
A User Experience Designer Switches from iOS to Android - hillel
http://jacksonfish.com/2014/05/22/a-user-experience-designer-switches-from-ios-to-android/
======
izzydata
Almost all of this guys problems are the result of giving the user options
that simply don't exist in iOS. If you really need your OS to tell you how YOU
want to do things then I guess you really should go back to the locked down
iOS.

Choices are hard. Apparently even choosing what phone was too hard.

~~~
aaronem
I often see the same argument made in defense of desktop Linux vs. Windows and
OS X. It's a little more justifiable there, I suppose, but a phone is an
appliance. Its job is to do the things I need it to do, to do those things
well without fail. Otherwise, it's worse than useless, because it complicates
my life rather than simplifying it.

Sure, as has been pointed out elsewhere, the iOS user interface is far from
perfect. Judging by OP's experience, it's still a lot better than can be
expected out of the vast majority of Android phones. It'd be one thing if that
platform offered the options you so laud in a fashion which doesn't get in the
way of satisfying the essential requirements of a pocket phone. Apparently,
though, that platform fails to do so.

You can be just as contemptuous as you like of people who find Android
unworthy of their time and money as a consequence. (Certainly nothing I say
will change your mind! I've had enough arguments with Linux partisans to have
realized that long since.) Your contempt for such people doesn't change the
fact that Android has a problem.

~~~
izzydata
A phone is a computer and a user should be able to configure it however they
want. If that isn't for you then don't use it, but that doesn't make
customization an inherent flaw because someone doesn't personally want to deal
with it.

~~~
aaronem
Customization isn't a flaw. Obsessing over customizability, to the point where
you fail to notice glaring flaws in the user interface and the behavior of the
device, is a flaw.

------
wdmeldon
There are some definite valid criticisms here (Photos/Gallery being the least
understandable oversight), but you really need to try the Nexus 5.
Fragmentation needs to be dealt with and OEM's need to stop "differentiating"
themselves into UI hell, but pure Android is definitely worth experiencing. It
will mainly make you more upset at HTC.

~~~
fidotron
Yep. What's funny about HTC in particular is some of their additional features
such as disabling apps and hiding them from the launcher, even if they're
uninstallable, exist purely to work around some of the crap they've burdened
the system with.

I've worked with Android for basically the whole time it's been around, and in
that time never saw a single manufacturer led user interface change that
represented an improvement. Supposedly the Chinese ones do, but I've never had
the chance.

This isn't to say stock is perfect, but people underestimate just how much the
OEMs have messed with in their efforts for software differentiation absolutely
no one really wants.

------
magicalist
I feel like this whole comments section just fell out of a time machine, which
isn't surprising, as this article does as well. This would fit in well with
all the 2011 "UX guy roughs it with Android" stories, but it feels weirdly
archaic today.

In today's world, it's like writing a story about the time you went to Kmart
instead of Target and barely lived to tell about it. They didn't even have
price scanners on the end of each aisle! Who cares?

If you're a mobile developer (and do it all, apparently), you should have
"lived with" an Android phone years ago. Talk about UX issues (and how about
something actually interesting: as a new user, you might have insight on how
people should be doing good UX _for apps_ on Android), but leave the drama
behind. Talking about it as some horribly broken _experience_ you lived
through sounds ridiculous to anyone who actually uses Android[1]

[1] Exception made for the 17.3% of people on Android before version 4. That
_would_ be a journey still filled with terrors
[https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html](https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html)

~~~
ssmoot
This doesn't actually address any of his points. I feel like you could change
the "4" in your comment to a "5" in a couple years and feel equally justified.

If anything, it's a bigger sin today now that Android has been a player for so
long. Things have improved. I guess. But the biggest issues (back button,
notifications, messaging, the half-baked shovel-ware app store) seem pretty
persistent.

Battery life is marginally better. Most of the benefits eaten up by bigger
screens (I'm not complaining much as long as it gets me through a whole day: I
just bought a 6.4" Android). Getting rid of the dedicated Search button was a
step in the right direction. Swapping the "Options/Menu" or whatever button
for an "Open Apps" button was definitely a win. Some wins in some of the OTB
apps (Camera). But some noteworthy losses as well (Messages).

It should feel like an alternative. Not a compromise. And too often that's not
the case IME.

------
robert_tweed
I keep finding myself agreeing with the author whenever an encounter with the
back button is mentioned.

One of my favourite things about an old HTC phone I had running a 2.x version
of Android was that the back button worked very consistently everywhere. It
made using the native apps feel like navigating around websites: just what
you'd expect from Google.

On literally every Android device I've tried to use since then it's been a
complete horror show. This should have been the best thing about the Android
UI and it's ended up being the worst.

I think the thing that might be worse than back button behaviour is the
horribly broken app permissions system.

~~~
npsimons
What's interesting is that other people have commented on the back button; see
[http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-one-button-
mystique/](http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-one-button-mystique/) which I also
find highly amusing for its link to the state diagram of what the one button
does - simplicity? I think not!

------
jnks
It might be more fair if the reviewer also put together a list of UI failings
on iOS. It's far from perfect!

~~~
npsimons
Here's a start: [http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-one-button-
mystique/](http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-one-button-mystique/)

------
visarga
What I like is the fact that I could combine 2 or 3 apps to obtain a new
functionality - this composability of Android. Example:

I go to Flow (reddit app) and find an article I like. I am in the car at the
moment, waiting at the traffic sign. I open the article in a TTS reader that
does article extraction and automatically starts reading to me. The voice is
separately installed from a choice of vendors. Some of the voices are high
quality (I still love Alex from Mac OS better, but I can't find it anywhere on
mobile - read back to be in the voice of Alex for text proofing - lol). So now
I can drive while my mobile reads my press to me like a radio station.

I couldn't do that on my iPhone. The apps aren't able to combine like that on
iOS. I have just used 3 apps I found in the Play Store to improvise a
functionality that didn't exist and probably most people don't care about.

------
blinkingled
[Unreasonable expectations and little knowledge or inclination to try things
out] Please don't read the previous bracketed sentence as snarky or insulting
- it reflects the fact that he bought an unlocked phone and expected it to
work great out of box with T-Mobile (including WiFi calling!) and he wasn't
inclined to search the Play Store for TMobile Voicemail - so there is
definitely substance to that sentence. But I merely wanted to point out that
he is a user who is perfect fit for iOS/iPhone design goals. And not all
people fall into that bucket. And neither should simplicity at all costs be a
universal design goal for every product. Obviously if he is inflexibly tuned
to the iOS way of doing things it's no wonder he's going to have issues with
anything else.

1) Two Apps / Choosing Apps - This is why many people prefer Android over iOS.
If you are bugged by it - select the one you like and choose "Always" the next
time. Done. (If you are a UI designer at least shed some light on what is the
way to do a better UX on this feature - simply saying you don't know which one
to pick is not really adding any value. You have to try Hangouts, Gallery,
Photos and then choose them as "Always" \- that's the idea and I find it as
intuitive as it can be.)

2) Hardware differentiation - yeah just install a launcher once and be done
with it - oh you will have to choose the default once after you install it,
but yeah after that it's even easier. Oh and Google autocompletes HTC disable
blinkfeed - first result tells you how in two steps.

3) Fine print of an unlocked Android phone - he is troubled because WiFi
calling isn't available on _all_ Android phones whether or not the carrier is
T-Mobile - and if it was there he would be sure to complain about what's that
WiFi calling thing that I don't understand on my Verizon HTC One. Hardly a UI
problem and since it requires special firmware support it's hardly fair to
have everyone put it in.

4) Unlocking - it's a HTC thing. Stock Android and even Samsung phones just
swipe and unlock - plus you can thank slide to unlock patent for some of the
differentiation there.

5) Back button - as much as inconsistent it is, having it still beats not
having it altogether. But yes it can be a little annoying at times.

6) Navigation bar - he complains about there being differences in Samsung and
HTC phones! I can't figure out why that is relevant as his target audience
generally will stick to one phone.

7) He even complains about the Notification bar! (For crying out loud everyone
pretty much copies this from Android - including iOS!) "I clear my
notifications periodically, but inevitably a pile of tiny incomprehensible
turds appear at the top of my screen, uglifying it to no end." Ugh, what? Does
iOS magically know which ones you like and shows only those?

8) Copy/Paste - this is one point I agree with him on. It just isn't as
elegant as iOS and neither is it consistent.

But I stopped reading past that - too much personal preference stuff rather
than valid points and being on a "User Experience Designer"'s blog I thought
there would be insights on doing this right - I only saw "iOS is right" in
some places.

~~~
MBCook
Insulting iOS users is not a productive way to start a discussion.

1) It's fair to let people choose a different app (I know many people really
want this on iOS), but I think his complaint is valid. There are many
situations where it's completely unclear to a new user why they should use app
X over Y for photo management/SMS/etc. To ask them before they've even used
the app the first time nearly ensures they're not ready to make that decision.
Sensible defaults and perhaps delaying the prompting until the device notices
the user uses an alternate app a couple of times may be a better way to handle
this.

3) Why should it matter if my HTC One came from a T-Mobile store or not? The
fact that they behave differently (and especially that T-Mobile's support
isn't prepared for that) is clearly an issue. I think the voicemail note is
telling. How many people, upon buying a new phone, would think "I need to go
download a special app to get my voicemail working"?

4) HTC took something that worked fine and made it more confusing. That's
clearly a design mistake.

5) If something doesn't work reliably, that's a design issue. Especially if it
_used_ to work.

> But I stopped reading past that [...] I only saw "iOS is right" in some
> places.

That's not what I saw. Rorschach test for your preference for Android/iOS
perhaps?

~~~
blinkingled
Insulting iOS users? Where do you get that from? Users are users - they have
preferences. Some prefer simple and not having to think and some prefer
tweaking, suprises and flexibility. If I had said "stupid" iOS users then it
would be an insult.

1) No his complaint isn't valid. There are sensible defaults - it only becomes
a choice if you install another app that does the same things. In this case
Gallery is built in and Google Photos is well Google's. It's not as if every
app has a choice on launch. And how exactly are you going to solve the problem
of user not having tried one or the other if the user isn't willing to choose
one? Throw him a training video for both apps? That sounds even worse.

3) The whole idea of Android is different things for different people. You
don't go buy an $699 unlocked phone and use it as a Specifically Optimized for
Carrier X phone. It is an unlocked phone designed to run on many carriers as
possible. If you need to download an app or two for further customization
that's not really a big problem. If it is, then you should've bought something
from T-Mobile store that they've customized for you. Wanting it both ways
while pretending to be a simpleton user doesn't warrant any discussion.

4) If you need a certain type of lock screen and aren't willing to install one
- you should at least look at the phones in a retail store and pick the one
with the right lock screen - you can find a lot I bet. Complaining about HTC
having confusing lock screen is contradictory to entire point of how Android
works.

5) Yeah, sure - but at least it works. What other better options do you have -
not having it? That's a worse solution. But yes, Google can do some tightening
up on both Copy/Paste and Back button.

> That's not what I saw

So you saw him giving a solution or two that is not "do it iOS way - including
don't have a back button"?

~~~
aaronem
> Unreasonable expectations and little knowledge or inclination to try things
> out - sounds like perfect iOS user to me

This you don't recognize as an insult? I'll bet you're a constant delight to
your acquaintances.

~~~
blinkingled
I replied to a similar comment above. I sincerely wasn't insulting him. I was
just pointing out that iOS/iPhone is a perfect choice for people who don't
like to be bothered with these type of things. I might just change the wording
given how many found it offensive.

~~~
hillel
My issue is not that I abhor choice. Choice is fine and sometimes good. My
issue was that I was confronted with these choices out of the box. And the
impetus for this was Google's business choices at the expense of a seamless
user experience.

------
Gracana
The two-apps/choose-your-app problems are something that my mother has found
very frustrating, and I haven't really been able to come up with a good
solution for her. It bothers me as well, but I have enough experience with
similar things to be able to deal with it. But for her, it's a bunch of new
stuff that all conflicts and interoperates differently. It's a disaster.

~~~
smrtinsert
This part is funny, app interoperability is a huge feature. Some people should
just stay on iOS I guess. I love that I can click a link and have various ways
of understanding or consuming it. I guess there needs to be some tweaking
around how and when it saves preferences for these intents, but personally
this is a big part of the reason I'm on Android.

~~~
MBCook
As an iOS user the concept is great and many people would LOVE something
similar in the iOS world. It sounds like the implementation has some interface
flaws that cause people problems.

The core idea that I should be able to choose what app to use to manage my
photos seems self-evident.

~~~
youngtaff
Biggest issue I have with it is there's no way of saying "No I don't ever want
to see this intent again" i.e. control the sharing options so I can see a
subset

