As an Android nut and graphic/industrial/UI designer I've been thinking a lot about this recently, and just had to get it off my chest. Here goes:
UI styling should be about the content, not the interface. Glossy elements just distract from their actual content. There should be a move away from what Apple does with iOS (emulating analogue elements digitally) towards what Microsoft did with WP7. WP7 showed that you can have an interface without any sort of shininess/gradient or analogue elements and still have it be completely usable and beautiful at the same time.
But what I'm really interested in is the future of Android. Gingerbread was a great step ahead in terms of UI styling. But I wonder what we will see when Sense UI, Motoblur, TouchWiz etc. are updated to 2.3? Sense is notorious for faux glossiness and TouchWiz is notorious for being plain ugly. Will WP7 and Gingerbread help these companies realize that the trend is moving away from iOS-eque styling and towards WP7-esque styling? Or will they continue to blindly copy iOS and ignore Google's attempts to beautify Android? My guess is that they will eventually catch on, but it might take a while. Perhaps if WP7 takes off and commands a decent market share these companies will take notice. We've already seen previews of Sony Ericsson's 2.3 TimeScape skin and LG's 2.3 whatever-it's-called skin and they both appear to have abandoned Gingerbread's gradient-less notifications bar and title bar and replaced them with gradients. Too bad.
Also, what will Honeycomb bring? We've now seen previews of the tablet version, and I can see many 2.3 styling cues in 3.0. One thing I noticed though is that it uses blue as the 'accent color'. Gingerbread strongly reinforced orange as Android's accent color so I wonder why they would change this. What I'm hoping is that the accent color can be changed- it's certainly plausible, as the accent color seems to play a huge part in the Honeycomb previews I've seen. Or perhaps phones will remain orange and tablets will be blue? It seems like a strange differentiation.
Hints at UI change in the phone-version of Honeycomb include new text-entry fields (looks like the Android keyboard spacebar symbol but stretched), a new look and swiping interaction for tabs within apps (seen in the leaked Music 3.0 app, the 2.1 News and Weather app and the new YouTube app), and like I mentioned, color accents everywhere. Videos of Honeycomb show pop-ups, scroll bars, loading rings/bars and menus featuring the glowing blue accent.
What I'm wondering about is this 'UI overhaul' that everyone is talking about. Is it going to be mostly visual like the stuff I mentioned above or is it going to completely change the UI paradigms of Android? I think a huge change in UI akin to the WM6.5 > WP7 transition would alienate a lot of users and break a lot of apps. Therefore I'm thinking 3.0 is going to be a few tweaks to the interaction part of the UI, but a huge change to the visuals. I predict they will update almost all of the core apps to match the graphics we are seeing in 2.3 and 3.0, to finally put to rest those complaints that Android looks 'hacked together'. The changes in 2.3 were probably a catalyst, to get developers thinking in this new design language. Google needs a name for it, just like WP7 'Metro'. After all it's up to the developers to make apps that match this style.
I'm a Nexus fan and would never buy a phone without stock Android so maybe this is just me dreaming of an end to carrier/manufacturer skins, but what do you think?
As long as it have the look and feel of ADW.Launcher. It can have what ever UI.
chrizzled said:
As an Android nut and graphic/industrial/UI designer I've been thinking a lot about this recently, and just had to get it off my chest. Here goes:
UI styling should be about the content, not the interface. Glossy elements just distract from their actual content. There should be a move away from what Apple does with iOS (emulating analogue elements digitally) towards what Microsoft did with WP7. WP7 showed that you can have an interface without any sort of shininess/gradient or analogue elements and still have it be completely usable and beautiful at the same time.
But what I'm really interested in is the future of Android. Gingerbread was a great step ahead in terms of UI styling. But I wonder what we will see when Sense UI, Motoblur, TouchWiz etc. are updated to 2.3? Sense is notorious for faux glossiness and TouchWiz is notorious for being plain ugly. Will WP7 and Gingerbread help these companies realize that the trend is moving away from iOS-eque styling and towards WP7-esque styling? Or will they continue to blindly copy iOS and ignore Google's attempts to beautify Android? My guess is that they will eventually catch on, but it might take a while. Perhaps if WP7 takes off and commands a decent market share these companies will take notice. We've already seen previews of Sony Ericsson's 2.3 TimeScape skin and LG's 2.3 whatever-it's-called skin and they both appear to have abandoned Gingerbread's gradient-less notifications bar and title bar and replaced them with gradients. Too bad.
Also, what will Honeycomb bring? We've now seen previews of the tablet version, and I can see many 2.3 styling cues in 3.0. One thing I noticed though is that it uses blue as the 'accent color'. Gingerbread strongly reinforced orange as Android's accent color so I wonder why they would change this. What I'm hoping is that the accent color can be changed- it's certainly plausible, as the accent color seems to play a huge part in the Honeycomb previews I've seen. Or perhaps phones will remain orange and tablets will be blue? It seems like a strange differentiation.
Hints at UI change in the phone-version of Honeycomb include new text-entry fields (looks like the Android keyboard spacebar symbol but stretched), a new look and swiping interaction for tabs within apps (seen in the leaked Music 3.0 app, the 2.1 News and Weather app and the new YouTube app), and like I mentioned, color accents everywhere. Videos of Honeycomb show pop-ups, scroll bars, loading rings/bars and menus featuring the glowing blue accent.
What I'm wondering about is this 'UI overhaul' that everyone is talking about. Is it going to be mostly visual like the stuff I mentioned above or is it going to completely change the UI paradigms of Android? I think a huge change in UI akin to the WM6.5 > WP7 transition would alienate a lot of users and break a lot of apps. Therefore I'm thinking 3.0 is going to be a few tweaks to the interaction part of the UI, but a huge change to the visuals. I predict they will update almost all of the core apps to match the graphics we are seeing in 2.3 and 3.0, to finally put to rest those complaints that Android looks 'hacked together'. The changes in 2.3 were probably a catalyst, to get developers thinking in this new design language. Google needs a name for it, just like WP7 'Metro'. After all it's up to the developers to make apps that match this style.
I'm a Nexus fan and would never buy a phone without stock Android so maybe this is just me dreaming of an end to carrier/manufacturer skins, but what do you think?
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Click to collapse
Just my two cents here but.... I don't get everyone saying android has no polish. I love my Nexus One, I love stock (vanilla) android. I think Touchwiz is an abomination and said as much when that thread came out to put touchwiz on the N1. Sense is pretty but too bloated in my opinion. Don't get me started on Motoblur... I agree earlier versions of android needed work. >2.2 {in my opinion} Personally I think android is fine. (iOS IS pretty, but so what it's also got an evil ecosystem...) The tweaks done to
2.3 are nice but unnecessary (IMHO). I love the way Android looks.... Oh, and I heartily agree with your statement that "UI styling should be about content...."
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
If android could come up with a functional UI I might jump back aboard. Til they do WP7 is the only way to go.
Love the look of stock Android on my Nexus One. Love the new Gingerbread visual tweaks and look forward to the OTA.
HATE 3rd party U.I.
z33dev33l said:
If android could come up with a functional UI I might jump back aboard. Til they do WP7 is the only way to go.
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Android HAS a perfectly functional UI. Thank you.
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
Babydoll25 said:
Android HAS a perfectly functional UI. Thank you.
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
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Click to collapse
I used to think so too... now it just seems laggy regardless of launcher...
z33dev33l said:
I used to think so too... now it just seems laggy regardless of launcher...
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Click to collapse
What lag? {unless ur using a SGS} I have never experienced this lag u speak of sir. My N1 flies I tell you, flies!!! (I have seen in Samsung's phones however...)
(That is why I don't buy them...)
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
Babydoll25 said:
What lag? {unless ur using a SGS} I have never experienced this lag u speak of sir. My N1 flies I tell you, flies!!! (I have seen in Samsung's phones however...)
(That is why I don't buy them...)
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
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Click to collapse
Didnt notice it on my Nexus one til I got WP7, now I just gave the nexus to my brother... just seems slow and jumbled by comparison
im glad the orange accents are gone in honeycomb, the blue looks way better, also im glad the green icons didnt made the cut, i really hope this look becomes the standard for both the tablet and the smartphone versions of the os
Android is ok but can be boring....
Personally I love the idea to have more than 1 OS on your device, so you can easily change whenever you want
With Matias Duarte on board we should see some drastic changes in the UI in the upcoming versions.
Look at the Honeycomb on tablets, we're now not required to have physical buttons, virtual controls are there, the switch tasking panel now actually shows us the current snapshot of the appss in the background - awesome idea from WebOS if you ask me.
z33dev33l said:
Didnt notice it on my Nexus one til I got WP7, now I just gave the nexus to my brother... just seems slow and jumbled by comparison
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I'm a phone addict and I try out almost every phone and OS that comes out. I still don't see what you are talking about, WP7 didn't feel any faster or more polished. It's got a new look and has some ooomph too it, but nothing that noticeable.
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
Babydoll25 said:
I'm a phone addict and I try out almost every phone and OS that comes out. I still don't see what you are talking about, WP7 didn't feel any faster or more polished. It's got a new look and has some ooomph too it, but nothing that noticeable.
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
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Click to collapse
As am I and I will still admit that the nexus one was the smoothest experience I recieved from an android phone. In all honesty I never thought I'd jump ship and I thought live tiles looked completely retarded. I didnt really think a GPU accelerated UI would mean anything but it did... its just smoother... virtually lag free and though I'm not trying to insult I dont see how you cant see the difference....
z33dev33l said:
As am I and I will still admit that the nexus one was the smoothest experience I recieved from an android phone. In all honesty I never thought I'd jump ship and I thought live tiles looked completely retarded. I didnt really think a GPU accelerated UI would mean anything but it did... its just smoother... virtually lag free and though I'm not trying to insult I dont see how you cant see the difference....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean don't get me wrong, live tiles rock (and roll) but maybe it's just my N1 {and Sparky's but I set his up so...}, but I didn't see an overwhelming difference even with the hardware acceleration. I guess it all boils down to (after a certain point) how you have your individual phone configured... I have not yet seen anything worthy of N1 abandonment...t least not yet.
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
I thought my N1 was smooth until I tried a Nexus S... now I can't go back.
The Gingerbread stock launcher is silky smooth. WP7 smooth. The scrolling and 3D app drawer is much smoother than LauncherPro or ADW Launcher. Live Wallpapers do not affect performance at all. The new UI elements make android look much more refined. The screen-off animation and the scrolling overshoot glow are amazing. And that's just the UI...
Long live stock Android and Nexus devices!
UI of Android
- The current browser UI is driving me crazy! Especially the back operation could jump to another app is un-acceptable.
- We need to have a mechanism for something like a pop up app. For example, when reading, a quick pop-up to look up a word or access wikipedia. It just need to : select, open with selection. Since Android let all apps open, the user just go back to the last app to continue
- I agree that data is important. The contact is the central of a phone. It can be mail, phone, sms, im, photo, calendar, ... The owner is of-cause need to be part of the contact. And there should be able to browse, jump, classify contacts quickly. I would like to suggest allow tags. An extendable contact db will be very nice.
- Moreover, for tabalet, there should be multi-users, switching profiles, encrypt data, etc. the lock screen should allow change of user
- Please consider the actual usage of a phone or tabalet together with other devices. Android should be part of a bigger system instead of a single computer. Cross interaction with desktop, other tabalets, is a must: ssh should be a standard on every device. There should be neighbour or friends nodes (not people, but devices) that can registers long term or short. There should be a easy way to find the new ip or connection method(bt) for the device. a bluetooth message send to allow register the device and provide a instant connection is good. Porting synergy allow share keyboard, (mouse) and clipboard is good, but need to address the situation where mouse is missing. Send screen shot is useful too. exchange pic, contacts, calendar events, ....
- Make index a ready service, update of index can be done when charging. It can be a mode call sleep, which will do house keeping like : update indexing, clean up space, calculate statistics, exchange data with cloud. The phone would work but will be slow. User can understand that the phone go sleep a while to keep healthy. The index is very valuable : provide fast browsing for things, faster search, and support a multi-dimension browsing experiende.
- clipboard : with multi-history
- Please check lePhone : use of gesture instead of soft key.
- Fast switch between opened apps
- notice : allow user to block call, sms, ... to interrupt. There can be a priority and the user can set the current lock level, priority lower the lock level would not sound, visual or virbaton
- I am not very sure about this : there should be scene : like meeting, driving, atHome, atOffice, etc. which can be auto-detect by various sensers. But too smart a phone can also be troublesome.
allow two phones to compare the app list, find common contacts, temporary play a game with connection (like NDS download play), peer chat (group of devices), share camera, audio, borrow book
current desktop background is not good. Make it easier for user to dress up their phone.
Just got mine today, and love the hardware, but man, Touchwiz is a design trainwreck. Are there any decent ways to remove some of the Touchwiz nastiness (Big power choosers in the notification bars, striped patterns everywhere) to go back towards a more stock look? I've already installed NovaLauncher, which helps, but the notifications popup is just tragic and loud.
I know that if we get CM9/CM10, I'll be back to delicious AOSP stock, but I'm wondering if there's any solution which will help me restore some design sanity sooner. Replacing image files, etc?
I can't say I disagree here .. I'm not a big fan of the appearance of touchwiz -- especially the notification pop-up. Ugh. I also hate the white menus, too. That said, there are features of touchwiz that I do like (app drawer organization options are nice), but overall, I could do without it. I like your choice of words: a design trainwreck. IMHO, it most certainly is.
I kinda wish Samsung would give you the option of a more stock-android experience, but I understand why they don't. Touchwiz is their android "brand". My first android experience was a Samsung, and I have bad memories of slowness & lag that I'd much rather forget, but luckily the Note's hardware seems to be able to smash everything up without any super serious performance hits (for me, thus far -- time will tell that tale, though ).
If anyone actually strips touchwiz out and makes a rom that doesn't actually lose functionality or introduce major bugs (so many roms have given me headaches with the market, various non-functioning hardware components etc), I might consider it, but probably closer to the end of my warranty.
What about using nova launcher, can I make it the default instead of every time choosing between them? I find it more faster
Or Apex Launcher... That is pretty customisable too...
It seems that Google is carrying out A/B testing* on a redesigned app download page in the Play Store. However, this redesign currently only affects Android software, not any other media type Google Play carries.
*I don't like how some of the major tech companies don't even want to allow users to opt-in for new features, and instead test random people thinking they're the same, while clearly I feel like I'm not the same.
Summary:
I don't like the redesign. There's a boring white UI, and coloured circles around category and milestone markers are now gone, but it does retain its green header within Android Overview.
The version number of the Play Store package carrying this redesign, is "11.8.09-all [0] [PR] 213536367". One thing I noticed right from the go is that there's boring white design. Ugh! I hate certain implementations of minimalist design, notably Apple's UX design, but also whatever the stock UX is in Android 8.0 and later, which is why I stay on 7.1. Whatever it is, the coloured circles around category and milestone markers are now GONE, I have also noticed that the pages feature different layouts depending on whether the app is installed or not, so I'm providing 2 examples. The phone screenshots are stitched together using Samsung's "scroll capture" feature, while the tablet screenshots are not stitched together.
I'll provide screenshots here that are from the Singaporean Play Store.. If anyone wants, I can provide a few more examples featuring apps if anyone here wants, as long as the developer has made it available there. I have 4 different Androids, 3 of them have Play Services, and out of those 3, I'll pick my Galaxy Note8 to represent the phone** and my Yoga Tab 3 Pro to represent the tablet, however, of course, I also received this update on my Galaxy Tab A 8.0, and the tablet layout is identical between both my tablets. However, Play Store does retain its green header within Android Overview, and I know this because I refuse to upgrade my Note8 to Android 8.x because of Samsung's modification they decided to do to it, which is to make the headers white with coloured text in order to get it to match their own apps instead of the custom apps I have in order to give it a near-stock Android experience. The status bar shadow in the tablet screenshot was added by Lenovo's buggy Android 6.0 custom UX, which is so buggy that it deserves its own separate rant in a thread, if anyone wants to hear about how bad it really is, and how much Lenovo sucks at Android device support.
**(but it does have a modded custom font package to replace Roboto with Comic Neue, no, it's not Comic Sans)
Additional note for those who want to mention my post in a news video:
My Twitter profile description provides a clue as to how to pronounce my username, otherwise, you could mention me by my Reddit username, MustardOrMayo404, as I might repost this to r/android there if I feel inclined.
Reserved
That's a big NO from me. I usually don't mind change, but I have no idea what Google was thinking with this latest Play Store update. The layout feels heavily padded and full of wasted, blank space. It feels really stretched out and just junky. Here are the only positives:
- Share and flag actions are easily accessible via the 3-dot menu
- Ability to view app review edit history
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I am so pleased to share the launcher I have found that best complements the surface duo for those looking for an amazing launcher for this desktop tier device is Winx Launcher. I actually tried at least 30 launcher apps and of all of them (including the very similar computer launcher and other apps), I found the Winx Launcher to be the most powerful, elegant, compatible launcher for Surface Duo users.
What's more is that I am so proud to announce that literally two days after I shared my feedback of the app on Google play, the developer immediately responded with promises for even further Surface Duo specific features coming to add to the rare "foldable" device settings. Literally two days later he has ALREADY demonstrated a new update coming delivering further Surface Duo support! The developer does not even own a Duo but that was so beautiful to see our rare devices get individualized attention and so I encourage you to show support for this app if you are looking for a launcher that literally changes your device into a more professional one rather than a (sloppy highly restricted android experience designed for candy bars launcher like our stock version of the Microsoft Launcher)
Seperate your Duo from other devices and give this launcher a try so that hopefully we can all benefit from increased support because literally no other launcher I've seen seems to care about the rare foldable device users. This developer actually cares and is also extremely taleneted!
While the launcher is free and add free by default, it is literally 2 dollars to get access to the premium features however I believe he still offers a 1 week trial so you can access the foldable device settings which I believe is extremely worth the money considering it absolutely changes the whole way you may view & approach your Duo... And again, it's SUPERIOR to the other simular desktop like launchers, believe me I tried them!!!
I believe if people help showcase their appreciation then based on the urgent attention I received that it will expedite the developer to add the most desired feature I'd presume for us Duo users which is for the entire home screen to slidd to the inactive screen when an app is launch. I believe he can do this no problem, and that it's not a dream just something no other developers have cared to address (despite Microsoft giving them all the tools to develop on for the Surface, other developers haven't batted an eye our way even when trying to bring a Windows like experience to Android)
Also he did all this in two days, despite when looking for comments from other reviewers using my device mod, there was only one other person, as if he simply needs solid feedback to give him ideas of ways to further improve this already daily driver ready launcher!
Get his Winx Launcher from the play store
Win-X Launcher - Apps on Google Play
The Launcher inspired by famous OS to provide simplified interface.
play.google.com
And here is a video he just released today showcasing the new Surface Duo user optimizations and other updates already getting ready to be released!
Subscribe to him to see what he's up to like me!
If you love the fact someone is helping to fine tune such a core application for our devices you can even donate a coffee to him from within the app (might speed him up even further lol)
I'm attaching images of my customizations to hopefully encourage you that your Duo can also be as clean as mine with hard work and effort but if you'd like I could share my general settings which could size icons and stuff the way I have (even tho my display is set at slightly different dpi via developer settings)
BTW I'm using this awesome icon pack, but obviously I hand selected and replaced many of the typical ones with other ones, using the custom icons features.. Also I rename some apps. I haven't yet found great widgets but the app has support for widgets too in addition to the many MANY useful abilities you'll find..
Halo Icon Pack - Apps on Google Play
Shapeless icon designs with a mellow undertone.
play.google.com
HALO ICON PACK
I have decided it's easy enough to attach my settings if you want to quickly have a tested base layout like mine to start with, you might need to clean up the custom icons but maybe not but hey I have spent time adjusting this so just be happy I knocked out the fundamentals of beautifying it up for you. You should easily be able to use the offline back up restore setting to paste this folder in your documentz and then import in... The quick one drive backup feature btw makes it worth spending time customizing. I'm so pleased with this launchers impact on my Duo's experience, and have found its lighter on resources the the heavily crippled bland stock launcher
Also I attached my exact dpi settings... Note it looks even better if you haven't disabled windows level blur in the developer settings like me for benchmarking purposes... however I have it off and am too lazy to redo screenshots. And the system font I'm using (for those who know how to actually customize system fonts [root]) is CoconOrignial but I don't think that will make a huge difference between my screenshots and what you'll get with the base system fonts. I'm just trying to share some drip with you guys.
Again (for those expecting the bottom link here) this is the
Winx Launcher from the play store
Win-X Launcher - Apps on Google Play
The Launcher inspired by famous OS to provide simplified interface.
play.google.com