Does Anyone Else ABSOLUTELY HATE the New App Design Trends?

[funkylogik]

Why app stores can't also offer older versions, for he sake of compatibility at least, like apktop, is beyond me. Newer isn't always better. Some things just work and don't need to change, and should be traditions. Change for the sake of change is always a bad idea. And that is exactly what lollipop is. Google has simply run out of ideas for Android and uses iOS 7 as a template.

I went so far to root my devices and replace the system apps (Google apps mainly as I thought the Kitkat versions lacked the level of 3D I grown accustomed to) with older versions as well. The first version of Google Play Books is a great example of Google minimalism, yet in later versions it became cluttered and busy, taking two extra steps to get to your purchased book list. Why?

The old jelly bean era YouTube looked perfect as well, and i hated the extra step to back out of a video they added to the later versions vehemently. Before you got back to your search by simply hitting back. Now you hit back, and swipe out. Usability problem! I also thought the dark UI was better for the eyes, and for those with AMOLED displays, better for the screen and battery. Why must every site, app, OS look pastel and white?

If your apps work perfectly fine, I suggest not updating them. The new versions will embrace this hideous flat design/material design for the foreseeable future unless someone higher up decides to go back to the future again, and updates tax internal storage, have heavier demands, and likely full of new bugs or wakelocks.

At last we agree on something mate. Youtube.. I hate having to swipe that thumbnail out the way. I get that it's so you can search while watching the vid but when the vid is finished, what's the point in it staying there??

 

[nickdalzell]

You see I don't think the problem there is "material", the problem is an incoherent, inconsistent layout.

The old app was a masterpiece of efficient design for a small screen - my only complaint was the relatively limited number of stories in each category. They could have made that more "material-like" without changing the essentials, but like many news organisations (Guardian, I'm looking at you!) they decided that promoting "trending" stories and video pieces was more important, resulting in an incoherent layout with jarring changes between categories or as you scroll down within most categories. But I do have more than one backup of the old .apk, as Slug says


But then you've got to hope your current device will last you until the fashion changes again, because there will be no way to install KK on a newer one.

That's what I do hope for. I don't need the latest and greatest device. I can keep something for over a decade if I'm happy with it. I can only hope that like the first era of flat design, that in five or ten years we will be back to futuristic 3D again. Just because a device is old doesn't mean you throw it away. My phones and tablets aren't fashion accessories! I couldn't care less whether my Note 3 looks outdated to some teenager ten years from now.

 

[funkylogik]

Nick walking down the street chatting on a G1 ten years from now

 

[mikedt]

I've got an original iPhone from 2007, it's at my dad's house in the UK. Assuming the battery is still good, likely still works....but would I want to use it though?

In fact I've also still got an original iPod Touch with me, might dig it out later see if can do anything useful with it. LOL!

 

[nickdalzell]

In all honesty the G1 is still perfectly usable. Hard keyboard, still works with the necessary internet tasks. Why is it that people suddenly need an upgrade every year or two? Why not appreciate what you have? Are we that wasteful now?

If it works fine and does what you need it to, why fix what isn't broken?

 

[funkylogik]

Doorstop?

 

[nickdalzell]

That 'doorstop' probably gets better signal than anything Samsung puts out these days, for less than a third of the price.

 

[funkylogik]

Lol I was talking about mikes ipod touch tbh bro

 

[nickdalzell]

Point is no one forces you to update the apps. Even if Play Store with its sneaky default setting being 'update apps at any time' might have you believe otherwise. If one updates and isn't happy, well its kinda like that old joke about the man walking into the doctor's office saying 'hey doc! My arm hurts when I move it like this' and the response is 'well, don't do that!'

Besides much of the time app updates are a waste of time, and internal storage. Planets won't collide and galaxies won't explode if you don't update your apps!

A perfect example of why we shouldn't always update is summed up easily with one word: Tapatalk

 

[funkylogik]

Yup this is why I read reviews or ask on here when an update comes out for an app that's important to me. Plus Android Authority and Phandroid are usually pretty good at tearing down updated apps.
Plus, on my rooted devices I keep all my apps backed up

 

[MLSS]

I have zero problems with the layout or function.
I love the look as well.

 

[mikedt]

My original 8GB iPhone is 2G EDGE data only, as well as WiFi. No doubt it can still do phone calls and SMS, provided the carrier still has 2G service, basic surfing, and play music and videos. But it's not going to be able to use any current apps though, things like Bank of China, QQ, WeChat and Skype, which is what I use daily. And the iPod Touch can still play music, videos and web browsing on WiFi, but again no current apps, so its use will be rather limited. The iTunes store does NOT make older iOS apps available.

I do use things until they really cease to be useful or do consider that I really could do with something better. I'm using a 6 year old Macbook with Snow Leopard, that still does everything I need in a laptop. But I changed my phone last year, because I did want a larger screen, and faster device with more storage, as well has a better camera. So went from a Samsung Galaxy Win to an Oppo Find 7a. And I have changed my phone on average once a year.

 

[mikedt]

Point is no one forces you to update the apps. Even if Play Store with its sneaky default setting being 'update apps at any time' might have you believe otherwise. If one updates and isn't happy, well its kinda like that old joke about the man walking into the doctor's office saying 'hey doc! My arm hurts when I move it like this' and the response is 'well, don't do that!'

You might forced to update some apps if they no longer work, like something on the server side has changed and no longer supports the older versions, particularly things like banking, IM, VOIP, streaming media, etc. And if you have an older device that's no longer supported, e.g. older iOS devices, Android <4.1, etc. ....hard luck!

 

[jb4kats]

We all have curious minds and we want to see what it looks like. It's just like trying before you buy. You should have that choice to revert back to an older version of you don't like the latest update.
I made 2 mistakes this month all within a few days of each other, 1. Downsizing from a Note 4 to a S5 and not remembering to uncheck the auto update.

 

[nickdalzell]

I wish myself that I could buy and install Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro but since it came with Mountain Lion that's as far back as I can go. Snow Leopard was perhaps the best looking OS X to date. Yosemite sure isn't winning awards unless you actually like reliving the UI design of the mid-1990s

My Galaxy S4 and Note 3 do everything I need them to. Most of the apps are either bundled with the phone or old versions of Google apps I use and work fine. I still have the first Kindle Fire that was released and it still works too. I just don't subscribe to this belief that we should always have a new smartphone every two years. I also see nothing exclusive in Lollipop that I need either. All I can hope for is flat design will die soon as people become aware that we've been there before--in the 1990s. Mac OS 6 was flat, OS/2 Warp was flat. Its not modern unless you're too young to remember those, its a regression not a progression. If this trend continues hardware will follow suit. I'm not interested in reliving 640x480 resolution or EGA graphics again. I'm also not fond of seeing slower processors and less RAM also

I just take care of my devices and that's it. Keeping apps at their versions they are now guarantees no chance of needing better hardware and my devices don't slow down if nothing has to change. Its not as if the Note 4 has a larger screen or anything game changing.

 

[nickdalzell]

I did just find a great mix of skeuomorphism and material design I made happen on my Nexus 10 that really looks beautiful. Older apps, replacement browser and launcher, disable Play Store, and sideload some nice polished alternatives (k9 mail vs. Gmail) and some Xwidgets and wow! Kinda makes me reconsider a Nexus 6 in the long run.

 

[funkylogik]

You seen the size of the nexus 6 mate? I find my 5.5" opo huge and it has smaller bezels than the n6. I think it's just too big

 

[nickdalzell]

Actually I wished the Note 4 got a 6 inch screen. Every generation Galaxy Note had a bigger screen than the predecessor but the Note 4 same size and everything. The Note 3 is a bit too small for a tablet, too big for just a phone. That and I do enjoy testing different devices out. I haven't thrown any of the 'rejects' out.

 

[nickdalzell]

If you want to see Nature UX mixed with Material design...

I had other screenshots but Tapatalk decided to bug out on more uploads

 

[funkylogik]

Looking good mate

 

[nickdalzell]

Perhaps my favorite part of Lollipop that I wish could be incorporated in KitKat.

Don't understand why it says 'couldn't add widget' on the upper left. I'm not trying to add any widget and the ones I did work fine. Bug?

 

[funkylogik]

Yeah LP recents is really slick. Although I'd call it eyecandy over function tbh.
The widget thing I don't know, I've never seen that. I see a music note above it though....

 

[nickdalzell]

The music note meant I was listening to music at the time I took the screenshot.

The error started showing after I updated to 5.0.2. The memory leak issue seems fixed though

 

[funkylogik]

You tried the dreaded factory reset bro?

 

[nickdalzell]

Not unless Google finally devised some way to backup my game data. I did factory reset after I updated though. Just spent the better half of last night and this morning rebuilding the UI the way I like it, finding replacement apps for horrible material design failures, (Gmail and YouTube ) and older versions of apps with better UI (Netflix, Firefox, etc) as well as starting each game from the beginning.

I don't get it really. Apple has been able to restore all data and apps if you reset an iPad, but all Google can do is haphazardly restore a partial collection of certain apps, but not their data

I've never heard of widget support in the recents overview so maybe this is simply a placeholder for a future feature?

Looks like someone else reported a similar bug on XDA

http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/help/add-widget-recent-apps-list-t2938248