This is more a question for those who have experience with rooted phones. For me, the biggest feature of Sense UI is how smooth it is in terms of transitions between screens, scrolling within things such as the Apps menu, etc. (couldn't really care less about the social networking integration). Now, there are some homescreen apps out right now that are definitely (in my opinion) better in these regards than the standard Android UI, but they all still fall short of what Sense (or Rachael or even MotoBlur) has achieved. Is this same smoothness, though, something that can be achieved if/when (since it really is just a matter of time) people figure out how to root the Droid and make custom ROMs?
What it seems like you are talking about wouldn't have anything to do with rooting really. It's just the software, and it will get updated. BTW, the Droid Eris isn't always smooth either. It lags on scrolling and screen transitions, at least the one I played with at the verizon store did. BTW, Rachael or the SE X10 UI also turned out laggy. But then, the phone itself was laggy, so can't quite say its the UI. But it still has time to get worked out before its released.
I know that b/c the phones that are running Sense right now have slower processors (my gf has a Hero, which is what my experience with Sense has been) they can lag here and there. That's not exactly what I'm talking about. When they do work they move fluidly from one thing to another. When they're lagging obviously they can't, but that's besides the point. The Droid is certainly faster than these phones, but even if it's not lagging there is that lack of smoothness. My point is, it's not a hardware optimization thing. And from what other people have said, it seems that all phones running stock Android have this same issue. It's almost like google needs to hire a new set of graphic designers (or whoever would be assigned to such things). Too many coders, not enough artsy people over there
I wouldn't use the one you played with at the store as an example. The Moto Droids and Droid Eris' I played with at the store were all slow and choppy. I think they must have been used by 9000 12 year olds. My Moto Droid and my wifes Eris are both smooth as can be and fast. They don't even compare to the store demo models......they are sooooo much nicer.
When I played with the store's Droid it wasn't bad. I also went ahead and closed any excessive browser windows as well as Advanced Task Killed every app. I didn't have such luck with the Blackberry Storm 2, however, because the damned charging cable got bent so it kept replacing the screen with the clock (which happens when it gets plugged into a charger) every few seconds.
the issue I'm talking about has nothing to do with lag. It has everything to do with the code behind stock Android / the homescreen replacement apps.
Hey guys, I just traded my Eris (which I had for two weeks) in Saturday for a Moto Droid and it is night and day. I liked the look of the sense UI but I had to constantly use an app killer to shut down apps to keep the UI snappy. Some of the apps start automatically even if you have them shut down (stock mail program, messaging) even if you arent using them. I think it is a software issue which causes the batter to drain so fast. The Moto is soooo much faster with everything. Web pages load 3x faster. Changing the screen from portrait to landscape was close to a 2 second lag....Moto does it instantly. I am sure it has to do with the hardware as well as the software. I did like the look of the Sense UI but prefer the performance of the Moto. The battery life is amazing on the Moto...used it all day Saturday since it came out of the box and battery was at 80% at 11:00 at night. Just my opinion of the UI since I have used them both.
This is something I'm kinda hoping for also. I hope they can get a balance of a nice smooth UI experience without the lag of the Sense UI. Stock android right imo is more functional rather than providing a nice UI atm.
