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I think many iPhone fans see WP7 as an attempt to innovate, whereas Android seems more like an attempt to imitate (of course, Android has had many innovations a

by gnaffle 14y ago

I think many iPhone fans see WP7 as an attempt to innovate, whereas Android seems more like an attempt to imitate (of course, Android has had many innovations as well). Apple made the first usable and popular touchscreen smartphone, and Androids success is largely due to the fact that Google recognized this and quickly repositioned Android, and I think that's pretty evident by looking at the evolution of the Android OS. The original Android prototypes didn't look very innovative, they looked like imitations of Symbian or WM6.

kelnos 14y ago
I think many iPhone fans see WP7 as an attempt to innovate, whereas Android seems more like an attempt to imitate (of course, Android has had many innovations as well). So what? At the end of the day I care that my phone works well and in a way that makes sense to me. I don't care whether or not it's a "copy" of another user interface.
wmil 14y ago
The iPhone UI looks a lot like an updated Palm Tungsten T3, I'm not sure how innovative it actually was.
- Xuzz 14y ago
  The major innovation was the scrolling: none of the previous touchscreen phones had smooth, natural, physics-based scrolling on a capacitive (e.g. finger, not fingernail) touchscreen. The home screen is a prettier version of the Palm OS one, and much of the UI is similar, although it feels a lot more natural with animations and without a desktop-style menu bar.
  - pedalpete 14y ago
    Are better scrolling and natural animations really innovation? It's much more of a progression. Touchscreen is the same? I believe the quality of touchscreens weren't good enough before 1997.
    - Xuzz 14y ago
      Yes, they are. It's what changes the device from a standard computer (with an indirect interface) into direct manipulation of objects on a screen. With Palm OS-style scrollbars or desktop scroll wheels, you are manipulating an object that affects something else. With iOS-style scrolling, there is nothing to learn. That's one of the biggest issues with Android (and, conversely, one of the advantages of Windows Phone and iOS): because Android has not been able to match the fluid scrolling and realistic physics, it breaks the illusion of physicality that the original iPhone managed to first create in 2007.

by gnaffle 14y ago

kelnos 14y ago

I think many iPhone fans see WP7 as an attempt to innovate, whereas Android seems more like an attempt to imitate (of course, Android has had many innovations as well). So what? At the end of the day I care that my phone works well and in a way that makes sense to me. I don't care whether or not it's a "copy" of another user interface.

wmil 14y ago

The iPhone UI looks a lot like an updated Palm Tungsten T3, I'm not sure how innovative it actually was.

Xuzz 14y ago
The major innovation was the scrolling: none of the previous touchscreen phones had smooth, natural, physics-based scrolling on a capacitive (e.g. finger, not fingernail) touchscreen. The home screen is a prettier version of the Palm OS one, and much of the UI is similar, although it feels a lot more natural with animations and without a desktop-style menu bar.
- pedalpete 14y ago
  Are better scrolling and natural animations really innovation? It's much more of a progression. Touchscreen is the same? I believe the quality of touchscreens weren't good enough before 1997.
  - Xuzz 14y ago
    Yes, they are. It's what changes the device from a standard computer (with an indirect interface) into direct manipulation of objects on a screen. With Palm OS-style scrollbars or desktop scroll wheels, you are manipulating an object that affects something else. With iOS-style scrolling, there is nothing to learn. That's one of the biggest issues with Android (and, conversely, one of the advantages of Windows Phone and iOS): because Android has not been able to match the fluid scrolling and realistic physics, it breaks the illusion of physicality that the original iPhone managed to first create in 2007.