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[mrklaw]

I had a galaxy ace for a short time, and a nokia n8 before that. Multiple homescreens plus icons wherever you want plus widgets gives you great flexibility.

You can have a homescreen for work, with work email, calendar, contacts etc. another homescreen for home stuff - email, to-dos, facebook etc, then maybe a games one with folders, gamecenter etc.

'being fine' with ios is - fine - and more isn't always better. But as clunky as android and symbian can be at times, I really wish ios would borrow this part of it.

 

[outunderthestars]

I think it is even sillier on a tablet:

ipad:

competition:

 

[mescalineeyes]

there are many ways for they to achieve brand recognition without having to force a whole homescreen layout on the device. That's what I mean by silly.

just be happy they are not making us cover-flow through all our apps, duder.

 

[Salsa]

just be happy they are not making us cover-flow through all our apps, duder.

hah yeah I guess

but yeah.. I mean, Icons, some logos here and there, a particular aspect or bar or widget on the layout that you cant change would be enough for a device to be instantly recognizable as an apple one. I think they just go too far.

 

[mrklaw]

It's not quite what you want, but you can get most of that exact same information with a simple swipe down from the top of the screen to show notification center. There's a weather and stocks widget, can get a preview of your recent emails, text messages, see calendar stuff, etc..

its not glancable if you have to pull down a drawer to see it. And its not flexible if you can only see what Apple decides you can see. Why stocks and weather but nothing else?

 

[mescalineeyes]

its not glancable if you have to pull down a drawer to see it. And its not flexible if you can only see what Apple decides you can see. Why stocks and weather but nothing else?

Because they haven't made the APIs public yet. I think they're coming around to it though.

Also, how is that not glance-able? Swipe right then down. Boom.

That's almost as many directions you need to swipe in to unlock the Galaxy S 3.

 

[Zeppu]

A fucking tragedy;

http://zapp5.staticworld.net/images/article/2012/06/windows_phone_8_start_screen-11375939.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://asia.cnet.com/story_media/62216832/newstartscreen.jpg[IMG]

They realized there needed to be more access from a single place without having to scroll, (i.e. iOS's 19 single access points on a single page) and that was their solution. It's[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIdZP3ZRRuY&feature=channel&list=UL"] even worse in action [/URL]imo.[/QUOTE]

Oh come on sentry. We had you all on suicide watch when rumours were popping up of a new aspect ratio or screen size. Surely we all know that you're the last person to be pleased with change.

 

[mescalineeyes]

Oh come one sentry. We had you all on suicide watch when rumours were popping up of a new aspect ratio. Surely we all know that you're the last person to be pleased with change.

He is right. That looks awful.
If my girlfriend's Lumia ends up looking like that I will take it from her and throw it from the 8th floor balcony and buy her a dumbphone. Also I will leave her because why date a designer if you don't care what your shit looks like. Do you want me to return that BMW too?

 

[outunderthestars]

One of the reasons why I will probably stick with Android, the ability to customize your home screen means too much to me. Looks a shitton better, and also more functional, and I guess as cliche as it sounds, more catered to your needs.



What app or widget is that?

Aix Weather Widget

Because they haven't made the APIs public yet. I think they're coming around to it though.

Also, how is that not glance-able? Swipe right then down. Boom.

That's almost as many directions you need to swipe in to unlock the Galaxy S 3.

Why not let me simply have that as my home screen? Why haven't they opened the API's to developers?

 

[outunderthestars]

.

 

[mescalineeyes]

I

competition:

that is not a thing that exists nor will it in 2012.

Why haven't they opened the API's to developers?

because even though they are the first to abandon outdated hardware like disc-drives, they are slow as molasses in other, equally important areas for no apparent reason.
For all I know, maybe Steve Jobs' dying words were "that fucking notification drawer stays private! developers can put their shit there over my dead body." but now that he's dead maybe iOS 6.1 will bring that. I think Facebook and Twitter being on there is a sign for that.

 

[MarkMclovin]

Because they haven't made the APIs public yet. I think they're coming around to it though.

Also, how is that not glance-able? Swipe right then down. Boom.

That's almost as many directions you need to swipe in to unlock the Galaxy S 3.

It's still not the homescreen though. Plus, can you turn off the 'swipe screen to unlock'?

You're just happy with what you've got, and stuck with.

 

[Salsa]

mescalineeyes at the bat!

trying to hit all of them curve balls

 

[outunderthestars]

that is not a thing that exists nor will it in 2012.

It launches in August actually.

 

[mescalineeyes]

It's still not the homescreen though. Plus, can you turn off the 'swipe screen to unlock'?

You're just happy with what you've got, and stuck with.

Actually, when I turn my phone's display on, that is precisely what I see, sans the weather. So I personally think that argument is moot since you can make your iPhone display EVERYTHING THAT YOU COULD POSSIBLY ALMOST EVER WANT on the Lockscreen.

You're just happy with what you've got, and stuck with.

I am extremely happy with what I have, thank you very much, I'd still gladly see it improve. I just don't personally think the way Android going is the right direction and I feel that that is my prerogative.

It launches in August actually.

If it does, then Apple truly has their work cut out of them.

 

[SmokyDave]

My homescreen looks like this (NSFW). Nice & clean, everything in it's right place. Page 2 has a similar layout but with folders.

 

[noah111]

Oh come on sentry. We had you all on suicide watch when rumours were popping up of a new aspect ratio or screen size. Surely we all know that you're the last person to be pleased with change.

Hah. The aspect ratio change stems across the entire OS structure, not just the home page. An extra row of apps isn't as unpleasing as squishing more tiles together. And of course as i've said a million times, the main gripe I have with an aspect ratio change isn't necessarily the ratio itself as much as it is that that's their solution to implementing a 4" screen? Feels lazy.

But I still don't get your point, ugly is ugly and change is change, but they're not one in the same.

If my girlfriend's Lumia ends up looking like that I will take it from her and throw it from the 8th floor balcony and buy her a dumbphone. Also I will leave her because why date a designer if you don't care what your shit looks like. Do you want me to return that BMW too?

Best part is this post is that you're only half joking. :lol

 

[outunderthestars]

My homescreen looks like this (NSFW). Nice & clean, everything in it's right place. Page 2 has a similar layout but with folders.

How do you have a screen with icons just on the top and bottom?

 

[JordanKZ]

Android has become my favourite home screen UI. Holo is stunningly beautiful. I keep things extremely simple. I only have 2 other home screens that have 3 widgets on and I love how it looks.

Holo UI apps are also extremely consistent, it's weird how iOS has gone from being consistent to kind of all over the place in terms of design.

 

[Salsa]

My homescreen looks like this (NSFW). Nice & clean, everything in it's right place. Page 2 has a similar layout but with folders.

just imagine how much better that would look with icons that matched the background/overall style you're going for

those shiny colored icons ewww

 

[mescalineeyes]

How do you have a screen with icons just on the top and bottom?

outunderthestars
he's not our sharpest knife
(Today, 11:37 AM)
Quote

Spoiler

one is the dock, the other is the actual springboard

 

[Zeppu]

He is right. That looks awful.
If my girlfriend's Lumia ends up looking like that I will take it from her and throw it from the 8th floor balcony and buy her a dumbphone. Also I will leave her because why date a designer if you don't care what your shit looks like. Do you want me to return that BMW too?

I hope you won't be offended if I tell you that I don't really value the opinion on aesthetics of someone who thinks that metro and ICS have 'gone out of style'.

 

[LyleLanley]

How do you have a screen with icons just on the top and bottom?

He only put 4 apps on the first page, the rest are on pages 2 & 3.

 

[mescalineeyes]

I hope you won't be offended if I tell you that I don't really value the opinion on aesthetics of someone who thinks that metro and ICS have 'gone out of style'.

Not at all, I just hope when it comes to the *actually* important things in life, you leave things to the professionals.

 

[outunderthestars]

Actually, when I turn my phone's display on, that is precisely what I see, sans the weather. So I personally think that argument is moot since you can make your iPhone display EVERYTHING THAT YOU COULD POSSIBLY ALMOST EVER WANT on the Lockscreen.


If it does, then Apple truly has their work cut out of them.

I want a weather map from a provider of my choosing. I'd like my Pulse feed as well. I work in the outdoors and need very specific weather info.

Chameleon could be a huge hit with the hundreds of people who own android tablets. We'll have to wait and see how it turns out. They have really cool ideas with the tablet home screen/launcher adapting based on the time of day or location and the process of customization looks really intuitive yet flexibile.

outunderthestars
he's not our sharpest knife
(Today, 11:37 AM)
Quote

Spoiler

one is the dock, the other is the actual springboard

I deserved that. In my defense it is 5:40 in the morning here.

 

[LyleLanley]

Chameleon could be a huge hit with the hundreds of people who own android tablets. We'll have to wait and see how it turns out. They have really cool ideas with the tablet home screen/launcher adapting based on the time of day or location and the process of customization looks really intuitive yet flexibile.

I'll admit that got a laugh from me.

 

[Salsa]

Chameleon could be a huge hit with the hundreds of people who own android tablets.

rofl

oh you

 

[noah111]

Android has become my favourite home screen UI. Holo is stunningly beautiful. I keep things extremely simple. I only have 2 other home screens that have 3 widgets on and I love how it looks.

That looks clean but for the life in me I can't stand individual shaped app icons. Metro is better than this, imo, since at least everything is gridded and consistent to a degree.

But having different shapes, some circular, others rectangular, other totally unique, for the same element (apps) is very ugly on a mobile device, to me. Again with the symmetry in a way.

If you look at metro, android, and iOS screens with the threshold levels maxed out, android will look the worst of the three.

But tbh they all suck in the grand scheme of things. Things have progressed so fast in terms of what we can access but the GUI for it all has lagged behind. It'll take something big but that won't be soon at all.

 

[Kong Fisso]

On one hand we have this

What is that list in the right side of os x? I have os x and I'm curious - is it calendar stuff and such?

 

[Sean]

its not glancable if you have to pull down a drawer to see it. And its not flexible if you can only see what Apple decides you can see. Why stocks and weather but nothing else?

Well like I said, it's not exactly what he wanted, but a single swipe down is hardly a big deal. Stocks and Weather are the only two widgets on iOS currently but you can fully customize that notification center screen and change the order of things, how many recent items show up, etc. It's not directly on the homescreen but you can get almost all that same info with a single swipe...

And the notification center stuff also shows up on the lock screen too.

 

[mescalineeyes]

That looks clean but for the life in me I can't stand individual shaped app icons. Metro is better than this, imo, since at least everything is gridded and consistent to a degree.

But having different shapes, some circular, others rectangular, other totally unique, for the same element (apps) is very ugly on a mobile device, to me. Again with the symmetry in a way.

I love that you said mobile device because I was just going to point you to look at the OS X Dock

Other than that, it has been established that shapes are very good for recognition and are equally as important as colors when designing good UX, so Android 1, Apple 0 in this regard.

What is that list in the right side of os x? I have os x and I'm curious - is it calendar stuff and such?

Notification Center. Comes with 10.8 next month.

 

[LyleLanley]

What is that list in the right side of os x? I have os x and I'm curious - is it calendar stuff and such?

Notification Center for Mountain Lion.

 

[Salsa]

That looks clean but for the life in me I can't stand individual shaped app icons. Metro is better than this, imo, since at least everything is gridded and consistent to a degree.

But having different shapes, some circular, others rectangular, other totally unique, for the same element (apps) is very ugly on a mobile device, to me. Again with the symmetry in a way.

If you look at metro, android, and iOS screens with the threshold levels maxed out, android will look the worst of the three.

But tbh they all suck in the grand scheme of things. Things have progressed so fast in terms of what we can access but the GUI for it all has lagged behind. It'll take something big but that won't be soon at all.

Well if you get down to it an Android's homescreen would never suck since you can literally make it look however the hell you want


but if you go by stock releases without customized themes, launchers, icons, the likes: then yeah, there's stuff I dont like.

I still vastly prefer Holo to any iOS version though.

 

[Ambitious]

What is that list in the right side of os x? I have os x and I'm curious - is it calendar stuff and such?

That's the Notification Center, similar to iOS. It will be included in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion which will be released next month.

 

[Zeppu]

That looks clean but for the life in me I can't stand individual shaped app icons. Metro is better than this, imo, since at least everything is gridded and consistent to a degree.

But having different shapes, some circular, others rectangular, other totally unique, for the same element (apps) is very ugly on a mobile device, to me. Again with the symmetry in a way.

Well guess what? You get a choice in that. Want square icons with rounded corners? Then get square icons with rounded corners. What metro-looking tiles? Then get metro looking tiles. Hell, the iOS clone is more customizable than iOS.

Go to the android customization thread and within just a couple of pages you can see the varying degrees of customizations you can do.

 

[strata8]

And the notification center stuff also shows up on the lock screen too.

At this point they might as well remove the lock screen background altogether.

 

[beje]

That looks clean but for the life in me I can't stand individual shaped app icons. Metro is better than this, imo, since at least everything is gridded and consistent to a degree.

You can always get a Go Launcher theme that sticks icons inside of square containers, or go MIUI (that does it as well), even install a WP7-like homescreen. That's the strength of Android, you can make your phone look like WHATEVER you want.

Edit: beaten hard

 

[Salsa]

Well guess what. You get a choice in that. Want square icons with rounded corners? Then get square icons with rounded corners. What metro-looking tiles? Then get metro looking tiles.

Go to the android customization thread and within just a couple of pages you can see the varying degrees of customizations you can do.

not to mention.. *gasp*

but why would you do that

 

[mescalineeyes]

What metro-looking tiles? Then get metro looking tiles.

That's like recommending someone who stubbed his toe to kill himself.

 

[outunderthestars]

I am not trying to argue which UI style is better, as much as I just want more options to decide for myself.

 

[Zeppu]

That's like recommending someone who stubbed his toe to kill himself.

Yes, yes, you don't like Metro. We got it.

 

[mescalineeyes]

Yes, yes, you don't like Metro. We got it.

Metro is fine by me. That Frankenstein you linked to is a whole other can of worms.

 

[Zeppu]

Then don't install it. You get a choice.

 

[Gustav]

My homescreen looks like this (NSFW). Nice & clean, everything in it's right place. Page 2 has a similar layout but with folders.

What's download all? Where are your apps?

 

[Nevasleep]

I still like it, and it works for me.
It would be good to see the search screen turned into a widget screen.

 

[Nevasleep]

What's download all? Where are your apps?

There are separate pages

 

[SmokyDave]

What's download all? Where are your apps?

Download all is an app that lets you download 'things' directly from the net to the iPhone. No jailbreak needed, it's on the app store.

My apps are all on page 2 in 8 folders, 2 rows of 4. It looks cleaner and I use the fast-app switching dock thingy more often than not anyway. There's a third page that I reserve for downloads that I haven't checked out yet. It's a general dumping ground.

 

[mescalineeyes]

Then don't install it. You get a choice.

See, that's simply a half-truth. The fact is that if you want WP7 or iOS you need to go down that route instead of skinning your Android device with really badly made fan-made skins. It just shows a lack of understanding of design, and, ultimately, taste.

There's a reason Microsoft paid out of the ass for Metro. Personal taste nonwithstanding, it's professional, elegant and concise. None of these things apply to that Android skin.

 

[Glass Rebel]

I'm okay with the homescreen mostly but I'd like to place apps wherever I want and have some nice widgets. It's one of the aspects I miss from Android.

Edit: Wasn't there a thread some time ago which showed some really nice looking mockups in video-form? That is what I want.

Edit2: This one. I understand that people want more customization but this would solve almost all of the issues I have with iOS.

 

[RobotChant]

My homescreen looks like this (NSFW). Nice & clean, everything in it's right place. Page 2 has a similar layout but with folders.

No offense but looks horrible.

just imagine how much better that would look with icons that matched the background/overall style you're going for

those shiny colored icons ewww

Dem clouds.