I think animations are pretty useful for some touchscreen UIs, for example if you have a menu that can be swiped away, or to attract attention to things that ha

I think animations are pretty useful for some touchscreen UIs, for example if you have a menu that can be swiped away, or to attract attention to things that happen without user interaction. The only issue is a lack of consistency. Also, animations can hide load times while making things seem fast (see iOS app opening animation)