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?
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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!!
Click to expand...
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...
Click to expand...
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!!
Click to expand...
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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!!
Click to expand...
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.
Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium
We heard it would be flat. We heard it would be
black and white. We heard that it would be a
totally different experience.
It is. iOS 7, the latest version of Apple’s
flagship mobile operating system, is here, and
it’s almost entirely different from the versions
that came before. Gone are the skeuomorphic
designs and 3D effects, replaced by Sir Jony
Ive’s “flat design.” Rumors had been flying for
weeks about the new OS and now it’s here and
it is, at least at this early reckoning, a massive
change for the six year old operating system.
First, we must remember that Ive, Apple’s
industrial designer now in control of software
following the departure of Scott Forstall, isn’t a
believer in interfaces that copy real-world
objects. In the past, making the Notes app look
like a legal pad or the calendar app look like a
Moleskine calendar notebook were part of the
iOS design philosophy, as ingrained in the OS
as “Slide To Unlock.” All that is gone now.
Are you ready for a whole new world?
New Look:
iOS 7 has a new font leading the way, which
seems to be a sort of Helvetica Neue Ultra. It’s
very skinny, clean, and it was hinted at in the
iOS 7 banners that went up for WWDC
yesterday.
Instead of white bars on a black background,
Apple will now tell you what kind of service
coverage you have with five little dots, which
are white and grey depending on how strong
the signal is across a translucent background.
The lock screen is changed for the first time in
iOS’s history, with no more shine top or bottom
bars for slide to unlock or the clock. Instead,
Slide to unlock is translucent above the
background image.
Default app icons are now flatter, but not quite
flat, just as predicted.
Jony Ive’s hand has had its way with iOS
notifications. The notifications panel isn’t laced
with dark grey linen anymore, but actually has
a very flat look to it. There is a today view, that
lets you see friends birthdays, upcoming
invitations, calendar, stocks, and a quick look
at tomorrow.
The apps all seem to have a white base, except
for the stocks app which has a black
background and the weather app, which shows
motion in the background to convey the current
weather.
The keyboard is more white, than grey, with a
translucency that lets you see what’s
underneath the keyboard.
New Features
Control Center
Control Center is a pull-up tray that is available
in your lock screen.
You can adjust brightness, volume, and other
settings including Wifi, Airplane mode, rotation
lock, or Bluetooth.
The Control Center even offers a flashlight,
along with tabs for music, camera, and other
quick-access apps.
The Control Center takes on the environment
it’s in, so if you swipe up while you’re in mail, it
will have the same blue and white coloring
under that translucent panel.
Multitasking
iOS 7 lets you multitask between all third-party
apps with much better battery consumption.
You can double-tap the home button to enter
into multi-tasking mode, just like always, but
the interface for multitasking has been
revamped. It appears to offer live previews, but
Apple wasn’t clear about that.
Safari
Safari opens straight into full screen mode now,
with the option to pull down to bring up the
search bar at the top.
The search field has been improved to be a
unified smart search field, which lets you have
access to all your favorite websites with a
single tap.
Tabs come with a totally new interface,
scrolling in a vertical carousel, and there are no
longer any limits. In other words, you can have
as many tabs as you want, as opposed to just
8 like before. Swipe a tab off to the side to
throw it away.
The new Safari is integrated with iCloud
keychain from OS X Mavericks, and also comes
with parental controls.
AirDrop
You can share sharesheets with other people by
simply tapping their name. No NFC required.
Airdrop supports iPhone 5, iPad 4th gen, iPad
Mini
Camera And Photos
The Camera app lets you swipe between your
various camera types, such as panorama or
HDR so you can quickly take a pic instead of
fumbling around with settings.
Photos marks the first update to the photo
gallery on iOS since it was introduced.
You can search based on date, and location,
within the photos app.
Instagram must be flattered — Apple has
introduced photo filters so you can add a little
professionalism to the picture.
Users can share via AirDrop, iCloud photo-
sharing, as well as shared Photo Streams.
You can even share video with iCloud photo-
sharing.
Siri:
Siri has a new voice! It sounds similar, but also
weird. You can choose a male or female voice,
if you like. Voices include languages like
French, German, and other languages “over
time.”
The visual UI has also been upgraded, with a
sound wave going along the bottom.
Siri has also been integrated with settings,
letting you tell her to turn on bluetooth, or
lower the screen brightness.
The company has also added support for
Twitter, Wikipedia, and shows web search
results direct from Bing.
iOS in the Car
iOS in the Car depends a lot on Siri.
It puts the iOS homescreen on the screen of
your car, and lets you search for directions,
listen to music, etc.
App Store
You can now search for apps based on
location. In other words, search for apps by the
Louvre and see a lot of French museum apps.
The App Store also automatically updates apps
for you in the background now. Hallelujah
again!
iTunes Radio:
Apple has finally introduced the much-
anticipated iTunes Radio, which gives a Genius-
like experience to the entire 26-million title
iTunes catalog.
You can see the full list of songs on each
station by clicking history, with purchase and
preview buttons built right in to send you to the
iTunes store.
iTunes Radio also lets you customize each
station by clicking a star to show that you want
more of this type of music.
iTunes Match users will get an ad-free
experience, but others will be able to use the
app for free with a few audio and text ads.
Activation Lock:
This is for those of us who have had an iPhone
stolen.
If a thief steals your phone and tries to turn off
Find My iPhone, they can no longer turn the
device back on without your iCloud password.
Users can also block messages and calls from
other users.
Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium
I tell you what I think:
lol.
Thread closed: this discussion should be held on a more Apple friendly website....
On the eve of its fifth anniversary, software firm TeslaCoil Software announced that it is launching a new update for its Nova Launcher application. The update, which was released on Google Play Store, has been under extensive beta testing for a while and is now available for all users.
According to a report on Android Police website, Nova Launcher is one of the most popular user interface skins for Android users. A full change log of the update has also been released by the company
The log counts additions, such as swipe to open drawer and search bar (similar to what is available on Google Pixel smartphones), a new search view with tabs for frequent, recent, and new applications, timeout-styled screen lock method, double-tap swipe gestures, Android 7.1 launcher shortcuts, dock backgrounds to draw under the navigation bar, and a quick start interface to change major settings easily.
With the update, Android users can now make their launchers look similar to the Pixel Launcher. The website claims adds that with the new update, Nova Launcher comes with a cleaner interface. It states that though the new gestures come across as a bit unusual, it helps a user in gaining a quick access to more features without deranging the UI with extra buttons.
The app can be downloaded both from the developer's website as well as Google Play Store.
Google launched its Pixel smartphone at an event in October this year. The handsets are the first to come without any OEM branding. Pixel and Pixel XL are available in aluminium and glass frames in three different colour variants - Very Sliver, Quite Black and Really Blue. Both run on the latest Android Nougat 7.1 out of the box and support Google Assistant already available on the company's VPA assisted messaging app Allo.
Pixel XL sports a 5.5-inch QHD (1,440x2,560 pixels) resolution AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 4 and an integrated Nexus Imprint fingerprint sensor on the back. Pixel, on the other hand, comes with a 5 inch screen with full HD display, with the remaining configurations remaining the same for both. The battery on board Pixel is a smaller 2,770mAh.
Credits:Gadgetsnow
XDA Assist isn't a place for this.
Please read this:
The Purpose of XDA Assist [Please Read]
Thread closed.
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