Database Users

Android system & App UI/GUI

Hi everyone, I have been a lurker on this forum for sometime but registered recently. I bought a Nexus one to replace my 3GS on the release day, and I must say. I absolutely adore it. I have a few questions for you guys, if anyone could shed some light on this for me it would be great.
So, basically I have been looking around the internet, various forums etc to try and grasp why the nexus one does not have smoother scrolling. By smooth I mean the actual animation attributes. I am aware that the Nexus one is fast at scrolling (and faster then the iPhone 3GS in almost every way) however, the nexus one does not handle scrolling as elegantly.
Let me define what I mean by smooth. I do not mean the hardware is not fast, as it clearly is. I mean that the GUI has not been further enhanced in the way the iphone has, to actually mimic a smooth flowing operation.
From what I have gathered on my search it could be one of a few things:
1) Android is still quite new so they have simply not gotten round to adding this yet as it is not a priority.
2) The hardware (up until this point) did not have good enough power to do so, as a result it was not included in the previous and current android releases.
3) The multitasking causes interruptions to the processor cycles during scrolling so can sometimes give a jagged/laggy scroll (I already hear you thinking: AH but this is due to other apps loading at the bottom, well the iphone scrolls exactly the same and is loading apps too).
4) The scrolling element of the UI does not utilise GPU acceleration and thus is purely relying on CPU, which means it is fast but not smooth.
My reason for asking this is simple, I am wondering what I can expect from future versions of android. I absolutely have no doubt that this platform is the future (at least for me) of mobile devices, but I would very much like to see some of the (perhaps unnecessary) GUI enhancements that the iPhone has.
My other area of interest is the market place and more specifically the creation of applications, I am by trade a UI designer, so I cant help but notice that the apps on the market place are pretty... actually lets not beat around the bush - none of them really share any common UI or style.
I am aware that the iPhone SDK provides a UI library which in turn means iPhone developers have somewhat of an aid in creating their apps, and also helps to keep native consistency with the iphone experience. Is this going to be something that changes with android (or is it even something that has started to change within the 2.1 SDK?).
When you guys read this post I hope you do not see an iPhone fanboy that has come here to bash the Android platform. I am just using my experience of a previous system to try and make sense of where the Android platform may go in the future.
These questions come out of love, not frustration or criticism. I love Android and really hope some of these issues are addressed because I feel it does everything else incredibly well. I could have made a post about all the things I love, but hey, you guys already know this . Anyways, let me know your thoughts.

I honestly hope that android doesn't get a lot of standard UI stuff, boxing in developer creativity. There is more than one way to make a good UI and I don't see the need for every app to look the same.

I was more talking about making something available to developers if they need it, incase they do not have the design skill set to do it or the resources to pay someone else to do it.
This would mean that at the least apps would look as good as the stock UI if not better (when capable developers wish to do more).

i read somewhere that the reason the iphone is so smooth at scrolling is down to its very low screen resolution, at first i was thinking nah but there certainly isnt any high end or mid tier touchscreen phone with a res as low as the iphones 320 x 480 at 163 ppi

I believe the iPhone UI uses OpenGL ES 2.0, while Android still supports something like 1.0, 1.1 or 1.3. I forget.
But, we'll have OpenGL 2.0 support soon, and I think their [Google's] roadmap has it somewhere before Android 3.0
dreamdestiny said:
i read somewhere that the reason the iphone is so smooth at scrolling is down to its very low screen resolution, at first i was thinking nah but there certainly isnt any high end or mid tier touchscreen phone with a res as low as the iphones 320 x 480 at 163 ppi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. The higher res also contributes to the slowdown (versus earlier Android devices like the G1 with much less RAM). This was especially apparent on the Droid, as it has less RAM and Android 2.0 is probably a tad less slick.

Yes, the iphone is pushing lower resolution. But, previous devices to the Nexus one where too pushing lower resolution.
I feel like I am going mad here, surely people notice the fact that iphone has built in animation styles on all scrolling, zooming - android does not. why?

I too have asked this question and haven't gotten a response. I stumbled upon this recently:http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6914
This is something we've investigated a couple of years ago already and that we revisit
regularly. Of course we thought of using the GPU, but there are non-trivial issues on
many Android devices (a G1-class device for instance supports only one OpenGL
context at a time, which would prevent you from using any OpenGL based app like
games or augmented reality apps.) In our past experiments we even found many
cases in which using the GPU was slower than normal rendering.
New devices might allow us to overcome the past limitations that made GPU support
a not-so-good solution.
The "choppiness" and "lagginess" you are mentioning are more often related to heavy
garbage collection than drawing performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

It just seems the refresh rate is slower. The garbage collection mentioned for example. As the code matures it will get better. Plus I read about an update to the Dalvik VM that should help, "Dalvik Turbo VM" It should bump up speed a good bit. Between that and the JIT performance will increase a lot.

This isn't really an issue anymore with Froyo on Nexus One-class devices. Install Froyo, then install Launcher Pro or ADW Launcher and everything is smooth as silk. App scrolling, home screen scrolling, animations, app startup times, all of these are much smoother on my Nexus One w/ Froyo than an iPhone 3G, and at least on par with a 3GS.
The web browser still can bog down a bit when rapidly scrolling complex HTML pages though (Slashdot, Engadget, etc.), seems to be something with the way Javascript events are handled since the issue more-or-less goes away if you disable Javascript. I think the scrolling algorithm needs a bit of work in browser to make it as smooth feeling as the iPhone 3G/3GS are.

rcgabriel said:
This isn't really an issue anymore with Froyo on Nexus One-class devices. Install Froyo, then install Launcher Pro or ADW Launcher and everything is smooth as silk. App scrolling, home screen scrolling, animations, app startup times, all of these are much smoother on my Nexus One w/ Froyo than an iPhone 3G, and at least on par with a 3GS.
The web browser still can bog down a bit when rapidly scrolling complex HTML pages though (Slashdot, Engadget, etc.), seems to be something with the way Javascript events are handled since the issue more-or-less goes away if you disable Javascript. I think the scrolling algorithm needs a bit of work in browser to make it as smooth feeling as the iPhone 3G/3GS are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much this. I noticed what OP was talking about until I put Froyo on, now everything is silky smooth.

Froyo makes scrolling ok, so no issues here

MaximReapage said:
Pretty much this. I noticed what OP was talking about until I put Froyo on, now everything is silky smooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree, while yes froyo is majoy improvements from 2.1 i still get lag especially on live wallpapers its horrid. this is what i said in reference to that issue:
"I agree also, Romain guy your have been listening to the community implementing such features this should be one of them to really listen to. I can't even enjoy the standard launcher i have to use launcher pro or ADW just to have smooth scrolling even in froyo(pre-release) at times. There should be a simple switch to enable or disable 3d accelerations like how ubuntu does it with Compiz. Your seriously telling me your cannot implement a auto-detection feature to see if the phone can handle it and if it can, then the 3d accel is enabled for that phone?
THIS IS BLASPHEMY!"
I understand what people are saying by downloading ADW etc but if I'm a new user buying android most people don't know about ADW for instance my ex-coworker who have a T-mobile MyTouch 3g slide her phone is horribly slow. I had to manually add launcher pro for her to feel the difference and even she is like wow what a difference. My point is most people first hand will automatically think the phone is slow and not on pair with the iPhone. Smoothness in a nutshell should come straight out stock android without the need for a replacement. just my opinion.

mykenyc said:
I disagree, while yes froyo is majoy improvements from 2.1 i still get lag especially on live wallpapers its horrid. this is what i said in reference to that issue:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're complaining about lag with live wallpapers? Comparing it the iPhone which DOES NOT HAVE live wallpapers? Turn them off, stop complaining, and compare apples to apples. Same goes for pretty calendar, weather, news, facebook widgets etc.

torchedlh said:
You're complaining about lag with live wallpapers? Comparing it the iPhone which DOES NOT HAVE live wallpapers? Turn them off, stop complaining, and compare apples to apples. Same goes for pretty calendar, weather, news, facebook widgets etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I said especially with live wallpapers meaning even worst. Please don't tell me to stop complaining because i am not complaining I'm voicing a opinion that can benefit us all. So if your not here to help on the benefit please leave.
thanks.

mykenyc said:
I said especially with live wallpapers meaning even worst. Please don't tell me to stop complaining because i am not complaining I'm voicing a opinion that can benefit us all. So if your not here to help on the benefit please leave.
thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're also using a pre release version of Android that is very well documented to not be ready for general usage, of course there's going to be issues with it, really goiing to have to wait for the official release to compare scrolling

quantic01 said:
Yes, the iphone is pushing lower resolution. But, previous devices to the Nexus one where too pushing lower resolution.
I feel like I am going mad here, surely people notice the fact that iphone has built in animation styles on all scrolling, zooming - android does not. why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The iPhone uses animations to help reduce the perception of the amount of time it takes to load things. It's eye candy to cover up a fault. The N1 just about instantly switches everything, there is no waiting, so that the few animations it does have take more time than just loading.
It's why I've turned off animations. The eye candy just wastes seconds and CPU cycles.

My biggest concern isn't the launcher since it can easily be remedied by a 3rd party launcher. I think the bigger problem is the scrolling in the web browser.
On Android because scrolling isn't a separate process given to the GPU, scrolling gets progressively slower as the number of dynamic elements(javascript and especially flash) increase.
However, on an iPhone, scrolling is independent of what elements are displayed on the website. Therefore, as the dynamic elements on a webpage increase the scrolling is still just as smooth as a simple website like these forums.
I think using the GPU for scrolling has been needed for a while now but Android really needs it with the addition of flash.

z0phi3l said:
You're also using a pre release version of Android that is very well documented to not be ready for general usage, of course there's going to be issues with it, really goiing to have to wait for the official release to compare scrolling
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
regardless of the fact i think you'd be pretty naive to think the stable ota will magically be lag free. it have everything to do with launcher2 and the fact everything is handled by cpu. We have powerful phones no reason why we shouldn't be able to let GPU handle the UI...instead of defending google we should all be asking them to be able to toggle between gpu acceleration or not same way animation is toggled on and off.

Do the HD2 tabs transition like this commercial?

I was looking at this t-mobile HD2 commercial and noticed that the tab transition from the contacts tab to the home tab was very much like the senseUI transition on android devices. It's smooth and doesn't just instantaneously jump. Is this real, or is it just a gimmick? Because mines obviously doesn't transition like that at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DogVofsUHHQ&feature=player_embedded

Of course its not going to be like the commercial, nothing ever is.

I wish it looked like that
Short of looking great it does do that though. Swiping to the right will take you to the panel to the left and vice versa.

Lazarpandar said:
I wish it looked like that
Short of looking great it does do that though. Swiping to the right will take you to the panel to the left and vice versa.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So are you guys telling me that this transisiont we see is not real for sense 2.5 2 on WM6.5?

In the commercial it is written "SCREEN SEQUENCE COMPRESSED AND SIMULATED" so ... !!!

Yeah, transition is ... probably... fake !

Like mabold said, the screen is simulated on the commercial but in real life, it's much faster to the point where you dont see the scrolling animation at all (which I prefer).

No, it doesn't do that. It never has done that and never will. Also, it's not "much faster to the point where you dont see the scrolling animation". It just doesn't do it.

Whether you hate to hear this or not

but, everyone loves Touchwiz.
At the onset of SGS release, a large portion of us, excluding me for sure, has harshly criticized the Samsung's iPhone-wannabe TouchWiz UI.
However, I have seen a trend lately. The TouchWiz UI has gained its popularity from other android device communities. For example, TouchWiz launcher has ported to Nexus One and HTC Desire .
What do you think? Love for SGS is emerging? :]
Remember, this is only for discussion sake, no need to flame. It's just an interesting finding for me.

I love it much much more than HTC's Sense because it is like iPhone. It's far more useable and functional this way. My sons and wife thought that it was a new iPhone. In fact, I think the body of the phone looks more iPhone than iPhone 4.

eaglesteve said:
I love it much much more than HTC's Sense because it is like iPhone. It's far more useable and functional this way. My sons and wife thought that it was a new iPhone. In fact, I think the body of the phone looks more iPhone than iPhone 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha Ha, well since the iphone 4 is broken and is about to have either a massive recall or suffer endless ridicule, the SGS might just be the "new" iphone

Personally I thought the widgets were annoying, too much clutter in them, like stocks and things that I didn't want, nor need.
The page-flips in the apps-listing was annoying, took me too long to go through it, and it made sorting a *****.
It's buggersome and slow, at least at the moment.
LauncherPro on the other hand, now there's a gem! Grey and sleek icons, sweet previews, and fast, even on the luggy SGS.

Morghus said:
Personally I thought the widgets were annoying, too much clutter in them, like stocks and things that I didn't want, nor need.
The page-flips in the apps-listing was annoying, took me too long to go through it, and it made sorting a *****.
It's buggersome and slow, at least at the moment.
LauncherPro on the other hand, now there's a gem! Grey and sleek icons, sweet previews, and fast, even on the luggy SGS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1. I feel much the same. Launcher Pro makes a big visual difference.
TouchWiz looks nothing like the iPhone -- it's garish and tacky.

I've seen quite the contrary, in fact the first thing i did to my phone was to install HTC sense UI
accinfo said:
but, everyone loves Touchwiz.
At the onset of SGS release, a large portion of us, excluding me for sure, has harshly criticized the Samsung's iPhone-wannabe TouchWiz UI.
However, I have seen a trend lately. The TouchWiz UI has gained its popularity from other android device communities. For example, TouchWiz launcher has ported to Nexus One and HTC Desire .
What do you think? Love for SGS is emerging? :]
Remember, this is only for discussion sake, no need to flame. It's just an interesting finding for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

AllGamer said:
I've seen quite the contrary, in fact the first thing i did to my phone was to install HTC sense UI
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I wanted an iPhone look and feel I would have bought the iPhone 3gs, but I want something new, interesting, and completely original. Touchwiz is not that and the htc sense is. In addition the stock Android 2.2 is extremely powerful and very user friendly. I really wish the hardware developers started learning that all they need to do to the phone is customize the OS to work the best on the phone. Do not add any UI flavors, because the customer will do that. The android system was designed so that the customer can customize their phone. Yes the touchwiz is pretty cool, but that is not why I would buy the phone.

ritkit said:
If I wanted an iPhone look and feel I would have bought the iPhone 3gs, but I want something new, interesting, and completely original. Touchwiz is not that and the htc sense is. In addition the stock Android 2.2 is extremely powerful and very user friendly. I really wish the hardware developers started learning that all they need to do to the phone is customize the OS to work the best on the phone. Do not add any UI flavors, because the customer will do that. The android system was designed so that the customer can customize their phone. Yes the touchwiz is pretty cool, but that is not why I would buy the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you that manufacturers should not be adding any UI "enhancements."
I feel that TouchWiz is really ugly (colors, icons) and Sense is just tacky (the curved "dock" at the bottom). We should be able to go to the Market to get any UI customization we need.
I am hoping Google will just ban integrated "enhancements" on Android 3.0.

I hate Sense, if I could have TouchFlo 3D on Android that would be good.
TouchWiz is shameless iPhone rip-off but I prefer it over stock and Sense.

I really like touchwiz.. It's straightforward, very consequent and the widgets look not grey/boring like sense on my Hero. Only thing what's missing, is exchange widget. Also i like the fact that touchwiz is not drifting too far from stock android.
I must say that i'm not constantly comparing it to the iPhone and have an unbiased view of the shell.. And in that view: I like it!!

us1111 said:
I really like touchwiz.. It's straightforward, very consequent and the widgets look not grey/boring like sense on my Hero. Only thing what's missing, is exchange widget. Also i like the fact that touchwiz is not drifting too far from stock android.
I must say that i'm not constantly comparing it to the iPhone and have an unbiased view of the shell.. And in that view: I like it!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a nice UI enhancement, but it like trying to put a Ferrari body on a truck frame. Just does not work very well enough.

I have seen the video demo of Wiz3 earlier and I still have to say.. the UI is gay.
because of 2 main reasons:
1. no vertical scrolling of apps
2. no cool gadgets on home screen
if samsung ever fixes this, then the UI would be the best one out there.

emclondon said:
I have seen the video demo of Wiz3 earlier and I still have to say.. the UI is gay.
because of 2 main reasons:
1. no vertical scrolling of apps
2. no cool gadgets on home screen
if samsung ever fixes this, then the UI would be the best one out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, I hate vertical scrolling. Love the way it's done in Samsung.

err.. well, its matter of user preference. I say samsung must include settings for UI where one can change the orientation to cater users with different preferences.
I personally "hate" the list view. been seeing list view ever since i was a kid, why do i need it in a smart phone?

i like some of its features but dont like that if set up a certain way it mimics ios. overall win though, just needs some optimization.

emclondon said:
1. no vertical scrolling of
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong
In the app drawer, press menu and select list view

though I can understand somewhat the similarity between touchwiz UI and IPhone UI, the similarity are so minor and stopped at the side scrolling applications.
If something works then it works, no point in avoiding it for the sake of being original. You could as well call iphone for copying palm device for the shape of their phone and windows mobile for the dail pad.

Android not as buttery /Apple OS/Windows phone 7

wow, have yall seen how smooth windows phone 7 is? the pinch to zoom , the great animations when going from app to app or screen to screen... apple pinch to zoom is better smooth and if you've seen windows phone 7, it seems like the manufacturer of the iphone gave the tips to windows phone seven manufacturers because pinch to zoom is almost identical in the browser. However, with ANDROID, it's not as nearly as smooth even without flash 10.1.. yall can't deny that and it's kind of annoying. Its with all android phones.. the only thing that comes close to iphone pinch to zoom is sense running on a fast processor but even then its still not as buttery. I wonder what you guys think. Will gingerbread address the lag with the browser?

Why on Earth did you feel this belonged in the Vibrant general forum? The browser works just fine for me on all three Android phones I've owned, one of them not even being native Android (HD2). My Vibrant and EVO both ran/run beautifully smooth (after the lag fix on the Vibrant that is), in the browser and everywhere else where pinch to zoom was applicable...

I think its ugly.

I'm using bionix and I can't believe it's not butter.
Sent from my SGH-T959

laristech said:
I think its ugly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Plus this... That interface is just hideous to me. I understand that a lot of people will like it, and it will probably be rather successful, but it's just flat out obnoxious to me.

jjones1983 said:
Why on Earth did you feel this belonged in the Vibrant general forum? The browser works just fine for me on all three Android phones I've owned, one of them not even being native Android (HD2). My Vibrant and EVO both ran/run beautifully smooth (after the lag fix on the Vibrant that is), in the browser and everywhere else where pinch to zoom was applicable...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I could block you from my thread. I POSTED IT IN HERE BECAUSE I WANTED TO. It's a general discussion, question, opinions... get lost. Don't ask me why I post it in here and then give your opinion on the subject. what's wrong with yall people.

jjones1983 said:
Why on Earth did you feel this belonged in the Vibrant general forum? The browser works just fine for me on all three Android phones I've owned, one of them not even being native Android (HD2). My Vibrant and EVO both ran/run beautifully smooth (after the lag fix on the Vibrant that is), in the browser and everywhere else where pinch to zoom was applicable...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
connnn said:
I'm using bionix and I can't believe it's not butter.
Sent from my SGH-T959
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol it's nice.. Im running it to but I don't even have the kernel overclocked and the phone is burning up!

Why dont you get an iphone or windows phone then?
The cake is a lie!

stepinmyworld said:
I wish I could block you from my thread. I POSTED IT IN HERE BECAUSE I WANTED TO. It's a general discussion, question, opinions... get lost. Don't ask me why I post it in here and then give your opinion on the subject. what's wrong with yall people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every thread you start you get in a fight with someone and yell how you have the right to post here.
This is the VIBRANT general section. Your post is about Android and WP7... not the Vibrant. Not only do I disagree with your sentiment, but you should not be posting this HERE.
Check out all of these threads you have started. This is absurd:
View attachment 421960

metalfan78 said:
Why dont you get an iphone or windows phone then?
The cake is a lie!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I know I plan to get a HD7. I think it looks pretty cool and I love that they are trying to create a completely new UI. Lets face it people, Android at times seems just like iOS but with more options. WP& is breaking some fresh air into the mix.
And why can't we talking about reasons to or not to get a WP7 phone over our vibrants? Seems like a topic for a vibrant forum to me. Back on the N1 forum we had topics about the reasons to upgrade to a vibrant from an N1 threads. Yea we had some people go in their and wine, but not like this thread..... Hell we even had a thread mentioning the good things about the iPhone 4 when it was announced and people didnt have to go in there and start flame wars....
Seriously the self named mods who go in a thread and wine need to go back and hide in whatever corner they came from. Against your popular beliefs your posts 1) do not delete a thread 2) give a bump to a thread you disagree with. See the irony here?
And to get back to what the OP was saying, yes WP7 does appear to be smoother and more polished than android. It doesn't have all the features yet but I'm guessing by mid 2011 it will have every major feature android has.

Whenever someone cries about features like pinch to zoom or people who brag about how many homescreens they have. I automatically think NOOB. might be just me but why come to vibrant section to troll about wm7. I probably will get a wm7 phone because im a gadget junky.
Do you feel better after making this thread?
Sent from HTC HD2 w/ Android

WP 7 LOL
Windows products are always full of issues. I have a HD 2 and Vibrant. The hd2 even customized is only 65% as good as the Vibrant stock. I tried the WP7 its cool but it not Android. So, If you want to be wow'd by the baubles Like "it has a great pinch to zoom" feature Then you have identified yourself as a retail user.. Great !!
go buy one the others who know how to make a phones' op "Sing" will continue on

I'll have to agree with that. When I flick through homescreens, no matter what launcher I'm using, it doesn't even compare to my old ipod touch 2g, with its crappy 500mhz cpu. Same when I scroll through pages, etc. Apple just does a much better optimization of their OS in this way.

I'll keep my multitasking and copy & paste over a slightly better pinch n zoom. Some of the reviews I've been hearing about WP7 are bad. Like games taking 3 minutes to open and over slow 3rd party apps.

UI hardware acceleration. It is coming, but not here yet. I can live with a bit of UI lag, so long as it is consistant. Although it will be nice when we do get hardware acceleration.

*Picks Up My Out-Dated Zune HD*
Dude Your Late, Now. GTFO!

My G2 and Vibrant(after installing Bionix/Eugene's ROM and with Voodoo) both are butter smooth as my iPad and previously rented iPhone 4. G2 is butter smooth out of the box.

As previous user have pointed out Apple uses hardware acceleration (GPU); so the UI seems more responsive. Since they build everything in house this optimization can be done much easier than say for Google to cater to different hardware by many manufacturers.
Now the bad new: UI hardware acceleration is in Gingerbread.

I'm getting a Windows Phone 7 because the pinch to zoom is better.
In related news: I'm a total toolbag.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

richan90 said:
I'll have to agree with that. When I flick through homescreens, no matter what launcher I'm using, it doesn't even compare to my old ipod touch 2g, with its crappy 500mhz cpu. Same when I scroll through pages, etc. Apple just does a much better optimization of their OS in this way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 words. No multitasking.

Switched from iPhone 3GS to Atrix....

......and people are right, Moto Blur is a cluster****.
I am not too tech savvy, but not a dummy either.
Suggestions and tips on rooting would be great.
Meanwhile, I will keep digging around this site, I am sure the answers are somewhere here, but there is so much info......

Try "gladroot"
JRSOne said:
......and people are right, Moto Blur is a cluster****.
I am not too tech savvy, but not a dummy either.
Suggestions and tips on rooting would be great.
Meanwhile, I will keep digging around this site, I am sure the answers are somewhere here, but there is so much info......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just rooted my atrix last night with "gladroot". http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=12540398
Before you root, install Motorola driver first. Nobody didn't mention about it until later and it took me for a while to troubleshoot. As long as you read and follow the instructions, it's not difficult.
http://briefmobile.com/motorola-atrix-4g-root

JRSOne said:
I am not too tech savvy, but not a dummy either.
Suggestions and tips on rooting would be great.
Meanwhile, I will keep digging around this site, I am sure the answers are somewhere here, but there is so much info......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't have to dig far!
Rooting for dummies is on the 1st floor! LOL

Thanks a lot, very nice.

3GS -> Atrix
JRSOne said:
......and people are right, Moto Blur is a cluster****.
I am not too tech savvy, but not a dummy either.
Suggestions and tips on rooting would be great.
Meanwhile, I will keep digging around this site, I am sure the answers are somewhere here, but there is so much info......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just made the same switch last week (3GS -> Atrix). Agree that MotoBlur sux and it's also been painful syncing contacts and calendar from my work's Outlook (going through Google isn't an option)
One reason I made the switch was for the less restrictive Android OS. However if you're on version 1.57, it looks like you have to take a few steps backwards to get ahead (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=12540398). Looks like I'll have to set aside some time to play...

JRSOne said:
......and people are right, Moto Blur is a cluster****.
I am not too tech savvy, but not a dummy either.
Suggestions and tips on rooting would be great.
Meanwhile, I will keep digging around this site, I am sure the answers are somewhere here, but there is so much info......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get adw launcher and use titanium backup to freeze blur. Fixes that problem right up. On the other hand, try running gingerblur which has a clean UI and runs quite smooth. It also removes a ton of other bloatware on the phone. Everything except adw launcher requires root of course.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

I don't understand why ppl say "blur sucks"....I like BLUR, it's very useful with all that widgets to have all your Social Networks quickly in one hand.

emandt said:
I don't understand why ppl say "blur sucks"....I like BLUR, it's very useful with all that widgets to have all your Social Networks quickly in one hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blur USED to suck, past tense. It doesn't suck too badly anymore. And I can't see why a new user would say it sucks when they have no experience. This is just a blind statement.
I'm very picky with my launchers and if I could tweak Blur to look better and purge a few things I don't use, it actually wouldn't be very bad at all. But I like that with the other launchers I can personally tweak them precisely to my preference.

bongd said:
Blur USED to suck, past tense. It doesn't suck too badly anymore. And I can't see why a new user would say it sucks when they have no experience. This is just a blind statement.
I'm very picky with my launchers and if I could tweak Blur to look better and purge a few things I don't use, it actually wouldn't be very bad at all. But I like that with the other launchers I can personally tweak them precisely to my preference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BLUR sucks.
Exchange 2003 notifications are broken.
Unified Inbox doesn't include GMail. (that's a hurr durr right there)
Duplicate functionality of what already exists (Social Networking, Accounts, Corporate Sync)
I don't mind the homescreen/launcher.

My biggest complaint with blur is simply the lag when switching home screens and bringing up the full list of apps. And that you can't change anything on the dock. And the widgets are ugly. Oh wait...that's pretty much everything that blur does I hate...
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

I am saying it sucks because I am comparing it to my iphone. I can't express how much cleaner, simplier and user friendly the 3GS is compared to blur.
I certainly hope that other Android phones are not this bad.
If I can't find a better OS that works for me, I will simply get an iphone 4. I guess I was spoiled.

JRSOne said:
I am saying it sucks because I am comparing it to my iphone. I can't express how much cleaner, simplier and user friendly the 3GS is compared to blur.
I certainly hope that other Android phones are not this bad.
If I can't find a better OS that works for me, I will simply get an iphone 4. I guess I was spoiled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean the interface that is the exact same for everyone? The iPhone was made to be simpler. It's so everyone can use it. If you like being coddled by Apple, return the Atrix and get your i4.
It's up to you. WebOS is rising, WP7, BBOS (not as popular). Your pick, dude. Like I said, the iOS devices are made so that even a monkey could pick one up and work it like a pro.
If you're not going to take the time to tweak your device to your liking, go with iOS.

JRSOne said:
I am saying it sucks because I am comparing it to my iphone. I can't express how much cleaner, simplier and user friendly the 3GS is compared to blur.
I certainly hope that other Android phones are not this bad.
If I can't find a better OS that works for me, I will simply get an iphone 4. I guess I was spoiled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. The other androids are not that bad. The original froyo has a cleaner and faster approach than motoblur. Motoblur by far is the worst UI-skin you can possibly have.

peacekeeper05 said:
Yep. The other androids are not that bad. The original froyo has a cleaner and faster approach than motoblur. Motoblur by far is the worst UI-skin you can possibly have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you ever tried TouchWiz? the iPhone wanna-be? Sense is decent, but Blur is one of the closest manufacture's skins to Vanilla Android.
Also, your opinion on Blur is your own. Many people love and use Blur, and many people do not. Just because you say it's the worst, does not make it so.
I advise you to try out all the other different interfaces, and tell me Blur is the complete and total worst you have ever tried.

What about the newer blur on the droid x?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

PixoNova said:
Have you ever tried TouchWiz? the iPhone wanna-be? Sense is decent, but Blur is one of the closest manufacture's skins to Vanilla Android.
Also, your opinion on Blur is your own. Many people love and use Blur, and many people do not. Just because you say it's the worst, does not make it so.
I advise you to try out all the other different interfaces, and tell me Blur is the complete and total worst you have ever tried.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol. It was obviously an opinion. I did not in any way said im representing the whole android community duh.
I have tried touchwiz, sense and the LG UI already. And of course i've also tried the original android stock UI.

I kinda want to know what people doesn't like on motoblur. The panels? You can empty all of them and end up with 7 panels on witch you can put whatever icons, shorcuts, widgets (and so on) you like. I'm coming from sense but I can customize the motoblur to look just as good. Don't feel like using launcher pro and already uninstalled regina 3D and adw. I woulg probably give a spb a try if they would have a trial.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

JRSOne said:
I am saying it sucks because I am comparing it to my iphone. I can't express how much cleaner, simplier and user friendly the 3GS is compared to blur.
I certainly hope that other Android phones are not this bad.
If I can't find a better OS that works for me, I will simply get an iphone 4. I guess I was spoiled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also coming from an iPhone, and here are some things I think are superior on the Atrix (and Android) to the iPhone (and iOS):
1. Non-intrusive notifications! I hated how on the iPhone, notifications pop up as dialogs that have to be closed. Sometimes you're doing something important, and you get a text message which pops up right in the middle of the screen. Irritating! I like how you can slide down the top bar when you want and it shows you your notifications.
2. Notification LED. It's great to be able to tell that you have messages or a missed call without having to turn on the screen.
3. Four hardware buttons instead of just one. After you've used the phone awhile, you'll realize how useful a back button and a menu button can be. You have to switch back to home less than you do with an iPhone. Also, hold down your home button and shortcuts to your last 8 used apps will appear.
4. Every application must advertise what features of your phone it has access to in the Manage Applications settings pages. So if an app can read and write to your contact data, it says so in the settings. On the iPhone, you have to rely on Apple to make sure all apps are doing what they're supposed to. Worse, if you get apps from Cydia, well then you're completely on your own.
5. You have 15 minutes to get a refund if you buy something from the Android Market. That's a pretty short time if you have to download a big application, but better that than no refunds at all.
6. Having the option to use an external micro-SD card is pretty nice.
7. Unlike the iPhone, the home screen and the app drawer are two separate things. It's nice to have widgets to customize your home screens.
8. For obvious reasons, Android versions of Google applications tend to have more features on Android than on the iPhone. For example, Maps has that cool 3D compass view, instead of the regular "up is North" top-down view. It also has a Street View add-on which is pretty neat and works quite well.
9. GPS seems faster and more precise on my Atrix than on my iPhone (and my friend's iPhone 4). I've heard others say the opposite with respect to the iPhone 4, so maybe it depends on where in the world you are.
10. For Bell users (ATT users have to pay I think?), Mobile wifi hotspot works great. I've tried tethering my Macbook Pro to the phone via wifi, and it works really well.
11. There's a basic data counter built in, which shows you how much data you're using, and by which apps.
12. There's a pretty decent Battery Manager built in, which shows very clearly what percentage of your used battery was used by each phone function, or application.
13. It comes with Swype as an alternate input system to the virtual keyboard, but you're free to install other 3rd party input methods if you like (there are quite a few).
Well, I don't know if I missed anything, but for the most part, these are the things that impressed me the most after using the Atrix for a couple weeks. I'm very happy I moved to the Atrix, but that's not to say that I hate the iPhone. I still like it, it has a very polished feel and the best screen in the business. And after all, it was the breakthrough smart phone when it first came out. There are just a few things that I think they really need to improve (notifications!).

slimslim said:
I kinda want to know what people doesn't like on motoblur.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I liked some of the features of Motoblur, like having the Manage Applications settings right in the menu of your homescreens. Very useful. Some of the widgets are nice too. My major complaint is that Motoblur is so choppy when scrolling around! That's unacceptable for a high-end phone, in my opinion.

PixoNova said:
the iOS devices are made so that even a monkey could pick one up and work it like a pro.
If you're not going to take the time to tweak your device to your liking, go with iOS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 this is the reason why people think that iphone its a ladies phone. its easy to use, no customizable and very locked device, like you say XD even a monkey can work on it like a pro