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The article does not only rely on rumors and leaks, but on previous iPhone versions. When you think about it, Apple has copied a lot of features (Notification D

The article does not only rely on rumors and leaks, but on previous iPhone versions. When you think about it, Apple has copied a lot of features (Notification Drawer, Interactive Lockscreen, Social Network integration, etc.) from Android, and it is true that the UI has not changed since 2007. The latter point is the reason why I switched from iOS to Android a while ago, it becomes boring to use an iPhone, no novelty, no surprise. It works, is probably more reliable and stable than Android, but it is damn boring, and surprise/excitement are what matter for me.

digitalengineer 14y ago
You have a point. Me, I like things that don't get in the way of the tasks I'm trying to perform. I like it if complex things are presented on a simple and predictable way. Whenever I use my friends Android I'm always looking for how to do something. Swipe up? Down? Left or right to find some functionality. Not much consistency around the OS and Apps. I do think this will change for Android and it'll be more like Apple now that android has the new User Interface Guidelines http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/index.html http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/i...
- moystard 14y ago
  I think your point was valid before the release of Android 4.0 (ICS). It brought proper design guidelines and a common UI pattern for applications, and the experience now looks polished compared to 2.3 and below. What I love about it is that they don't enforce the rules as does Apple, they consider that if users don't like your UI or the user experience you propose, they will simply uninstall your app and you will be the loser, not the platform. What you could blame ICS for was that the user interface was not always as smooth as it should have been, but JB has fixed the issue with Triple Buffering, and VSYNC (the famous project butter) and now Android just looks and feels great. Give it a try if you have the occasion.
  - digitalengineer 14y ago
    Yes it was before ICS (4.0). The entire experience was horrible and I was asked to help out the person using it because even the easiest things proved difficult. Her phone can't update even though it's about a year old now. Sigh... I've just seen the Xtreamer Mobile (Android) teaser. Looks good. Standard Root Access, dual sim and more.
georgespencer 14y ago
Point of order: notifications owe far more to Palm than they do to Android. The engineer who developed them was hired away from Palm. > it becomes boring to use an iPhone, no novelty, no surprise Apple will always face this sort of criticism because: 1. Geeks do want novelty/surprises/the ability to tinker. 2. Geeks are a minority of customers in the real world. 3. Geeks are a majority in those who are vocal online. A lot of people I know won't use an iPhone because it's "closed" or, back before the 4, because it didn't have a dual core processor. Meanwhile, millions of people who for years craved stability, reliability and simple UX design continue to buy, use and love iPhones every year. Lyons is a troll. We should be above feeding trolls on HN.
caleb 14y ago
Can you provide some more detail on how Apple "copied a lot of features (Notification Drawer, Interactive Lockscreen, Social Network integration, etc.)"? None of these features seem to appear, at least explicitly, on my iPhone 4 with iOS 5.
- glenra 14y ago
  Assuming you're current on OS updates, swipe down from above the top of the screen to view the Notification Center. You can configure what shows up there via Settings:Notifications. Apple's original UI for presenting notifications was kind of terrible, the new way is better, and the new way was probably inspired by the android way to do it. Interactive Lockscreen: seems like a miss. People with jailbroken iPhones or who have installed certain hacky third-party apps (eg, an app called "Lock Screen Weather") get an interactive lockscreen - otherwise the only thing from Apple that seems vaguely related is the "swipe up for photos" shortcut. Social Network: Apple added "twitter integration" with iOS5, but you wouldn't notice that unless you use twitter. If you do, the main thing that changed was that you no longer have to log into twitter explicitly all the time, and there is a "tweet" option added to various app panels. It's not a particularly significant feature and it's questionable whether "copied from Android" is a fair characterization.
  - nitrogen 14y ago
    It's not a particularly significant feature and it's questionable whether "copied from Android" is a fair characterization. Of course, one could say the same thing about many of the things Apple is suing over.
    - glenra 14y ago
      I think you're missing some context. In the case of that one feature if Apple HAD "copied from Android" it would probably have been better than what they actually did. What Apple did (in iOS 5) was integrate with ONE specific social network, Twitter, working directly with that company to accomplish this. What Android did if I understand correctly was make a general service available for sharing to things like social networks generally. I don't think Apple has (yet) copied that feature at all. (I could be wrong, because the parent poster's comment was vague, made in passing, and not since elaborated.) I don't think it's questionable at all that Samsung copied its "trade dress" from Apple, just as it had earlier copied from Blackberry. Or that they explicitly copied lots of specific features from Apple. (Though I agree that we might be better off with less protection against that sort of copying. The world would not be a better place if McDonald's had been able to patent the idea of a drive-through window (or buy the patent for it from someone else) and then charge all other fast-food restaurants an arbitrary fee to license the patent portfolio.)

digitalengineer 14y ago

You have a point. Me, I like things that don't get in the way of the tasks I'm trying to perform. I like it if complex things are presented on a simple and predictable way. Whenever I use my friends Android I'm always looking for how to do something. Swipe up? Down? Left or right to find some functionality. Not much consistency around the OS and Apps. I do think this will change for Android and it'll be more like Apple now that android has the new User Interface Guidelines http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/index.html http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/i...

moystard 14y ago
I think your point was valid before the release of Android 4.0 (ICS). It brought proper design guidelines and a common UI pattern for applications, and the experience now looks polished compared to 2.3 and below. What I love about it is that they don't enforce the rules as does Apple, they consider that if users don't like your UI or the user experience you propose, they will simply uninstall your app and you will be the loser, not the platform. What you could blame ICS for was that the user interface was not always as smooth as it should have been, but JB has fixed the issue with Triple Buffering, and VSYNC (the famous project butter) and now Android just looks and feels great. Give it a try if you have the occasion.
- digitalengineer 14y ago
  Yes it was before ICS (4.0). The entire experience was horrible and I was asked to help out the person using it because even the easiest things proved difficult. Her phone can't update even though it's about a year old now. Sigh... I've just seen the Xtreamer Mobile (Android) teaser. Looks good. Standard Root Access, dual sim and more.

georgespencer 14y ago

Point of order: notifications owe far more to Palm than they do to Android. The engineer who developed them was hired away from Palm. > it becomes boring to use an iPhone, no novelty, no surprise Apple will always face this sort of criticism because: 1. Geeks do want novelty/surprises/the ability to tinker. 2. Geeks are a minority of customers in the real world. 3. Geeks are a majority in those who are vocal online. A lot of people I know won't use an iPhone because it's "closed" or, back before the 4, because it didn't have a dual core processor. Meanwhile, millions of people who for years craved stability, reliability and simple UX design continue to buy, use and love iPhones every year. Lyons is a troll. We should be above feeding trolls on HN.

caleb 14y ago

Can you provide some more detail on how Apple "copied a lot of features (Notification Drawer, Interactive Lockscreen, Social Network integration, etc.)"? None of these features seem to appear, at least explicitly, on my iPhone 4 with iOS 5.

glenra 14y ago
Assuming you're current on OS updates, swipe down from above the top of the screen to view the Notification Center. You can configure what shows up there via Settings:Notifications. Apple's original UI for presenting notifications was kind of terrible, the new way is better, and the new way was probably inspired by the android way to do it. Interactive Lockscreen: seems like a miss. People with jailbroken iPhones or who have installed certain hacky third-party apps (eg, an app called "Lock Screen Weather") get an interactive lockscreen - otherwise the only thing from Apple that seems vaguely related is the "swipe up for photos" shortcut. Social Network: Apple added "twitter integration" with iOS5, but you wouldn't notice that unless you use twitter. If you do, the main thing that changed was that you no longer have to log into twitter explicitly all the time, and there is a "tweet" option added to various app panels. It's not a particularly significant feature and it's questionable whether "copied from Android" is a fair characterization.
- nitrogen 14y ago
  It's not a particularly significant feature and it's questionable whether "copied from Android" is a fair characterization. Of course, one could say the same thing about many of the things Apple is suing over.
  - glenra 14y ago
    I think you're missing some context. In the case of that one feature if Apple HAD "copied from Android" it would probably have been better than what they actually did. What Apple did (in iOS 5) was integrate with ONE specific social network, Twitter, working directly with that company to accomplish this. What Android did if I understand correctly was make a general service available for sharing to things like social networks generally. I don't think Apple has (yet) copied that feature at all. (I could be wrong, because the parent poster's comment was vague, made in passing, and not since elaborated.) I don't think it's questionable at all that Samsung copied its "trade dress" from Apple, just as it had earlier copied from Blackberry. Or that they explicitly copied lots of specific features from Apple. (Though I agree that we might be better off with less protection against that sort of copying. The world would not be a better place if McDonald's had been able to patent the idea of a drive-through window (or buy the patent for it from someone else) and then charge all other fast-food restaurants an arbitrary fee to license the patent portfolio.)