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Andriod UI - what are they thinking?

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First off I would like to say that besides the flaming this thread has actually been helpful to me.

I am a new Android user as well, and maybe it is because I am switching from the iOS to the Android OS but I agree that the UI is not as intuitve for new users as for example the iphone is or the HTC HD7 with its tiles (even though i think it dumbs people down)

I hate apple products, I even hated the Iphone at the beginning - it was to plain and not good for customization until i jailbroke it and now i love it. But i try to move with technology and wanted to see the what android has to offer.

I have to somewhat agree with UI Expert (even though 500$ seems very crazy to me as well) the android UI is not as intuitive. Lets take for example deleting apps. when i was pressing down on the app and I moved it to the trash i thought its in the trash basically deleted (and if I want it back i just go to the market and dl it again) but its not like that.

Its all a learning process and I cant wait to figure out how to remove those dumb favs stuff and install my own dialer, change that bar on the bottom of my homescreen and stuff like that.

So UIexpert, if you want you can make UIs for android - maybe not charge 500$ hour or you can work really fast than it wont cost that much.

I havent figured even figured half of the shit out my MyTouch (kinda naughty name btw) can do but I am getting there.

We should have something like a suggestion thread where people can suggest what themes go well together with what apps and backgrounds, kind of like a bundle package area.

PM if you know how to remove the TMobile crap and change the dialer to something different.
 
This is no attack on the OP, but how about grabbing the Android SDK, learn the programming language and build the better UI. The beauty Android is that you don't have to use whats handed to you. There are tons of options available to you.

If you aren't satisfied with what you you experienced, build the better experience. If your as good as you say, the people who agree with you, would flock to your vision of the UI.

Again, not an attack, just a suggestion.
 
EarlyMon said:
Just my opinion - when you find an app is buggy, consider not using it until they improve it - IF that's an option for you.

Life's too short for buggy apps.
Click to expand...

Absolutely - thats why I always have an old Nokia on standby.
Never known a more buggier app than the android UI
 
ami2510 said:
I have to somewhat agree with UI Expert (even though 500$ seems very crazy to me as well) the android UI is not as intuitive. Lets take for example deleting apps. when i was pressing down on the app and I moved it to the trash i thought its in the trash basically deleted (and if I want it back i just go to the market and dl it again) but its not like that.
Click to expand...

Intuitive is just a euphemism for enslaved. The good thing about android is that "if you can think it" then you can pretty much achieve it. By your example, if you download any one of the custom home launchers available (ADW Launcher, Launcher Pro), you can do just what you presumed, which is drag & uninstall apps and then if you want to install again, just download it from the market. This is the freedom you're afforded with android, everything isn't closed in and supposed to follow one basic set of guidelines. You choose how you want your phone to be
 
shawn1224 said:
Intuitive is just a euphemism for enslaved. The good thing about android is that "if you can think it" then you can pretty much achieve it. By your example, if you download any one of the custom home launchers available (ADW Launcher, Launcher Pro), you can do just what you presumed, which is drag & uninstall apps and then if you want to install again, just download it from the market. This is the freedom you're afforded with android, everything isn't closed in and supposed to follow one basic set of guidelines. You choose how you want your phone to be
Click to expand...

Enslaved or Intuitive whatever take you have on it is a matter of opinion and taste. Android UI is more for tech/engineering concerened people where as iOS is more for Users. Same with you can import your email data via itunes without touching a single setting. I freakin hate apple products but I have to admit that was well played.

Apple designed its iphone to be for dummies - also know in our world as Users. A phone for the masses should be designed like that and Android should offer the same thing just with a dev option but still focus on user friendlyness - which for me it somewhat does, not alot but then again I dev so I am prob not the normal user (I am talking about something just like cydia, if you have used it to the full extend then you know what I mean).

so back to your enslaved comment, maybe this video from 1984 (yay when I was born) will tell you what is going on today. if you get who apple was today and how the roles switch then you got the video message
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8
 
UIexpert said:
"Back" will not take me to the home page of an App... it will take me back one step. If I'm 5 steps deep into the app, I will need to click it 5 times.
Click to expand...

That's an issue with how the app was made and has nothing to do with the Android ui. Complain to the dev about it, maybe they will put a Home button into the app to make things easier.
 
EarlyMon said:
Welcome to the forums!

Here's the area where user with your phone will tend to hang out - T-Mobile MyTouch 4G - Android Forums, but from your posts, maybe you know that.

I see you're rooted, so you might find advice here also - MyTouch 4G - All Things Root - Android Forums

You might find this also interesting - Android Themes - Android Forums

Hope this helps, feel free to PM (private message) anyone with a red or green name - we're staff and we'll be happy to help you navigate the site.
Click to expand...

You are right, this is exactly what i was looking for
 
ami2510 said:
Enslaved or Intuitive whatever take you have on it is a matter of opinion and taste. Android UI is more for tech/engineering concerened people where as iOS is more for Users. Same with you can import your email data via itunes without touching a single setting. I freakin hate apple products but I have to admit that was well played.

Apple designed its iphone to be for dummies - also know in our world as Users. A phone for the masses should be designed like that and Android should offer the same thing just with a dev option but still focus on user friendlyness - which for me it somewhat does, not alot but then again I dev so I am prob not the normal user (I am talking about something just like cydia, if you have used it to the full extend then you know what I mean).

so back to your enslaved comment, maybe this video from 1984 (yay when I was born) will tell you what is going on today. if you get who apple was today and how the roles switch then you got the video message
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8
Click to expand...

Point is that YOU can make your phone as intuitive as you want it be. Just because it doesn't follow the same guidelines out the box, doesn't mean it should be an asterisk on the UI. The fact that it's so customizable is a plus. Options are a good thing.
 
OK - before we lose the forest for the trees:

The Samsung Galaxy S series - one of the largest-selling Android handset types with popularity worldwide, not just the United States - has a very VERY iPhone-like UI front-end.

Again - if you claim that Android is for tech / engineering users, I respond as I did earlier:


  • Which particular handset with vendor-added UI are you referring to?

And if the answer is, compared to the iPhone, then:


  • I present for your consideration the Samsung Galaxy S, especially the Captivate model on the same carrier - even the hardware specs and media-centric operation is made to be iPhone-like (actually, better with the on-board DLNA goodness)

The iPhone and others are Model T Fords - they come only one way.

You can buy the Android version of that, of the Model A, of the TBird, of the Bugatti roadster, the BWM 530, the Honda Civic, or the Dodge Viper.

Name a smartphone concept - and there's possibly an Android selection for it.

If you can conceive it, not only can you build it, you can probably buy it off of the shelf, right now, today.

PS - I've driven the Model T. I liked it better than the iPhone, but both were pretty OK.
 
By the way, I was able to sneak a vid out that I made on my phone when I recently went undercover to an Android competitor's strategic management planning session.

The purpose of the meeting was to see if they could understand and overcome the power of the Android message.

Being top geniuses in their field this is how the Android competition reacted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SdevjDLkO4

Hope it made you laugh - because the tables have turned more than they know. XD
 
ok to use your analogy, to me using the MyTouch for 2 weeks now, rooting it and applying all kinds of themes and programs (thats the phone I am referring to) is like leasing a Jetta, yeah you can change the wheels put a disco ball inside it but its still a jetta.

I am also not praising the IPhone, the iphone is crap when its stock, kind of like the delorean - the jailbroken Iphone is however the delorean with a flux capacitor. you know where I am getting at. its like the hot rod Tmodel.

maybe its because I am moving from the jailbreak community to the android community. Maybe its because i havent had the MyTouch for a while and my opinion will change in the next two weeks. maybe its because I am spoiled that when I swipe the home screen the page doesnt lag (i know you are going to blame it on the devs of the programs but somehow in other OS applying something like that wont cause that lag especially when I used it with the stock TMobile programs) same with some of the animations like scrolling or pinching (but maybe thats device specific, tried resetting it to stock but the same thing happens)
 
EarlyMon said:
By the way, I was able to sneak a vid out that I made on my phone when I recently went uncover to an Android competitor's strategic management planning session.

The purpose of the meeting was to see if they could understand and overcome the power of the Android message.

Being top geniuses in their field this is how the Android competition reacted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SdevjDLkO4

Hope it made you laugh - because the tables have turned more than they know. XD
Click to expand...

I know LOL thats exactly what I meant - now the IPhone is IBM and the android to IPhone...

How the turntables have turned ... wait what.
 
ami2510 said:
ok to use your analogy, to me using the MyTouch for 2 weeks now, rooting it and applying all kinds of themes and programs (thats the phone I am referring to) is like leasing a Jetta, yeah you can change the wheels put a disco ball inside it but its still a jetta.

I am also not praising the IPhone, the iphone is crap when its stock, kind of like the delorean - the jailbroken Iphone is however the delorean with a flux capacitor. you know where I am getting at. its like the hot rod Tmodel.

maybe its because I am moving from the jailbreak community to the android community. Maybe its because i havent had the MyTouch for a while and my opinion will change in the next two weeks. maybe its because I am spoiled that when I swipe the home screen the page doesnt lag (i know you are going to blame it on the devs of the programs but somehow in other OS applying something like that wont cause that lag especially when I used it with the stock TMobile programs) same with some of the animations like scrolling or pinching (but maybe thats device specific, tried resetting it to stock but the same thing happens)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm unfamiliar with the MyTouch 4G so I can't comment.

I would like to alert you to this, however - http://androidforums.com/android-lounge/241619-wow-ui-3d.html

And I'd also suggest you look around for any custom kernels (these are often available independently of, and compatible with, any rooted rom you're using). A good kernel can really sweaten i/o performance.


ami2510 said:
I know LOL thats exactly what I meant - now the IPhone is IBM and the android to IPhone...

How the turntables have turned ... wait what.
Click to expand...

Or - as noted in the Hitchhiker's Guide:

"Well, you’re obviously being totally naive of course", said the girl, "When you’ve been in marketing as long as I have, you'll know that before any new product can be developed it has to be properly researched. We’ve got to find out what people want from fire, how they relate to it, what sort of image it has for them."

The crowd were tense. They were expecting something wonderful from Ford.

"Stick it up your nose," he said.

"Which is precisely the sort of thing we need to know," insisted the girl, "Do people want fire that can be fitted nasally?"
Click to expand...
Anyway - I'm excited that new UI shell (well - new to me, anyway).

PS - Last time I heard them called a Tmodel was in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Any correlation?
 
ami2510 said:
First off I would like to say that besides the flaming this thread has actually been helpful to me.

I am a new Android user as well, and maybe it is because I am switching from the iOS to the Android OS but I agree that the UI is not as intuitve for new users as for example the iphone is or the HTC HD7 with its tiles (even though i think it dumbs people down)

I hate apple products, I even hated the Iphone at the beginning - it was to plain and not good for customization until i jailbroke it and now i love it. But i try to move with technology and wanted to see the what android has to offer.

I have to somewhat agree with UI Expert (even though 500$ seems very crazy to me as well) the android UI is not as intuitive. Lets take for example deleting apps. when i was pressing down on the app and I moved it to the trash i thought its in the trash basically deleted (and if I want it back i just go to the market and dl it again) but its not like that.

Its all a learning process and I cant wait to figure out how to remove those dumb favs stuff and install my own dialer, change that bar on the bottom of my homescreen and stuff like that.

So UIexpert, if you want you can make UIs for android - maybe not charge 500$ hour or you can work really fast than it wont cost that much.

I havent figured even figured half of the shit out my MyTouch (kinda naughty name btw) can do but I am getting there.

We should have something like a suggestion thread where people can suggest what themes go well together with what apps and backgrounds, kind of like a bundle package area.

PM if you know how to remove the TMobile crap and change the dialer to something different.
Click to expand...


If you got a MyTouch 4G, that's not a real representative of the raw Android UI. While I love HTC Sense, I have no experience with the T-Mobile modified version and a few aspects of it I don't really like.

In any case, if you like how the raw Android UI looks like, you can download ADWLauncher or Modaco's Gingerbread launcher. That greatly simplifies things to the raw essentials but minus HTC's unique eye candy. These UI launchers will remove the stuff you see on the bottom the screen with the ones you see in the standard Froyo.

If you dragged an app from the homescreen to the Trash can, your app isn't deleted. What's only deleted is the homescreen shortcut for it. The app is still there and you can see it in the Application screen. You have to go to Settings then Applications then find the app, then in the menu, uninstall it.

There its gone and completely out of the system unless you reinstall it from the Market. In iOS, if you delete an app, its only "sort of deleted" because iTunes will try to reinstall the app again unless you go to iTunes and remove it there. With Android case, there is no desktop replication.
 
I've read a bit about this thread, and I agree with the original poster that some things could be a bit easier, but for the most part the Android UI is fairly straightforward. One thing to remember is that we are talking about touchscreen-based smartphones and not something like a Windows PC. This means no physical keyboard in most cases, meaning out of the 3-4 standard android shortcut keys, there is only so much that can be done. Because this is a UI designed for more than one phone (i.e. "The masses"), additonal shortcut keys may be added by each phone manufacturer, as well as their respective UI tweaks (TouchWiz, MotoBLUR, etc.), but that is completely dependent on your specific model phone (The Nexus S is completely stock android however, meaning that there are no UI tweaks that come stock with the phone). This is the same for almost all touch-screen based phones out there (If you want a shortcut nightmare, check out the iPhone. Only a home button, lock button, and volume controls!). If you want a plethora of shortcut keys, buy something with a lot of keys such as a blackberry.
 
I'll be honest, I only read the first page of this thread. UIexpert, Android when I came to it was indeed, not a looker, it was also geeky (kinda suites me :) )
successive versions of Android have made it look and feel A LOT better. with Honeycomb around the corner, it looks as though a major UI turnover is about to happen (you have a Nexus S, so you'll be updated to it)
latest rumours have suggested that Honeycomb will be version 2.4 and not 3.0 as expected.
This makes some of us (me) think OMG WHAT CAN 3.0 BE?! in a very excited tone.
maybe... a HUGE UI rethink... maybe not, what I do know is that whatever comes around the corner, YOU will be updated to it because you have chosen the Nexus S, the phone that'll keep getting updated for as long as it can support the latest version
 
I also design UI and for me one reason I got the galaxy S was because it does have better UI then most android phones, and with a few additional tweaks its great. Honestly I think google wants youto customize as it I open sourced..
 
UIexpert said:
How can you do that?

I think many of you really misunderstood me. I hate MS and I hate Apple, I wouldn't use a Windows 7 phone if you would give it to me free. I just want to see a better Android.

What you are saying is this: Android is an OS, a platform, and it comes stripped down from many functionalities, including many basic ones like "profiles" or pin protection. It's not very easy to use, BUT, it's flexible. You are saying that every person should and can easily customize his Android with all that good stuff and more, and that you can do anything you want as long as you customize and tweak the settings.

I have a question - do you think your mother, father, grandmother or 8 years old sister can or WANT to do all of that stuff? Go to market, download an app, fiddle with the settings, etc etc etc and spend god knows how many hours to make his/her phone include something basic as "profiles"? Do you think this is a good strategy to make Android popular? Of course that a phone shouldn't come pre loaded with every function in the world but people... come on... profiles??? pin protection? being able to close apps easily? Do you want to see Android popular and easy to use, or a "geek only" platform that makes people turn to other systems?

Please, give your mother an Android phone out of the box and ask her to add pin protection. Let me know how many hours it takes her. She needs to realize its not there. She needs to realize she can add it. She needs to learn how to download apps.......... etc etc.

People want to be able to use their phone (or anything else) intuitively and out of the box... if you can later customize it and make it even better - that's great.

Why is Android like that? Because Google is not a consumer products company, it is an engineering company. They probably didn't have the foresight to involve many consumer product and UI specialists on what is a "platform" or "OS". But guys, 90% of the people who buy phones don't know what a "platform" is. They are buying a phone. They think in terms of "I like my phone" and "my phone is easy to use" or "my phone is hard to use". So it's very cool that Android is a platform, but the real goal here is to sell as many Android phones as possible. So it's not enough that it is flexible... it needs to be intuitive for the average user and preloaded with all the basics. Right now this is not the case. That's it. If you like Android and want to see it as popular as possible, I'm not really sure why would you argue with that.
Click to expand...

Why buy a nexus s then, yes this phone is aimed at people who want to tinker. There are many android phones that have an ui overlay to make things easier.

Anyway that is why I love android most, six months and i still love to tinker.
 
chris 290 said:
Why buy a nexus s then, yes this phone is aimed at people who want to tinker. There are many android phones that have an ui overlay to make things easier.

Anyway that is why I love android most, six months and i still love to tinker.
Click to expand...

six months and tinkering is needed to keep up with everyone else :)
 
Although I recognize that "officially" android apps do not need to be "closed", my main pet peeve with android is that in many cases one has to keep hitting the back button to completely leave an app.

Case in point, the Browser. If I am several pages deep in my surfing I have to keep hitting back until it exits. I want to stop the browser so when I reopen it comes up to the home page.

What is needed I believe is an "exit" feature (doesn't matter whether it kills the app or not) that stops the app and makes so that upon restarting it is in a known mode. Again in the case of the browser, when I reopen it I want my home page to show up.

It is very telling that one of the updates in Gingerbread is in fact a "close app" feature. Obviously, Google realized something here.

Even though Windows is a bad example, you wouldn't just minimize apps all the time. You always "exit" the app.

So to me, android apps always feel like they are being "minimized" as opposed to "exited".

Having said all this I love android. As I write this I had to rectivate my Blackberry Storm because I am going to Europe and needed a phone. But I already miss the android. The BB OS feels so clunky by comparison.

What I'd love is an android BB. No question in my mind that BB makes the best equipment. If they coupled with android then look out.
 
Why can't you just hit the home button and be back to the launcher? You don't have to back all the way out. Just because you're used to a 'quit' button doesn't mean you need a quit button ;)
 
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