Graphic guidelines and app design. - Android Software Development

Hey this is my first post here. I've been using a nexus one for a while now and I downloaded quite a few applications. I have to say thought that I was quite disappointed by the graphical diversity that lingers around the android platform. As a vfx artist I like my phone to work but also to look nice and sometimes the two things are not present in android.
So I was wondering if someone is interested in writing down some guidelines to better UI designs and maybe provide developers with some graphical help. My idea was not to copy the iphone ui or the new windows mobile 7 but to take what Google has done and expand it to provide cleaner and more interesting UIs to apps.
What do you guys think, is anyone on board for this?

Sadly, I think that this is probably the largest problem on Android devices. The huge inconsistency of the UI throughout makes Android devices hard to use when compared to, say, an iPhone. For example, the stock GMail app has a white background against black text, but the stock Email app has a black against white background. Both apps have essentially the same functions but the way to perform those functions and manage their settings are completely different.

androidlicious said:
Sadly, I think that this is probably the largest problem on Android devices. The huge inconsistency of the UI throughout makes Android devices hard to use when compared to, say, an iPhone. For example, the stock GMail app has a white background against black text, but the stock Email app has a black against white background. Both apps have essentially the same functions but the way to perform those functions and manage their settings are completely different.
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So they look the same, or did you twist your words?

atoz350 said:
So they look the same, or did you twist your words?
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Well, I was trying to come up with a good example but I guess that it didn't come across as such. I guess another example is the camera application. I mean, its UI and design looks completely different from all the other applications...

I don't mind applications to have totally different designs as long as they are intuitive and make sense in the context of the application and I think a lot of them don't.
It's true though that some more general guidelines like the one they have for the iphone would help some developers to not only keep consistency but also keep the design relevant to the tasks provided by the app.
What do you guys prefer? I think android strenght could be a custom design for each app as long as it's intuitive, a perfectly good example is the gallery application introduced in 2.1

Here are some ideas:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/470566/android-user-interface-guidelines
There is a link there to a good pdf (the link in the question over stackoverflow is dead): https://island.byu.edu/files/AndroidHIG.pdf
Though, it isn't complete but it could be a good base.

janfsd said:
Here are some ideas:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/470566/android-user-interface-guidelines
There is a link there to a good pdf (the link in the question over stackoverflow is dead): https://island.byu.edu/files/AndroidHIG.pdf
Though, it isn't complete but it could be a good base.
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Click to collapse
This is great especially the pdf and the gnome guidelines!

Don't forget the Android UI Guidelines.
http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/index.html

Related

Ugly apps

This is probably a bit of a stupid question with probably a very obvious answer. But why are all the apps for windows mobile all ugly?
We have HTC sense and that looks great why can't other apps keep the htc sense feel like from menus or anything instead of reverting to windows mobile style.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some people for example even love ginger children.
Many WinMo apps have been written to look the way they are so that they fitted in with a standard WinMo look and feel. Others were simply designed by talentless and tasteless folk (like Steve Jobs).
Believe it or not the apps have actually got better looking recently.
ETA: If you go to the link in my sig and check my recommended apps, you'll see that a lot of apps do look nice. Slacker, Bing, etc.
I think it should be compulsory to use the Sense SDK Look 'n' Feel now for every app developed for Windows Mobile
Partly because developers != designers.
At the same time, HTC Sense is but a few years old, while Windows Mobile and its associated 'ugly' interface have been around for 10. It's a bit unreasonable to expect all the applications to reflect the updated design of a single manufacturer.
madindehead said:
I think it should be compulsory to use the Sense SDK Look 'n' Feel now for every app developed for Windows Mobile
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Thats bordering on fascism! Do you work for apple?
So it is actually possible to have a good looking app?
aLlamaWithARifle said:
This is probably a bit of a stupid question with probably a very obvious answer. But why are all the apps for windows mobile all ugly?
We have HTC sense and that looks great why can't other apps keep the htc sense feel like from menus or anything instead of reverting to windows mobile style.
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Click to collapse
It's because WM doesn't have a unified screen size, like the iPhone for example. So the apps/games have to be made in VGA, QVGA, WVGA to name three of many many others. So the games have to be made for each naitive screen size to actually look 'pretty', and the poorer looking apps on the HD2 are made for a screen size that isn't WVGA.
Speaking of ugly apps, is there a starter's guide or someplace to look for skinning stock applications (in particular, I'm interested in Outlook, as email's one of my top use cases, and the default skin looks awful)? I can code, but am at a loss as to where to even start. I did a search on the forums to no avail. To clarify, I'm not simply looking for skins, but am interested in creating my own for specific applications. Any pointers?
Most of the newer apps (< 1-2 years) do look good, and on every screen size, take G-Alarm, Resco Photo Manager, Opera 10, etc...
Most other blunt-looking apps are several years old, and date back from when visual design didn't have any consideration from developers, they were just using the default looks and controls rather than spending as much time and effort redesigning their own UI as needed to actually develop the application's functionality. Pocket Outlook is just the same as it was 5 years ago or even more...
But now pretty much everybody agrees that custom graphics is worth it...
This really is quite a naive question... if it was all about simple, smooth looking apps we would have bought an iPhone...
Having said that, what particular programs are you looking for? Most functions of a WinMo phone can now be utilised using programs with amazing UIs.
Browser: Opera Mobile 10/Mini 5
Email: You have sense... and even when you open an individual email (where it defaults to Outlook) we have pinch-to-zoom brilliance
SMS: You have sense...
Contacts/Phone: You have sense...
Photos/Videos: HTC, or try Resco Photo Manager
File explorer: Standard one is actually fine imo, but there's also the skinnable Resco, Total Commander, Throttle Explorer
Others: Google maps, Facebook, iGO8
There's a plethora of options out there.

Gingerbread... What Is In Store For Us?

I'm interested in hearing peoples opinions on this.
1. Do you think Gingerbread will bring a complete interface overhaul? I'm talking animations, images, layouts, multi tasking, notifications, launcher & more
2. Do you think it'll be like sense, improving social network integration, tidying up a lot of images images and adding a bit more functionality to widgets etc?
3. Do you think it'll be like a skin, simply taking image files that exist throughout Android and making them look more modern?
If they do infact do (1), do you think we'll lose functionality of some applications? Will apps have to be designed or positioned differently on Gingerbread?
I'm very excited for this, especially after seeing a video of MeeGo OS running on a smart phone, it looked so fly. In my opinion Google is going to need big changes to compete with MeeGo's interface (Not saying MeeGo is gonna take out Android, just saying it looked really nice & polished compared to Android's current state).
Google did good work in 2.1 with the launcher, app draw, animated backgrounds etc. but the stock images, buttons etc look so old. I think it needs an overhaul!
Well apparently 3.0 is gonna give the whole UI and device a revamp of looks so i cant wait to see what they do, I hope they make android become as polished as ios and bring smoother scrolling in.
LevitateJay said:
I'm interested in hearing peoples opinions on this.
1. Do you think Gingerbread will bring a complete interface overhaul? I'm talking animations, images, layouts, multi tasking, notifications, launcher & more
2. Do you think it'll be like sense, improving social network integration, tidying up a lot of images images and adding a bit more functionality to widgets etc?
3. Do you think it'll be like a skin, simply taking image files that exist throughout Android and making them look more modern?
If they do infact do (1), do you think we'll lose functionality of some applications? Will apps have to be designed or positioned differently on Gingerbread?
I'm very excited for this, especially after seeing a video of MeeGo OS running on a smart phone, it looked so fly. In my opinion Google is going to need big changes to compete with MeeGo's interface (Not saying MeeGo is gonna take out Android, just saying it looked really nice & polished compared to Android's current state).
Google did good work in 2.1 with the launcher, app draw, animated backgrounds etc. but the stock images, buttons etc look so old. I think it needs an overhaul!
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msavic6 said:
...and bring smoother scrolling in.
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This... very much, this.
It's amazing to me that third-party launcher replacements offer perfectly smooth scrolling and the stock OS doesn't. I don't get it.
I also want a whole new camera interface with more control, and a built in note pad,to-do list, the basic functionality of a regular cell phone, better market support like the ability to block certain developers apps from appearing and higher quality apps as well as maybe a ui revamp in the market app. Also make more use of the gpu for graphcs. One last thing add a stock widget that displays time and weather and make it AMAZING.
Thats all i really want
OH and a better stock keyboard.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
My predictions.
- Hopefully a new Multitasking UI
- Improved or customizable notification bar( hasn't changed since 1.0)
- General graphic UI revamp.
A Google employee said of you look at the Nexus One gallery app,expect a similar vibe for the whole UI in Gingerbread.
Oh god, we're just two days into august, the speculation can't start now. Gingerbread was mentioned to be released at the end of the year, which probably means Q1 of 2011. That's quite a ways away!
Once you get this gingerbread speculation rolling, we'll never see the end of it, considering it's only august!
Forge94 said:
A Google employee said of you look at the Nexus One gallery app,expect a similar vibe for the whole UI in Gingerbread.
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I really like the sound of this although I can't think of how they would do this? I really wanna see a web os like multi tasking too
erikikaz said:
Oh god, we're just two days into august, the speculation can't start now. Gingerbread was mentioned to be released at the end of the year, which probably means Q1 of 2011. That's quite a ways away!
Once you get this gingerbread speculation rolling, we'll never see the end of it, considering it's only august!
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Speculation can never begin too early!
If anything, we're late.
I think they are gonna allow us to customize the UI as we see fit. All those Themes and UI's in the Nexus Forum will be able to be added to stock Android's without rooting.
Blueman101 said:
I think they are gonna allow us to customize the UI as we see fit. All those Themes and UI's in the Nexus Forum will be able to be added to stock Android's without rooting.
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Neat idea, although I think they'll still need a very nice & tidy stock version/overhaul to go with this as a lot of people will review the stock interface, rather than how you can customise it & many will never bother changing it too I imagine! (I don't understand those sort of people )
I think most of this UI overhaul is pure speculation based on the fact that google hired Palm webOS Designer Matias Duarte. He cannot possibly bring so much change in the few months he has been at google. But I will keep my hopes high that they can give a more smoother UI experience (where android phones/netbooks with additional graphics chip can take advantage of its hardware).
A strong and capable google official Theme Maker app (like metamorph) can bring alot of enthusiasm behind it. Would be tough though with so many unique android devices out there, how can they accommodate them all? :S
mythamp said:
I think most of this UI overhaul is pure speculation based on the fact that google hired Palm webOS Designer Matias Duarte. He cannot possibly bring so much change in the few months he has been at google. But I will keep my hopes high that they can give a more smoother UI experience (where android phones/netbooks with additional graphics chip can take advantage of its hardware).
A strong and capable google official Theme Maker app (like metamorph) can bring alot of enthusiasm behind it. Would be tough though with so many unique android devices out there, how can they accommodate them all? :S
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i agree. i also believe that many people speculate that Duarte will bring in many UI changes, but as you said we are talking about 3 months which isn't enough time for a person manage to change the whole look of an OS.
i would be happy if google could at least get their act together with the homescreen which is still laggy as hell and the app drawer which has laggy zoom animations on froyo.
Having all those great benchmarks is cool and sometimes froyo is really fast, but especially the homescreen is a huge letdown.
And the homescreen is the place which you will see most of the time...
Shahpur.Azizpour said:
i agree. i also believe that many people speculate that Duarte will bring in many UI changes, but as you said we are talking about 3 months which isn't enough time for a person manage to change the whole look of an OS.
i would be happy if google could at least get their act together with the homescreen which is still laggy as hell and the app drawer which has laggy zoom animations on froyo.
Having all those great benchmarks is cool and sometimes froyo is really fast, but especially the homescreen is a huge letdown.
And the homescreen is the place which you will see most of the time...
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Click to collapse
If it's laggy with you i suggest you return your device and get a new one... because this problem doesn't exist on the 3 nexus ones i've used.
I didn't realise he only had 3 months to work with it... :/
Although I imagine he has quite a team working with him to get a lot done in whatever time they have!
I'm running stock Froyo and I don't notice any lag in the homescreen and the app drawer. I installed Launcherpro before and I didn't notice any difference in scrolling. Both stock homescreen and Launcherpro homescreen have smooth scrolling.
Maybe someone can direct me with a video that can show me what a laggy scrolling is like.
yeah i dont get the laggy scrolling either, but then again i use launcher pro for so long now. i'm getting really sick of people comparing choppy scrolling, i want to make a video showing otherwise!! i'll admit certain UI lists do get choppy. but most are not so.
oh and doesnt anybody listen to android podcasts? last week android guys podcast leaked a little rumor that gingerbread was all about tablets, heard from someone directly involved. make of that what you will.
im personally against making the UI look more like iOS... i like the direction that windows 7 mobile is headed with the simplistic 2 tone menus and choice of text over icons.. things like pretty scrolling and fancy animated icons add more bloat
nobody said anything about making the UI look like an iphone, it was said to make the UI be AS POLISHED as the ios is.
norazi said:
im personally against making the UI look more like iOS... i like the direction that windows 7 mobile is headed with the simplistic 2 tone menus and choice of text over icons.. things like pretty scrolling and fancy animated icons add more bloat
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Gingerbread will make Android look like the Gallery app. If you watch the Google I/O videos on YouTube you see that a new music app is being used which has the UI of the current Gallery app.
So when they were showing off FroYo back at the conference, they already had some work done for Gingerbread.

Great Android App UI Design Examples

Hi guys,
I thought it would be useful to have a thread where we can post examples of great UI Designs in Android Apps, for reference when developing apps.
Personally I think one of the better UI designs is the official twitter app.
Anyone else care to share some examples?
3d gallery app
I wonder what the twitter app will look like after the twitter redesign was launched.
Lithium Music Player
PhilDsT said:
(Not allowed to post links as unverified Member)
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Eh, the layout is good but the whole red, black, and white embossed color scheme just doesn't suit me well. I can't quite remember the name of the app, but it was a sort of all in one note taking application, like it stored numbers, locations, notes, etc.. I'll try to dig up the name, because it had a very nice looking UI.
Need UI help?
If anyone needs UI design help please let me know, I'd love to help you! (Usually free as long as I get a little credit in the about )
TweetDeck.

[Q] GingerBread predictions ? ((just for fun))

What do you guys think will be some features of Ginger bread ?
Take 3 guesses...be specific not something like "UI tweak" and lets avoid the known ones (tv like shutdown,web2phone app install,market enhancement).
btw not a wish list..but things you actually think may happen.
1. Google Talk. Along with video calling I think theyll be making this a more prominent app and possibly allowing MMS style media sharing or integration with other com services (yahoo/skype).Perhaps using it as a portal to there GoogleMe service coming soon.
2. Browser. I think copy/paste will be refined skipping the menu buttons and having it initiated by long presses.
3. Browser. I also think theyll be 3Ding it up a bit. Giving tabs very Gallery like look.
i think there will be a very large focus on auto synchronization of music, videos, and images through the cloud (as hinted, goes along with the redesigned media player).
also im pretty sure they will add a competing "find my phone" feature since apple has gone ahead and integrated that into iOS 4.2.
bascially i think the new market web site will let your control every aspect of your phone from the web: images, music, contacts, wipe, applications, and phone finder.
also the browser will probably have a nicer tabbed browsing experience(managing multiple tabs right now sucks).
EErez said:
i think there will be a very large focus on auto synchronization of music, videos, and images through the cloud (as hinted, goes along with the redesigned media player).
also im pretty sure they will add a competing "find my phone" feature since apple has gone ahead and integrated that into iOS 4.2.
bascially i think the new market web site will let your control every aspect of your phone from the web: images, music, contacts, wipe, applications, and phone finder.
also the browser will probably have a nicer tabbed browsing experience(managing multiple tabs right now sucks).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats two for tabs.
That actually would be fantastic. Does that integrate current functions or do you think it will be new methods.
((i.e for pictures will it just incorporate my current Picasa or will it be a seperate image section))
1. I believe that a lot of the core apps (phone, music, message, browser) will have a very 3D gallery like look. Most of the UI revamp rumors probably stem from this.
2. Most of the UI revamp will come from core app redesigns but as we've seen already, Android 2.3 now has a darker look. Expect a Google TV, Voice Command/Actions, Youtube App-like look. Lots of black/grey with bright, light-ish highlights. Also add in a lot of new transition and visual cue effects (Orientation flipping, end of lists, that CRT screen off effect, etc.).
3. Better multi-tasking / app switching, maybe WebOS good but differnet.
I'm sure Andy Rubin said something about Gingerbread having a focus on social communication and gaming. So expect there to be much better social integration in Gingerbread.
Didn't Schmidt say that Google Me won't be a standalone product but more of a social layer on existing Google products.
Award Tour said:
1. I believe that a lot of the core apps (phone, music, message, browser) will have a very 3D gallery like look. Most of the UI revamp rumors probably stem from this.
2. Most of the UI revamp will come from core app redesigns but as we've seen already, Android 2.3 now has a darker look. Expect a Google TV, Voice Command/Actions, Youtube App-like look. Lots of black/grey with bright, light-ish highlights. Also add in a lot of new transition and visual cue effects (Orientation flipping, end of lists, that CRT screen off effect, etc.).
3. Better multi-tasking / app switching, maybe WebOS good but differnet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldnt be surprised at #2. But 1/3 really seem like Honeycomb options to me. I dont think there was enough time IMO. That 3 second clip of 2.3 left me thinking there really wouldnt be anything truly new or cool until 3.0.
btw what do you mean "end of lists" ?
Sarg92 said:
I'm sure Andy Rubin said something about Gingerbread having a focus on social communication and gaming. So expect there to be much better social integration in Gingerbread.
Didn't Schmidt say that Google Me won't be a standalone product but more of a social layer on existing Google products.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I rarely ever play mobile games so maybe it already exists. But does any Game dev, or Apple have an XBLive aspect to it ?
As in you can log in see your "Friends" and see there scores,games played , message each other etc ??
I thought that would be a great thing for Google to add that would integrate with the other things but perhaps its been done.
xManMythLegend said:
I wouldnt be surprised at #2. But 1/3 really seem like Honeycomb options to me. I dont think there was enough time IMO. That 3 second clip of 2.3 left me thinking there really wouldnt be anything truly new or cool until 3.0.
btw what do you mean "end of lists" ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't be so surprised at #1. Remember the IO developer conference? They already had a new 3D gallery like music app up and running on 2.2. You don't think they could have finished a couple of more between now and then? And that's if they hadn't already been partially done back then. I'm almost certain that #1 is a done deal for 2.3.
By end of list, I mean the bounce effect that other OS's like iOS have when you reach the end of a list. I just envision 2.3 having more superficial OS wide effects.
I thing there will be:
1. app to remove scraches
2. Hack iphone users
3. Nexus one front facing camera hack.
Award Tour said:
I wouldn't be so surprised at #1. Remember the IO developer conference? They already had a new 3D gallery like music app up and running on 2.2. You don't think they could have finished a couple of more between now and then? And that's if they hadn't already been partially done back then. I'm almost certain that #1 is a done deal for 2.3.
By end of list, I mean the bounce effect that other OS's like iOS have when you reach the end of a list. I just envision 2.3 having more superficial OS wide effects.
Click to expand...
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Cant recall...I just remember it being red. But if they were that far along then you may be right.
The Palm guy coming over and the purchase of that 3d desktop company came well after no ? Thats my reasoning for thinking not enough time.
Gotcha about the bounce effect.
xManMythLegend said:
That actually would be fantastic. Does that integrate current functions or do you think it will be new methods.
((i.e for pictures will it just incorporate my current Picasa or will it be a seperate image section))
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i would imagine it would be more of a one way sync of photos from the gallery to the desktop (doesn't picasa autosync already?), while music and video wold mostly go to the phone, maybe from a designated folder (drop box style) or some online interface (letting you access your things from a backed up storage of your phone from google's servers) pretty much doig iTunes job without the ****ty program or cables.
either way i got the feeling that they really wanted to create a simple way to connect your computer and phone through their cloud.
EErez said:
i would imagine it would be more of a one way sync of photos from the gallery to the desktop (doesn't picasa autosync already?), while music and video wold mostly go to the phone, maybe from a designated folder (drop box style) or some online interface (letting you access your things from a backed up storage of your phone from google's servers) pretty much doig iTunes job without the ****ty program or cables.
either way i got the feeling that they really wanted to create a simple way to connect your computer and phone through their cloud.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. Yeah Picasa does for web albums you still have to upload your pics.
Clicking sync via web for all of it would be cool.
"gauravh1: One announcement... Get ready for next google experience phone... Gingerbread development is almost finished for market release. Excited!"
--http://twitter.com/gauravh1/status/4961718455242752
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
onesavior said:
"gauravh1: One announcement... Get ready for next google experience phone... Gingerbread development is almost finished for market release. Excited!"
--http://twitter.com/gauravh1/status/4961718455242752
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vagueness...always with the vagueness.
The developer of Dolphin Browser seems to have access to betas of Gingerbread, and he mentioned improvements to Navigation here.
I think gingerbread will have the ability to stop people creating duplicate threads of a single topic 100 times
charnsingh_online said:
I think gingerbread will have the ability to stop people creating duplicate threads of a single topic 100 times
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ROFL
10char
charnsingh_online said:
I think gingerbread will have the ability to stop people creating duplicate threads of a single topic 100 times
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Show me 99 other prediction threads ill buy you a. 99c app.
Is predicting different than discussing gingerbread
Needs native .GIF support. Ive read various threads about how to get .GIF files to work. Nothing works. Really surprised google doesnt implement this. If theres something i didnt find that gets it to work feel free to post a solution .
Native gif support is in CM, go try it

How would you make android better?

I would like to see improvements to the stock browser. smoother zooming for one thing, get rid of the magnify glass in the bottom right corner (gets in the way when trying to click links), and passing the acid 3 test .
What changes would you like to see?
If it could make waffles, preferably Belgian style, and be more like iOS.
bacon flavoring
Android is still in its infancy compared to its rivals in the same market. This year should be big for our beloved OS so I want to see what changes are made before answering that question lol.
Web browser fixes is on the list though
Sexy Vibrant featuring Nero V3 w/Voodoo, and FFC installed
masterotaku said:
bacon flavoring
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PLEASE! Lol
Sexy Vibrant featuring Nero V3 w/Voodoo, and FFC installed
- decent calendar
- syncing with Outlook
- email that is reliable
- more efficient OS
More fluid UI, smoother animations ie: pinch to zoom browsing, maps etc could be smoother. Basically make it so good that I don't need to root in the first place.
A usable Google Talk Client (think BBM). The current one is worse than using SMS/MMS, IMO.
Hardware accellerated UI.
Better Exchange support and stock (non-Gmail) mail/Calendar client.
Make an exit option for most stock apps (i.e. Browser, music player, etc.).
Memory optimizations to reduce the footprint of stock applications in RAM.
Better third party developers. Most of them are amatuers and put out utter crap.
Decent market policing. Tired of sifting through so much junk just to try to find useful apps.
The rest doesn't matter since I'm sure the OEMs will rip it out to put their skins in.
N8ter said:
Make an exit option for most stock apps (i.e. Browser, music player, etc.).
Memory optimizations to reduce the footprint of stock applications in RAM.
Better third party developers. Most of them are amatuers and put out utter crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An exit option is the thing google DOES NOT want in their UI. It is pointless. It is NOT how Android runs and it does NOT help. The OS does this for the user. Why not just ask for a task killer that kills everything every 5 minutes, lol.
what stock apps are killing ram? Do you mean when they are in the BACKground?
dude, don't knock on developers... I think if the "fragmentation problem" was not a "problem" then we would have a tremendous load of great apps. Some are just afraid to take the plunge into developing for android, and some probably are afraid to break ties with apple. That said, there are a LOT of really good developers for Android, and some ONLY for android (levelup studios)
to answer the OP question, I would say a more common sense UI. Which I believe is on the way with the new hires. I had to teach several people how to use their new apple/android products, and regretfully, the ones with apple picked it up a lot faster.
s15274n said:
An exit option is the thing google DOES NOT want in their UI. It is pointless. It is NOT how Android runs and it does NOT help. The OS does this for the user. Why not just ask for a task killer that kills everything every 5 minutes, lol.
what stock apps are killing ram? Do you mean when they are in the BACKground?
dude, don't knock on developers... I think if the "fragmentation problem" was not a "problem" then we would have a tremendous load of great apps. Some are just afraid to take the plunge into developing for android, and some probably are afraid to break ties with apple. That said, there are a LOT of really good developers for Android, and some ONLY for android (levelup studios)
to answer the OP question, I would say a more common sense UI. Which I believe is on the way with the new hires. I had to teach several people how to use their new apple/android products, and regretfully, the ones with apple picked it up a lot faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some people just fail to understand that memory management on the linux based OS's is completely different from the counterparts from different OS's.
What would I change about the OS? My needs are more than satisfied with the current affairs, smoother scrolling and zooming in the browser will def make the UI even more pleasant to use.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and make every currently releasing phones true google phones, allow the carrier put bloatware on it, but make it easy to remove it - that is wishful thinking btw, otherwise how the carriers are supposed to make money off the subsidized hardware; at least make it an option for off the contract purchases.
I would like if the notification bar pop-up ("toast"?) for a new Gmail displayed the sender/subject line and first few words of the msg, rather than just say "New Gmail" (in other words, for it to behave like the notification for new SMS, etc.)
I really think that the 3rd party UIs should be available as a paid market download only. That way you have a choice as to whether you want to use it or not. All Google Android phones should come as just a Google Android phone. Make it easier to receive updates and cut down on this fragmentation. You can even let the user decide to download the enhanced UIs during the initial setup.
I'd personally like to see more polish - smoother web scrolling, etc. - and codec support for stock Android. I think we'll see this in Honeycomb. For game makers, i'd like to see less device specific coding in C. We are lucky that virtually every game works on the Vibrant, but other high end phones don't get the same love. Finally, it would be nice to see Google get on oems to release updates in a timely manner. Don't think it'll happen but you can always dream.
Sent from my frozen yogurt powered Vibrant
atoz350 said:
I really think that the 3rd party UIs should be available as a paid market download only. That was the you have a choice as to whether you want to use it or not. All Google Android phones should come as just a Google Android phone. Make it easier to receive updates and cut down on this fragmentation. You can even let the user decide to download the enhanced UIs during the initial setup.
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I like the idea. Also, if companies want "value added" widgets, launchers, etc. they could make them drm protected and not able to be installed on competitors phones without having to bog down their devices with a crappy UI
Sent from my frozen yogurt powered Vibrant

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