

Palm loses their lead webOS designer to the Google Android team - dzlobin
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/05/27/palm-loses-their-lead-webos-designer-to-the-google-android-team-others-may-follow/

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mortenjorck
I have to admit I'm suddenly just a bit worried about the future of WebOS. Not
for HP/Palm's loss of one (or possibly more) smart UI designer, but for who or
what will replace him.

If Duarte's shoes end up filled by some HP design committee and not a strong
UX leader who can earn the respect of his teams, there's trouble brewing.
WebOS is far too immature right now to be left to grow in that kind of
bureaucratic environment.

I really hope they treat this search with the gravity it deserves instead of
just dumping a suit in the seat.

~~~
megaduck
Too bad Aza Raskin's already got a gig.

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latch
A win for Google, and a loss for HP. These types of thing tend to lead to
cherry picking. Google will end up with many of the people Matias Duarte
considers to be winners, while leaving HP with a higher % of dead weight

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ashishbharthi
Absolutely right move Google. User interface has been one of the weakest part
of Android. Looking forward to see totally revamped UI in 2.3!

~~~
studer
Can you give concrete examples of things that needs to be totally revamped, or
are you just parroting the Apple fanboism here?

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ashishbharthi
Yes currently I have iPhone but I don't like the fact that I will have to pay
Apple $100 per year to run my own apps on my phone. I am a Java Developer and
I love the fact that I can write Android apps in Java.

For that reason I always wanted to move to Android. I went to stores every
time new Android device launched but I am not satisfied with the User
Interface and touch screen sensitivity. Android UI is not quite up to the
level where iPhone UI is or for that matter Palm WebOS UI.

~~~
endtime
You really haven't answered the question - what UI things need to be changed?
I have very little exposure to Android, so I'm just asking out of curiosity
rather than defensiveness.

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jcl
There are lots of things that could be improved. Here's my pet peeve:

Android regularly checks the Android Market for updates available for your
apps. It doesn't just check for updates to apps you currently have installed,
but for any app you ever installed, including ones you later removed. I guess
the logic is that if you uninstalled an app because of a bug, you will want to
know when it is updated so that you can try it again. If Android finds any
updates, it posts a little "market" icon in the notification bar. If you
select the notification, it takes you to a screen showing your downloads,
which lists every app you have ever installed. From that screen you can update
installed apps (one-at-a-time only), and you can reinstall uninstalled apps.

The problem is that the download screen only tells you an app is updated _if
it is currently installed_. There is no way to tell which uninstalled apps
have been updated. So if you have tried out a large number of apps, you can
easily be in a situation where the notification icon tells you several apps
have updated, but when you go to the download page, all your apps appear up-
to-date. This greatly reduces the value of update notifications.

~~~
gmjosack
This is the drive me crazy though i havent experienced it since moving to a
2.x device. Applications no longer appear in downloads view once you uninstall
them.

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jackfoxy
What a coup for Android. (Assuming the reporter knows what he's talking about,
which I can't vouch for.)

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vito
Engadget confirmed it here: [http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/27/palms-matias-
duarte-has-j...](http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/27/palms-matias-duarte-has-
joined-google-as-user-experience-direct/)

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whereareyou
Gruber, "If true, Google may be serious about taking the ugly stick out of the
Android development process. This is a seriously big hire."
<http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/05/27/paczkowski>

~~~
stcredzero
Google needs guidance like this all around. (To be fair, recent trajectory is
already good.)

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rimantas
One just has to wonder will the new hire bow to A/B testing for 40 shades of
green Android logo should be colored…

~~~
robryan
You'd have to think there would be a lot more freedom on something relatively
new and moving as fast as android. It may not always be that way though.

