Impressions of Android From an iPhone User/Developer
I just got an Android phone, the HTC Hero, to play around with and perhaps develop on. It was only $55 on Ebay (including shipping) which seemed like a steal to me. I’m currently using it on WiFi without any phone service (the phone has a bad ESN, so that’s probably why the price was so low).
My first impression as an iPhone user is that the interface is really clunky. There just isn’t as much attention paid to detail. For example, there are often measurable delays between pressing a button and seeing something happen. This happens when I try to add a widget to the home screen or open an app that hasn’t been opened into memory. If I press a button and I don’t see something happen immediately, I will assume I missed the button and press it again. This is extremely frustrating since the iPhone animates immediately upon user interaction. The iPhone may not be any faster than my Android phone, but it at least gives the illusion of it (which is probably just as good in terms of usability).
Another thing I noticed is the lack of “back” buttons in the Android apps. Even Twitter lacks the onscreen back button. I assume this is following some kind of standard Android paradigm of favoring physical buttons over onscreen ones. It took me a while to get used to hitting the physical back button (and home, menu and search for that matter) instead of looking for navigation on the screen. While this is a different paradigm, I’m not sure I’m in a position to say it’s worse, better or on par with the iPhone. My suspicion is that the lack of onscreen navigation requires the user to go through more context switches (screen to physical button back to screen) which is disorienting. This is made worse by the fact that there’s seven fuckin’ buttons on my particular phone! I’m sure people adapt and get used to it, but I’m personally used to having just one button that takes me to the home screen (oh, and the volume and lock buttons, but they don’t serve dynamic functions in applications (unless they want to break the App Store terms)).
About the only positive thing I can say about the Android platform is that Google is integrating the shit out of it with their own services. I only have to sign in once with my Google account and I get Voice, Talk, Maps, Search, Goggles, Places, Latitude, Market, Contacts, Gmail, YouTube and probably some other things I’m forgetting. The voice commands are incredibly cool, though I wonder how many times I’d actually use them instead of doing things the normal way. Oh, another positive is that Angry Birds is free on Android, though my device is way too slow to run it.
I’m currently using a ROM with 2.2 on my HTC Hero, so that might account for some performance issues (though I thought it was supposed to be faster). I’m still kind of unimpressed by Android as a whole though, especially in terms of end to end usability. I originally got this device so I could test code on hardware, but I’m not so sure I even want to develop for Android anymore. I’ll probably end up writing some simple code, at least.
Does anyone with a newer Android phone want to debunk or argue with anything I’ve written?
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I love my droid 2. It has 4 “buttons” – really just designated areas on the bottom of the touch screen- and one real button that you can use like a blackberry track pad. Maybe it’s because I didn’t learn on an iphone, but I like that the back button is not where I can accidentally hit it and within easy reach of my thumb. Also, mine is pretty quick to respond, and the haptic vibe happens instead of the highlight. (tho haptic is not in the swype dictionary) I also have the option to use swype or the keyboard. It does make it a little heavier than other phones, but I appreciate being able to type fast when I need to.
I guess that’s what I meant when I said neither may be better than the other, just different. I will agree that not having those on-screen buttons makes for more screen real estate!
I don’t own either phone, so no personal thoughts. But geeks on the internet (from my limited exposure, actually) don’t seem to mind the “clunkiness” of the UI and even turn off animations where possible, so it’s interesting that you find that the animations (as expected) help with the perception of speed and smoothness. But I also found it interesting that Angry Birds is free, presumably supported by ads. Is the Google-esque ad-supported model that much more common on Android? If so, how do you think this affects the experience? Maybe you’re more forgiving of something free?
I think the Angry Birds developers said something along the lines of “paid just won’t work on Android,” meaning that people are already used to free. I suspect Angry Birds is free partly for that reason, and also because there’s no way to guarantee that Angry Birds will run on a particular Android device (too much fragmentation) so they don’t want to mess with getting payments.
I have a Samsung Acclaim, which runs on Android OS 2.1(I think). And, despite some bugs, I love it. Yes, there’s not always “instant” response when you press something on the screen but that is only a problem if you have NO patience. Because overall, it’s amazing. I have two different versions of on screen keyboards, and a slide out one. My home, options, back and search “buttons” (touch pictures on the bottom by a Blackberry-esque track pad) respond very well and the screen is heat-sensitive, not pressure, which means I don’t have to beat my phone to touch it. There also aren’t as many pocket calls. And Angry Birds is awesome. ^_^