I think most of these are fun, and relatively harmless. And I think showing a spatial connection between states by having elements move is very useful. However

I think most of these are fun, and relatively harmless. And I think showing a spatial connection between states by having elements move is very useful. However, the ones that involve new UI elements moving into place are all slightly too slow: almost all of them would get annoying to use once you were familiar with the app: you'd end up feeling like you had to wait before you could tap. Add an increasingly-behind-spec phone (don't they always seem to be?) and the delays would get truly aggravating.