That said, I do kind of agree with Gruber, it kind of feels like the passion for Android has burned out at Google and they are just dialing in a lot of this.
The Pixel specific updates seem particularly weird to me too.
That doesn't seem like a good strategy for a competing product.
If a person has a good point, they have a good point. This isn't a very strong Android update and neither was last year's.
With third-party apps there was a bit of a lag in support but the same goes for dark mode on iOS. Even now some apps don't support that.
But right now the main apps I use on Android all support it. Samsung Mail, OSMAnd for maps, Firefox (with dark reader extension that automatically matches the system dark mode!), most chat apps I use, password store, MS apps I use for work, etc. It's really amazing to have this. I'm sensitive to too-bright displays and most displays these days are tuned for maximum output, not minimum.
This is just speculation... but maybe it's because they are getting ready to finally kill Android and switch to Fuchsia.
Android has been getting better over the last 4-5 years and the KitKat days are very far away, but it wouldn't surprise me if Google was ready to start fresh with everything they've learned.
Also I'm sure Google want stricter control on customisation which would be a good thing (easier updates). It'll be hard to take that back from Android vendors but I bet Fuchsia won't have it.
Any source on that?