Matias Duarte just dropped by our trailer at CES 2012 to tell us about Google's new effort for ensuring consistency in the Android user experience: a style guide. Android OEMs and app developers will be provided with a set of in-depth guidelines on how to build atop of Android. All the instructions will be made available on a new website — Android Design, a subset of the Android Developers site — which will be built out over time with ever more granular and detailed best practice advice.
The initial version of the guide includes information like typography, color palettes, and other stylistic advice, as well as a breakdown of the components making up the Android UI. Matias stresses that what we're seeing today is a purely optional aid for Android designers, not something that Google will seek to enforce.
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Finally, that sounds like a step in the right direction.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:02 PM EST reply Recommend (77) Flag actions
i cannot honestly believe it took the android team this long to even think, hey maybe we should have dev tools that allow our developers to create applications that have a UI that is somewhat cohesive w/ the OS.
def a step in the right direction, they’re finally paying attention to detail
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:23 PM EST reply Recommend (26) Flag actions
Better late than never, but you’d think this would have occurred to them when they released the UI design tools.
I just hope guideline number one is “Don’t skin android.”
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:38 PM EST reply Recommend (11) Flag actions
I just hope guideline number one is "Don’t skin android."
I would just love that. ICS looks amazing, keep it that way.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:41 PM EST reply Recommend (6) Flag actions
I just hope they fix the back button inconsistencies….. that is by far the most annoying thing about ICS.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 10:49 PM EST reply Recommend (5) Flag actions
Seriously, on several apps I really don’t know where either one or both back buttons will take me.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 11:50 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The system back button (the one at the bottom) is a temporal back : it brings you where you were before, even if it was a different app.
The action bar back button (the one at the top, that uses the application icon) is a logical back : it brings you one hierarchical level back in the app.
Granted, it still needs some work. Sadly, I don’t know of a single platform that manages the back action perfectly.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 4:05 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
As part of the WP7 app submission process, you have to handle the back properly or they reject your app.
For a developer its incredibly frustrating at time, as the lazy option is to ignore it but most of us understand its for our own good ;) users get a much better experience and the majority of the WP7 apps work well with back button.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 7:33 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Windows Phone hands down has the best implementation of back button in all platforms.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 12:01 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
“I don’t know of a single platform that manages the back action perfectly.”
WebOS got it right. The Back gesture always took you to the logical previous level, even if you entered the app from a notification. App switching was only done with the card metaphor, and was separate from Back.
The inconsistent Back behaviour in Android (2.3) is one of the most annoying things about the platform. I’m sad to hear they haven’t completely worked it out in ICS. Mixing app switching and app navigation is a mistake, IMO.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 12:19 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Hope the OEMs have a read of it.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 10:52 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
What it comes down to is they really didn’t give a damn and are only doing it Now because they have to. Windows phone is looking pretty good.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:55 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Windows Phone is indeed looking good, but you missed the point. What it REALLY comes down to is “what to do first when designing an OS?”.
Option A: Build a future-proof architecture and care about design later.
Option B: Put design first and prepare to hit walls because you haven’t thought about the underlying architecture.
Clearly, option A is the more reasonable one, that pays off in the future.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:18 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
what are these walls you talk about?? you seem to talk a lot of shit but have yet to link to any such facts. Now i’m off to have a life and probably get laid or something more interesting
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:02 PM EST reply Recommend (6) Flag actions
he’s the mirror for aSOKO in this thread. he’s just trolling like him. This place is finally being over run by idiots.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 9:50 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
He is probably trolling, I am not sure…
But I honestly think that wp7 has really big flaws in its conceptions : they needed to make something really different in order to differenciate themselves from android & iOS. Job well done, their home is indeed different, but sadly I don’t think it is better, it is just another way to make a wheel.
And graphically the apps looks too much the same, and it is partially subjective but I think that the wp7 framework is not really well thought in order to have very different apps looking wp7-native.
I might be biased, despite my attempts at seeing wp7 impartially I can’t help it, I find that the platform is butt ugly; even in the little choices the home colors
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 4:11 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:55 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
If anything, iOS is an example of good architecture in place from the word go and Android is an example of non-stop patching of unoptimised code.
iOS has had UI as a separate, high priority thread from the start. Hence the smooth UX starting from the first iPhone. Android still hasn’t completely implemented this. And let’s not even open the pandora’s box that is Android’s inefficiency with battery life.
Architecture and featurelist are not the same thing. iOS (And WP7) put architecture, UX and UI first and featurelist second. Android, being primarily a geek driven project put the featurelist first and along the way, they realized that the more features they add, their ancient architecture buckles under pressure. ICS is a step in the right direction, but please, don’t ever point to Android as an example of efficient architecture.
It really isn’t.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 10:08 PM EST reply Recommend (6) Flag actions
Android is highly optimized, not that you would know what optimized code looks likes, though. But, you are right about Apple having a lase focus on UI and then waiting to lift features from Android later on.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 3:50 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Would disagree, you can’t optimize something which is so fragmented.
Android can have so many different hardware variations and setups, where as iOS and WP7 (restricted lists) don’t have this problem, hence why the $100 WP7 promotion speed test thing was almost a cert for MS.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 7:40 AM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
This is a meaningless statement—apples and oranges. The android native code is highly efficient. “Fragmentation” occurs in the deployment of the software. Please read up on what “optimize” means in this context.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 1:38 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Actually Android native code is NOT highly efficent. It’s great when you have small memory requirements, ut the choice of going with a register-based JVM makes it much slower than than stack-based JVMs.
Not to mention it took until FroYo to get it’s own JIT, and still isn’t fully GPU accelerated.
Posted on Jan 17, 2012 | 9:56 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Silly baseless statement. Especially liked how you qualified your WP7 promotion speed test thing was “almost” a cert for MS. I wonder what platform they had to pay out $100 bills too.
Posted on Jan 14, 2012 | 5:07 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I wouldn’t take tips about optimized code from someone who can’t frame an optimized post.
Just sayin’.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 11:27 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Really? Most programmers I know aren’t English majors.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 2:29 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Nor would I take tips from someone who’s ignorant about OS architectures and what optimized code even looks like. Additionally, you should brush up on your ignorance about iOS UI threads.
Posted on Jan 14, 2012 | 5:01 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
So just to correct another one of your ignorant comments about the separate high priority UI thread that iOS has that you regurgitated from the Internet, the reality is that the main user interface actions all run on the main thread.
Just sayin’. And you’re welcome for the tip on iOS UI threads.
Posted on Jan 14, 2012 | 5:29 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
As a former owner of the original Droid, AKA Jerky Jerkerton, I laugh at your expert opinion.
Posted on Jan 15, 2012 | 7:13 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
“iOS is an example of good architecture in place from the word go”
I hate iOS’s lack of a persistent back button. Google “ipad back button” and see how many others feel the same.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 1:06 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Hilarious, I wrote a short comment on the exact same thing. Only I believe your take is absolutely wrong:
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 10:54 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
You say you disagree, but with no reason why! I think his post is spot on. From version one of iOS it was a great user experience. It may have lacked features that they could not make work well enough for the average user(e.g., “multi-tasking”), but all of the features they did provide were refined and well done. The only complaints most users have ever had with iOS, was lack of a feature.
Google was more than happy to provide those features even though the OS was not optimized well enough for it the hardware could not handle it well. Making the experience for users who didn’t understand that just because they were no long in an app, it might still be running, using resources and running down their batteries. By the way, that is the majority of users!
iOS on there other hand has always provided a solid experience for each version. They only add the features when they have an implementation that works well, or the hardware that can handle the feature, while providing a consistently good user experience. In my opinion, feature for feature, when I iOS fully provides a feature, it is usually more refined and well done. Just look at the side by side screens that google provides in the “Pure Android” section of the guide. I think most users would agree that the iOS screens look much better.
Posted on Jan 15, 2012 | 3:10 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
What are you smoking? I think Android was more option C: buy a local startup named Android, whose stuff was already out of date when iPhone hit the shelves, pump billions into it to fix it up, and make it open source and absolutely free to compensate for the fact that no one bought the first devices.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 2:13 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
And then dominate the world in smartphone market share with it. What a great story.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 3:52 AM EST reply Recommend (4) Flag actions
yeah the combined might of sony, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, LG (and others) had nothing to do with it:D
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 9:49 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Actually it’s at around half the US smartphone marketshare. Not sure about worldwide. And that was in November when there was a dip (the first ever) in Android after the iPhone 4s was released. I’m wondering how things shook out over the xmas season.
I remember when I bought the HTC G1, the 1st Android phone. People basically thought I was an alien.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 1:50 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You’re right, but this confirms that Android phones dominate the smartphone market. As of November, about 53% of smartphones ran Android. Its closest competitor, Apple, has just over half that marketshare (29%.) I’d call that dominant.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 2:32 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
And yes, Apple did option B, which is why the lacked basic functionality in the beginning and it takes them forever to implement it (because the architecture was not designed to be extensible and scalable).
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:19 PM EST reply Recommend (4) Flag actions
Wow, that is some serious FUD you’re spreading there – you may not spot it through the rather fugly syntax of Objective C, but the iOS APIs are incredibly clean, and constantly refined.
However, it’s nice to see that el goog is now going great guns in UX, fun to see this race go forward faster again…
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:47 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
Can you say it one more time ? I just didn’t get the part where apple did the wrong choice and keeps hitting walls trying to implement basic functionalities.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:01 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Really, you did not notice any core or major functionalities missing from the iPhone for aeons and still now? I mean, Symbian sucks, but the Symbian phone I had 2 years before the first iPhone had more features than the iPhone has now. And no, I am not a fanboy, I hate Symbian, and using those features was a pain. But still does not change the fact.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 7:00 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I’m not saying that the iPhone doesn’t lack some features. If it wasn’t the case then jailbreak wouldn’t exist (besides getting apps for free).
I was just telling freyberry how annoying and redundant his troll post was.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 5:25 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Thats just pure crap. They just didnt feel like building it in, if there was really sometging wrong then how come all the functionality has been there since 2008 and Installer.app and Cydia?
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 7:29 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
i would add that your just as bad as the annoying apple troll in this thread, but instead, i will just ask that people please flag trolls, before this turns the corner into engadget.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 9:56 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Now all they need is a native SDK for android which I can use on my tablet, I’d love to be able to laze around and get some coding done.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:36 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
The question is, will the app developers and OEMs bother to follow these guidelines?
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:37 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Judging by the Lenovo K800? OEMs say no. It is now up to the developers to either choose to go with Holo (which could be a jarring transition from a skinned Android 4.0 experience) or to adopt a less aggressive look that could work well with the variety of skins but stray from Google’s intent.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 10:56 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Why wouldn’t they? Now that they know what to do and what not to do there will be a lot less confusion and guessing. The inclusion of the Holo theme as a compatibility requirement for ICS also ensures that developers can code to the basic theme so that the user experience is consistent across all devices.
As for OEM’s, it’s also going to simplify skinning as it they’ll just be adding another theme to the device and reduces the code they need to touch to achieve their skin dramatically. The other benefit is that if you know what you’re doing you can probably default the phone back to the original Android 4 Holo theme.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 4:00 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
“Why wouldn’t they?”
Differentiation!
Unfortunately, OEMs seem to have been focussing on making their products different to competitors, rather than making them a good experience.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 7:34 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Although I agree that this is a step in the right direction, I do have to question the value of implementing style guidelines for applications when the OS itself doesn’t have any. This is especially true when the guidelines appear to be complimentary to one of the least commonly used versions of the OS, vanilla ICS.
The fact remains that the vast majority of end users will be stuck with Sense or Touchwiz or whatever other abysmal interfaces the manufactures come up with. And I can’t imagine these guidelines will produce apps complimentary to those environments.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:05 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Once again, the app developer can specify they want to use the Holo theme and not the theme used by the OEM.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 4:03 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
There are always been Design Guidelines on developer.android.com.
What’s new is that it’s now a dedicated web-site and it contains Android 3+ design guidelines instead of the outdated Android 1.x/2.x design guidelines.
That doesn’t mean developers will follow the guidelines now…
… especially the developers releasing apps with iOS-like look&feel for years.
These developers don’t care about the Android platform since they probably never owned an Android device and most likely don’t use their own Android apps.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:18 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
it just means the guidelines are more broad now.
sigh. got to love kids talking smack that they know noting about.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 11:56 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I think they need some requirements, not guidelines, a la requiring the option to use pure Android on every device that uses Android, as a matter of the agreement.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 8:48 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
thanks for nothing.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:02 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
If you can’t appreciate the developer worth of a UI guildeline “manual”, go back to coding your iOS app in your sandbox. Thank you.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:19 PM EST reply Recommend (12) Flag actions
You realise iOS developers have had this for years right?
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:25 PM EST reply Recommend (23) Flag actions
What I was referring to was the fact that, with the tools Apple provides, you don’t even have to look at the guidelines themselves, it sorta “happens”. Also since many apps conform to it, you have the instinct to conform to their guidelines even though you don’t know them.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:35 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Apple has had ui guidelines for decades, you know that right? And many devs have read them. The Apple HIG was famous for this. Also Apple will reject apps which go too far off the reservation when it comes to design in many cases.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:39 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
That’s my point, actually. People that don’t know the guideline are inspired by the rest of the apps. The Apple way of doing things keeps people from doing extrafunky stuff and keep them “in line” with standard HIGuidelines, thus keeping the non-HIG-reading people inspired by “correct” (read: conveniently designed) apps.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:32 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
One could say that the system reinforces design clarity then in regards to the platform. But I can tell you odds are that most devs of software on OS X and iOS have read the ui guidelines.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 7:24 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
On the side of “design clarity”, we are in agreement, as, technically, that’s the point I’m trying to make through all of this.
The odds are also a good point, but to that one, I’ll add a criticism: to be bothered to actually code in that godawful language that is Objective-C/ObjC++, you might as well read the UIG. (I looked at ObjC/ObjC++ code once and never looked again. That shit scares me)
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 10:46 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Nothing scary about Obj-c really. Nothing awful about it either. You a java programmer? Most java programmers seem to hate it ;)
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 11:35 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I will admit to working more with Java than anything else (Android and Jenkins plugins), but my taste and allegiance reside with C++.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 2:57 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
lol I love Obj-C, with Cocoa of course. Xcode is one hell of an environment, and once you get to know it, I don’t think anyone would want to go to any other language. Well at least if you don’t want to develop for other platforms.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 12:50 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
that wasn’t at all you point. Sigh.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 9:57 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
That doesn’t explain beautifully designed but unconventional apps like Reeder and Snapseed.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 6:09 AM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
Reeder follows the basics of the HiG just not the look. That is a big thing about Apple’s UI guidelines, it is about way more than look and feel.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 7:26 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Haha.. it just sorta ‘happens’ after you read the guidelines, and your app just sorta gets ‘rejected’ if you choose to ignore them, and make an unintuitive app.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:46 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
and your app sorta gets “accepted” if you inspire yourself from apps that are on the iOS market, them being close to HIG because, hey, THEY’RE ON THE MARKET.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:33 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You know he codes for iOS how?
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:26 PM EST reply Recommend (4) Flag actions
I like sandboxes…
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:47 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
THIS.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:02 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Very good news.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:03 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Already noticed a design issue with the design website:
http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/new-4-0.html
One picture is taken from a camera, the others are screenshots
headdesk
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:04 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You consider that a design issue? Have been to the Internet before?
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:22 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
The designer probably didn’t want to go through the hassle of install the USB drivers, Android SDK, Java JDK, hook up their phone and launch Davlik Debug Monitor just to take a screenshot.
(I kid, I know it was finally enabled in ICS.)
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:23 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You don’t really have many friends, do you? o.O
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 7:05 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m just observant :’)
Posted on Jan 18, 2012 | 2:42 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
It’s a necessary step for a more homogenous experience.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:04 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Google sees the light. Just like windows phone, most apps are set to give a consistant metro theme. A consistant theme reduce the learning curve and helps build on top of the core OS.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:05 PM EST reply Recommend (6) Flag actions
Unless they plan to enforce it, it’s already irrelevant.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:06 PM EST reply Recommend (11) Flag actions
This isn’t even remotely true. If they make the tools, which they are, and make them easy to use, people will use them. iOS requires that you make your UI pretty but you don’t HAVE TO use their controls etc..you can make you’re own, but the majority of apps use their controls simply because it’s easier. Path of least resistance. Before Android had an actual UI developer guiding development there, they really had no UI tools, they JUST finally release a visual design tool late last year. That’s insane if you’re looking at it from the point of view of a designer.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:12 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Apple also has a nice development environment. There’s nothing “easy” about developing for Android. All this will result in is…. Use your crappy tools but when your done using your crappy tools, this is what your fonts and colors should look like….
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:16 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You realize you just called Eclipse garbage right? I’m assuming you’re a dev, what actually “coding” tools are you using that are so amazing compared to the android SDK connected to Eclipse?
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:44 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I use eclipse everyday and I can tell you that eclipse is NOT good at GUI development.
Apple and Microsoft have much much much better GUI dev tool.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 9:17 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Microsoft Visual Studio is absolutely amazing. And yes, Eclipse is garbage. I have it installed and its god awful. I might be switch to NetBeans or IntelliJ soon. Not sure.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 9:24 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I use Eclipse platform everyday with a scripted language plug in. It works great, I’ve also used Visual Studio when developing in C#, I agree with you Visual Studio destroys Eclipse, but I wouldn’t call it garbage. However, to each their own.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 9:30 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I agree about the GUI development, which is why I believe Google has rolled out it’s own visual tool.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 9:26 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
What?
There is nothing wrong with Eclipse, its quite simple to get your head around.
Is it not shiny enough?
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:47 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
It sucks because it is just not magical.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 7:06 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
And shiny, its not shiny.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 6:37 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
what are you talking about? have you looked around on the android marketplace and seen how many apps have their UI literally copied over with the port from an iOS version? if google isn’t enforcing these guidelines…what’s to stop lazy devs from simply porting an iOS UI to their android app?
the overwhelming majority of developers are proud people, that take pride in their work, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people that are simply lazy and looking to make a quick buck with as little effort as possible.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:27 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
There are plenty of crappy apps on iOS and Android. You will never get rid of that. However, as you pointed out the majority of developers will care, especially if they make it easy, as it is on iOS, to design a nice looking app. Android is late to the design game, no doubt, but they JUST hired a design guy at the end of 2009. I’d be a lot less patient if I didn’t see the progress, but I see it. ICS is head and shoulders above every other version they’ve rolled out, so the guy is earning his paycheck.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:42 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Not really. Given two apps with the same functionality, the better looking, more consistent, one with always sell more.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 4:15 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Its about time.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:10 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This just owned the guy of HTC on their SuperSession in the Q&A section.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:11 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
That. Is awesome.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:17 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Companies should make their skins optional and their software(bloatware) as well…… i hate seeing a great phone ruined by some crappy UI.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:17 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This is what should have been done from the start. Better late than never.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:18 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Matias – why doesn’t the Galaxy Nexus change the home screen to Landscape mode when the device is held horizontally? Honeycomb tablets seem to do this fine but ICS phones don’t. What happens when the device is docked in a car horizontally? One can’t make out the icons unless they turn their head to the side. This could be a driving hazard.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:21 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
They do change to landscape mode but there is a bit of a delay.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 8:43 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
There is a display option to prevent the phone from doing this, could this have been activated by mistake?
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 6:21 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
There is never a change to a Landscape home screen layout when I rotate my vzw Galaxy Nexus 4.0.2. Inside apps, yes. Home screen / app drawer, no. Quite annoying. And it’s not influenced by the auto-rotation checkbox setting under “Display” either.
Xoom (Honeycomb) reorients to all four sides. Love that.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 10:19 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Weird, my friend’s Nexus doesn’t have that problem. Well, maybe not that weird. Android’s bugginess is well documented. I like my Galaxy Tab but if I get a smartphone anytime soon I don’t feel the need to go with Android.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 1:54 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Matias stresses that what we’re seeing today is a purely optional aid for Android designers, not something that Google will seek to enforce.
the phone companies aren’t going to do any of this fyi.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:25 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Well glad you already have that figured out. Matias addressed the issue about people adopting these tools. The more and more that apps do it, more and more developers will go along because the market will force them to. Users will come to expect a certain experience from an app within ICS and ones that do not adhere to the experience may be left behind.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:28 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
thats cool and all but the OEMs are still going to ruin the phones with their shitty skins.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:31 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The skins will be forbidden eventually. But not before Android has finished eating everybody else’s lunch, and has the strongest ecosystem.
Look at WP7, you cannot limit manufacturers like that from the start if you have no ecosystem or foothold in the market. They want to differentiate themselves. Once they are locked in – different story. But as I said: Finish lunch first before you have dinner, and at the moment there is still more than 40% of the lunch left to eat.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 7:10 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Going by the numbers that won’t ever happen. The reality of the market is that while Android as a whole has the largest market share it is not the most profitable, nor are the users worth as much $$ wise to developers.
There is no way Google can actually forbid skinning without running a high risk of losing all the OEMs except for Moto which they will own. As it is the only OEM that actually makes any money of note off of Android is Samsung.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 7:29 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Style Guide is good since it is like the HIG for iOS but Android needs a good IDE. XCode is amazing for developing iOS apps since all the documentation is there and it is easy to access. On the other hand Android forces people to use third party IDEs like eclipse which I hate. It would be beneficial if Android would have its own IDE to make developing apps much more seamless.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:42 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Oh please, just as many people hate XCode as they do Eclipse. Also, you’re not forced to use Eclipse for Android development you can always use IntelliJ, NetBeans and even Visual Studio if you’re doing NDK work Link
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 4:23 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Im not saying xcode is perfect, Im just saying that it is a more seamless experience than using a third party solution.
Posted on Jan 15, 2012 | 9:21 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Great news, Android desperately needs design unification.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:43 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Was the problem that developers and OEMs didn’t have a “guide,” or that they didn’t have “standards”? I think any competent programmer that uses Android knows how stock is designed. The problem is that it’s not enforced. This doesn’t change any of that. Perhaps it makes it easier to conform to Google’s style, if one wishes. That’s it.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:46 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Current advantage is, the Galaxy Nexus seems strong enough for most developers to make their Apps ICS compatible, and since they have the guarantee that it’ll work if they use Vanilla style and there is nothing other than that at the moment, chances are that most or many apps will conform to Vanilla ICS no matter what. Which will make the skins look even crappier in comparison, and might exert some market pressure on manufacturers that might force some or all of the ‘smaller’ players (Hey Sony!) to use Vanilla on devices.
Personally, I like the Windows take of competing through hardware, and its design.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 7:14 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
But remember, wasn’t it a spokesperson from Motorola that claimed carriers are the ones requesting skins and that they don’t want to sell a bunch of vanilla Android devices?
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 10:14 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Google NEED to enforce this. Otherwise, say hello to another round of awful generic skins from manufacturers. The Style Guide will be ignored. FACT
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:47 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Google makes some of the worst design decisions, especially in Android. I’d hate to see them force their wills upon devs.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 7:04 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m sure the market will enforce this. If you’re a professional developer you would be silly not to follow the guidelines. Emphasis on professional, though.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 4:27 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Nope. Quote:
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 10:15 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
If you’re a professional developer that is not following standard UI guidelines then you’re not really that much of a professional. The market will sort out the superior apps and the inferior apps.
Posted on Jan 14, 2012 | 5:04 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m glad there’s now design guidelines for Android, and I’m also glad Google won’t enforce it on everyone. What would be the point if every app looked identical to one another? If everything looked the same, there’d be no innovation. That’s why I’m also happy that some OEMs will probably ignore this can continue developing their TouchWiz or Sense UIs. Whilst I personnally don’t like Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, I do like HTC Sense and I’d taken anything over the default ugly Gingerbread UI. You can’t please everyone with one user experience. But that’s the great thing about Android and products built from Open Source methodologies: if you don’t like it, there’s room to modify, improve and create your own flavour of that platform.
People moan about Android fragmentation. Big deal, take a look at the hundreds of different GNU Linux distros out there and how many of them have applications that don’t work on other specific types of GNU Linux (BSD, Debian, etc). Then notice that because they’re Open Source, if there’s something missing in one operating system that is in the others a developer somewhere will scratch that itch and work on a solution.
People moaned that Android didn’t have a centric design and that user experience was bad, so Google have released design guidelines. But they’re exactly that: guidelines. They’re not enforced (which would be impossible to do anyway) because if someone things they can do better, they’re welcome to try. If they fail, and they end up creating a monstrosity that’s fine because nobody would end up using. It’s the freedom of choice.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:48 PM EST reply Recommend (11) Flag actions
Couldn’t have said it better.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:48 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
If you look at Windows desktop, the design guidelines:
- aren’t consistent. Some new version of Office tends to break whatever existing paradigm was initially in place, for example.
- aren’t consistently followed. Not all bits of the OS/apps are updated to new design guidelines. Some follow better than others… and that’s just MS’s own things… even more variance when it comes to 3rd party devs/companies.
I hope Android has a better strategy against this. But then again anything other than just providing a guideline feels a lot like forcing something on developers.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 8:09 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m not a frequent Windows user, and haven’t been for a few years now so I can’t say a lot about MS on that part but I see your point.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 8:45 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You completely miss the point, even if Google did enforce these design guidelines on everyone it wouldn’t mean that every app would have to look the same.
Design conventions just allow an OS to feel more cohesive and uniform, which doesn’t come at the sacrifice of uniqueness; look at iOS for an example of this.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 3:13 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Also, there are so many visually disgusting apps on Android that are actually useful (Tasker for example) that would be so much better if the developers just followed any sort of design guideline.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 3:15 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I can see your point, but I fear that if guidelines like this were forced on developers it would result in very samey looking apps. I’d say that a lot of apps I’ve seen on iOS have a very, very, very similar look & feel to them and there isn’t as much innovative design there as there could perhaps be. While having a similar look & feel can integrate into the OS nicely, I think that’s also fairly limiting.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 8:53 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Theirs TONS of innovative design on iOS, apps that look unique and beautiful while being cohesive with the OS it; it’s not a problem in the slighest. The apps you’re speaking of are made by people who otherwise without guidelines would just make an app that would look like pure garbage..better they make something vanilla than something like Tasker.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 11:38 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
That’s a balls-out-crazy statement. I don’t know what apps you’re looking at, but iOS has some of the most beautifully designed apps of all the mobile OSes. Often, when there’s a fanboy argument, Android apologists will claim that “lazy” devs port iOS to Android that are more concerned with aesthetics, but don’t work as well as they should (which is said in defense of Android’s uglier apps, or against popular iOS-only apps like Instagram).
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 3:43 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Is “impossible” the word you meant to use? Because it’s definitely not impossible. There are glaring examples to the contrary.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 10:16 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Yep, I meant to say impossible. Given that the Android market is open to anyone to submit an app I think it would be impossible to check if every single app met their guidelines. That’s different to iOS, where apps get approved individually as their submitted to the iOS app store. So unless the Android Market changes it’s app submission policy I can’t see how Google would check the guidelines of every single app submitted to the Market.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 10:42 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
But your assumption begs the question: there’s no reason Google couldn’t require these guidelines to be followed (no reason at all). They simply choose not to. Parroting the “open” marketing line makes it easier to forget that Google imposes standards whenever they see fit, and decline apps where they see fit.
That’s certainly not impossible. Not even close to impossible.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 11:44 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
That’s exactly what I was trying to say. Under the current Market place I can’t see it happening. If the Market changed and become Apple-esque then it’s certainly possible. As for Google removing apps where they see fit, I haven’t heard of a case where they’ve removed an app for the sake of removing an app, but I’ve seen & heard cases of apps being removed for good reason, like user reports of malware.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 2:42 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Yes, but you’re still begging the question. In the current Marketplace, it seems unlikely, but who decided that? This is Google’s Marketplace. There’s nothing stopping Google from doing what is in their best interest with their marketplace. They are choosing not to do this. It’s not “impossible.”
I said “as they see fit,” so a logic of some sort is implicit. The point is, it’s not Motorola’s Marketplace. It’s not Samsung’s Marketplace. It’s Google’s Marketplace. They make the rules. This is not “impossible,” not even a little bit.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 3:39 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
If most apps follow these guidelines then Carriers and OEMs would be forced to start following them too or else they will show a distinctly ununified UI. This simple step could go along way for Android.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:51 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
As a windows phone fan I will say this:
This is long overdue and welcome as it will help give android apps a more consistent and higher quality look. The main issue is will devs actually use these guidelines? I hope so
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:53 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I hope the Devs do, ICS is amazingly designed and it would be a shame to keep getting the current crop of visually mediocre apps
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 4:57 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This isn’t that important. Android is open and Manufactures will find ways to ruin the experience. I really wish Google controlled more :(
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:15 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Presumably this has to ‘change’ the ‘openness’ of Android
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:46 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I can’t stand this obsession with uniform design. I want developers to be free to do whatever they want. Whatever unique idea they come up with. Just imagine if all games had the same design. How boring would that be? Yet people seem to want all of their apps to have the same design. I don’t. I want them to whatever they think works best.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:15 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
i can see where google is heading, uniform design is not necessary, more like basic functions to be uniform….something like Esc on windows shows the direction to exit a program… but very rigid layout would be boring.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:18 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Agreed. But at the same time it can be sometimes frustrating to have to understand a new UI language for a single app ( e.g. finding the advance settings menu by a button, a swype, a long press, ..) Matias Duarte addresses this point saying that now they have guidelines, devs can consciously break them if they want/have a good reason. Instead of everybody doing random design for no particular reason!
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:28 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Agreed. But at the same time it can be sometimes frustrating to have to understand a new UI language for a single app ( e.g. finding the advance settings menu by a button, a swype, a long press, ..) Matias Duarte addresses this point saying that now they have guidelines, devs can consciously break them if they want/have a good reason. Instead of everybody doing random design for no particular reason!
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:30 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Sorry for double posting: I got an error 503 for few minutes.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:33 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Im all for a diverse range of app design, its the main OS that really annoys me. Android have finally made an OS that is as greatly designed as it is functional but manufacturer skins always seem to ruin the experience.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:26 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
One critically important bit of the design guidelines is the part where they tell developers to stop direct-porting iPhone UI to Android as if they’re the same thing. I’m shocked at how frequently I encounter an app where the developer has taken the time to port it to Android, but ignored all of Android’s UI conventions to make it look and act exactly like an iPhone app.
So yes, I’m all for developers straying from the standards when they have a good idea, but making an app that works like garbage on Android just because you have no idea what you’re doing is another thing entirely. The presence of a design guide will help these clueless devs to understand that there is a world outside of their personal iPhones and help them to make an app that looks and feels correct for the platform if that’s all they’re looking to do.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:45 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The reason you don’t understand it is because you’re probably not use to thinking of UI in design terms. Do you use a Windows computer? If so, open up Explorer. Then open up Firefox. Then open up Chrome. Then open up Microsoft word (or, really, any word processing app you have). Notice how different they all look? Then look on the upper-right hand side. Notice how every single one of these programs look the same in that spot? You can thank Windows’ Human Interface Guidelines for that. That’s what allows you to open any program at all and know, at a minimum, how to quit or minimize what you’re looking at, without having to think about it too much. Any program that violates that design in this context causes instant confusion and frustration. The beauty of well-implemented design is that you hardly even notice it.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 11:50 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Just like my god like body, Rome was not built in a day. :)
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:19 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
My question is why announce this now at CES?
I think the conversation went something like this.
“Guys, we’re getting #smokedbuywindowsphone! Do something!”
“I got it, a style guide.”
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:24 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend (4) Flag actions
Haha I concur!
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:27 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
So there is a God.
Jamie
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 5:43 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
It ought to be taken a step further. More built in framework code in the developer kit.
Make it an easy path to take a standard base App with all the preferred fonts, button placements, window transitions and so on, and add your own particular stuff.
I kind of disagree with the idea that Apps should all have their own unique User Interface.
I found on Windows that when a program did it’s own wacky window framing it was just annoying. It seemed a bit “wanky”. iTunes is guilty of this. You’re a Windows program, so lookand act like one!
Users like things to be comfortable and familiar. Buttons and menus working like they have learned from experience.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:05 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
They already did some of this (the framework code and API to call it) with the “Theme” UI elements that you can pull from the device itself and use in your app as of about 2.0 and above I believe. There was actually a nice article on it a week or so ago on the Android Dev blog that Google runs. It was mostly specific to ICS (Android 4.x) and the ‘Holo’ system theme, but gave examples for previous versions on how to call for those elements also (for backwards compatibility).
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:21 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
It’s a work in progress. I would like to see sample templates posted that demonstrate all of the UI and UX features and functionality. This would be a great base for new developers to begin with.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 4:33 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I just read through them, and they’re sort of impractical to follow. I mean, sure, some of these are general suggestions that are good advice for everyone, but a lot of this stuff requires that you build your app specifically for Android 4.0, which is just going to be radically impractical for another year or two.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:34 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I have never owned a touchscreen phone… I am able to experience iPhone and Android thru shops and friends’ phones and honestly that icon thing is getting trite. Yeah, i think iPhone is getting stagnant already (i hope not because of Jobs’ absence) and Android I think lacks originality. I think their interface is just a subpar iOS ripoff. They’re amateurish I guess when it comes to software development and how to effectively bring them to the market. I was looking at Android videos and got impressed. But when I got to actually experience it, it was meh. And it tends to slow down. Even the Google Nexus does and I thought “Is this what they call improvement?”
Now I don’t know why but I am excited by this Windows Phone and 8 development going on. I feel so excited about Microsoft and the direction they’re heading to. Starting from Windows 7, I got the impression that Microsoft is bringing in satellite-dish-sized ears and really working on what they hear from their users and I really like it. Windows 7 just made computing 70% easier for me than XP (skip Vista).
So there. I trust that Microsoft has this decades of experience in software development and deployment and they’re using it in the WP7 and W8 project. I am 80% inclined to getting a Lumia this year even if apps are still dearth.
And by the way. I tend to root for underdogs.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:47 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Great move by Google. Agree that they should have done this since Day 1, but I theorize that Google had no idea that Android would take off the way it did in 2008. They also obviously were not worried about creating a unique Android-is-Google identity for the OS. Their main focus was to make an open-source mobile OS as a contrast to where the mobile space was in 2008. I think they are finally wising up as they realize that their manufacturing partners are slapping them in the face with these skins that basically tell Google “we think we can make a better interface than you.”
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:51 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
From the Android design guide:
This is a 100% unironic paragraph from a design guide
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 6:52 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This is exactly the sort of thing that Apple design geeks hate about Android.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 11:53 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Running in the way to an integrated ecosystem, Android 4, the real change to the best
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 7:05 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
matias is trying to take the right steps with android given the state he
inherited it in when joining google. makes you wonder what he could
or would do with ios though it will never happen. still a positive move.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 7:46 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I appreciate what Duarte is trying to do here, but I doubt this will change anything. Design-wise, Android is too “open” to be reigned in at this point. You can’t have the best of both worlds, Google.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 8:37 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
As some have already said: Android has always had design guidelines. This is just an update.
They’ve been ignored forever and will probably continue to be until the dev tools make it incredibly easy to follow them.
Consider the icon design guidelines. They specifically state that icons shouldn’t be cropped images in boxes, and yet, majority of the icons on the market are iOS copycats with an image inside a rounded rectangle. Hell, even the Google+ icon ignores this rule.
It’s actually a little infuriating, because most of the rounded rectangles have different radii than eachother. Even more annoying is that icon design BEFORE iOS was almost always something other than a rounded rectangle.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 9:08 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
It’s more than just the tools though. The idea of using the guidelines is top down. If you allow the devs to ignore the guidelines odds are they will unless the culture around development for the platform says otherwise.
It is good that they released this. My fear is that it will be ignored because there is no real incentive to use it since there is no way they will enforce it. The OEMs gain advantage by doing whatever they want in this case.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 11:37 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Before Matius moved to Google he worked a beautifully complicated little thing called WebOS. The advances made with Android are lessons learned by dealing with WebOS. This is a step in the right direction. It’s a must. I’m sure he’s laid eyes on ENYO… I’m not surprised by this move from Google and Matius.
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 | 10:41 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Doesn’t matter much although a nice move. Google don’t really have control over what OEMs and carriers do with Android.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 3:54 AM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
They mentioned they had to leave out a lot of the new and exciting things out of ICS to meet the schedule, I can’t wait to see what they introduce from a UI and UX perspective in the next release. This should be good.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 4:35 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
doesn’t this completely go against what android stood for….
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 7:55 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Times change. What Android stands for, may be different from what it stood for.
Android was rushed out as an attempt to stem the iOS tide. Now that it has accomplished this, it needs to work better with its rather large adoption base.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 9:25 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This is a huge step in the right direction. Now the REAL issue is the horrible developer tools. It’s unbelievably annoying to wait 20-30 minutes for an emulator to boot up, only to find that it locks up and is slow as molasses.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 9:33 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
So Android is trying to give people similar experiences on future android phones, similar to what MS has done with Windows Phones, Cool but i don’t know if all the people that put down windows phone and iPhone for always for not giving people an almost completely different experience depending on what phone you were using are going to like that very much, but i think it’s a good idea to keep ICS as is for the most part.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 10:31 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Google i mean
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 10:32 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Finally! Matias is a great guy. He sure know his stuff.
Posted on Jan 13, 2012 | 12:05 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
“user experience” and “android” in the same sentence
what an oxymoron ;)
Posted on Jan 15, 2012 | 12:05 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This is worthless since we already know almost every Android handset maker refuses to give us a pure Android phone. They will skin every phone they make and the Android phone market will have but one, MAYBE two pure ICS phones. So given almost every single phone will have a custom skin, what good are these guidelines? Who is this for? Seems to me there is a huge disconnect between Google and what’s really going on out there. Does Matias really think anyone will see his beautiful ICS? lol….
Posted on Jan 16, 2012 | 7:46 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
“All the instructions will be made available on a new website — Android Design…” That’s a hoot!
Should be called oxymoron.com
Posted on Jan 17, 2012 | 9:12 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
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