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Can we just take a moment and applaud the Android team for evolving the Android UI to a point where it actually looks fresher and more modern than iOS? Android

Can we just take a moment and applaud the Android team for evolving the Android UI to a point where it actually looks fresher and more modern than iOS? Android looked like a dumpsterfire and a poor-man's iOS for 10 years but now... who would've thought Google would outmuscle Apple in the design arena? It was unthinkable a couple of years ago. Apple got complacent and Google pounced.

sgt 4y ago
Not sure if you are joking. Beating Apple on design? They have a way to go.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  Personally I think iOS design is garbage and patronizing to the user, and finds every possible way to hide what you actually want to do. It's absurd how hard it is to find out how to do something on an Apple built OS, especially as they used to be so easy to function and navigate in the early iOS days, to help everyone get onto smartphones. Android doesn't baby me like that but has millions of other giant problems.
  - wiseowise 4y ago
    Patronizing how?
  - znpy 4y ago
    You know what? Both android and iOS won’t let you change dns server for mobile data. They’re both patronising to the user, in my opinion.
    - h4waii 4y ago
      You can now set Private DNS on Android, that's at least handy, and I think you can achieve the same thing on iOS through VPN settings or "Encrypted DNS".
nightski 4y ago
Spotted the Google employee! No seriously though this couldn't be farther from the truth. My wife has the latest galaxy phone running android and the experience is just abysmal compared to iOS. I am a long time android user that recently converted to iOS and I'll never go back. It's leagues better. I am no Apple fan either, but even less of a Google fan at this point.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- microtonal 4y ago
  My wife got a high-end Android phone for work (she just put the SIM card in her iPhone, which her employer allows). Of course, I couldn't resist playing with it. Besides what you say, I was also surprised how laggy rending of animations, etc. was. I kinda expected that they'd have solved it by now.
  - jayd16 4y ago
    Which animations? Personally, I just think the default transitions are always too slow. I enable debug tools and crank them up to half speed. The phone ends up feeling much faster even though its just animation speed.
    - 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
      Agreed. 1.0x animation speed feels like molasses. 0.5x animation speed feels like it ought to be the default.
- izacus 4y ago
  Samsung phones have customised UI which is significantly different than what this Android 13 Pixel rollout looks like. You and the OP aren't talking about the same thing.
  - curiousgal 4y ago
conradfr 4y ago
Real question for people who use it, do you like it? I have an old OnePlus that need to be changed but I look at that sad yellow-ish absurdly rounded UI with bland icons and I just want to postpone my purchase until the Android design team wants a bonus and rediscovers colours and shapes and change everything once again. (I'll admit that I'm someone who frequently launches the wrong app because nowadays the icons are all round and blue)
- izacus 4y ago
  > Real question for people who use it, do you like it? I was a bit annoyed at first. But... like most major redesigns, it came to grow on me. To the point where pre-12 Android now looks kinda dated. Better animations, smoother experience, more contrast and more colors fit the OS well I think. The only thing I regret is that my personal Samsung phone didn't pick up on the design language - OneUI is much more conservative and, IMO, less attractive to look at. It follows iOS cues a bit too much.
- enragedcacti 4y ago
  A big part of android 12 and now 13 is "Material You", which is their name for the design language + color customization throughout the OS. I agree that the yellow color is awful but that's not the standard. You can also disable the color-theming on the icons entirely if you want to and it will default to the full color originals.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
  I have Android 13 on my Pixel 4 and I like it.
- iamevn 4y ago
  I dislike the huge padding in the UI and the loss of transparency but more than that I'm annoyed that they removed things I used frequently like the separate wifi and mobile data toggles in the quick settings pulldown. Now it's an extra tap and a long animation to use functionality I frequently need because I don't live in a place where I get an ideal signal.
CraigRood 4y ago
Personally I disagree. I've been using iPhone for 13 years, I have complaints sure, but it works. I got an Android Samsung Galaxy thing earlier this year as a work device - primarily to offload Teams, email etc of my personal device. The phone itself is good, hardware feels modern, but the Android 12 OS is just poor from top to bottom. It took far too long to work out some of the most basic features. Even today I find myself getting slightly lost or confused when looking for some hidden setting. Windows 10, OSX, iOS, you can search battery and go into the battery menu... my galaxy doesn't do that. I'm sure someone will tell me the Samsung version of Android isn't the real Android or some bollocks, but really, Android needs some serious work and little UI/UX tweaks wont cut it. The experience has shown me that my 4 year old iPhone is far more modern than a latest Android.
- unethical_ban 4y ago
  > Windows 10, OSX, iOS, you can search battery and go into the battery menu... my galaxy doesn't do that. You have a malfunctioning Samsung device then. I go to settings, search battery, and choose the first result which takes me to the battery menu.
  - bobviolier 4y ago
    Either that or search in the app drawer (at least on a pixel)
  - Yhippa 4y ago
    Agreed, this is definitely in there. Not sure what PP was talking about.
- bobviolier 4y ago
  My anecdotal experience is that the things you are talking about have way more to do with what you are used to then what is "better". At this point I don't think either is that much better or worse the the other. For one I have your exact same feeling when using an iPhone. And I know it's not because it's bad, it's just completely different than what I have been using for many many years. (And yes, i can just go to the app drawer, type "battery" an find the battery settings)
wiseowise 4y ago
Is this sarcasm?
tomjen3 4y ago
iOS has looked like shit since iOS 7, with its flat design. I picked up a device with iOS 6 and marvelled at how beautiful the design was. Android needs only to give up the flat material design to beat iOS entirely on the design front. And yes I use Apple.

sgt 4y ago

Not sure if you are joking. Beating Apple on design? They have a way to go.

mrguyorama 4y ago
Personally I think iOS design is garbage and patronizing to the user, and finds every possible way to hide what you actually want to do. It's absurd how hard it is to find out how to do something on an Apple built OS, especially as they used to be so easy to function and navigate in the early iOS days, to help everyone get onto smartphones. Android doesn't baby me like that but has millions of other giant problems.
- wiseowise 4y ago
  Patronizing how?
- znpy 4y ago
  You know what? Both android and iOS won’t let you change dns server for mobile data. They’re both patronising to the user, in my opinion.
  - h4waii 4y ago
    You can now set Private DNS on Android, that's at least handy, and I think you can achieve the same thing on iOS through VPN settings or "Encrypted DNS".

nightski 4y ago

Spotted the Google employee! No seriously though this couldn't be farther from the truth. My wife has the latest galaxy phone running android and the experience is just abysmal compared to iOS. I am a long time android user that recently converted to iOS and I'll never go back. It's leagues better. I am no Apple fan either, but even less of a Google fan at this point.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
microtonal 4y ago
My wife got a high-end Android phone for work (she just put the SIM card in her iPhone, which her employer allows). Of course, I couldn't resist playing with it. Besides what you say, I was also surprised how laggy rending of animations, etc. was. I kinda expected that they'd have solved it by now.
- jayd16 4y ago
  Which animations? Personally, I just think the default transitions are always too slow. I enable debug tools and crank them up to half speed. The phone ends up feeling much faster even though its just animation speed.
  - 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
    Agreed. 1.0x animation speed feels like molasses. 0.5x animation speed feels like it ought to be the default.
izacus 4y ago
Samsung phones have customised UI which is significantly different than what this Android 13 Pixel rollout looks like. You and the OP aren't talking about the same thing.
- curiousgal 4y ago

conradfr 4y ago

Real question for people who use it, do you like it? I have an old OnePlus that need to be changed but I look at that sad yellow-ish absurdly rounded UI with bland icons and I just want to postpone my purchase until the Android design team wants a bonus and rediscovers colours and shapes and change everything once again. (I'll admit that I'm someone who frequently launches the wrong app because nowadays the icons are all round and blue)

izacus 4y ago
> Real question for people who use it, do you like it? I was a bit annoyed at first. But... like most major redesigns, it came to grow on me. To the point where pre-12 Android now looks kinda dated. Better animations, smoother experience, more contrast and more colors fit the OS well I think. The only thing I regret is that my personal Samsung phone didn't pick up on the design language - OneUI is much more conservative and, IMO, less attractive to look at. It follows iOS cues a bit too much.
enragedcacti 4y ago
A big part of android 12 and now 13 is "Material You", which is their name for the design language + color customization throughout the OS. I agree that the yellow color is awful but that's not the standard. You can also disable the color-theming on the icons entirely if you want to and it will default to the full color originals.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
I have Android 13 on my Pixel 4 and I like it.
iamevn 4y ago
I dislike the huge padding in the UI and the loss of transparency but more than that I'm annoyed that they removed things I used frequently like the separate wifi and mobile data toggles in the quick settings pulldown. Now it's an extra tap and a long animation to use functionality I frequently need because I don't live in a place where I get an ideal signal.

CraigRood 4y ago

Personally I disagree. I've been using iPhone for 13 years, I have complaints sure, but it works. I got an Android Samsung Galaxy thing earlier this year as a work device - primarily to offload Teams, email etc of my personal device. The phone itself is good, hardware feels modern, but the Android 12 OS is just poor from top to bottom. It took far too long to work out some of the most basic features. Even today I find myself getting slightly lost or confused when looking for some hidden setting. Windows 10, OSX, iOS, you can search battery and go into the battery menu... my galaxy doesn't do that. I'm sure someone will tell me the Samsung version of Android isn't the real Android or some bollocks, but really, Android needs some serious work and little UI/UX tweaks wont cut it. The experience has shown me that my 4 year old iPhone is far more modern than a latest Android.

unethical_ban 4y ago
> Windows 10, OSX, iOS, you can search battery and go into the battery menu... my galaxy doesn't do that. You have a malfunctioning Samsung device then. I go to settings, search battery, and choose the first result which takes me to the battery menu.
- bobviolier 4y ago
  Either that or search in the app drawer (at least on a pixel)
- Yhippa 4y ago
  Agreed, this is definitely in there. Not sure what PP was talking about.
bobviolier 4y ago
My anecdotal experience is that the things you are talking about have way more to do with what you are used to then what is "better". At this point I don't think either is that much better or worse the the other. For one I have your exact same feeling when using an iPhone. And I know it's not because it's bad, it's just completely different than what I have been using for many many years. (And yes, i can just go to the app drawer, type "battery" an find the battery settings)

wiseowise 4y ago

Is this sarcasm?

tomjen3 4y ago

iOS has looked like shit since iOS 7, with its flat design. I picked up a device with iOS 6 and marvelled at how beautiful the design was. Android needs only to give up the flat material design to beat iOS entirely on the design front. And yes I use Apple.