The Windows Phone 7 UI has thought put into it.
The android 3rd party devs do not focus on design. They do not care about the end user experience because the marketplace has no restrictions. Google just doesnt care about the end user experience, which is why you end up with a grid of static, uninformative icons on your homepage, and apps like the one pictured above.
Last edited by Light Speed1; November 6th, 2010 at 09:45 PM.
I will agree with you that WP7 has a beautiful interface. I think it is hands down the most eye-friendly on the market.
I take issue with your statement that 3rd party developers and Google do not care about end user experience. Although Android and its applications are not as pretty as WP7, there are plenty of people dedicated to making things look good. Android's UI is focused on simplicity, ease-of-use, and clean design, whereas WP7 goes after the same ideas while adding an element of stylistic intrigue.
It's all about priorities, and wow-factor was not Google's.
if we want to talk about google's priorities, they are an advertising company and have a legal duty to their shareholders to increase ad revenue at all costs. They just view android as a platform to increase advertising, not as a quality experience for the user.
if we want to talk about google's priorities, they are an advertising company and have a legal duty to their shareholders to increase ad revenue at all costs. They just view android as a platform to increase advertising, not as a quality experience for the user.
They're not going to neglect the UI totally, either. In order to be successful, it needs to work and be appealing to the user.
The Windows Phone 7 UI has thought put into it.
The android 3rd party devs do not focus on design. They do not care about the end user experience because the marketplace has no restrictions. Google just doesnt care about the end user experience, which is why you end up with a grid of static, uninformative icons on your homepage, and apps like the one pictured above.
I love how you compare a games "app" or part of the UI to a task-killer app, and a third party one at that.
Here's a few screens from MY Android, lol. Starting with the included task manager.
Looks like all my apps look pretty darn good together.
Last edited by bmckenzie90; November 7th, 2010 at 01:24 AM.
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if we want to talk about google's priorities, they are an advertising company and have a legal duty to their shareholders to increase ad revenue at all costs. They just view android as a platform to increase advertising, not as a quality experience for the user.
I hope you realize that your statement could quite easily also be adapted to Microsoft. The CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, has a responsibility to insure that the Board of Directors at Microsoft make lots of dividends. Remember the Chairman of the Board is one of the richest men in the world... and much of his money came from Microsoft.
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Last edited by Martimus; November 7th, 2010 at 01:35 AM.
your designs are ok. i never liked the whole idea of widgets, i think the live tiles idea is much better in wp7.
but the point there is much more to a ui than your customized theme. like transitions, camera app interface, etc.
plus, most android users will not customize their phone. so if you have pics of stock android to post, that would be more beneficial.
You sure do a lot of assuming that Android users won't or don't want to customize, seeing as how there are tons of people out there who download apps to do so every day.
That aside, the Camera App interface on my Mesmerize is pretty darned good, resembles to iOS camera interface, but has a lot more options.
Here is the stock camera
And stock launcher:
The Music player and Task Manager displayed in my first screen are stock too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PinkMirrorKirby
Good one, that will teach him. =.=
So posting on the Android forums and making the OS look bad is ok, but I get mocked for legitimately defending it? Right. What a joke.
Last edited by bmckenzie90; November 7th, 2010 at 01:00 AM.
You sure do a lot of assuming that Android users won't or don't want to customize, seeing as how there are tons of people out there who download apps to do so every day.
That aside, the Camera App interface on my Mesmerize is pretty darned good, resembles to iOS camera interface, but has a lot more options.
Here is the stock camera
And stock launcher:
The Music player and Task Manager displayed in my first screen are stock too.
So posting on the Android forums and making the OS look bad is ok, but I get mocked for defending it? Right. What a joke.
Looks like Windows 7 music player is pretty kick ass, but that's expected coming from a company that's been putting out an mp3 player that looks exactly like that for a few years now.
Looks like Windows 7 music player is pretty kick ass, but that's expected coming from a company that's been putting out an mp3 player that looks exactly like that for a few years now.
you can pin radio stations and even youtube videos as "tiles" to the front of the zune hub or even the homescreen.
Lol, I'm done arguing, but just for the sake of being the devil's advocate, can I change the color of my tiles on the hub? And the titles? And the image they display? Lol.
All in all, I'm done defending this platform against Windows 7 Phone. I'm confident that Android will keep growing and keep gaining popularity, as it has an infinite number of possibilities. It's only a matter of time before a custom ROM comes out that gains enough popularity to be adopted into an official version of the OS. Development of this platform won't ever stop because "tinkerers" like myself will always find ways to improve it, where as I won't even want to think about what I'd have to do to change something about iOS or WP7.
you can change the color of the tiles but only to the pre-designated choices it has. doubt you can change the titles but not sure why you would want to. the images they display change on thier own. like zune changes to the last artist you listen to, etc. the others cant change. developers can obviously choose if they want to make their app have a live tile, and there are multiple different types of live tiles. it gets a little complicated, but for what your asking, i think the answer is no, the user cant change the image of a tile. dont see the point.
"It's only a matter of time before a custom ROM comes out that gains enough popularity to be adopted into an official version of the OS."
haha sorry but thats just wishful thinking. lets be honest, that goes against the whole point of open source. android will continue to split itself, this was a huge problem for windows mobile.
Last edited by Light Speed1; November 7th, 2010 at 01:46 AM.
you can change the color of the tiles but only to the pre-designated choices it has. doubt you can change the titles but not sure why you would want to. the images they display change on thier own. like zune changes to the last artist you listen to, etc. the others cant change. developers can obviously choose if they want to make their app have a live tile, and there are multiple different types of live tiles. it gets a little complicated, but for what your asking, i think the answer is no, the user cant change the image of a tile. dont see the point.
"It's only a matter of time before a custom ROM comes out that gains enough popularity to be adopted into an official version of the OS."
haha sorry but thats just wishful thinking. lets be honest, that goes against the whole point of open source. android will continue to split itself, this was a huge problem for windows mobile.
Custom ROM does not go against the whole point of open source, and most Android phones on the market now runs Android 2.1 and 2.2 so I don't see that's a problem, while Windows Mobile failed because IT LAGS A LOT OF TIMES FOR GODS SAKE!
Custom ROM does not go against the whole point of open source, and most Android phones on the market now runs Android 2.1 and 2.2 so I don't see that's a problem, while Windows Mobile failed because IT LAGS A LOT OF TIMES FOR GODS SAKE!
"most Android phones on the market now runs Android 2.1 and 2.2"
lol, 2.1 and 2.2 are different versions. so what you just said is that most android phones are still fragmented
if we want to talk about google's priorities, they are an advertising company and have a legal duty to their shareholders to increase ad revenue at all costs. They just view android as a platform to increase advertising, not as a quality experience for the user.
your designs are ok. i never liked the whole idea of widgets, i think the live tiles idea is much better in wp7.
but the point there is much more to a ui than your customized theme. like transitions, camera app interface, etc.
plus, most android users will not customize their phone. so if you have pics of stock android to post, that would be more beneficial.
I'm sorry, but your whole argument dies right there. What you essentially just said is:
"If we ignore the main feature designed to make android look pretty*, then it is quite ugly"
*It's also a feature designed to make the phone far more functional. On an amusing side note, you could use an Android phone with the exact same ad campaign that MS are doing. With widgets you can get all the information you want at a glance. The same can't be said of Apple though I guess.
Frankly, tiles = widgets since they both provide the same functions.
Also, the whole point to the stock google interface is to allow users the ability to customise it however they want (Sorry Jobbs, but that's a pretty good definition of open in my dictionary). Saying that we can only compare stock Android to Win Ph 7 is not a fair argument because of this.
Having said all that, my next phone is likely to be win 7. Not because I think it's superior (nor do I think it's inferior, just different), but because I like new toys & a new android phone just wont excite me as much. It'll just be what I already have with a better camera or something.
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The WP7 homescreen is really nice and customizable with whatever tiles you want on it. But, last time I checked there was more to an interface than the homescreen. maybe you read past the original post of this thread?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Light Speed1
The WP7 homescreen is really nice and customizable with whatever tiles you want on it. But, last time I checked there was more to an interface than the homescreen. maybe you read past the original post of this thread?
And there are more to Android than a simple task killer app that you're comparing to WP7's screen for games.
Last time I checked I wasn't looking for a gaming console in my phone. Others may be, but I'm not. So you're comparing Android and wp7 based purely on the gaming console? Really?? All you have addressed since your first post is gaming due to that is the pic you posted. And as you stated earlier "last time I checked there is more to an interface than the homescreen." I couldn't agree more. How about comparing apples to apples rather than apples to oranges to try to make an invalid argument. Now let me introduce YOU to what all is involved in making an operational and usable OS outside of your example of comparing a gaming UI to a task killer app.
Does the wp7 UI look nice? Yes, I think so. Does it look cluttered? To some it does. To make an OS workable it has to be usable by many and that includes being clean. Not cluttered, not too many options, make the options easy to select on the screen and not overwhelming. This is the main obstacle of UI's today. Everyone wants these really nice gui UI's, but that can work against the objective at hand. And that is to make it functional! Too many options make it too hard to quickly select items on the screen. So, multiple homescreens have become popular to help group related options. Like a homescreen for music, one for messaging, one for work and one as your main screen with the options for the tasks that you do the most all day. Widgets are what google came up with to aid in that. wp7 has come up with tiles and hubs. No real difference, they both have their unique attributes though.
wp7 looks nice, but what about it's performance? That is yet to be seen. I'm excited to see what happens with it. I'll be watching it and even hoping to get one some day to check it out. I believe it will be a major player in the market but it has some proving to do. To come on here and start throwing out comments like you are is premmature and immature. Part of what really makes an OS a better one is performance! Remember, these little devices have limited resources and OS's have to work within those restraints. There has been alot of thought put into the Android OS to help it run efficiently within this environment. You can write all the lines of code you want, you can add all the color you want, all the pics and icons you want, you can write an OS to do anything. But write an OS to run fast and efficient within a piece of hardware with limited resources is a whole different animal! We all know how MS writes code, and it's not indicative of an environment with limited resources.
Do I believe wp7 will be a good OS, yes I do. But it needs to be proven first and I would NEVER come out and say that it's WAY better than Android, a proven OS that is gaining momentum the likes this industry has never seen before!
Last edited by 5280Man; November 7th, 2010 at 02:41 PM.
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5280man, one of the main priorities of wp7 is battery efficiency. everything is optimized, and that is why there is no multitasking, because all apps are tombstoned in the background. They wanted to avoid having an "android situation" like when the evo, it has a 2 hour battery life.
anyways. what else does wp7 need "to prove," we've seen it on video for months and it has been reviewed by hundreds of sites, what else exactly needs to be proven?
They wanted to avoid having an "android situation" like when the evo, it has a 2 hour battery life.
This is garbage. The Evo's battery life is not fantastic, but credit that to the 4.3'' slate display, not app management on Android's behalf. Also, most people get through a day with the Evo, albiet with some usage concessions. I do commend WP7 for it's efforts on the battery side, but hyperbole has no place here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Light Speed1
anyways. what else does wp7 need "to prove," we've seen it on video for months and it has been reviewed by hundreds of sites, what else exactly needs to be proven?
As I said in my reply to this exact question in the other thread, there are many factors that remain unforseen in development and early reviews. Once it gets into the hands of real-world end users and they use it daily for a period of months, then this OS can be considered "proven."
Everytime I start to consider WP7 as a viable mobile OS alternative, I think back to my WinMo days and the Who's "Won't get fooled again" starts playing softly in my head.
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Google just doesnt care about the end user experience
All you have shown are screen shots of visual design. No one that I have met has actually handled a Windows Phone 7 device so "user experience" cannot be determined. It looks very nice but the usability could be utter crap. I have heard many minor complaints of usability oddities in reviews. Keep in mind that user centered design is separate from visual design. A crappy looking website with 1996 visual designs might also be one of the most well thought out and easy to use websites ever. I will withhold judgement as so far Windows track record with making easy to use interfaces has not been very good.
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Exactly. I have seen plenty of videos showing people scrolling through it but what I haven't done is use it myself to see if it works the way I would want it to. I know that the Zune UI does not work nearly as well as the iPod or some of the Android music builds. I also know that MS is notoriously bad with usability. This is why I refuse to judge Windows Phone 7 on looks alone. I agree it does LOOK nice but that is not what user design is about. Something you keep missing in your posts about the usability of Android.
When the new Zune UI hit the market it was supposed to be a huge iPod killer as well and look where that got MS.
Also I refuse to think any OS that uses a browser based on IE7 is a well thought out design. I am glad that MS wants to take mobile web standards back 5 years.
Windows Phone 7 UI vs Android UI
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