I've tried the iPhone - it's awesome!

[OM2]

I tried someones iPhone today
It was only the ordinary iPhone 3G (not even the 3GS)
And also tried someones iPod Touch
Verdict of GUI and usability of both: awesome, absolutely drop dead awesome!

I'm not a super expert on Android phones by any means
I've use Mini Pulse, HTC Tattoo and Xperia X10
I love these phones for the extra functionality you can get as opposed to other phones
(My vote for the best application ever goes to Google Navigation - but that's a different topic in itself!)

Question: Why is Android lacking in the GUI and usability department?
Using the iPhone: wow! It's *just* the subtle things, like how you go from one screen to another - that's it!! I probably can't comment on anything else

I'd also add that the dragging seemed sooo natural
And heck: I could type on the screen using the keyboard!
On the damn Xperia X10 (with the whopping GIANT screen, typing is a painful experience vertically - and only marginally better when horizontal)

The interface of the Apple: must have been dreamed up by a genious
But why isn't it copied on the Android??

I'm sure Apple can't have a patent on the menu screens and how they flip from one screen to another?

I can't see any excuse!

God Bless Google for bringing Android to the world
But heck, it's not exactly special!
The only thing going for it is: it's free and lots of phones have it + has Google applications integrated
I'd stretch my neck out to say that Microsoft could have brought out a better interface

Yeee haaaa... I'm off to buy an iPhone!
Erm... actually no... I'll stick to Android
The only thing stopping me is: money
It's not so much the affordability for me, but rather not wanting to pay

 

[macprv]

Save money and buy u an iPhone... I wish android never copies appple's interface... i would die without Widgets, live wallpapers, multitasking, and other things like the availability to replace key apps like the messaging app or the whole launcher... apps like sweeterhome are a clear example of how awesome android is.. if you don't like you default interface .. u can just change it

Oh and by the way.. u should try a phone with a newer android os. Like the nexus one.

 

[UrbanMuppet]

Per request of a moderator I am no longer a contributing member. Account pending for deletion.

 

[OM2]

Save money and buy u an iPhone... I wish android never copies appple's interface... i would die without Widgets, live wallpapers, multitasking, and other things like the availability to replace key apps like the messaging app or the whole launcher... apps like sweeterhome are a clear example of how awesome android is.. if you don't like you default interface .. u can just change it

Oh and by the way.. u should try a phone with a newer android os. Like the nexus one.

thanks for the reply. for me, it was just the subtle things that made the iphone stand one.
i've tried os 2.1. better than os 1.6.

widgets? surely the iphone has this as well?
multitasking? the iphone has this as well surely? how can u *not* have multitasking? is multitasking having several different applications open at the same time?

nexus one? i'll see. i'm getting the x10 mini pro next. (i know its os 1.6) i'm just intrgued how good it can be being such a small phone.

 

[OM2]

... But they are geared to different markets. Not everyone wants to customize, root or edit their phone. They want to download a few apps, make calls and browse the web.

that is true
but there *must* be a winner in the race
my point (maybe is said it badly) is that android doesn't actually have to do much to be on par with the GUI factor - all the hard work has been done

 

[UrbanMuppet]

Per request of a moderator I am no longer a contributing member. Account pending for deletion.

 

[OM2]

Wrong.

There is no *best* smart phone, only what's best for you.

ok... i suppose ur right
just typing too fast and hitting submit on my posts

 

[macprv]

I'm pretty sure the iPhone doesn't have Widgets.. all it has is icons(boring and lame IMHO), yeah the new iPhone 4 "multitasks" but its not real and completely multitask, not close to what android offers or like webos, which is a bit more polished multitasking.

Wrong.

There is no *best* smart phone, only what's best for you.

+1 well said

 

[caustic]

2.2 has some more smoothness to it, which I like. But to me personally, the iphone has always seems a little more natural and responsive than any Android phone I've used. Scrolling, between animations, etc. Google announced that now that Android has been mostly defined in all its capabilities and features, they're focusing on improving the GUI in the next version.

 

[UrbanMuppet]

Per request of a moderator I am no longer a contributing member. Account pending for deletion.

 

[Railroadmaster]

Personally the iPhone has prettier interface. I really like the default Android interface very much. I really only find iPhone to win in the eyecandy department but htc sense and touchwiz do a good job for eyecandy.

 

[HustlinDaily]

My sister has an iPhone. I used it a few times. Came away bored as hell.

 

[ari-free]

thanks for the reply. for me, it was just the subtle things that made the iphone stand one.
i've tried os 2.1. better than os 1.6.

widgets? surely the iphone has this as well?
multitasking? the iphone has this as well surely? how can u *not* have multitasking? is multitasking having several different applications open at the same time?

Android widgets:

The closest thing to having multiple windows open like on your desktop

 

[ari-free]

samsung galaxy S Android UI
YouTube - Samsung I9000 Galaxy S demo video - Take 2

 

[Robinelli]

My friend called me on her Iphone today from the grocery store... We spoke a few seconds and then she had to go so she could access her list on her grocery app... She couldn't talk to me and look at it at the same time!!! I can do that on my android phone. I have the same apps.

I have the Mytouch slide and it works just as easy and nicely as her IPhone. Just FYI.

 

[HustlinDaily]

I don't think he is a troll, just don't think he knows much. iPhone is perfect for him, he should get it.

Steve Jobs beheads iPad apps for acting like desktops ? The Register

Steve Jobs beheads iPad apps for acting like desktops
Alert Print
'Off with their widgets!'
By Cade Metz in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Developer, 1st June 2010 23:12 GMT
Free whitepaper – Taking control of your data demons: Dealing with unstructured content
The Apple App Store police are now rejecting iPhone and iPad applications for behaving like "widgets" and "creating their own desktops," according to one developer who's busy eating his previous claims that Apple isn't evil.

In late April, an unnamed Australian — one of a small team of cross-platform developers known as Shifty Jelly — made a point of telling the world that the Apple App Store is a mighty wonderful place. "I love the app store and the amazing hassle-free distribution it provides and I only really have a few niggling concerns with how Apple has dealt with us, as developers," he wrote in a blog post entitled "Sorry Media, But Apple Isn’t Evil."

But little more than a month later, this outspoken Aussie has accused himself of talking nonsense after the Jobsian cult said it was booting his company's photo-centric iPad application, My Frame, from the App Store. "A month ago I wrote a blog post about how Apple were not actually evil, because I was getting sick of all the media hype and bashing that was going on," he now says. "Little did I know that a month later that blog post would come back and smack me in the face."

MyFrame, from Groundhog Software, layers various data and tools atop digital photos as you view them on the iPad, and three successive versions of the app were previously approved by the App Store police. But on Monday, the police called to say they'd changed their minds, accusing the app of being too widgety. The app is still available from the store, but Apple has apparently told GroundHog it's coming down.

"They refused to be pinned down to an exact reason, simply stating that they were doing a cull of any applications that presented widgets to the user," reads the Aussie's blog post. "All the guy on the phone would say is how much he liked our application, and how sorry he was, but there was nothing he could do. All we got out of him was that Apple no longer liked ‘widgets’ and wanted all widget apps removed."

Previously, this coder had scoffed at media claims that Apple's approval process was "murky." But he now says that dealing with the company is like falling down a Carrollian rabbit hole. "Our application is being removed for a very murky reason, one which is nowhere to be found in any documentation that Apple give us developers, even worse one which Apple themselves refuse to explain, or put in writing. Reminds me a little of Alice in Wonderland: 'I think I should understand that better, if I had it written down: but I can’t quite follow it as you say it.'"

But he couldn't help but appeal to the App Store's Queen of Hearts. Embracing the web parlour game of the moment, he sent an email to Steve Jobs (sjob@apple.com – feel free to have a go):

Hi Steve,

Just got a phone call from Apple letting us know that our iPad app ‘My Frame’ is being removed from the store. Apparently Apple is cracking down on ‘widgety’ type apps. Our app is a beautiful photo frame with a few nice things you can put over your photos. It’s not ugly, or even widgety.

What gives? I’ve always defended you guys in the past, but it seems like you’ve crossed an invisible line here, even the guy on the phone was saying how much he likes our application but that there’s nothing he can do?

The cult leader responded with typical brevity:

We are not allowing apps that create their own desktops. Sorry.

Sent from my iPad

The coder wrote back, claiming it all made sense before pointing out that it didn't"

Understand, but don’t agree…besides all of which our application (My Frame) is a photo frame, not a desktop environment. Your people won’t even tell us what we need to remove to get approved, they are just kicking us out. Put yourself in our shoes.

We would argue that the he doesn't understand at all — which is completely understandable. Per usual, the Jobsian logic is rather muddled. If you take a peek at MyFrame, you'll notice that in layering tools atop a photo, it does look a bit like a desktop:


But you get much the same impression when you load up Microsoft's Bing or Adobe Ideas or Major League Baseball's iPad app. What is a desktop but a user interface, and all apps have a UI. A ban on widgets is somewhat understandable — given Apple's existing ban on multitasking. But MyFrame isn't that kind of widgety.

The App Store police have been known to reject applications for "duplicating Apple functionality," and this would seem to be the rational for barring at least one effort to add a widgety dashboard interface to the iPad. But this provides little solace to our favorite Lewis Carroll-quoting Australian application developer, who — like so many others — has woken up to the fact that Apple maintains its own reality.

"How can a company be prepared to invest into a platform that can change at any time, cutting you off and kicking you out, with no course of action but to whine on some no-name blog," he writes. "There is no alternative platform, despite what others may say about Android, it’s immature and their app store(s) are a wild west nightmare. It really is Apple’s way or the highway, and that really stinks. Badly. Very badly. Apple is the angry queen from Alice in Wonderland, screaming 'Off with her head!' and we have little recourse but to watch their pack of card minions execute those orders."

 

[xzillerationer]

widgets? surely the iphone has this as well?
multitasking? the iphone has this as well surely? how can u *not* have multitasking? is multitasking having several different applications open at the same time?

The ios has great full android worthy multitasking... for apples apps. First party apps never close. Third party apps do. If ios got Widgets I would cry

Sent from my Eris

 

[LoyalServant]

The ios has great full android worthy multitasking... for apples apps. First party apps never close. Third party apps do. If ios got Widgets I would cry

Sent from my Eris

I wouldn't.
I would feel more sorry for them because the widgets would most likely be gimped from the start.

I can't see it happening.
Control is to Steve Jobs what cocaine is to Rick James.

 

[IOWA]

Why does everyone go ball-faced nuts over a 4x4 grid row of icons that's nothing new?

 

[Bnice]

Look at your 3g or Gs and the iphone 4 same old UI..

 

[lifeonmtv]

widgets? surely the iphone has this as well?

It doesn't

multitasking? the iphone has this as well surely? how can u *not* have multitasking?

It doesn't, not proper multitasking, only selective very limited multitasking.

is multitasking having several different applications open at the same time?

.....

 

[OM2]

"Nothing stops the manufacturers from removing the default UI for their own."
surely that defeats the purpose of having a universal platform for all in the first place?
i wouldn't trust the likes of samsung or motorola to come up with their own interface - that would be dangerous, in my experience, they've sucked with their usbability on their OS's

"samsung galaxy S Android UI"
wow! looks awesome - definitely want to try out

No, dear, it doesn't.

I wish I could get a script that automatically killfiles hopeless, ignorant Apple sheep who got an Android phone because they can't afford the iPhone and come here to whine, and whine, and whine, and whine.

wow... i'm really sorry if i hit a nerve point for u
would u rather have people stop talking and discussing (and some like me asking what may seem to be a dumb question)?

When OM2 said this, thats when I knew he was a troll.

awesome: someone ask's a few questions and gives their honest opinion and now they're a troll?
no i'm not.
i'll be using this forum a lot more hopefully. i've only recently stumbled onto android phones recently. if i post in future - please don't ignore because u think i'm a troll

"I don't think he is a troll, just don't think he knows much. iPhone is perfect for him, he should get it."
i'll be honest, if the iphone was

 

[OM2]

I don't think he is a troll, just don't think he knows much. iPhone is perfect for him, he should get it.

Steve Jobs beheads iPad apps for acting like desktops ? The Register

i read that article. very interesting.
i am NOT defending steve jobs or apple by saying the following...
but, i recently viewed a 1.5 hours interview of him.
amongst other things he discussed the issue about flash and how and why apple banned it.
most things said in criticism in the media about the rationale of dumping flash as being a crazy and bizaare idea are completely true i would say
but, then, there's always another side to the story. the way that steve explained his answer was brilliant - u can still put him down for banning flash, but at least u should understand the reasonings and thought behind the decision
after listening to the interview: i completely understand why they banned flash (i'd also add that i'm a BIG fan of flash and spend a lot of time coding in it)

for similar reasons, i would suggest that there is a story to tell as to why they have banned the application mentioned in the article

it does sound bizaare and crazy though - an application is *only* allowed to do one thing and is shot down because it has the time or news or something displayed while showing a photo? weird

also interesting what the article says at the bottom about the android applications market being like the wild west and that he doesn't consider it to be a good enough alternative to the iphone market

hey: don't have a go at me for pointing that out!

i'm sure android will get better and better in time

 

[ivanzorkic]

i read that article. very interesting.

after listening to the interview: i completely understand why they banned flash (i'd also add that i'm a BIG fan of flash and spend a lot of time coding in it)

While Flash has some bad points (every software does) the only - ONLY - reason why Apple doesn't allow Flash is money. It has NOTHING to do with poor performance, battery life, buggy things, etc. The real reason for not supporting Flash is because it would bring a new application ecosystem to the iProducts (games and music apps - such as Pandora - which could then run from a website instead via an app from the Appstore) - one where Apple wouldn't have any control and, more importantly, couldn't charge a dime. You could listen to songs and play games without paying Apple, simple as that.

While this is somewhat understandable for a company that practically lives off its Appstore (possibly the main source of income for Apple), the amount of lies they throw at people is what makes them a$$es.

 

[Slated]

The Register article quoted by HustlinDaily pretty much covers the main reason I will never get an iPhone, or any Apple product, but I'll also add:

• No Flash (that kills the iPhone stone dead for me)
• No proper multitasking
• (Ref the 4G) I hate "square" brick designs
• Boring and inflexible UI
• Over-hyped (marketing hysteria just makes me run away)
• An app store burgeoning with second-rate Shovelware
• iPhone jaundice (a.k.a. yellow fever of death)
• Poor antenna design (or "you're not holding it right, stupid")
• Too proprietary and locked-down, with unnecessary obstacles to both use and development
• Apple's (and in particular Steve Jobs') vicious arrogance and anti-consumer attitude

But by far the best justification I have for never getting an iPhone, is that I've used others' extensively, and so from personal experience I know exactly what it's like, and my conclusion is that, even ignoring the above list of issues, it's nothing more than "average" (at best) when compared to current generation Android devices. Factor in the above issues, and the result is something that has no appeal to me whatsoever, at any price.