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I just want to start out by saying that this is in no way a knock at any developers, or Google, it's just a question I had. I'd figure it out myself, but I haven't had a chance to delve into Android development yet (too busy with other work) so I thought I'd ask some experts.
I love my Nexus One, and I'm a big fan of Android. I'm blown away how far it's come in such a short time, and how much potential I see in its future. One of the only areas I feel the phone is lacking, is in attractiveness of the OS and apps. I feel that people are drawn to pretty things, and it's one of the reasons that the iPhone is so popular. Apple puts a tremendous amount of effort into aesthetic design of their software, and it shows. From what I've seen so far, I feel like a lot of Android apps (or at least third party apps) are lacking in that design and polish, and in many cases seem to indicate that developers are taking the path of least resistance.
I don't think that Android is ugly whatsoever, but I do feel that most of the apps I've seen are not as pretty as they could be. Sure, the HTC widgets add a lot, but I'm talking more on a fundamental level of design, and I actually have a great example to illustrate where I think things should go.
The Gallery app. This is a beautiful work of design in my opinion. The design of the entire application is simple, yet elegant. I love the rounded, clean look of the icons, and the menus, and the way the pictures are displayed and how you traverse the application. To give a contrast, if I go into one of my favorite apps functionality-wise (Last.fm - who has a gorgeous website and 360 app), I'm totally turned off by the appearance. It's plain, and gray, and drab. It's just got those arrowed clickable areas, and that's about it. Seesmic, another great app, is also extremely drab and unappealing. It gives me a feeling of looking at an application created in Visual Basic 6 (if anyone has experience with this ha!). Heck, they just implemented multiple accounts, and instead of having a slick screen, it's just a list of accounts that probably took 3 minutes to implement. The moment I looked at the screen I thought to myself how this would be the perfect place for a Windows 7ish login screen; an enlarged view of your portrait with your info underneath that allows you to swipe back and forth to choose which account you want to use.
I know this is a long post, but I just wanted to illustrate my feelings. My question; is this a matter of Google not providing the proper toolsets, an abundance of armchair developers who don't have the resources to make pretty UI's/lack of professional developers, or just plain lazy developers?
Any insight would be appreciated. I feel that this is one huge component Google needs to focus on to be able to properly compete with Apple. I can understand in the past allowing the TPM's to customize their builds how they want them to look, but with the launch of the Nexus, I feel it's time for Google to step up to the plate and really focus on the design of their OS.
xSiraris said:
I just want to start out by saying that this is in no way a knock at any developers, or Google, it's just a question I had. I'd figure it out myself, but I haven't had a chance to delve into Android development yet (too busy with other work) so I thought I'd ask some experts.
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Click to collapse
i think you said it yourself, "too busy with other work"
well in terms of Google, one thing I've never regarded them for is design. look at their online presence. it's not all that attractive. functional and optimizable, yes. slick looking, no. but that's their business. Apple really concentrates on the 'feel' of total UX, but at the expense of personalization. Google is more about providing service, but at the expense of design.
that being said, the iPhone OS desktop is looking more and more boring to me all the time. I genuinely like the how Android desktop looks (except for maybe the notification bar).
as for apps, I think the rough edges around Android apps will disappear as Android gains market share. right now, devs don't have all that much incentive to concentrate on Android while iPhone is king. I'm sure inthe next few years it will even out (although I do expect the iPhone to dominate for a good while to come).
j.books said:
well in terms of Google, one thing I've never regarded them for is design. look at their online presence. it's not all that attractive. functional and optimizable, yes. slick looking, no. but that's their business. Apple really concentrates on the 'feel' of total UX, but at the expense of personalization. Google is more about providing service, but at the expense of design.
that being said, the iPhone OS desktop is looking more and more boring to me all the time. I genuinely like the how Android desktop looks (except for maybe the notification bar).
as for apps, I think the rough edges around Android apps will disappear as Android gains market share. right now, devs don't have all that much incentive to concentrate on Android while iPhone is king. I'm sure inthe next few years it will even out (although I do expect the iPhone to dominate for a good while to come).
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The OS itself isn't really the issue. I'm talking more the controls provided. I think they could be improved, and I feel they ARE improved in the Gallery app. I'd like to see that kind of design in more apps, as opposed to what I'm seeing in most now. There's certain standards of design that just are not found in most apps outside of the first party ones (I think maps, finance, gallery and the browser are all great looking apps, while Calendar, and Translate could use some work).
And Google may not have had to focus on design to this point, but if they want to go up against Apple, I think they will have to.
I think app wise, its due to Android being open & no one is saying yes or no to apps. Developers can slap a few sounds together & call it a soundboard, there's a new app in the market.
Apple, on the other hand, has the final say. If it doesn't look the way they want or up to their standards, they can turn it down. I bet if Apple just let anyone submit apps at any time, you'd see a lot of crap there too.
Its just a matter of having standards... no one is forcing Android developers to make a pretty app. As cool as it is having an open market, it would be that much better to have some sort of standards.
This just being my opinion of course... I have an iPod touch & ever since Android came out, I haven't bought an app from the app store. If Apple let go of the reigns a little, I think they would be so much better. But I don't like being told what I can & can't have on my phone, which is why my iPod is jailbroken.
Google could do a lot just by making their notification bar/widgets/etc black. This (imho) goes a long way to making android look more like a competitor in the smartphone arena.
Doesn't it also have to do with the "default" button style in Android? This might make no sense so sorry if it doesn't.
Go into calendar and choose New Event from the menu. There you see the "default" buttons for Android which are used throughout - the buttons for the time and date. The little grey ones with the slight gradient. I think that the Android SDK just has very limited built in design tools / default buttons to choose from that just make it uglier. I feel like I saw a demo of the iPhone SDK once and they had like a design screen where you could graphically design the UI and they had a bunch of objects to choose from that you could customize but they were all really nice looking.
Android doesn't seem to have anything like this - no "design" view or anything in the SDK and very limited built in design tools or default objects.
Part of the difference you're noticing is in he two SDKs. The iPhone app design is really locked down in a lot of ways. When building a GUI for the iPhone, you start out with Apple's default set of super shiny buttons so it's difficult to make an app that doesn't look pretty and cohesive. If you do manage to do so, your app isn't approved.
With Android, Google gives developers just a framework. Everything is minimalist and bare. This of course gives developers more freedom to build unique GUIs but like you said most don't and like others said, there is no moderation. Making a truly great GUI is a LOT of work and most devs are just engineers. Only the teams with lots of money hire designers and graphics artists. Both methods have their pros and cons
cboy007 said:
Doesn't it also have to do with the "default" button style in Android? This might make no sense so sorry if it doesn't.
Go into calendar and choose New Event from the menu. There you see the "default" buttons for Android which are used throughout - the buttons for the time and date. The little grey ones with the slight gradient. I think that the Android SDK just has very limited built in design tools / default buttons to choose from that just make it uglier. I feel like I saw a demo of the iPhone SDK once and they had like a design screen where you could graphically design the UI and they had a bunch of objects to choose from that you could customize but they were all really nice looking.
Android doesn't seem to have anything like this - no "design" view or anything in the SDK and very limited built in design tools or default objects.
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No one has commented on the Gallery buttons I referenced. I think these are much better looking than the controls found in other apps. If they were to use something more along those lines in other apps, I'd be much happier.
But I understand what is being said, and I hope Google does something about it. I appreciate the freedom they are giving to developers, but appearance counts, and if developers don't have the time or resources to make the pretty GUI's, then Google should provide the tools to help them do so.
I just had an idea that may actually help. One of the things third party developers are complaining about (I'm talking about the professionals here, not armchair) is that their apps aren't being seen, or bought, and getting lost in the shuffle. What if Google created an authorized/registered developer program, where a third party developer could register with Google. At this point, they would be held up to higher standards and practices, but Google would create a separate place on the marketplace, or some way to filter by registered/authorized developers.
The way it is now, everything is getting lost in the shuffle. This method would give the exposure the professionals want, it would improve the quality of apps on the marketplace, all while leaving the open market that exists today.
I agree. Sounds like a good idea--right now, even the most polished, best apps can easily get overlooked if they aren't spammed up on several tech/Android blogs. It's why it took me so long to discover, say, Home++
desktop app browser
also, an online desktop app catalogue would help, simply because there is not enough space on a small screen to display a lot of variety. I guess they want to keep everything on-phone, as opposed to iTunes where you have to be plugged-in to install apps, but they could do something where you choose an app from your desktop browser and it pushes a notification to your phone. then when you go to the notification, it brings you to the app in the market, where you can DL and install it.
this would preserve the ability to get apps on the go if you need them with the expanded view of a desktop, creating more visibility for the apps, without compelling you to connect your phone to your desktop.
S
j.books said:
also, an online desktop app catalogue would help, simply because there is not enough space on a small screen to display a lot of variety. I guess they want to keep everything on-phone, as opposed to iTunes where you have to be plugged-in to install apps, but they could do something where you choose an app from your desktop browser and it pushes a notification to your phone. then when you go to the notification, it brings you to the app in the market, where you can DL and install it.
this would preserve the ability to get apps on the go if you need them with the expanded view of a desktop, creating more visibility for the apps, without compelling you to connect your phone to your desktop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Orrr you can just go to AndroLib.com, scan the app, and donwload it in the market!
Several reasons...
1. Google simply doesnt have a good visual design team or a good visual design lead.
The gallery app looks wonderful becuase it was made by cooliris. Not google.
I admit they have gotten better. The transition to home/apps and live wallpapers are great and have great visual appeal.Standard N1 UI w/a live wallpaper is better looking than iphone and just slightly behind a palm pre. Where as it was way behind in 1.6
So they obviously have tried to focus more on there visuals.
They still have some improvements to make but its always iffy since they dont have a track record for great visuals.
2. The visualtools arent uniform. Thats a good thing for Devs not needing to get "approved" for everything... But it does mean that Iphone apps are drawing from a pool of buttons/icons/layouts that were made by some of the visual people in the business.
3. Even without that the visual people on the Mac/Apple side of things are more talented. To be long winded theres a world of designers and coders. Few VERY few can do both well. Its become clear to me in a short time just how good Android devs are on addressing needs and issues. Heck even the OS experience changes becuase of there talents.
But they cant visually design worth a damned.
Very few apps on iphone even from the jailbreak community seemed as well made or intuitive. Even there hallmark cydia was utter crap. It could be apples closed system of course but just got a sense of clunkiness and low level winmo app making.
4. $$$$$$$
At the end of the day a company or App dev can make beautiful apps on iPhone with little gambling. Its easier to make money in the Apple store thus easier to hire quality visual people to give coders great layouts pieces to work with.
Not much incentive to go hire out some UI designer when you can slap together some easy photoshop stuff yourself.
If Fandango or Directv (just examples) hire some visual dudes to help make its app for iphone..then 6 months later for android the chances are really high hes going to see the lack of Apple given/mandated visuals and realize he has to do everything himself. Unless hes really dedicated hes not going to max out that potential hes going to slap together the best look alike he can.
This has and is happening regularly from what I understand.
Thats it in a nutshell.
Hi there,
I really don't know where I should post this, but I really need some first hand advice about the Nexus One/Desire from people who own and use the device.
I am a newcomer to Android, and have used a T-Mobile G1 in the past, and I was never too overtly enthused by its multimedia capabilites, and some other things like battery life. I currently use an iPhone 3GS and I want to change my phone.
My main requirements (except telephony) are:
1) Music Playback (I travel a lot and use my phone as a dedicated music player)
2) A really fluid and fast interface
3) Wi Fi
As you can see, the iphone sufficed for all the above functions, but its getting a bit old, and I'm thinking of something else to get this time.
How good is the Nexus One as a music player, qualitywise (I've been using an iPhone so a comparison would be helpful). I use middle range in-ears (V-Moda Vibe).
How fluid is the interface?
How good is it as an all round device?
I would really appreciate it if anyone helps me out on my queries, as I don't intend to splurge a whole lot of cash on a disappointing device.
Thanks in advance
Music is music, it sounds the same.
Android on a snapdragon processor is very fast.
Wifi is fine. Unless the radio is just terrible, I don't really know how a device could be "Good" or "Bad" at wifi.
I don't mean to sound condescending or anything, but if you want a phone to "Just work", I would get an iPhone. If you like customizing your phone, messing around with gadgets in general, "hacking" stuff, etc, you will be very happy with an N1.
This topic has been beaten to death No need to start a new one, just check the existing threads with a search, and continue posting there.
Also this thread should have been in the Q&A section.
OK before anyone starts to flame this thread, these are IMO things in Android that could be upgraded to make the average consumer prefer it to the iPhone.
Now I own an EVO and am fully rooted and running a custom ROM and know a lot of people on here are too, I and I assume everyone one else on here already thinks android is better than IOS.
The point of this thread is to point out improvements in the Android OS that will make the average consumer-meaning someone who doesn't know what an .apk is or has heard of XDA developers, or who thinks a task killer is good for your phone. Keep in mind this is a majority of android users. However I will say that android most likely has the largest amount of developers out of any other mobile OS that tweaks/customizes their phone as well.
Now I owned an iPhone 3GS when it first came out, however returned it because of monthly costs with AT&T. I was on a family plan with Sprint and at the time their were no Android phones at all, the only decent touch screen phone was the palm pre.
I really liked the iPhone because of its user friendliness, and the apps.
I have owned the Hero, Moment, and Now the EVO. My cousin needed help JB his iPhone and I am pretty good with that stuff so i did it for him. he has the 3GS, He was gone most of the day and I really got a chance to look at the iPhone and play around with it.
Well Here it goes..
Core apps/interface improvement
Now I know android is supposed to be open and how the user wants it. Their are widgets, apps, live wallpapers, a lot of cool stuff. However scrolling between screens could be a bit smoother, I think we can all say the iPhone may be dull but the physics engine when it comes to scrolling through lists or screens is pretty damn good. I believe that on android would make it a much better user experience.
Another thing is getting rid of all the blackness. The settings menu, text messaging (before eclair) are all black and very dull looking. brighter, more crisp colors makes the phone look alot nicer.
Lastly a battery indicator when charging the Phone. this is one of the things I liked about the iPhone when it was charging, you get a nice clean battery icon to show how much is charged.
keyboard
Now, this kind of still goes along with that boring black look. The Onscreen KB has certainly gotten better with auto correction and learning the way you type, but it doesn't look like something such an advanced phone would release. I know their is the HTC KB, and Droid X KB, but most people don't know about that stuff. I believe a KB that had brighter colors would make it easier to type. One thing IMO the iPhone does better than android is the On screen KB.
Media sync
Now most people on here hate iTunes, but alot of people like having all of their music, videos, and photos in one place. But I believe with clever advertisement and a good optional media application for your PC alot more people will want an android phone. Lets be fair the EVO's screen is huge, but HTC Or Android did not give users a place to download videos in High quality. I think a nice application for your PC that helps users put stuff on their phone would help people who want music on their phone. I know alot of people with iPhones and 99% have it filled up with all their music. I know a few Android users, and I am the only one who actually puts music on their, the rest still use an iPod.
Now before I get flamed for this. I LIKE ANDROID AND PREFER IT TO IOS. however I believe these are fair things that would make Android better. Yes, for developing and flashing ROMS and tweaking their device Android without question is the best IMO. However the OS still needs a little work to satisfy people who just want a functional but "cool" phone.
Agree?
Disagree?
The are a lot of improvements that could and should be made...
None of them I want marketed to the iPhone "lowest common denominator" crowd. When my brother first switched, he complained about every extra menu he had to go in. When I showed him that that extra menu meant endless customizations he said "cool".
We did that enough times that he now says he won't go back.
Lets go through these line by line.
Now I know android is supposed to be open and how the user wants it. Their are widgets, apps, live wallpapers, a lot of cool stuff. However scrolling between screens could be a bit smoother, I think we can all say the iPhone may be dull but the physics engine when it comes to scrolling through lists or screens is pretty damn good. I believe that on android would make it a much better user experience.
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Click to collapse
My Evo with custom kernel is very smooth, but I have seen some android phones that are a little laggy. What causes it? Multitasking to many programs? Maybe to many running widgets? I will take the ability to do both of those things over "smoothness"
Another thing is getting rid of all the blackness. The settings menu, text messaging (before eclair) are all black and very dull looking. brighter, more crisp colors makes the phone look alot nicer.
Lastly a battery indicator when charging the Phone. this is one of the things I liked about the iPhone when it was charging, you get a nice clean battery icon to show how much is charged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like the blackness, if you don't change it... You don't buy android phones to have the color dictated by the manufacturer, you pick, change and choose
Now, this kind of still goes along with that boring black look. The Onscreen KB has certainly gotten better with auto correction and learning the way you type, but it doesn't look like something such an advanced phone would release. I know their is the HTC KB, and Droid X KB, but most people don't know about that stuff. I believe a KB that had brighter colors would make it easier to type. One thing IMO the iPhone does better than android is the On screen KB.
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Click to collapse
Again, choice. DroidX, Stock, Better keyboard, Swype, etc etc etc. Try them all find one that works for you. Or use speech to text, you get the picture. If you buy a 200 dollar smart phone and you can't figure out that there are a **** ton of keyboards in the marketplace the enjoy your iPhone.
Now most people on here hate iTunes, but alot of people like having all of their music, videos, and photos in one place. But I believe with clever advertisement and a good optional media application for your PC alot more people will want an android phone. Lets be fair the EVO's screen is huge, but HTC Or Android did not give users a place to download videos in High quality. I think a nice application for your PC that helps users put stuff on their phone would help people who want music on their phone. I know alot of people with iPhones and 99% have it filled up with all their music. I know a few Android users, and I am the only one who actually puts music on their, the rest still use an iPod.
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It allows you to find your own music and movies without needing itunes. What is easier than drag and drop? Why do I need a clunky interface for what essentially is an easy process?
re: music sync
try doubletwist if you want a syncing app. i don't really want or need it, but it works really well for some others.
the android app was free on the market a few days ago, but for a limited time only is what they said. grab it while it is
Man you are missing the point of the whole post.
I know android allows users on here to customize it to their liking, but I meant for the average consumer who doesn't know what ROMS or rooting is, android could use a little bit of touch ups.
I prefer not having to use a program to manage music, but be honest out of all the people you know with android phones or iPhones which group has more users with music on their phone? I would say the iPhone.
Like I said in the post I know alot of people on here don't like having to use a program to control their music but for their average consumer it makes it easier and more people will like it and buy it.
The KB, again the AVERAGE CONSUMER doesn't know that they have more options. IMO the average user would prefer the iPhone KB because of the brighter colors than the black one on stock android. I Know their are many many different ones to customize and pick from, but most people don't know about those.
I am not saying that the iPhone's OS is superior, but it is popular because it is user friendly and looks nice.
Android works well and lets you customize and with that added smoothness or brighter colors to the OS I would say it would make the average consumer want one over the iPhone.
By physics you mean "easing"
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
re sync
Ever tried dropbox... free 2gig.... anything I put in my CPU dropbox folder updates to my phone... ANY F~ing thing
The Evo will never trump the iPhone. Not as long as it's running the second best OS on the market.
Classick206 said:
The Evo will never trump the iPhone. Not as long as it's running the second best OS on the market.
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If you think it's second best then why did you buy one?
Because I got sick of waiting for the white iPhone to come out.
They don't have an iPhone in a color you want so you get a phone you don't really want? Seriously? Thanks for confirming all the things people saying about iPhone users being incredibly stupid
063_XOBX said:
They don't have an iPhone in a color you want so you get a phone you don't really want? Seriously? Thanks for confirming all the things people saying about iPhone users being incredibly stupid
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Thanks for confirming that all Evo owners are incredibly shallow. See what I did there? Over generalizing ftl. To each his own. I swapped to an iPhone after a month, not because I hated my Evo, but because Sprint was bad in my area. If you read iPhone boards, they don't whine and complain about the Evo. I don't know why everyone on this board has a complex about the iPhone.
I can agree with the guy above me, its a phone!
Yes this is an Android forum, but the second an iPhone is mentioned everyone starts talking trash about it, its a phone for god sake.
daveop said:
I don't know why everyone on this board has a complex about the iPhone.
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everyone ???
daveop said:
Thanks for confirming that all Evo owners are incredibly shallow. See what I did there? Over generalizing ftl. To each his own. I swapped to an iPhone after a month, not because I hated my Evo, but because Sprint was bad in my area. If you read iPhone boards, they don't whine and complain about the Evo. I don't know why everyone on this board has a complex about the iPhone.
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1.) Your call-out makes no sense. The poster was being sarcastic at the other for making a blatantly shallow remark as to why he got the Evo (because there was not a white Iphone available? What the ****? Really?), and you, in turn, called him shallow... that makes absolutely no sense.
2.) As for the rest of your post, I agree... it's more than just fancy specs that make a phone one to buy... in your case, simply HAVING SERVICE was the deal breaker, and rightfully so, lol. I'm the opposite, and AT&T users get absolutely NO service in my apartment buildings, so even if I thought the Iphone was amazing, it'd be a no-go for me.
3.) It doesn't matter what the people post at the Iphone boards. This isn't the Iphone board. Most people here don't visit Iphone boards because **gasp** they don't own an Iphone. With that, you tossing out how "they act" comes off pretty "holier than thou" and has a weird "stealth trolling" vibe to it, because it's irrelevant. At least when you hear most comparisons here, it's about specs and features... you're just grouping the users into categories based on a generalization of how you THINK they think/act, and calling one group better than another. Get that **** out of here.
Anyways, on topic:
It'd be nice if there were more out of the box features that really let android shine over the competition. I completely agree on this. Showing my friends all of the theming, power saving, and doodads is definitely downplayed when they ask about simple features like MMS and I my phone is taking 300 kb files and downgrading them to 17 kb.
I agree with the OP that it would help if the stock OS came dressed up more, just not to the point where you have features you can't change or that the OS becomes bloated. Maybe something like an OS wizard so you can choose how the GUI is set up and it downloads them as needed. With all the different ways to customize it you have to spend a lot of time researching, and you will still always find cool stuff you've missed before.
Also people forget that the iPhone is basically the Gold standard for smart phones right now, wether or not it really is a superior phone. Most everyone knows somebody who has one so it's just something easy to compare too.
Saw this article over at Pocketnow; what do you guys think? http://pocketnow.com/2013/01/30/bb10-vs-wp8-video
sinister1 said:
Saw this article over at Pocketnow; what do you guys think? http://pocketnow.com/2013/01/30/bb10-vs-wp8-video
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Click to collapse
From a recent android to WP8 user, I will put in my two cents worth.
Lockscreen - Yea, I have to hit the button on my 8X, but I would be worried about accidental unlocks on the BB. Also, battery life knowing the screen is looking for that touch. Its a nice touch, but I am hesitant. The animation is nice, that faded edge is a cool touch, but I like the bounce the WP8 gives, and I am always trying to see how little I have to slide to get the unlock to happen, or how slow I can make it go.
Notificaitons - Ok, why is everyone complaining about the notificaitons? I don't have any problem, and I am getting texts all day, as well as emails to two accounts, and other notifications. Yea, there is no blinking light to tell me I have them, but since I keep my phone with me all the time, I know when it vibrates or makes a sound, I have a notificaiton. I remember as well if I have or have not checked what that notification is.
Local search - The video corrected it. So thats a wash.
Launching an app - Live tiles just rock. The static view on the BB is too reminiscent of Android. I think its neat that you can have the most recent apps shown, but only 4? I use about 8 to 10 a day, so scrolling up and down as I go about isn't that intuitive when I can set my screen on the WP8 to have those 10 in the first page.
Multitasking - Ok, BB got it easy here, the click on corner to completely close is nice.
My observations:
Its still too static, and I think its actually a cross between iPhone's all icons and Androids customization (most recent apps shown). I didn't see any widgets, so assuming there are none, it makes it more bland to me. That tells me its much more business orientated. I thought they would have gone personal this time, but guess not.
The keyboard - I don't like that line between rows, seems like they just wanted to make it different than other OS's, so the only thing left was to add a line instead of increasing the size of the keys or adding a gap between them.
Screen - didn't seem as crisp as the WP they were using, but not seeing it in person, cant really make that a definitive claim on my part.
Responsiveness - Seemed just as snappy as any good smart phone out there.
Build and design - It seemed a little simple, which isn't a bad thing. With this being a lifeline to RIM (or Blackberry) I thought they would have come out a little more 'radical'. But the quality seems there, and its a simple phone with some pleasing lines.
Over all, I think its going to appeal to the working force, but the trick is going to be making it affordable and easy to set up for the corporate officer. Personally, I don't think it will go well, but I am not a power user nor a reporter.
I think the WP8 platform still has it beat, and at least the 8X is much more visually appealing.
My two cents. For what its worth now a days!
http://pocketnow.com/2013/01/31/bla...nderdog?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
sinister1 said:
what do you guys think?
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The reviewer really seems to be avoiding talking about how things are done on WP8, and why they're done that way, he even misses a lot of points for WP8, possibly because he hasn't even used it for a long enough time - at least this is the impression he leaves me with.
The Lock Screen - BB has notifications on the lock-screen on the left, possibly if any app has something to say, it will show up there, plus the calendar is showing appointments in the middle. WP8 has only 5 notification icons, customizable(point BB), but there is a main and secondary app that can show info as well - one for the lock-screen background, and one for under the time/date zone.(point WP8)
I agree with the power drain issue, when constantly looking for a touch-slide from the bottom vs physical button.
Notifications - This Notifications fetish comes from Android(I think), and it's a useful feature for Android. WP7&8 has Live Tiles. Different concept. A pencil and a pen are both used to write, but don't blame your pencil for not using ink. If we count the steps on BB to know what happened last - say you received an email - it takes you a complex swipe(from bottom to middle to the right), a swipe to the right(to get rid of Twitter), a tap on the Unified center, and a tap on the email itself, and you're done(if that tap opened the actual email and not just the email app). On WP8 it's a tap on the home screen(if you're not already there), a tap on the email tile(because you see it flashing with a 1 on it), a tap on the conversation and you're done. OR maybe you can omit the last two, if your email tile is set to large - then you see the whole email without even entering the email app.
Lets do a recap:
BB: Complex swipe -> Optional Simple Swipe(if say Twitter is open) -> Tap on Unified Center -> Tap on email | That's 1 complex step, 2 simple steps and 1 optional simple step.
WP8: Optional tap on start -> Optional [Tap on email -> Tap on conversation] because if tile is maxed, then you can already read it. That's 3 optional simple steps.
The Windows Phone method may not have the bling you like to see on your BB, but you have to admit, its faster.
jerrya said:
I think its neat that you can have the most recent apps shown, but only 4? I use about 8 to 10 a day
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Actually he scrolled down to show a total of 8. Its nice to have a list of recently used apps. But if you want that I guess you can just place them toward the top of your home screen on WP8 for easy access.
jerrya said:
Multitasking - Ok, BB got it easy here, the click on corner to completely close is nice.
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I have to agree with you. WP8 is nice with the frozen app states for non-active apps, but spamming the back button to keep my navigation list clean kinda sucks.
About the notification light - My phone is in my pocket - in this case the light is useless. Even when it leaves my pocket it goes on my night stand. In the morning, the first thing i do is check if I have anything new and place it back home - into my pocket. If I wouldn't check it for new stuff, I'd probably forget it there for the whole day...
And of course while RIM is a dying company ATM, solely producing both software and hardware, compared to Microsoft - not a dying company - producing software(and hardware rumored), with HTC, Samsung, Nokia, ZTE, Huawei, ASUS, LG, etc backing it with hardware, I believe WP8 has a very strong chance to keep the 3rd place for now.
- My opinion.
jerrya said:
The keyboard - I don't like that line between rows, seems like they just wanted to make it different than other OS's, so the only thing left was to add a line instead of increasing the size of the keys or adding a gap between them.
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Current BB devices with physical keyboards have gaps between the keys, they are trying to replicate that look and feel with the silver spacing.
It's a good idea but doesn't necessarily mean it's a good implementation.
I've had it just about to here with the notifications moaning. The majority of men carry their phones on a belt holster/case and the majority of women carry their phones in a purse. Based on this, how can you see a blinking light? Isn't a vibrate notification better? Or even a ringtone/alert? I can understand (a little) if you're stuck behind a desk all day, but even then I'm sure employers insist on keeping phones on vibrate or off altogether. You certainly can't see a blinking light if you're driving. For those that do, kindly tell me what city and state you're in so I can stay away.
Looneytoon98 said:
I've had it just about to here with the notifications moaning. The majority of men carry their phones on a belt holster/case and the majority of women carry their phones in a purse. Based on this, how can you see a blinking light? Isn't a vibrate notification better? Or even a ringtone/alert? I can understand (a little) if you're stuck behind a desk all day, but even then I'm sure employers insist on keeping phones on vibrate or off altogether. You certainly can't see a blinking light if you're driving. For those that do, kindly tell me what city and state you're in so I can stay away.
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Click to collapse
A notification light is just as handy as vibrate. Surely it cant be that hard to believe that people take their phones out of their pocket or purse...Such as placing it on a dresser before bathing or to do a task where you dont want to bang your phone around. Coming into the room to glance at whether their is communication waiting is apparent with color coded notifications. I dont even have to pick up my phone. For the record, I'm not one of those types that incessantly has to be toying with my smart phone.
Understand now? Samsung learned this too, as most of their latest flagship phones now incorporate this. Geewhiz, maybe thats why their the topdog android handset maker now? They know whats good.
UrbanConquest said:
A notification light is just as handy as vibrate. Surely it cant be that hard to believe that people take their phones out of their pocket or purse...Such as placing it on a dresser before bathing or to do a task where you dont want to bang your phone around. Coming into the room to glance at whether their is communication waiting is apparent with color coded notifications. I dont even have to pick up my phone. For the record, I'm not one of those types that incessantly has to be toying with my smart phone.
Understand now? Samsung learned this too, as most of their latest flagship phones now incorporate this. Geewhiz, maybe thats why their the topdog android handset maker now? They know whats good.
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Click to collapse
Would you rather have to go into a room and glance to see if there's a notification, or would you rather be alerted when one comes in? I know I don't have that much energy to burn.
Looneytoon98 said:
Would you rather have to go into a room and glance to see if there's a notification, or would you rather be alerted when one comes in? I know I don't have that much energy to burn.
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Keep in mind, not everyone enjoys being tethered to their coveted smartphone as if it were a ball and chain. When I go to watch a movie or something for my own leisure while at home I leave my phone in my bedroom, as I'm sure many other people do as well who get tired of tending to it. Thus its a handy feature at times. Very reminiscent of the blinking light on answering machines in the old days...
Thread related opinion. BB, much like Microsoft has a long way to go in catching up with the integration and functionality of Android and iOS. BB10 demos look gimicky at best showing off UI features that wont sway consumers. If their lucky they can finally get the diehard BB users / holdouts to upgrade from their dinosaur qwerty devices.
^ every app can fully integrate into BB10. not a long way to go at all.
The notification hub alone is more than enough to sway users away from this platform.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express
UrbanConquest said:
Keep in mind, not everyone enjoys being tethered to their coveted smartphone as if it were a ball and chain. When I go to watch a movie or something for my own leisure while at home I leave my phone in my bedroom, as I'm sure many other people do as well who get tired of tending to it. Thus its a handy feature at times. Very reminiscent of the blinking light on answering machines in the old days...
Thread related opinion. BB, much like Microsoft has a long way to go in catching up with the integration and functionality of Android and iOS. BB10 demos look gimicky at best showing off UI features that wont sway consumers. If their lucky they can finally get the diehard BB users / holdouts to upgrade from their dinosaur qwerty devices.
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Click to collapse
Your contradiction is funny. You want to walk into a room to see if you have a notification and I want to stay as far away from the electronic leash. I'll take a sound alert any day, at least I can hear it from across my house. You are the one who sounds like they are tethered with a ball and chain.
Being a dinosaur myself, I happen to like physical keyboards. You can't "feel" your way across a virtual kb. Maybe someone will make a Jitterbug smartphone one day.
vetvito said:
^ every app can fully integrate into BB10. not a long way to go at all.
The notification hub alone is more than enough to sway users away from this platform.
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What I mean by integration is more geared towards seamless user experiences between desktop (or laptop), tablet, smartphone, and even web based applications. Features and services that create a unified and synchronized ecosystem. Granted all platforms struggle in this regard and all could benefit from further development and refinement. I somehow feel as though Microsoft and Apple have the major advantage by offering BOTH a desktop / laptop and tablet operating system in addition to a smartphone platform.
Canonical understands this with the recent development of Ubuntu for smartphones. They now have a multi-device compatible OS that strives to create a similar experience across all major computing devices.
The biggest dilemma still for a lot of novice users with their smartphones is keeping data, settings preferences, etc synchronized across all their devices without having to spend money on third party applications. These features should be baked into the smartphones stock OS. IMO, Android has great services integration w. gmaps, youtube, etc and iOS is pretty solid in regard to integration with their desktop OS and itunes.
If I wasn't on a contract I'd look at both.
Blackberry has the best push email system. It uses the lowest amount of battery out of any phone, they have a patent that stops anyone else doing push email the same way.
Multitasking is better on BB10, the peek option is handy.
Personally I think Microsoft needs to release a huge 8.5 upgrade in 2013 add lots of things or BB10 is going to slaughter the WP marketshare.
Looneytoon98 said:
Your contradiction is funny. You want to walk into a room to see if you have a notification and I want to stay as far away from the electronic leash. I'll take a sound alert any day, at least I can hear it from across my house. You are the one who sounds like they are tethered with a ball and chain.
Being a dinosaur myself, I happen to like physical keyboards. You can't "feel" your way across a virtual kb. Maybe someone will make a Jitterbug smartphone one day.
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Click to collapse
It's not a contradiction. I don't actively interrupt my activities to go check my phone repeatedly when I don't want to be bothered by communication. After all, our smartphones are predominately for...communication. It's about unplugging from technology and constant socializing that these devices tend to overwhelm us with. Which is the whole point of not having the device in your pocket or the same room.
Example, when I'm watching a movie I don't want to have to hear other peoples or my phone(s) go off, worry about spilling a drink on it or damage it in some way, or have an annoying brick bulging in my pocket. I want to be comfortable and uninhibited. Do you get it yet?
So if there's another reason to enter the room where my phone is, it's convenient to be able to just quickly glance over at the device and see a notification light telling you that you have a message.
To each their own as far as preferences go I guess? I can understand if some people don't mind having a phone around all the time and the convenience it gives. But don't call it a worthless feature that Android users are making a fuss about. Gosh maybe their are even people that shower with their phones these days, perhaps Sony employees who have access to the new Sony Xperia waterproof phones that were recently announced?
My phone goes in my pocket when I leave the house. Period.
I think it looks a little too familiar shape wise Some cool features but think it will confuse many non technical users, A very biased opinion from the host who seriously needs to take his tongue out of BBs trousers,
It reminded me a bit of the meego OS on my old N9 with the swiping so not really groundbreaking there, Like everything else it will have its die hard fans
BB10 as far as I have seen it in their presentation doesn't bring too many new things to the table. The keyboard was one thing that was particularly interesting (especially as it allows to mix languages in the text easily). As for "the Hub" - it seems like the people hub in WP with the added benefit of third party app integration. Although - we have already seen something similar in WebOS already. I really hope there are additional filtering capabilities for it (aside from drilling down to the App level). In the demo it looked like the mess the Notification Bar on my GS2 sometimes looks like (e.g. loads of notifications I don't care about so I don't see the stuff that actually interests me).
The minimized view of running Apps is the closest thing to Live Tiles or Widgets but as you can't pin them they die together with the Apps (e.g. 9th opened App closes the least recently used along with it's "tile"). So for "glanceable" information that is quite a deficiency in BB10.
BBM is not as relevant as it used to be. This can also be seen in the fact that they proudly anounced Skype and WhatsApp Support. Those are the Apps used for Video-Chat and Text Messaging nowadays.
As for superior push: either they changed that model (which might rid us of the Blackberry Tax that People had to pay to Operators for supporting Blackberry push) or they royally screwed up it's implementation because in several tests battery life was merely mediocre and in no way superior to the competition.
vetvito said:
^ every app can fully integrate into BB10. not a long way to go at all.
The notification hub alone is more than enough to sway users away from this platform.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express
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Click to collapse
Maybe it's me but, I see no need for a notification hub with Windows phone 7/8. I do like the idea of a blinking light for new email, SMS, txt etc just to pull my phone out and get an idea if it's worth turning on my phone at that second (HTC does some of this).
Live tiles update, notification hubs are for phones that do not have live updates so you can see when you have new messages etc. My live tiles give me updates for everything I need, if I had a notification "hub" I would never use it and I still dont see the demand for it...
Isn't that what live tiles are for (so you dont need a notification hub) ????? If it's not working for you, maybe you need to setup your tiles so you have the important stuff so you can view it all with out scrooling...
About the only thing I think I would like is shortcuts to NFC, Wifi, bluetooth etc but, it's not worth taking up a tile for...
DavidinCT said:
Maybe it's me but, I see no need for a notification hub with Windows phone 7/8. I do like the idea of a blinking light for new email, SMS, txt etc just to pull my phone out and get an idea if it's worth turning on my phone at that second (HTC does some of this).
Live tiles update, notification hubs are for phones that do not have live updates so you can see when you have new messages etc. My live tiles give me updates for everything I need, if I had a notification "hub" I would never use it and I still dont see the demand for it...
Isn't that what live tiles are for (so you dont need a notification hub) ????? If it's not working for you, maybe you need to setup your tiles so you have the important stuff so you can view it all with out scrooling...
About the only thing I think I would like is shortcuts to NFC, Wifi, bluetooth etc but, it's not worth taking up a tile for...
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Click to collapse
Phones that don't support live updates? What phone does t?
Polling tiles can not and will never compete with a real notification hub. Every notification in one place trumps scrolling in efficiency.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express
Android - ecosystem = bbos
Looks like the people hath spoken anyway. BlackBerry now has doubled WP8 for smart phone marketshare since the z10 came out. Sorry guys, better luck next season / WP9.
Hello MOJO lovers and users! I know you're still out there!
Just wanted to post a heads up for a decent TV launcher that works very well on the MOJO. I've been using Top TV Launcher for about a month (I think) so far, and it is very simply and easy to use. I've really come to appreciate it even more as it has allowed me to lock the system down a bit to the main apps the whole family uses, with some nice tiled drawers for games and movies making it really very easy and approachable for everyone in the house. It's completely navigable with the CTRLR and hasn't posed me any issues. It was only £1 here in the UK and has been well worth it for me. I even set a nice live 3D wallpaper behind it which really enhances and rounds off the appearance imho.
Without wanting to sound like an advert, I'd say give it a go if you're fed up with the stock Android experience on your device. Otherwise, if you're using an alternative let me know what it is and how it is working for you.