

Magic - jonhohle
http://daringfireball.net/2011/04/magic

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Kylekramer
_The difference between iOS and Android, design-wise, can be summed in a
single word: magic. iOS aims for it. Android doesn’t want it._

Well, that is perfectly vague and wishy-washy. Does Gruber actually think that
the Android team doesn't want "magic", whatever that means?

Android has a different aesthetic than iOS. You can quibble over which you
think is more usable or more attractive, but just straight claiming Android
doesn't want a nebulous term borrowed from Apple's ad copy is a weird way to
knock the platform.

~~~
culturestate
I think the point that he's (poorly) trying to make is that Apple, both
through design and through marketing, is positioning iOS as a warm, embracing
experience that brings you joy - while Android is (willingly) being painted as
a cold, efficient tool that lets you accomplish the task at hand but doesn't
want you to stay for dinner.

~~~
Kylekramer
If that is his point, I'd have to disagree. In marketing, yes, that holds
true. But when it comes to warmth/non functional touches of the actual OS,
Android almost has that to a fault (live wallpapers that unnecessarily task
the phone, but are fun and playful; widgets that can be almost MySpace-esque;
the old fashioned tube TV lock animation; etc.). Especially when compared the
mostly functional and staid grid of icons and clean lines iOS goes for with
the occasionally playful skeuomorphism.

I guess to just boils down to Gruber preferring iOS.

~~~
2muchcoffeeman
Adding non functional touches that serve little purpose is not what Apple
tries to do though. Their little touches all add to making things better for
the user (at least they hope it does).

Contrast this to live wallpapers. I have only seen a few, but they appear to
serve no purpose other than to allow yet more customization and drain battery
life.

~~~
Kylekramer
Never said the Android method was superior (I think a good analogy is Android
is the Myspace to iOS's Facebook), just pointing out that pigeonholing Android
as pure function over warmth is BS that people like Gruber like to say to
marginalize Android as a neckbeard loser's choice instead the massively
popular general OS that it is.

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vamsee
"Android doesn't want it" is untrue. What would be more accurate is that it
doesn't care for that level of "magic". Yet. As the platform matures, there
will be a lot of developers who will try to bring the same aesthetic as their
iOS apps to Android too. And some of them will succeed.

------
doron
It reminds me of a talk by Doug Rushkoff (im pass-phrasing here, I dont
remember exactly)

"The more magical the medium, the more compelling the message... ...the less
we understand about how the message is getting to us, the more compelled we
are to believe it. Just like the priest giving a wafer that turns into a body,
my god it must be true. The technology keeps it magic. ...

how do you remystify the demystified technology?! windows! how do you install
software in windows? with the wizard, why did they pick the wizard as the
metaphor? because its mysterious, weird hocus pocus, don't look behind here.
to install software you need the wizard, not the helper, not the friend. The
Wizard, might as well be the priest."

