD), which in turn ensures that devices are "Android compatible." APIs need to work the way developers expect them to, hardware needs to meet Google's minimum requirements, and OEMs need to follow Google's security recommendations.

In the CDD, Google also defines some of the interface design—usually the parts apps need to interact with, like the System UI and shared theme assets. This includes mandating the color of the status bar icons, which seems to throw a wrench in Samsung's publicized plans. The section titled "3.8.6. Themes" reads (emphasis ours):

Android supports a variant theme with translucent system bars, which allows application developers to fill the area behind the status and navigation bar with their app content. To enable a consistent developer experience in this configuration, it is important the status bar icon style is maintained across different device implementations. Therefore, Android device implementations MUST use white for system status icons (such as signal strength and battery level) and notifications issued by the system, unless the icon is indicating a problematic status or an app requests a light status bar using the SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LIGHT_STATUS_BAR flag. When an app requests a light status bar, Android device implementations MUST change the color of the system status icons to black [Resources, 34].

Google spells it out pretty clearly: status bar icons have to be white. They aren't allowed to be green, which is the color Samsung plans to use in a future update.

It might be a little silly to mandate specific colors for certain parts of the user interface, but users can change home screen apps and wallpapers, and apps often add icons to the status bar. To preserve readability, it's easier to just mandate a color and have the various interoperable parts of the Android ecosystem design around that. Before requirements like this, it wasn't unheard of to see unreadable combos like dark text or icons on a dark background because colors from device to device varied so much.

Several apps in Android have a green status bar. You can't use a green icon here.

Enlarge / Several apps in Android have a green status bar. You can't use a green icon here.

One problem area immediately comes to mind: the "My apps" section of the Google Play Store turns the background behind the status bar green. That's going to look pretty bad with a green battery icon.

So far Samsung has only announced the change; the new icon hasn't made it out to consumers yet. According to the leaked contracts OEMs sign with Google, every Android software update must be sent to Google for retesting against the CDD. If Samsung didn't tell Google about its plans to change the status bar icon, Google will know once it gets a copy for approval. We should soon find out if the compatibility docs have any bite.

Update: Hiroshi Lockheimer—Google's SVP of Android, Chrome OS, and Google Play—responded to this article on Twitter. Google is apparently granting Samsung an exception, and a white border will be kept around the battery icon to help with legibility:

* 출처 : Ars Technica