[drusepth]

I suspect a nonzero amount of hate online is coming from iOS users, who've always seemed to prefer non-customizable, "curated" designs (e.g. historically being anti-widgets, anti-folders, anti-theming, etc) and not from actual Android users who tend to value customization and diverging from the "standard" interface.

Of course, some Android users are going to dislike the new design -- it is a design preference and it's _different_, after all!

I love the new design. There are a few rough edges (like the brightness bar!) but I assume it'll be polished over the multi-year roadmap they've given, or at least through each of the dev previews until the Pixel 6 drops.