Android 4.0: A coming of age and homage to Windows Phone 7
extremetech.com
extremetech.com
> We all know that Android is the geeky option.
This doesn't match my notion of the Android and Apple ecosystems.
Android is the _cheap_ option. You can get Android burners now on budget telcos like Cricket and MetroPCS. Geeks like it too, but that's not the massive perception of the OS. It's becoming just the default phone.
I'll give you fast/smooth, but from now on, I can't see my next phone being anything other than a Nexus.
If your digital life is in Google apps, a Nexus phone is a very sensible choice.
I'm not willing to put up with carrier crapware on non-Nexus phones though. That would be too big of a compromise for me.
That is not to say that Android has no virtues of its own. I prefer Android for more than just brand identification.
Sure, they have found a couple of Android screens that have squares on them, and it is true that both Microsoft and Google are rejecting the "analogy" approach for UI that Apple has embraced. But that is as far as it goes.
Look at the Android lock screen or the start screen and you'll see they are totally different. Android simply doesn't use the card-based metaphor that Windows uses.
(Also, note that Duarte came from Palm - surely it would be more interesting to see how WebOS influenced Android than Windows did?)
ICS and Metro are both examples of Swiss style maturing in mobile UI design.
Apple at its best in iOS is similarly executing Swiss style.
From http://thisismynext.com/2011/10/18/exclusive-matias-duarte-i...
“Across the board Google and Android is taking design a lot more seriously,” Matias says, and points out that Roboto is used throughout the system. “There’s this thing that’s happening right now in user interface design that I find kind of shackling. The faux wood paneling trend, and the airport lavatory signage trend.” He laughs when he says this and pulls up a slide on his computer, a split screen of an Atari 2600 and… airport lavatory signage. It’s an obvious dig at both Apple and Microsoft.
I think WP7 looks great, but agree that it's kind of austere.
I think a culture of innovators regularly taking the best of each other's ideas and making them their own, putting their own spin, their own personality on them is fantastic.
I'm so pleasantly surprised by this. I was totally expecting just another feature dump or change-for-change's-sake/shallow modernization UI refresh like every other one before this.
I'm really excited about Android having a clear user-centered vision. Not just because I'm an Android user, but because it's great for everyone that there's this level of competition in the industry.