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Nexus One Stock theme complaint

First off, hello, i am new to the forums and am a happy owner of a nexus one. I think it is a great phone, especially the insane hardware, and i like the android OS.
However i do have one issue with it. the stock android theme does not feel as good as the rest of the phone does. one of the things that make the iphone great is its UI. it just feels robust and high quality, which is something apple is know for. i love the android OS, but the stock icons, notification bar, and menus just dont feel quite as high quality as the device itself. if the iphone OS is based on os x, the silver and green of the android UI are reminiscent of windows XP.
i don't want to start an iphone VS nexus argument (as i clearly love my nexus one and have never owned an iphone) but i just wanted to see if i am the only one with this feeling.
NOTE: i have not rooted my nexus yet, i am still hoping for a relock. also, after looking at many themes, none IMHO has been able to create a true look of a high quality stock theme. Dont get me wrong, there are some pretty incredible themes out there, just none that are truely great.
in other words: do you agree that android needs a facelift?

I can't say I agree with u on any of those points.
Just yesterday me and my friends were discussing how the iPhone OS is nice but looking very outdated compared to android 2.1, I mean the icons are so much better on android not to mention the res.
If u want u can make it look just like an iPhone, just unimaginably clog up your home screens with nothing but icons : )
I don't really see the resemblance to windows, only that android has more of a desktop feel to it.

i agree with you about the incredible resolution. i dont want to emulate the iphone theme, that was just an example of a "solid" user interface. i just think the color choices, and several of the icons, and other images just dont look quite as high quality as they could be, especially on a phone with a 800X480 resolution.

I don't see what people like about the iphone. The only thing I ever liked about the iphone is the smoothness of its OS. Everything else is horrible.
I would never, ever give up the Android os, with the awesome notification window/bar, on screen widgets and direct toggles to different parts of the phone (direct text, calls, different app or system functions, etc...) for a phone with nothing but block after block after block. Nothing appealing about the iphone OS other than its smoothness.
Really, does anyone prefer Iphone home screen with nuttin but blocks or a home screen streamlined with news, weather and pretty much whatever else you need quick access to?

I have to agree that I think the stock UI looks like it is stuck in Win95 mode. However, I urge you to check out Manup's NexTheme. That's the one I have on my N1, and I love it. I think it adds just enough polish to make it good to look at. The black everything gives it a clean and futuristic feel, too. That will be my theme as long as he keeps up with Cyanogen.

EErez said:
First off, hello, i am new to the forums and am a happy owner of a nexus one. I think it is a great phone, especially the insane hardware, and i like the android OS.
However i do have one issue with it. the stock android theme does not feel as good as the rest of the phone does. one of the things that make the iphone great is its UI. it just feels robust and high quality, which is something apple is know for. i love the android OS, but the stock icons, notification bar, and menus just dont feel quite as high quality as the device itself. if the iphone OS is based on os x, the silver and green of the android UI are reminiscent of windows XP.
i don't want to start an iphone VS nexus argument (as i clearly love my nexus one and have never owned an iphone) but i just wanted to see if i am the only one with this feeling.
NOTE: i have not rooted my nexus yet, i am still hoping for a relock. also, after looking at many themes, none IMHO has been able to create a true look of a high quality stock theme. Dont get me wrong, there are some pretty incredible themes out there, just none that are truely great.
in other words: do you agree that android needs a facelift?
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That's the beauty though.
You don't like something? then change it.
There is no possible way anyone could design an OS that everyone loves the look of.
You just happen to be one of those who don't like it.

Ummmm... What?
I have to agree with everyone else.
Android UI has such a better feeling that my iPhone did. I liked my iPhone for about 2 months then it began to get Boring. I did come from an Android UI, so i was kind of spoiled. but from an owner of both a Nexus, and an iPhone. I say the Nexus wins hands down. not only for the crazy hardware, but specially for the UI. Android FTW.

Amdathlonuk said:
That's the beauty though.
You don't like something? then change it.
There is no possible way anyone could design an OS that everyone loves the look of.
You just happen to be one of those who don't like it.
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Click to collapse
i guess you are right.
if only i could relock the bootloader as a safety net...

Xperia Arc and Desire S are in the same price

Hahaha lmao I know, unbelievable
Obviously the Arc is better hardware-wise (minus RAMs) .. I'm not sure what to buy though. I freakin' hate Sony Ericsson's UI (Everything about it, launcher, menu, dock, icons, status bar, dialer etc) and there is no Cyanogenmod or any other Vanilla android rom for it. I'd have to settle for lousy launchers, so if I ignored the software I would have a bigger screen and a bigger camera
Desire S has every type of ROM (Cyanogen, Hydrogyn, Revolution, Vitrorous etc) and a beautiful original user interface.
So it's more of a software vs. hardware thingy, they're both Android but there is UI differences. What would you do if you were in my place?

Nex_1 said:
I freakin' hate Sony Ericsson's UI (Everything about it, launcher, menu, dock, icons, status bar, dialer etc)
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Quite a lot of S.E users do, but a bit of modding here, bit of modding there and you can have a sweet looking U.I.

Hmm, is it possible to have the Vanilla Gingerbread interface (maybe a white status bar?)
It looks interesting though, I checked the Green Glow theme on your signature and it's fantastic .. Is it the only theme available or there are more?

I'd go for the desire s. Which is exactly what I did! Havn't looked back since. Great phone
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App

HTC Desire S here.

I believe it's a more deep question than hardware vs. software. I think of htc as an premium smartphone brand, and the quality of its devices one step above the rest. It's a bit like having a GT-R and a Ferrari, both are fast as hell, both are good looking (i prefer the design of the Arc tbh), but the ferrari will be a head turner more than the gtr even if more expensive (this was said before i checked the specs)
They're the same price so i'd go with the Desire S, the Arc it's gorgeous but it's way to big to me. 3.8 it's the ideal size imo
EDIT: i just checked the specs of both again on gsmarena and that totally changed my opinion xD

Big community will keep the desire alive for ages.
Take the Desire S

The only problem with Ics

I mainly like ics but it is too dark and not hapy like gingerbread. gbread is bright and happy looking if we could change that ics would be a whole lot better

samwest39 said:
I mainly like ics but it is too dark and not hapy like gingerbread. gbread is bright and happy looking if we could change that ics would be a whole lot better
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Is Dark, but beautiful, it's simple, and follow a line. in GB, everything was coloful, but weird. I liked a lot more ICS than GB.

ics is nice but wouldent you like a little more color in it

Nope. Even my wallpapers black n' blue
What actually annoys me is how some of the stock icons/apps are brightly coloured (people, messages, etc).

I kind of agree I've played with ICS and like the feel of GB better, maybe it's because I am so used to GB and have not gotten used to ICS. But its darker and more mysterious I do kind of like that. But bright and happy wallpapers don't really fit the dark ominous blue theme of ICS

I just don't like the shade of blue they used, it seems overused.
-Sent from my Droid 2-

Personally I think ICS looks terrible. Its ripped off from old 80's sci-movie computer panels. I mean, I love Tron, its brilliant, but doesnt work so well on a device when you have seen something like MiUI bring out the best in Android. Now that looks stylish and professional. Where ICS looks like its supposed to appeal to geeks and teens only. I am a certified geek, but I just cant get to liking the looks of ICS

samwest39 said:
I mainly like ics but it is too dark and not hapy like gingerbread. gbread is bright and happy looking if we could change that ics would be a whole lot better
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Agreed.
cornelha said:
Personally I think ICS looks terrible. Its ripped off from old 80's sci-movie computer panels. I mean, I love Tron, its brilliant, but doesnt work so well on a device when you have seen something like MiUI bring out the best in Android. Now that looks stylish and professional. Where ICS looks like its supposed to appeal to geeks and teens only. I am a certified geek, but I just cant get to liking the looks of ICS
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Couldn't have said it better myself. I'm glad i'm not the only one that feels this way. Sometimes with Android it's like you get a peek behind the curtain, and what you see is a Smartphone OS that's made by tweens, for tweens.
Yes, the Googlers are some of the most able people in the tech world, but sometimes it feels like they lack maturity. Certain aspects of their work needs more thought, more polish. Everything is 95% there and then left incomplete, as if in a fit of ADHD they moved on to the next project and forgot all about the previous one.
I think it's the usual paradigm. Coders do not make good Designers. What i'd like to see is a universal Theme Engine included in the OS itself. Much like the T-Mobile one included in CM7, but created by Google. Every device, whether Vanilla Android, or OEM Skinned, should come with a selection of Themes that work with that common engine. Sense/Touchwiz/Vanilla would all just be Themes for users to choose between.
Of course, Google half-arsed it again and didn't even consider Theme support when creating Android. Even Windows Mobile had Theme support going way back. It even had a Selection Pane for choosing between them. Why is technology going backwards in this regard?

Beauty of Android, don't like the look, change it
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using xda premium

I actually LOVE the new look. Its simple,elegant,consistent and much more polished. IMO the whole Android experience/"feel" had been revamped to the better , lets hope OEMs dont mess this up with their skins.

Plus is uses less battery on the Amoled displays, because of all the black!
I like it a lot, but I must say that my phone looks the rather the same as before, and Samsung allready used a lot of black for their own TW skin (think because of the Amoled display)

It's worth noting that the Galaxy nexus is the only device that will see the Holo theme. All the others will be skinned in the normal manufacturer colour schemes.
And i never thought i'd see the day when i would say that's a good thing!

DirkGently said:
It's worth noting that the Galaxy nexus is the only device that will see the Holo theme. All the others will be skinned in the normal manufacturer colour schemes.
And i never thought i'd see the day when i would say that's a good thing!
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Click to collapse
Although Android did publish a design website to help developers/designers follow the new Holo theme that ICS brought along. They are also encouriging OEMs to follow these guidlines when designing all those skins, so that Android would mantain a certain touch and feel throughout different devices!
Personally Id love to see that happen. Diversity is a great thing, but I do think certain UI elements need to look the same across all devices. But then again , Android is open source and OEMs can choose not to follow anything and come up with a whole new UI .

I love the new look, i like dark styles anyway, and i think it looks really smart and like some have already said, change it if you dont like it

i like ics because it gives a lot of a abstract feel and the dark tone feels like it save more battery. however a lot of ics theme is blue, i read somewhere that from RED-GREEN-BLUE, the colour tone BLUE uses more battery compare to the rest.

DirkGently said:
It's worth noting that the Galaxy nexus is the only device that will see the Holo theme. All the others will be skinned in the normal manufacturer colour schemes.
And i never thought i'd see the day when i would say that's a good thing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The holo theme is to be used inside of apps to create the consistent feel. It has nothing to with sense, touchwiz etc. When you press a menu button inside of an app, google wants a consistent response with no crazy surprises. When you open an app, it looks the same on all devices no matter what the manufacturer UI is....

lowandbehold said:
The holo theme is to be used inside of apps to create the consistent feel. It has nothing to with sense, touchwiz etc. When you press a menu button inside of an app, google wants a consistent response with no crazy surprises. When you open an app, it looks the same on all devices no matter what the manufacturer UI is....
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Just because they want it, doesn't mean anybody will comply! If you were creating an app would you use your design ideas, or theirs?

i really need to learn how to code and make things for android lol

Gingerbread was dark and dull and boring, ICS is dark, but sexy and clean. Froyo was bright and happy but Froyo is almost obsolete now.

Android in the pre-ICS era was inconsistent and all over the place, design-wise. It was about time it looked like a "whole" OS and not something 100 different people quickly put together.
iR¡[email protected]!* via Tapatalk

Sharp's new UI would look gorgeous on one X

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/18/sharp-teams-up-with-design-company-for-new-feel-ux-android-skin/
Just thought I'd share that. Who else thinks it would look gorgeous ported to our One X's?
I'm sure the all mighty devs will have something when it's released with source (if that happens.)

Looks very iPhone to me.
Of course, variety in ROMs and different UI experiences are always welcome, IMO (if somebody is willing to port).

I'd actually say more WP7 than iOS.
The tile system and lay out of widgets.

blaine.hale said:
I'd actually say more WP7 than iOS.
The tile system and lay out of widgets.
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Yeah, I was more thinking the app icons (simpler, bigger icon than typical on Android). Look very much like ripoffs of the iOS look. But there is def some WP7 inspiration in there too, for sure.

I honestly do NOt think it would look gorgeous . It looks 10 years old.

nugzo said:
I honestly do NOt think it would look gorgeous . It looks 10 years old.
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Do you mean dated or immature/gimmicky?
Personally, I think it looks good visually, but from a usability standpoint I don't see how it's better than anything else out there. Plus, all the animations and gimmicky stuff is just a bit too overwhelming.

I'm a fan of open screens. This looks nice, but way to cluttered.

The icons are terrible. Why do most UIs have the fake glass and chrome and such?
If anything WP7 has been so refreshing because it doesn't clutter the screen up with tons of fluff. Stock ICS Holo theme is pretty decent with the blue highlighting and mainly black themes. Then again many Android apps ignore guidelines...
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4 for me

Disclaimer!!
This thread ain't intended to start a flame war or to bash me because you can download new diallers, contacts etc just my opinion on touchwiz after seeing various youtube video's and to see if I am not the only one who feels this way.
First of all I am a fanatic bordering on OCD when it comes to the look and feel of the OS as well as the apps which run on top of it and my biggest gripe back when I had my first android phone was that applications varied wildly in the quality of design and aesthetics and Google had a lot of work ahead of it to tidy up the UI to get it up to the standard of iOS for a uniform feel and to get developers to have a similar feel across the board for their apps.
Android is and always was a superior OS just to clear that up I am not an iOS fanboy!
Fast forward to today and Android has changed so much it blew me away all the apps now look and feel like they follow the guidelines set out by Google with the holo theme (I had a Google Nexus 720p and sold it purely because all the apps looked well out of place) and everything is very smooth with next to no lag or stutter so consider me impressed.
However this is what bugs me now, when I first got a Galaxy S II touchwiz looked good and it added some nice little touches and over all and made a very nice change to Sense which was bloated and slow now fast forward to the Galaxy S IV announcement and touchwiz now looks very dated and from what I can gather it does not follow the holo guidelines whatsoever and the enhancements are a slightly more toned down look (still cartoony like in appearance) and whites in the menu's.
So here is a breakdown of my gripes/concerns about Touchwiz on this flagship phone.
The dialler looks absolutely awful and seriously dated by todays standards
The contact list and/or contacts follows the same lines as the dialler and looks very dated
The camera icons have a fake metal look and stick out a mile
Basically Touchwiz looks way too cartoony, garish and lacks the polish and finish of the Nexus range and even the HTC One.
And last things last I appreciate that you can customise the hell out of Android with new diallers, new themes, tweaks and what not but this post is purely about the stock experience.
Aside from that Touchwiz does have some nice touches just Samsung need to bring it out of the gingerbread days and screaming and kicking into the holo days.
One last note I own a windows phone purely because of the aesthetics and all applications follow the same guidelines but there is such a lack of support I am coming back to Android at some point in the very near future.

Samsung always had a bunch of awful designers. They desperately need to hire better designers.

Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4
All those complaints can be changed with simple fixes right here on XDA...

NightHawkUndead said:
All those complaints can be changed with simple fixes right here on XDA...
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Click to collapse
Definitely agree not denying that whatsoever and my complaints are purely about the design and look of Touchwiz not how to fix it

Some like it, some don't. Touchwiz UI never looks great to me, and its features (s voice, s beam, palm swipe screen capture etc) are nothing but bloats for me. However if you're gonna buy a S4 you'll have to find a way to like Touchwiz. Don't think you'll be able to flash CM or AOSP on an S4 and everything's gonna work well and great. With the lack of support and Samsung's attitude towards devs, open source development on this device is gonna be a pain.

Or you use a different launcher.

I'm riding the same boat as you mate, currently a Lumia 920 owner, came from S2 and Nexuses aren't sold in the country I live in. Samsung's totally effed it up, it looks so gingerbread :x

BoneXDA said:
Or you use a different launcher.
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Touchwiz is not just the launcher. It's the whole experience.

Livebyte said:
Touchwiz is not just the launcher. It's the whole experience.
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Click to collapse
Couldn't of said it better myself and also nice signature, typing on a Macbook Pro Retina as we speak

Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4
Livebyte said:
Touchwiz is not just the launcher. It's the whole experience.
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Exactly correct which is why when u change the launcher it's different because the experience changes
And you can still flash a rom anyway
PHONE SLOW CLICK ME?
1 days 2 s4​

Totally agree with you.
Amoled display on Touchwiz added insult to injury. Its oversaturated/ unrealistic colors made it look more awful.
I'm not against samsung or its nature UX, I've seen the S4 personally and its display is really gorgeous. its just that just like you, i'm not into the outdated user experience with added features from the gingerbread days.

Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4
Have to disagree. Love the touchwiz. And absolutely love most of the things u guys call 'bloat'.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

NightHawkUndead said:
All those complaints can be changed with simple fixes right here on XDA...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Samsung has no use for OCD types....They will never be satisfied and are too infinitesimal in the millions and millions of sold product. I don;t like TW. I use Nova Problem solved.

My feelings are if you are paying for a top end flagship device then everything should ooze quality and Touchwiz is firmly stuck in the days of gingerbread and it's getting totally left behind.
Launchers can only do so much imho.

tbong777 said:
+1
Samsung has no use for OCD types....They will never be satisfied and are too infinitesimal in the millions and millions of sold product. I don;t like TW. I use Nova Problem solved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nova launcher is slick.

deleted

daleski75 said:
My feelings are if you are paying for a top end flagship device then everything should ooze quality and Touchwiz is firmly stuck in the days of gingerbread and it's getting totally left behind.
Launchers can only do so much imho.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Launchers can and do COMPLETELY change the experience. They do a lot. and then even more... In fact the problem people are having with TW can be completely eradicated with a very large choice of proven launchers.
REAL Flagship devices don't become antiquated in 6 months. I think the word "flagship" in this world of Mobile devices is over used. carries to high of expectations, and is over exaggerated for a $600 all in one device. The Note 3 will be the flagship device in a few months...Then what?
For MOST the S4 WILL "ooze quality" I know a few non rooting users who cannot wait to get their upgrades and have been completely satissfied with their S3s. WE in XDA are very very tiny consumer base for Samsung. They throw a few bones to developers for their own benefit so we can beta test their new stock firmwares. But tey are not building these devices for hackers who will run Cyanogen on them or care about slightly blue tints or plastic cases and screens (which are likely to be covered with the latest Otter box and ZAGG crap)
OCD/Anal users usually don't run their devices out of the box bare as designed, like I do. So does the plastic body and slick glass really matter?

Touchwiz came a long way since gingerbread. It's only downfall is that it's still choppy in very few areas (like widgets tab). Other than that, I'd rather have it then Sense (which comes with features you can't disable, at Touchwiz gives you the option to disable features you don't want) or stock android which is bare-boned and lacks features.

Just wait for custom roms.
They will bring new life to the s4.
TingTingin said:
Exactly correct which is why when u change the launcher it's different because the experience changes
And you can still flash a rom anyway
PHONE SLOW CLICK ME?
1 days 2 s4​
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Click to collapse
​

So RUN AOSP in it, or run a Touchwiz run de-touchiwzed.