Database Users

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)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.

[Verdict 10/11/11] MIUI vs Samsung ROMs (Non ASOP ones)

Alright after a week of testing. Heres the rundown.
Stock Features you will miss:
Enhanced Contacts.
Motion Gestures.
HW Accelerated Browser
The Cam. MIUI isnt as good.
Battery life.
MIUI features you will miss if you're hooked:
Firewall
Guard
App lock
Themes
UI. duh.
Elegance.
Overall verdict is wait a bit. MIUI can be better. The MIUI contacts isnt good either.

Oh and Stock Cam vs MIUI Cam.. whats better?

Use skifta instead of allshare and wi fi file explorer instead of kies.
Tw camera is better.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Aldonski said:
Use skifta instead of allshare and wi fi file explorer instead of kies.
Tw camera is better.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Got Swype Beta working. Gotta check out TW Cam.

I think he meant touch wizard in TW camera. I would like this camera the hw accerated browser and tv out support in a miui hybrid rom.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Im using Upnplay instead of allshare.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

There has to be some Pros and Cons in AOSP ROMs over Stock ROMs. Customisations, speedy UI etc are better but on the other hand there are some simple yet impotent things aren't available or buggy! Why would one buy Samsung on first place and then suddenly they want to get rid of Samsung junk? A little bit of iOS, little bit of Android, I hate it anyway.

I have frozen literally everything all the Samsung bloatware that can be frozen, i think ive used Kies like once, it's a crock of sh*t anyway buggy as hell, allshare is a serious battery drainer too, why do people still use this rubbish then complain about serious battery drainage?

I love all MIUI stuff but I dislike the battery draining, camera is not good and video playback is so poor 'cause Hw aceleration is not working... Ignoring that, I prefer a lot this even over the perfect stock rom, 'cause I can personalize everything.

I've had a look and play with miui and cm7 nightly #99 lately.
Still like Samsung's roms better. To me they just seem more polished. Camera, calendar, etc, add jkay mods in there too.
Also find music sounds better for me on Samsung roms. That surprised me.
I pick cm7 over miui by a mile.
I must be missing something about miui because i didnt see anything to make me use it over Samsung or cm7.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Miui UI is better than stock...
Gotto wait until Miui rom fully functional only can compare i believe.

kyapkk said:
Miui UI is better than stock...
Gotto wait until Miui rom fully functional only can compare i believe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool ill take another look at it later.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

I am on Samsung rom because of contacts, I have personalized contacts in gmail and on miui only can see icons for the type of numbers of my contacts, in Samsung rom contacts app i can see personalized info about my contacts numbers
Enviado desde mi GT-I9100 usando Tapatalk

I've tried CM7 and it's pretty nice especially with all of the themes and it is incredibly fast, however I love TouchWiz! Good Widgets, great camera app, smoothest launcher (IMO), and of course the best browser on any Android device.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

So I am still testing it and so far I like it. Gonna reply you all and update the main thread with opinion.
Aldonski said:
Use skifta instead of allshare and wi fi file explorer instead of kies.
Tw camera is better.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got Swype working. Good points, thanks.
seburn said:
I think he meant touch wizard in TW camera. I would like this camera the hw accerated browser and tv out support in a miui hybrid rom.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, couldnt find TW Cam, thanks.
bingoking said:
Im using Upnplay instead of allshare.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
ithehappy said:
There has to be some Pros and Cons in AOSP ROMs over Stock ROMs. Customisations, speedy UI etc are better but on the other hand there are some simple yet impotent things aren't available or buggy! Why would one buy Samsung on first place and then suddenly they want to get rid of Samsung junk? A little bit of iOS, little bit of Android, I hate it anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, its a personal preference. Thats the point of this thread. Do we wanna lose functionality for looks?
jonny68 said:
I have frozen literally everything all the Samsung bloatware that can be frozen, i think ive used Kies like once, it's a crock of sh*t anyway buggy as hell, allshare is a serious battery drainer too, why do people still use this rubbish then complain about serious battery drainage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what you mean Same here.
badtzo said:
I love all MIUI stuff but I dislike the battery draining, camera is not good and video playback is so poor 'cause Hw aceleration is not working... Ignoring that, I prefer a lot this even over the perfect stock rom, 'cause I can personalize everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Elaborate please. You got a point about HW acceleration. Ill look into it. Battery seems fine..
aceofclubs said:
I've had a look and play with miui and cm7 nightly #99 lately.
Still like Samsung's roms better. To me they just seem more polished. Camera, calendar, etc, add jkay mods in there too.
Also find music sounds better for me on Samsung roms. That surprised me.
I pick cm7 over miui by a mile.
I must be missing something about miui because i didnt see anything to make me use it over Samsung or cm7.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are missing some neat features. Wait for me to update my OP. Camera sucks. Agree.
jgcastror said:
I am on Samsung rom because of contacts, I have personalized contacts in gmail and on miui only can see icons for the type of numbers of my contacts, in Samsung rom contacts app i can see personalized info about my contacts numbers
Enviado desde mi GT-I9100 usando Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, yeah you cant sort contacts. Good point.
Updating my OP.~
King Shady said:
I've tried CM7 and it's pretty nice especially with all of the themes and it is incredibly fast, however I love TouchWiz! Good Widgets, great camera app, smoothest launcher (IMO), and of course the best browser on any Android device.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

SilentRazor said:
[*]The easy screenshots like iOS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About this, in MIUI you just have to press volume down+menu. Pretty easy IMO...
About everything else im with you, but let me add one more con about MIUI: Call recording doenst work. Not the stock app but neither "CallRecorder" app.
Since this is an important feature for me, I hope they manage to fixed it because I really like MIUI.

Every now and then, i fill that urge to try MIUI or Cyanogen, and after a day or two, i am back to Samsung ROMs ...
1.I've been modifying my framework and TW launcher since my i9000 and i have made my personal setup from it
2.Video codecs support, although recently i've found Dice player who looks extremely capable, even more than the default one
3.The small little things, like brightness swipe on status bar, call and message swipe on contacts and some others that doesn't come to mind right now
4.Like someone else stated, i also like the cohesion of the stock ROM
There are some things that always bothered me that Samsung doesn't implement in it's ROMs like percentage battery and BLN. I mean, those are are easy to do, add functionality and they blend well with stock ..., but luckily, this is Android and we can do it ourselves .

SilentRazor said:
Now that MIUI have officially launched the S2 ROM. I tried it. I used to use the Litening ROM. So far there have been PROS and CONS. Some neat features that I love that I dont wanna go back. But there are some minor things which I can't live without either.
I will be updating this thread with Pro and Cons with you guys support.
Stock ROM features I miss:
The Motion Gestures. In Gallery and on Launcher. I think that was TouchWiz 4.0... right?
Kies and AllShare. I would love to have those two. SGS2 is the only Android device out there with DLNA support and would be a shame to cut it out. --There are alternatives. WifiFile Explorer. And Upnplay.
The easy screenshots like iOS.
Swype support. I sideloaded Swype but looks like I cant switch themes. And the Official Swype installer on MIUI says the resolution isn't supported. Weird. -- It works.
The Camera App. For some weird reason I think the MIUI Cam has flaws. -- Still looking for an alternative. Gonna checkout TW Camera.
And this may be stupid but MIUI doesnt show H+ icons. Just H. (Network icon) -- Think themes can fix this.
MIUI Features I love:
The torch. Pretty neat, you can use it by pressing the Home Button.
The UI and themes. Obvious
The Music App Lyrics
You can lock specific apps. And even hide them.
The Guard feature. Now I can give my phone to anyone w/o worrying bout them snooping.
Status: Back to Stock. MIUI has Battery drain issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are alot of devices come with DLNA. Atrix for example.
---------- Post added at 12:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:53 AM ----------
SilentRazor said:
Now that MIUI have officially launched the S2 ROM. I tried it. I used to use the Litening ROM. So far there have been PROS and CONS. Some neat features that I love that I dont wanna go back. But there are some minor things which I can't live without either.
I will be updating this thread with Pro and Cons with you guys support.
Stock ROM features I miss:
The Motion Gestures. In Gallery and on Launcher. I think that was TouchWiz 4.0... right?
Kies and AllShare. I would love to have those two. SGS2 is the only Android device out there with DLNA support and would be a shame to cut it out. --There are alternatives. WifiFile Explorer. And Upnplay.
The easy screenshots like iOS.
Swype support. I sideloaded Swype but looks like I cant switch themes. And the Official Swype installer on MIUI says the resolution isn't supported. Weird. -- It works.
The Camera App. For some weird reason I think the MIUI Cam has flaws. -- Still looking for an alternative. Gonna checkout TW Camera.
And this may be stupid but MIUI doesnt show H+ icons. Just H. (Network icon) -- Think themes can fix this.
MIUI Features I love:
The torch. Pretty neat, you can use it by pressing the Home Button.
The UI and themes. Obvious
The Music App Lyrics
You can lock specific apps. And even hide them.
The Guard feature. Now I can give my phone to anyone w/o worrying bout them snooping.
Status: Back to Stock. MIUI has Battery drain issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and the only thing stock vs Miui i care is the internet browser in stock rom that comes with hardware accelerated. And also the long press edit for search is imssing in MIUI.

What I can't live without is the to out support via MHL missing from all aosp roms.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

4ltair said:
Every now and then, i fill that urge to try MIUI or Cyanogen, and after a day or two, i am back to Samsung ROMs ...
1.I've been modifying my framework and TW launcher since my i9000 and i have made my personal setup from it
2.Video codecs support, although recently i've found Dice player who looks extremely capable, even more than the default one
3.The small little things, like brightness swipe on status bar, call and message swipe on contacts and some others that doesn't come to mind right now
4.Like someone else stated, i also like the cohesion of the stock ROM
There are some things that always bothered me that Samsung doesn't implement in it's ROMs like percentage battery and BLN. I mean, those are are easy to do, add functionality and they blend well with stock ..., but luckily, this is Android and we can do it ourselves .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am with you there. I am back to stock as well and am working on modifying the framework.

[Q] What app are you using for Facebook?

Hi guys.
The facebook app doesn't really works nice in the N10, photos are huge in the friends feed.
I have added a shortcut to the web version of facebook and it works much better. However sending messages is painful and of course doesn't have real android notifications.
So what are you using to access Facebook in the Nexus 10? Have you guys tried friendcaster?
Thanks.

chairs ECrednd
I've been using friendcaster and it's been ok. It uses the screen real estate pretty well just some odd bugs and a few features missing. It works well enough though and there's some customization which is nice. Download the free version to try out, the ads are on the bottom but since the screen is so big you don't even notice it. If you don't like it..... Un install!
Edit: ignore the title I put the verification in the wrong box hahah

Ed 115 said:
I've been using friendcaster and it's been ok. It uses the screen real estate pretty well just some odd bugs and a few features missing. It works well enough though and there's some customization which is nice. Download the free version to try out, the ads are on the bottom but since the screen is so big you don't even notice it. If you don't like it..... Un install!
Edit: ignore the title I put the verification in the wrong box hahah
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, Friendcaster is doing a good job so far.

Hi,
I just use the browser whereever possible. Keyt concern is the VERY relaxed attitide many app devs, especially facebook etc, have towards your personal info (address book
etc).
Exception is google, in for a penny in for a pound with them lol.
Cheers

You could have the facebook app installed for the notifications, but use the browser to actively use facebook. Much better experience, just some minor weird glitches when viewing photos. It's what I do.

robrob777 said:
Hi guys.
The facebook app doesn't really works nice in the N10, photos are huge in the friends feed.
I have added a shortcut to the web version of facebook and it works much better. However sending messages is painful and of course doesn't have real android notifications.
So what are you using to access Facebook in the Nexus 10? Have you guys tried friendcaster?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Friendcaster and think it's pretty good - better than the official Facebook app, anyhow...

You will have missing posts using third party apps due to security settings individual users can configure lately I have been using a browser for fb more and more often. Tired of the ginormous photos in landscape mode with the app. If you hold device in portrait it's better at least.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD

Sense 5

Hello all... I was trying to find if such topic has been presented before.
What is your expectations for Sense 5 as software and inhancements? For me, I wish they consider the following from my experience in HOX+:
- Gmail in mail application: I like to use Gmail in HTC mail app (imap) instead of Gmail official app. However, there is no star option for a message. Hope HTC is fixing this in Sense 5.
- Although I like HTC notes and HTC tasks apps, I wish they will allow to disable it if I want to use different apps. In HOX+ they prevented disabling them as they are connected to calendar and other messaging system. Also, the evernote merging in HTC note app isn't complete and it misses tags.
- I hope they can now provide an option to choose what info I can sync from Facebook (pics, contacts, ...)
- Movie Editor doesn't have a link in gallery app.
- Flickr merging (I like it of course) isn't complete and miss a lot of features. They either make it complete or allow us to disable it if I want to use different client.
- I like the way of Linkedin are being sync into contacts but it doesn't allow to open Linkedin contact link in the official app as it does in Facebook
- Stocks market by HTC & Yahoo doesn't support all market. So, another app is needed. I hope it's been fixed in Sense 5 or being able to be disabled too.

SenseTV, boomsound, Zoe that's about it. I don't care about anything else on sense 5.

i just dont like the icons of sense5,

该隐之怨 said:
i just dont like the icons of sense5,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree they removed the 3Dness of the whole UI which for me is quite weird considering that they are boasting enhanced hardware. Yet they downgrade software. Although a large number of users tend to like it

Honestly as long as the messaging app looks crisp, I'm a happy camper! haha.

Riyal said:
I agree they removed the 3Dness of the whole UI which for me is quite weird considering that they are boasting enhanced hardware. Yet they downgrade software. Although a large number of users tend to like it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the 'flat' effect looks rather cool

kalo88 said:
I think the 'flat' effect looks rather cool
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Much more classy
Sent from my HTC Incredible S using Tapatalk 2

Im loving what they did with the UI, it's a million time better but I still don't like the icons. I've never been a big fan of android Icons in general, I'm used to all my icons having the same shape like on iOS. I'm sure ill get used to it, since some icons look nice but there are quite a few that I think are just really bad. Definitely gonna be themeing to get rid of them.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Riyal said:
I agree they removed the 3Dness of the whole UI which for me is quite weird considering that they are boasting enhanced hardware. Yet they downgrade software. Although a large number of users tend to like it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's all to do with reducing the lag on Sense, making everything flat will mean that everything will be a lot smoother and take less time to load so reduces lag. This is something that I really want as even on Jelly Bean Sense 4+ still lags and stutters at times which on the devices we have it shouldn't happen.
Push mail in the default mail app would be nice too.

It looks way better than the old one. Simple is better :victory:

I like the new icons... Been looking for a sense 5 cm10 for theme the last week.

I wonder if you can view twitter contacts in the 'people' app?

What I like from Sense is the ability to customize the themes (Scenes and Skins options under Personalize settings). But now they removed those options
Wonder if they'll add it back in or is there any apps that have similar functions? Especially since Sense 4+, the Skins also affects the Weather Clock look and feel.
And also, they remove tons of HTC cool widgets.

clarkgable said:
I wonder if you can view twitter contacts in the 'people' app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can
Sent from my DHD
---------- Post added at 12:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:16 PM ----------
Aetherion90 said:
What I like from Sense is the ability to customize the themes (Scenes and Skins options under Personalize settings). But now they removed those options
Wonder if they'll add it back in or is there any apps that have similar functions? Especially since Sense 4+, the Skins also affects the Weather Clock look and feel.
And also, they remove tons of HTC cool widgets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it is still present in the other (normal) home screen
Sent from my DHD

Bought the Desire HD and One X when they were released .. Haven't regreted it a second!
As soon as the HTC One is out im all over that ****!
This phone is going to be a blast!

Movie Editor
I want Movie Editor back on mi HOX+ with Sense 5.
Anyone know if this application can be downloaded ???
Thanks !!!!
Matias.

xXxG0dzRAgexXx said:
Im loving what they did with the UI, it's a million time better but I still don't like the icons. I've never been a big fan of android Icons in general, I'm used to all my icons having the same shape like on iOS. I'm sure ill get used to it, since some icons look nice but there are quite a few that I think are just really bad. Definitely gonna be themeing to get rid of them.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gross..
ios icons are the worst imo

crixley said:
Gross..
ios icons are the worst imo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They don't look nice but I like the fact they are all the same shape. They all look like they belong with each other other. Why are you replying to a thread that's months old anyways?
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk now Free

xXxG0dzRAgexXx said:
They don't look nice but I like the fact they are all the same shape. They all look like they belong with each other other. Why are you replying to a thread that's months old anyways?
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk now Free
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look above, I didn't bump the thread...
I'm using an app and didn't notice the date it was originally made.
Anyway I agree with the same size, but I don't like them all being the same shape.
I think that looks cheesy

[Q]

Hey guys
I really dig the Smart Scroll feature. I know it's kind of gimmicky but it's nice to not have to get my fingerprints on the screen for every little thing I do. Do you guys know which apps support this feature?
The only app I've noticed it working with is the default browser, and the default E-Mail.
It would be nice if we could get Smart Scroll support with Chrome and GMail, but I don't find anything wrong with the S4's e-mail/browser though. Are you guys using the Samsung browser and Email system so you can use the smart scroll, or are you just ignoring that feature entirely because of battery life?
Do you guys think there will be more apps coming with this feature being used?

I don't personally use the feature because I feel it's much easier to just scroll by fingers, but some people will sure find it usefull. As for the supporting apps, I guess the limited support is due to the fact that the feature is still new and was just introduced with this phone. By time developers can start implementing it in their apps, but I don't see that happening soon. It will take some time.
Sent from my SGS IV using Tapatalk 2

7moooodi said:
I don't personally use the feature because I feel it's much easier to just scroll by fingers, but some people will sure find it usefull. As for the supporting apps, I guess the limited support is due to the fact that the feature is still new and was just introduced with this phone. By time developers can start implementing it in their apps, but I don't see that happening soon. It will take some time.
Sent from my SGS IV using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks. That's pretty much what I thought but I'm pretty new to Android so I wanted to see. I'm still curious if any other apps besides E-mail/Internet use them. I'm surprised Flipboard doesn't. It would be cool if Flipboard was laid out like Windows phone with long news/feed blocks that you could scroll through... Man windows 8 phone w/ eye scroll would be pretty awesome come to think of it.

If your looking to set defaults for applications this may work.
Default App Manager Lite
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appiator.defaultappmanager&hl=en