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Switching to Android

chadfowler.com

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Re: Switching to Android

#11

Post by TeHCrAzY »

TomOfTTB wrote: post #6

If I might go off on a tangent about one of his points I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately… “Speech recognition is actually useful. Big surprise here. I can tweet, search the web etc. with minor edits to my dictated text” For those who don’t know Android has a built in Voice Recognition API so any application can easily put use it for input while Apple has steadfastly refused to include this feature because “i…

I have huge difficulties with the voice recognition; it really doesn't handle anything other than an american accent particularly well (I'm Australian).

Re: Switching to Android

#13

Post by nlh »

srgseg wrote: post #12

Am I the only one that finds the Android UI (esp with HTC Sense) way better looking than the iPhone UI? I think this is beautiful: http://www.androidspin.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/modaco... The iPhone UI looks dated to me.

Static bits of the Android UI do like pretty nice. The article hits on an extremely good point that I haven't heard enough (but strongly feel myself):

Android's UI is just nowhere near as smooth as the iPhone's. "Clunky" is the exact right word. Scrolling on the iPhone is perfect - you can tell Jobs obsessed over making it zero-lag, perfectly smooth. That makes the whole UI -feel- better. And for a lot of users - me included - that's a big deal.

Everytime I pick up an Android phone to play with it - hoping they've fixed this - my immediate impression is "wow...this doesn't scroll as well, doesn't move as smoothly, and feels like an ancient UI." It is - quite literally - like Windows XP vs. Mac OSX.

I think if they figure out a way to NAIL the UI in Android, that will close the gap significantly....

Re: Switching to Android

#15

Post by jsz0 »

TomOfTTB wrote: post #6

If I might go off on a tangent about one of his points I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately… “Speech recognition is actually useful. Big surprise here. I can tweet, search the web etc. with minor edits to my dictated text” For those who don’t know Android has a built in Voice Recognition API so any application can easily put use it for input while Apple has steadfastly refused to include this feature because “i…

My compliant about the voice features in Android isn't just accuracy but also speed. It's just too slow. I can type much faster than it can do speech-to-text. If it does mess something up going back to edit on Android is a bit clunky (nothing like the magnifying glass feature on iPhone) which slows me down even more. Apple has their Voice Control feature and bought Siri so I would imagine they're working on something. It's a feature that would be useful if it actually worked better in my opinion.

Re: Switching to Android

#16

Post by jkincaid »

If you don't like the stock Android keyboard (or even if you do) I'd highly recommend trying out Swype. It's pretty damn impressive. Not perfect, but it's definitely a strong alternative.

Re: Switching to Android

#17

Post by mambodog »

srgseg wrote: post #12

Am I the only one that finds the Android UI (esp with HTC Sense) way better looking than the iPhone UI? I think this is beautiful: http://www.androidspin.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/modaco... The iPhone UI looks dated to me.

Is the weather/frost covering important UI elements a default/manufacturer/carrier feature or something that's installed?

Re: Switching to Android

#18

Post by usaar333 »

nlh wrote: post #13
srgseg wrote: post #12

Am I the only one that finds the Android UI (esp with HTC Sense) way better looking than the iPhone UI? I think this is beautiful: http://www.androidspin.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/modaco... The iPhone UI looks dated to me.

Static bits of the Android UI do like pretty nice. The article hits on an extremely good point that I haven't heard enough (but strongly feel myself): Android's UI is just nowhere near as smooth as the iPhone's. "Clunky" is the exact right word. Scrolling on the iPhone is perfect - you can tell Jobs obsessed over making it zero-lag, perfectly smooth. That makes the whole UI -feel- better. And for a lot of users - me…

I agree scrolling was an issue in the past.

However, using android 2.1 + JIT (sort of a pre-froyo) on an htc hero, I find scrolling almost on par with the iPhone. I imagine Nexus One's with Froyo are near-perfect.

Re: Switching to Android

#19

Post by TomOfTTB »

jsz0 wrote: post #15
TomOfTTB wrote: post #6

If I might go off on a tangent about one of his points I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately… “Speech recognition is actually useful. Big surprise here. I can tweet, search the web etc. with minor edits to my dictated text” For those who don’t know Android has a built in Voice Recognition API so any application can easily put use it for input while Apple has steadfastly refused to include this feature because “i…

My compliant about the voice features in Android isn't just accuracy but also speed. It's just too slow. I can type much faster than it can do speech-to-text. If it does mess something up going back to edit on Android is a bit clunky (nothing like the magnifying glass feature on iPhone) which slows me down even more. Apple has their Voice Control feature and bought Siri so I would imagine they're working on something…

I don't disagree but I don't think it is wise to hold that against the platform. I'd much rather have it built in and refined for when processors get faster than to have Google wait for that to happen (Plus I personally find it to be fine for short messages now)

Re: Switching to Android

#20

Post by jsz0 »

srgseg wrote: post #12

Am I the only one that finds the Android UI (esp with HTC Sense) way better looking than the iPhone UI? I think this is beautiful: http://www.androidspin.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/modaco... The iPhone UI looks dated to me.

The iPhone UI looks dated compared to this?

http://bit.ly/cdfQkM

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