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"Because almost every single widget is that way." Pure unadulterated BS. Carry on. Edit: The mod down is funny. So "almost every" Android widget has "far to

"Because almost every single widget is that way." Pure unadulterated BS. Carry on. Edit: The mod down is funny. So "almost every" Android widget has "far too attention grabbing and obtrusive- silly animations of clouds moving in front of a sun, nonsense like that" now? Almost every single one? Because that's what he said. I actually have several Android devices and it is absolutely not true that almost every widget is like that. And furthermore, who says weather widgets with the sun and clouds and whatever else are silly? There are a lot of people that actually like those widgets and it seems a bit arrogant to condescend their tastes just because you think you know better. This brand of partisan hate and mod-bombing is why I avoid the comment section on almost every tech site these days.

untog 14y ago
Don't make me out to be some sort of fanboy- I am an Android user myself. I'm not particularly interested in unduely bashing the platform. But I don't see how you can possible argue against the fact that Android has, far and away, the weakest UI out of iOS, Android and WP. That isn't always the case- the Gmail app, for instance, is fantastic. So is Maps. On the third party side, so is the new beta of Spotify. But the vast, vast majority of apps are not. And that carries through to widgets as well. As I said, I don't know exactly why that is- poor guidelines on Google's party, bad tools, I don't know. But Android is hugely inconsistent.
- hammersend 14y ago
  The only thing I was arguing against is the completely false claim that "almost all" Android widgets "silly" "attention grabbing" "obtrusive" etc. That is not even remotely true unless I am just the luckiest widget picker in the world. Maybe you are going off the widgets that HTC and Samsung ship with their skins. Yes, those widgets are garrish but it's just like how the TV's in the showroom will be cranked up to maximum brightness and saturation. It looks good in the store next to the other guy (I suppose). The widgets I have downloaded off the market including AK Notepad, Aldiko, Apollo, BTMono, Connectbot, Drive, Dropbox, Elixir, Engadget, Evernote, Flashlight, Google Play Music, gReader, Google Voice, Juice Defender and on and on, none of them have the behavior and appearance you are decrying. As far as your question of why Android apps look like crap sometimes I would imagine that devs have an easier time making money in the iOS app store so they make a larger effort polishing the apps that they put in there. Some apps are exactly the same between Android and iOS like Pulse. Some apps have a better iOS counterpart like the Engadget app. And of course, some very similar apps have better Android versions like gReader vs. Feedler. I have devices that run iOS, Android and Windows Phone and for many reasons, I use my Android devices 90 percent of the time and the 10 percent of the time I use the other stuff it has nothing to do with the quality of the apps.

untog 14y ago

Don't make me out to be some sort of fanboy- I am an Android user myself. I'm not particularly interested in unduely bashing the platform. But I don't see how you can possible argue against the fact that Android has, far and away, the weakest UI out of iOS, Android and WP. That isn't always the case- the Gmail app, for instance, is fantastic. So is Maps. On the third party side, so is the new beta of Spotify. But the vast, vast majority of apps are not. And that carries through to widgets as well. As I said, I don't know exactly why that is- poor guidelines on Google's party, bad tools, I don't know. But Android is hugely inconsistent.

hammersend 14y ago
The only thing I was arguing against is the completely false claim that "almost all" Android widgets "silly" "attention grabbing" "obtrusive" etc. That is not even remotely true unless I am just the luckiest widget picker in the world. Maybe you are going off the widgets that HTC and Samsung ship with their skins. Yes, those widgets are garrish but it's just like how the TV's in the showroom will be cranked up to maximum brightness and saturation. It looks good in the store next to the other guy (I suppose). The widgets I have downloaded off the market including AK Notepad, Aldiko, Apollo, BTMono, Connectbot, Drive, Dropbox, Elixir, Engadget, Evernote, Flashlight, Google Play Music, gReader, Google Voice, Juice Defender and on and on, none of them have the behavior and appearance you are decrying. As far as your question of why Android apps look like crap sometimes I would imagine that devs have an easier time making money in the iOS app store so they make a larger effort polishing the apps that they put in there. Some apps are exactly the same between Android and iOS like Pulse. Some apps have a better iOS counterpart like the Engadget app. And of course, some very similar apps have better Android versions like gReader vs. Feedler. I have devices that run iOS, Android and Windows Phone and for many reasons, I use my Android devices 90 percent of the time and the 10 percent of the time I use the other stuff it has nothing to do with the quality of the apps.