My In Depth Comparison Of Android UI's

[Lepodo]

Hello Android Forum!

My name is Lepodo, and I run a small blogging site named Hot Off The Tech, You can check out the blog in my signature.

I recently wrote up a comparison on the various Android UI's.
What Is The Best Android UI?

Posted by Tyron on Sep 22, 2010http://www.hotoffthetech.com/?p=208#respond

Android is the most customized, and customizable, mobile operating system. Carriers and manufacturers, before shipping them out alter the ROM on the device to suit their needs, or what they think will be a hit, whether it be NASCAR application, a big flipclock widget, or the need to change Google search to Bing search. Should manufacturers actually change Vanilla (Stock) Android at all? We compare all available UI navigation systems for Android.

Just about every manufacturer will load there own custom skin or UI on top of vanilla Android, as something to tell them apart due to the large number of android devices. Some really integrate well and make the device run smooth, others are simply bloat ware, and 99 percent of users would prefer Vanilla Android. Let’s start of our report with the trademark, plain, stock, Froyo.

Vanilla Android​

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Vanilla Android is the basic package Google sends to manufacturers. There are only 3 official widespread devices that currently have stock Android on, the T-Mobile G1 and G2, and the Google Nexus One. On first look, most people describe stock Android as ‘ugly’ but other people adore it. It features a small dock on the bottom, one in the center, with the large grid like icon to open up a list of all your applications, and on the left is a phone, and on the right is a browser. You can customize which applications you want on the left and right, though the grid is locked into place. Not a bad thing though. Overall, there aren’t many other changes apart from, well, this is the base, the core, how Google designed it. you get some widgets like an RSS reader, an analog clock, and some other nifty live wallpapers, but in terms of seperation from other UI’s, this one is the most basic. What are some good things about Android though? Well, the best thing about stock Android? You get updates first, pretty much instantly. This is because once Google finishes up the latest update, it’s ready to go on the stock android devices while Samsung and HTC have to modify it again, with all UI elements of theirs in order to integrate it. This was proved most in the Froyo update, Nexus One owners have had it for months now, while some Android phones don’t even have a release date. Another plus for stock Android is the compatibility. Though just about all apps work with most phones, you’ll find the ones that your LG phone don’t support will be compatible with a G2 or Nexus.​

Milestone Devices: T-Mobile G1, G2, (Manufactured by HTC) and Google Nexus One (Manufactured by HTC)​

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Samsung TouchWiz UI​

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Samsung’s step into the Android market was a bold one, and with they brought along their UI, which had been used in other touch screen Samsung phones for a while now. There are downsides to the UI, but there are also some nice postives as well. This UI is the most critiqued by people as being the ‘ripoff clone’ of the iPhone OS, due to it’s 4​

 

[AndroidSPCS]

Thanks for the article, it was very informative.

 

[Tangent]

Not bad! Any plans to expand the article with the different variations of the UIs? HTC's regular Sense vs the Espresso Sense the Slide uses; Motoblur as seen on the Cliq vs the toned down version seen on the new Droids, etc...

 

[woop]

Please do not hotlink outside sources that can easily be copied and pasted into the thread.

I have edited your post for you to include the story.

 

[Lepodo]

Woops, sorry about that, and thank you for editing my post.

Thank you for the feedback! I may indeed expand the article for more customizations, thank you for the idea!

 

[Genetic_Bloom]

There are only 3 official widespread devices that currently have stock Android on, the T-Mobile G1 and G2, and the Google Nexus One

Uh, what? Did you forget about the most popular selling Android handset? The Droid/Milestone? The G2 isn't even out and you listed it instead of the Droid.

 

[Lepodo]

Uh, what? Did you forget about the most popular selling Android handset? The Droid/Milestone? The G2 isn't even out and you listed it instead of the Droid.

My Mistake, thank you for pointing that out. I also find out now that the T-Mobile G2 does not have full stock Android, it has some minor modifications to the UI.

 

[TozyJay]

Nice article! Well done.

 

[tsjohnson112]

Thanks for the information in this article. It cleared up some questions I have had about the updates that I am still not getting for my Epic 4G. I do have a question that I think you might be able to answer for me, if you were willing. I am (obviously) relatively new to android and the customization available for it. I was wondering what "rooting" actually is. Does it put the phone to a "vanilla" build of android? Most of the reading i have done would indicate that it is not, as there always seems to be some bugs associated with the unofficial builds. It seems like what I want is a phone running a version of android that is not clogged with any bloatware and updates when google puts out the latest version, but even a rooted phone doesn't seem to offer that. Am I mistaken? If rooting a phone doesn't get it to a vanilla build, is there any way to get a build of android right from google so that I could put vanilla android on my Epic (Gingerbread!?!). I hope it won't be trouble to answer my questions, as I would really appreciate it. Thank you in advance.

 

[twospirits]

Very good article. Hope to see an updated expanded version.

Once the Tablets buying craze kicks in, you may want to tackle that segment as well.

A+

TS out