

Android 4.0: A coming of age and homage to Windows Phone 7 - ukdm
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/100591-android-4-0-a-coming-of-age-and-homage-to-windows-phone-7

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baddox
> _Android is ready and eager to drop its mantle as the nerd and power user
> OS._

> _We all know that Android is the geeky option._

This doesn't match my notion of the Android and Apple ecosystems.

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Mizza
Fo' real. Anybody who thinks this only reads tech news and doesn't deal with
mobile phone consumers in the real world.

Android is the _cheap_ option. You can get Android burners now on budget
telcos like Cricket and MetroPCS. Geeks like it too, but that's not the
massive perception of the OS. It's becoming just the default phone.

~~~
baddox
Honestly, the only passionate defense I've seen for Android has seemingly been
nothing more than thinly-veiled rejection of Apple, from people who are
staunchly anti-Apple. I've never heard anyone seriously defend Android for
being consumer-friendly, or easy to use, or fast/smooth, etc.

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te_chris
I have an iPad 2 and a Nexus S and my GF has an iPhone 4. I build iOS apps. I
know my way around the cocoa API and the devices and for day to day use I much
prefer my Nexus. The deep google integration is fantastic and vanilla android
on the nexus is a polished experience (sans hardware accelerated animations),
much more so than all the crappy OEM interfaces.

I'll give you fast/smooth, but from now on, I can't see my next phone being
anything other than a Nexus.

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wuster
Google Maps with Voice Navigation was the killer app that made me ditch iPhone
3G for Nexus One. Now with Nexus S, I haven't looked back.

If your digital life is in Google apps, a Nexus phone is a very sensible
choice.

I'm not willing to put up with carrier crapware on non-Nexus phones though.
That would be too big of a compromise for me.

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nl
I call bullshit.

Sure, they have found a couple of Android screens that have squares on them,
and it is true that both Microsoft and Google are rejecting the "analogy"
approach for UI that Apple has embraced. But that is as far as it goes.

Look at the Android lock screen or the start screen and you'll see they are
totally different. Android simply doesn't use the card-based metaphor that
Windows uses.

(Also, note that Duarte came from Palm - surely it would be more interesting
to see how WebOS influenced Android than Windows did?)

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Adaptive
Not an homage at all.

ICS and Metro are both examples of Swiss style maturing in mobile UI design.

Apple at its best in iOS is similarly executing Swiss style.

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cpeterso
And at its worst, Apple gives us faux leather GUIs.

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recoiledsnake
All this while comparing Metro to a lavatory sign and dissing Apple's design
too.

From [http://thisismynext.com/2011/10/18/exclusive-matias-
duarte-i...](http://thisismynext.com/2011/10/18/exclusive-matias-duarte-ice-
cream-sandwich-galaxy-nexus/)

“Across the board Google and Android is taking design a lot more seriously,”
Matias says, and points out that Roboto is used throughout the system.
“There’s this thing that’s happening right now in user interface design that I
find kind of shackling. The faux wood paneling trend, and the airport lavatory
signage trend.” He laughs when he says this and pulls up a slide on his
computer, a split screen of an Atari 2600 and… airport lavatory signage. It’s
an obvious dig at both Apple and Microsoft.

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oakgrove
The comparisons are very appropriate.

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jinushaun
Apple cranked up the textures to 11 in iOS 5. So ugly and juvenile... I really
find it difficult to believe that this is the same company that produced the
gorgeous iPhone OS in 2007.

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cpeterso
For example, I can deal with Apple's brushed metal, but who thought a faux
leather GUI was a good idea??

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chugger
Homage to Windows phone 7. How about we call it what it is. A Windows 7 rip-
off.

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Roritharr
when do people finally get it? everything is a remix.

