

The Future of Android/iOS Doesn't Matter. The Present Does. - AshFurrow
http://ashfurrow.com/index.php/2011/09/the-future-of-androidios-doesnt-matter-the-present-does/

======
tomcreighton
Let me add this (possibly unpopular on HN?) opinion: I have never, ever seen
an open-source project that begins to compare, purely in user experience, to a
closed-source/commercial project.

Not saying it can't happen, but the forces that push commercial dev and open
source dev don't seem to be the same at all.

~~~
beej71
The simple question came up between myself and a friend of mine who is a
designer: "Why don't designers seem to dedicate the same time to OSS projects
that engineers do?"

Neither of us really had a good answer to that, but also neither of us
expected OSS engineers to out-design designers in the general case. Basically,
lack of designer input to OSS projects for whatever reason was problematic.

Perhaps it's because engineers don't solicit designer input. Perhaps it's
because by the time the engineer-only project arrives on a designer's desk,
it's too ugly to consider. Perhaps it's because designers don't have the same
OSS ethos. Perhaps it's an illusion, and designers do give a lot of input to
OSS projects, but the input is bad. Or a combination of a variety of factors.

~~~
tomcreighton
There's actually a really good thread here about this exact topic:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2267861>

------
martythemaniak
_yawn_ The same arguments haven been repeated for years.

But let's talk briefly about "The Present". Considering the bulk of major new
iOS features that Android had long before, (multitasking, drop-down
notifications, cloud sync etc), the Android "Present" is always a few steps
ahead and some of us like it that way. This isn't something iOS fans seemingly
have a very hard time understanding.

I can't wait until iOS gets voice actions/input and navigation. We won't hear
the end of how incredibly new and innovative iOS is.

~~~
gks
the voice actions/input you mention will likely go well beyond what Android
currently offers.

This is one of the things that most Android users seem to neglect
understanding.

Sure, iOS didn't get Copy and Paste first, nor did it get Multi-tasking first.
But, what it did do (arguably) is take those two things and make them a lot
more useful than the equivalent on Android. By arguably I am mostly discussing
Multi-tasking, as the differences in opinion here vary person to person. Some
people like the fact that Android can multi-task to the end of the earth, but
dislike the fact battery issues become a real problem. Meanwhile other users
are content giving up some of their multi-tasking freedom for better battery
life.

The same is going to be true of voice input on iOS. From the sounds of it, it
will go well above and beyond what Android offers. The simple fact that the
rumors (again, these could be wrong as we all know, so I'm speculating)
indicate the iPhone 4S/5 are required for processing and ram reasons seem to
tell us that the voice input part COULD be done entirely within iOS, not
requiring the internet unless looking up internet enabled services (table
reservation, weather, etc).

The same is true of the "drop-down notifications" you mention. Sure, Android
had it first. I don't think anyone has said otherwise. But the way they
implemented it is a lot better. One, the notifications (if you want) pop up on
the main lock screen. Swipe the app icon from left to right and it takes you
to that notification. No need to unlock, swipe the menu at the top, click the
notification. The ability to remove a single apps notifications from the tray
as opposed to clearing all is another nice addition. The ability to determine
which applications show up in the notification tray. If you choose, some apps
can be pop-up dialog boxes like they are in iOS4, some can be just numbers
near the app icon, while some can be in the notification tray. I don't see
that in Android.

Again, maybe some "skin" on top of Android can do these things, but that is
half the problem not all Android devices will have these features. Sure, most
of the people that argue Android is so awesome have no problem rooting and
fiddling with their devices, but that will prevent mass market adoption if one
of these features becomes a big deal right?

Generally iOS provides a much better experience for users. There are some ways
that Android is better, some ways that iOS is better. I don't think there's
really anything wrong with that. But Android users seem to be so damn hell-
bent on being better, "oh but Android is activating more devices" blah blah
blah.

Why can't everyone just shut the hell up and use what works for them instead
of being dicks about it? Civil discussions are great, I think the original
article for this story was a pretty civil discussion. Meanwhile, the hacker
news discussion gets all pissy with people mindlessly arguing that their
preferred OS is better.

This I think is something you have a hard time understanding, sir.

~~~
martythemaniak
So in reply to an article about how only "The Present" matters, you spend half
your post extolling the virtues of iOS's superior voice controls, _which don't
exist_

Also note, you're telling us Android fans are dicks in response to an article
that recycles the same old "Android sucks, haha" crap we've been reading
around here for years.

I guess the irony of your post is lost on you.

~~~
AshFurrow
Mmmhmm ... I actually wrote what I thought was a fair article describing the
current state of Android vs. iOS and ended with a call for Android to become
awesome enough for me to switch. That's not "Android sucks, haha."

------
MatthewPhillips
> I brought up the topic of Android vs. iOS

Why?

~~~
AshFurrow
Because I only ever get to discuss the topic in flamewars online and speaking
to an actual person was very refreshing.

------
drivebyacct2
It's always the same story. The UI isn't good enough. And then when iOS users
actually use an Android device, they find out that the UI has actually been
rather decent since Gingerbread as the OS looks fairly svelte and most major
app developers have managed to make their apps not suck. The back button,
Activities, Intents are all things that non-Android users are nearly always
completely ignorant of and how they affect usability of the device.

Besides the title is a bit of flamebait. Who are we talking about when we say
"it doesn't matter"? Investors, developers, users? They all have different
considerations and different reasons for preferring various platforms with
various outlooks.

edit: Just like with navigation concerns, please actually try some apps. I am
the first to admit that Android apps have lagged behind iOS apps in terms of
beauty, but there are several that are now so good, I prefer them in terms of
appearance. The stigma has stuck around for longer than I've found it to be
true. As for stuttering issues, JIT, more ram and Gingerbread have made these
largely non existent. (If only they didn't ship Launcher2, the community
launchers are a much better experience. Go Launcher EX and stock Gingerbread
is absolutely as fast as iOS, even while streaming from SubSonic, etc)

~~~
alttag
The UI complaints I recall reading (not an Android user) focused not on the
visuals, but on response feel, including complaints about UI "stutter",
supposedly from the garbage collector or other background processes.

~~~
gks
Last time I used Android was 2.2 on a Nexus One. There were some stutter
issues as I recall. But the biggest complaint wasn't the "look" really, it was
much more so many inconsistencies from app to app. Every app just feels free
to do and look and act differently than another. This means there's a lot more
of a learning curve than iOS.

One of my single biggest complaints UI-wise, was the menu button. Simple
things that should be easy to accomplish were always hidden in that menu.

I worked in a retail store that sold electronics and speaker products. One of
those products allowed phones to play their music through it. People love the
idea of Pandora. But nearly EVERY Android user couldn't figure out how to
create more than one station on the device and told me they had to use their
computer to do it.

Now, maybe it isn't so hard to hit the menu button. But it effectively made
major features hidden and put in a none-obvious way (by non-obvious I mean a
good number of people weren't able to find it easily).

That's the kind of UI issue I think Android has that iOS doesn't. iOS has some
hidden things but those are _usually_ power user things and aren't required to
make the app function normally.

