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I've got to say, I've had high hope for ICS, both as a user and developer but this OS looks extremely disappointing. From a user perspective, the interface is

I've got to say, I've had high hope for ICS, both as a user and developer but this OS looks extremely disappointing. From a user perspective, the interface is super cluttered. Its like Windows, just a screen full of icons and battery-eating widgets. http://thisismynext.com/2011/10/18/galaxy-nexus-android-ice-cream-sandwich-pictures-video-hands-on/ http://thisismynext.com/2011/10/18/galaxy-nexus-android-ice-... Check the video out on the link. Watch how long it takes him just to find the camera for the demonstration--at first he doesnt even know which way to go. Its just too much for a phone if you ask me. Even with its oversized screen the Nexus looked crowded. Its not a tablet--less is more. Furthermore, as a developer I dont like this descision to keep apps running even when you side-swipe them out of the 'active-app' list. Google reps claim that Android can handle resources well enough that we never need to worry about completely closing any app but if you ask me that sounds suspect. If resources are that plentiful and the OS is still completely open-source then its only a matter of time until this is exploited and the phone starts to lag. And if something does go wrong in an app I apparently can't kill it? I just see a number of problems down the road. Very disappointed.

kalleboo 15y ago
Too cluttered? If you can't find the camera icon on a screen with a clock and 6 icons (4 of which are in a row), how the heck are you going to find the camera icon in a grid of 12 icons that all have the exact same shape? I find iOS's homescreen extremely cluttered and VERY frustrating to use.
- camdykeman 15y ago
  I suppose my point was that iOS keeps things reasonably simply--they have a swipe-down notifications window now, you can scan back and forth through home-screen panels and you can access your apps list. ICS now has the home-screen x666 panels, your apps list, a seperate tab for widgets and another mess of panels, the new people window, your list of recent apps, a home button, a back button, twelve-hundred other buttons (all of which can be reassigned by any running application), blah blah blah. I know I'm obviously exaggerating, my point is the OS shouldnt promote the kind of clutter that I'm seeing in what should be a clean-cut OS-release demo.
jsight 15y ago
> If resources are that plentiful and the OS is still completely open-source then its only a matter of time until this is exploited and the phone starts to lag. It's really not a function of plentiful resources. It's that the contract only allows applications to keep running, it doesn't guarantee it. So if resources are a bit low, Android has the right to kill -9 any background process. In Android 2.2+ this actually works really well, in my experience. I do agree with your other points, though. Matias Duarte is good at making it pretty, but his designs tend to be quite cluttered and complicated, IMO. I wish they would focus on simplifying and making the interface more welcoming.
- camdykeman 15y ago
  I've still found that running multiple applications starts to cause touch-events to go unnoticed, swiping to jump around, etc. But to your credit my experience may be a fault of the device rather than the OS itself. I know dalvik is a good resource manager and all, i just tend on the side of caution i guess. Some peoples' apps try to manipulate the OS in strange ways.
kgen 15y ago
To be fair, human memory and attention span is much smaller than that of the system so I imagine the curation is more useful mentally than technically? Same reason that once in a while, I purge my 20 or so odd open browser/ide tabs.
yohui 15y ago
Funnily enough, the camera app was right there on the first home screen. He literally swiped right past it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6QbAX_E3-k&feature=player_embedded#t=109s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6QbAX_E3-k&feature=playe... You can also access the camera from the lock screen. I'm not sure that's a good example of how the interface is difficult to navigate, actually, rather than of how easy it is to fumble a demonstration.
tullidil 15y ago
I'd argue that an interface is only as cluttered as a user allows it to be. Plenty of people I know own iPhones with similarly cluttered home screens. You point out how the guy in the video takes a while to find the camera but I've had that exact problem looking for it on friends' iPhones, and that's knowing exactly what the icon looks like. Any interface can be made cluttered given a bad enough user. I'm not a developer, just a 4th year CS student who doesn't even own an Android handset yet, but I do agree about how apps being kept running even when side-swiped away is kind of troublesome. It would be nice of we were offered some sort of option as to whether we'd like to permanently close it - but that distinction and its effects are probably lost to a majority of handset users, and is probably Google's justification.
- camdykeman 15y ago
  You're right, any sloppy user can make a mess of the iPhone interface. But as a mobile platform, the OS shouldnt promote sloppiness and with all its tabs and panels and pages in addition to all the physical buttons already present. The VM that Android runs on, as is pointed out in another comment, is designed to kill off processes if it needs resources. Either way, its never been a selling point of Android for me, personally.
  - tensor 15y ago
    I am under the impression that iOS works the same way in that it closes off apps it doesn't need. The only difference is that it enforces a stronger save state feature. Is this not correct?

kalleboo 15y ago

Too cluttered? If you can't find the camera icon on a screen with a clock and 6 icons (4 of which are in a row), how the heck are you going to find the camera icon in a grid of 12 icons that all have the exact same shape? I find iOS's homescreen extremely cluttered and VERY frustrating to use.

camdykeman 15y ago
I suppose my point was that iOS keeps things reasonably simply--they have a swipe-down notifications window now, you can scan back and forth through home-screen panels and you can access your apps list. ICS now has the home-screen x666 panels, your apps list, a seperate tab for widgets and another mess of panels, the new people window, your list of recent apps, a home button, a back button, twelve-hundred other buttons (all of which can be reassigned by any running application), blah blah blah. I know I'm obviously exaggerating, my point is the OS shouldnt promote the kind of clutter that I'm seeing in what should be a clean-cut OS-release demo.

jsight 15y ago

> If resources are that plentiful and the OS is still completely open-source then its only a matter of time until this is exploited and the phone starts to lag. It's really not a function of plentiful resources. It's that the contract only allows applications to keep running, it doesn't guarantee it. So if resources are a bit low, Android has the right to kill -9 any background process. In Android 2.2+ this actually works really well, in my experience. I do agree with your other points, though. Matias Duarte is good at making it pretty, but his designs tend to be quite cluttered and complicated, IMO. I wish they would focus on simplifying and making the interface more welcoming.

camdykeman 15y ago
I've still found that running multiple applications starts to cause touch-events to go unnoticed, swiping to jump around, etc. But to your credit my experience may be a fault of the device rather than the OS itself. I know dalvik is a good resource manager and all, i just tend on the side of caution i guess. Some peoples' apps try to manipulate the OS in strange ways.

kgen 15y ago

To be fair, human memory and attention span is much smaller than that of the system so I imagine the curation is more useful mentally than technically? Same reason that once in a while, I purge my 20 or so odd open browser/ide tabs.

yohui 15y ago

Funnily enough, the camera app was right there on the first home screen. He literally swiped right past it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6QbAX_E3-k&feature=player_embedded#t=109s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6QbAX_E3-k&feature=playe... You can also access the camera from the lock screen. I'm not sure that's a good example of how the interface is difficult to navigate, actually, rather than of how easy it is to fumble a demonstration.

tullidil 15y ago

I'd argue that an interface is only as cluttered as a user allows it to be. Plenty of people I know own iPhones with similarly cluttered home screens. You point out how the guy in the video takes a while to find the camera but I've had that exact problem looking for it on friends' iPhones, and that's knowing exactly what the icon looks like. Any interface can be made cluttered given a bad enough user. I'm not a developer, just a 4th year CS student who doesn't even own an Android handset yet, but I do agree about how apps being kept running even when side-swiped away is kind of troublesome. It would be nice of we were offered some sort of option as to whether we'd like to permanently close it - but that distinction and its effects are probably lost to a majority of handset users, and is probably Google's justification.

camdykeman 15y ago
You're right, any sloppy user can make a mess of the iPhone interface. But as a mobile platform, the OS shouldnt promote sloppiness and with all its tabs and panels and pages in addition to all the physical buttons already present. The VM that Android runs on, as is pointed out in another comment, is designed to kill off processes if it needs resources. Either way, its never been a selling point of Android for me, personally.
- tensor 15y ago
  I am under the impression that iOS works the same way in that it closes off apps it doesn't need. The only difference is that it enforces a stronger save state feature. Is this not correct?