3 ms·

There are many ways in which you can implement a grid of icons without exactly copying Apple's style. So why are there exactly 4x4 icons you can move left and r

by jakobe 14y ago

There are many ways in which you can implement a grid of icons without exactly copying Apple's style. So why are there exactly 4x4 icons you can move left and right, above a bar with 4 fixed icons? Same for Google Maps: why is the search field above the maps gray, rounded, and has a light gray x inside a circle to clear? This is not an arbitrary search field. This is not a typical "Google Maps" search field. There are millions of different styles of search fields, why take exactly the same search field as on the iPhone?

nollidge 14y ago
> So why are there exactly 4x4 icons you can move left and right, above a bar with 4 fixed icons? Because the screen is a certain size and icons need to be big enough and small enough, up-down scrolling would be less ergonomic (longer swipes to switch pages), and there are a few features you always want access to, respectively. How else would you do it? As for the maps picture, I have a feeling that's faked, or that it's Google's mapping app, in which case consistent interface would be downright expected.
- randomdata 14y ago
  From what I remember of that image, it was a Photoshop job where the exact same screen was found in Apple's marketing materials, but it was posted on Samsung's official website for the device for a period of time.
viraptor 14y ago
As far as I know, maps come from the google apps package which is not customised by Samsung (it gets updated from the market). Is that not right? Also it looks very different from the version I have now, so it's strange in general. I've never seen rounded corners on a text field. (see this for example: http://www.gadgetnutz.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/map.jpg http://www.gadgetnutz.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/map.jpg - not similar to what's in the posted gallery)

3 ms·

There are many ways in which you can implement a grid of icons without exactly copying Apple's style. So why are there exactly 4x4 icons you can move left and r

by jakobe 14y ago

nollidge 14y ago
> So why are there exactly 4x4 icons you can move left and right, above a bar with 4 fixed icons? Because the screen is a certain size and icons need to be big enough and small enough, up-down scrolling would be less ergonomic (longer swipes to switch pages), and there are a few features you always want access to, respectively. How else would you do it? As for the maps picture, I have a feeling that's faked, or that it's Google's mapping app, in which case consistent interface would be downright expected.
- randomdata 14y ago
  From what I remember of that image, it was a Photoshop job where the exact same screen was found in Apple's marketing materials, but it was posted on Samsung's official website for the device for a period of time.
viraptor 14y ago
As far as I know, maps come from the google apps package which is not customised by Samsung (it gets updated from the market). Is that not right? Also it looks very different from the version I have now, so it's strange in general. I've never seen rounded corners on a text field. (see this for example: http://www.gadgetnutz.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/map.jpg http://www.gadgetnutz.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/map.jpg - not similar to what's in the posted gallery)