October 2011
1 post
Christoffer Du Rietz's links and comments: The... →
durietz:
I’ve long said that the hardware buttons on Android phones were/are a really bad idea. Thought I’d elaborate on why, since it’s been pissing me off lately:
The back-button
Exhibit A: if I get a mention on Twitter and open up the Android Twitter app to check it out, I’m (naturally) sent…
A common complaint.
July 2011
1 post
1 tag
Capacitive Touch Buttons
Jon Bell observes the major issues with capacitive touch buttons on his blog Designdare. TL;DR you can press them when you don’t want to press them and that sucks.
February 2011
1 post
5 tags
The Hard Back Button and the Problem of...
Android phones feature a set of hardware buttons across the bottom: Back, Menu, Home, and Search (not necessarily in that order). Home functions like the iPhone button of the same name, ripping you back to the “desktop” screen. Search gives you a global search which grabs at contacts, apps, emails, and other data functioning like a (slow) double click of the iPhone Home button. Menu is...
July 2010
1 post
2 tags
Shitty Email Attachment Handling
Our reader Roger does real work and so people send attachments to his email. Sometimes he wants to save those attachments to his phone. When he had Windows Mobile this wasn’t a problem. Enter Android.
Working with attachments requires third party tools. Be careful which you use though, Roger’s file manager allowed you to delete the file extension leaving files unusable and...
June 2010
1 post
4 tags
Gmail Reply To Sanctions Off Original Email
Droid Does. That’s the slogan right. It’s supposed to mean Android is more like a computer than the dinky iPhone. It doesn’t limit what you can do.
Well, I noticed something interesting while fidgeting with a mail reply in the GMail app. The message which I was responding to would get stuck into a static label and present me with a input field to respond.
What’s this? I...
May 2010
2 posts
4 tags
Flash Support
Now I know that a lot of people see Flash support as a feature, and in a world where code was clean and plugins were written like sonnets it would be, but we live in an imperfect world. I’d prefer a more stable browser that isn’t graced with the ability to render shoot the duck advertisements.
“Good thing I didn’t get an iPad; ‘Cause this one does Flash.”
...
4 tags
No Images in Developer Documentation
Android should be focused on user experience not technical implementation details. Nothing shows that this isn’t true better than the developer documentation.
iPhone has big screenshots illustrating interaction patterns and proper application design. My favorite section is “Application Controls” in which each control description is illustrated by not only a screenshot but a...
April 2010
1 post
4 tags
No Text Selection Refinement Mechanism
Why does HTC ship phones with a trackball when they look so dinky and outdated? Why does the Droid have a directional pad? These phones have touch screens so what’s with the analogue input? The only reason I can see is that Android doesn’t have a good method for refining text selection. On iPhone a tap and hold brings up a loupe that lets you carefully tailor your selection. On Android...
March 2010
3 posts
2 tags
Platform Fragmentation
The secret to good open source software, developers say, is fast iteration. Android, in this sense has been a very good project, reaching 2.1 almost within 2 years of it’s public launch. The issue is that phone manufacturers and carriers haven’t kept up and over the air (OTA) updates seem to be a thing of fairy tales. They’re working on a solution but it won’t do much for...
4 tags
No Update All
To update an app on Android you have to open the market app, switch to the list of available updates, click through to the app you want to update, and tap update. The App Store has an easy solution to this repetition: an update all button. Judging by the stars and “me too” comments on Issue 4817 this is a point of friction.
Fixed in 2.2 (FroYo) When this will ship to devices is yet to...
3 tags
Larva Labs: Full of Win →
Here’s one thing that doesn’t suck on Android. Larva Labs makes great apps regardless of the surrounding platform. Of particular note is their app SlideScreen which makes the Android landing screen actually useful (and gets rid of the double clock issue). Check it out if you have an Android phone as it makes the experience a bit less painful. Maybe someday you’ll get pinch and...
February 2010
2 posts
1 tag
It's the Next Best Thing
Developers are commenting on even the best hardware. Personally, I loved my Droid’s build quality (it was the sturdiest phone I’ve ever owned) but it wasn’t a shining user experience. Everybody in the process is to blame: Hardware manufactures have less than perfect hardware, the OS is very good but not quite right, and the network refuses to do the platform any favors (AT&T...
5 tags
No Chording in the Keyboard
The Android system keyboard feels clunky to type on. It doesn’t feel as smooth as the iPhone keyboard. The speculation is that this has to do with the way the iPhone keyboard handles multi-touch chording and the fact that Android’s keyboard doesn’t.
January 2010
4 posts
4 tags
The Constantly Shifting State of the Lock Screen
Android 2.0 was sporting a pretty decent roll to the right lock. Not thrilling but functional. A recent update, however, replaced it. Now the lock screen (and call screen) features a lozenge that must be pulled across. The same but different. I’ve seen some strange behavior (overlapping glass lozenges) on it and I’m not as happy as before. I wish they’d settle on a lock screen...
5 tags
Chrome in Chrome
Hardcore Android fans love to explain how Android does away with all that artsy flare that silly platforms like iPhone use to wow users into accepting reduced feature sets. It seems however they are blind to their own bits of over designed UI.
Of particular annoyance to me is the Contact Intent Bar which appears after tapping a contacts picture. The control has a lozenge bar of possible services...
3 tags
Mixed Formatting in Call Log
Google loves user customization, it’s a huge selling point for Android. Part of this flexibility is that you can define a phone number pretty much any way you like, in fact you can define them multiple ways for the same contact.
Android however, at the system level seems to prefer the ###-###-#### format. A caller’s number without a contact is formatted this way. In fact, when you...
6 tags
Flash on Drag Start
It’s the details that make a good user experience. An example: When you place your finger onto a list control in Android there is an immediate flash of orange as the list item anticipates a tap which disappears as you begin to scroll. On the iPhone there is no such flash; the highlight color is not applied until the finger is released (without initiating drag). This creates the impression...
December 2009
5 posts
3 tags
Shoddy Apps
Android developers don’t give a shit. Well, at least that’s how it feels. Apps either implement their own UI bits and look half decent but don’t feel native or they use the native controls and put no further effort into polish. Features are often half baked and, since supply is rock bottom, prices are much higher than in the app store despite the much lower quality. Even the...
4 tags
Droid Shuts Off, Becomes Unresponsive
I’m not seeing the program crashes mentioned in the this bug report but my Droid has gone AWOL and ignored any attempt to reactivate it until I remove and reinsert it’s battery. It has shutoff and hung in the middle of phone calls, during its overnight stint on the bedside table, after light internet use, and more. In most instances the battery reports 50% or more when the device...
4 tags
Lock Screen Notifications (lack there-of)
I’d expect pull down notifications on the simple lock screen but no notifications on the pattern lock screen. Still expectations do vary by user. Perhaps a setting?
4 tags
No iTunes Equivalent
There is some advantage to managing phone settings through a desktop interface. Since Android is “cross platform” I imagine a web extension of the Android market plus a web based interface for managing device configuration and synchronization would be the best solution to this issue.
Update: doubleTwist is a cross platform app for getting your content onto any device. It plays nicely...
7 tags
No Pinch & Zoom
This is painful after having used an iPod Touch or iPhone for more than a minute. It should be available in the browser, for images, for maps, for the system keyboard, and other key spots. It’s not a “flashy feature”, it’s a useful interaction pattern.
Update: Pinch & Zoom has been added in 2.1. Still those who aren’t lucky enough to upgrade aren’t going to...