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Google, Samsung unveil Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Galaxy Nexus

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Re: Google, Samsung unveil Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Galaxy Nexus

#21
post #17
post #10

Is it my imagination or did the consistency they talked about involve the same swiping action doing completely different things throughout the OS & apps?

The swiping action is a metaphor for moving things, and it seemed consistent and intuitive. You flick items away in some cases, you pull screens to rotate/pan them. This is already implemented in some mods and is totally natural.

Perhaps. I'd have to try it out.

My confusion stems from the contacts app. They swipe to get another 'page' of the UI like switching between home-screens. If it was consistent with the GMail app swiping on the individual contact should bring up more information about the item not switch to another page?

Re: Google, Samsung unveil Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Galaxy Nexus

#22

From the review at This Is My Next: "The subtle, pervasive lag that has characterized the Android UI since its inception is still there." You have got to be kidding me. How is it that Android still doesn't map a user's finger movements with nearly 1:1 accuracy on the screen? Pinch, zoom and flick response times on the iPhone have been superior to Android for years, even with significantly less powerful hardware (comp…

I did a whole post about how Google needs to head over to Pixar and borrow the seminal book "The Illusion of Life" by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas. Learn some animation (http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2009/11/29/the-illusion-of-sm...)

Two years ago! You'd think they'd get animation, finger mapping, etc down by now, considering the arms race in Android seems to be around screen size and processor power. I appreciate what Google is doing and I did like my Android phones (I don't have any right now however), but the animation thing and finger mapping bugged me.

Re: Google, Samsung unveil Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Galaxy Nexus

#23
post #18

4.6" screen? Do they not understand user experience at all? The arms race on screen sizes is getting ridiculous. It's like having a paperback book in your pocket. Why can't they increase pixel density but keep it in a dimension good for one handed operation with normal sized thumbs?

It's the same size as the screen on the Nexus S, but the buttons are now just a part of the screen, so the diagonal is bigger.

That doesn't address the question. The nexus S was and is a bear to use. Your thumb can't cover the width of the screen and the usable arc in one finger operation doesn't give you 100% coverage.

Re: Google, Samsung unveil Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Galaxy Nexus

#24

From the review at This Is My Next: "The subtle, pervasive lag that has characterized the Android UI since its inception is still there." You have got to be kidding me. How is it that Android still doesn't map a user's finger movements with nearly 1:1 accuracy on the screen? Pinch, zoom and flick response times on the iPhone have been superior to Android for years, even with significantly less powerful hardware (comp…

Google doesn't think this is an issue.

And that is exactly the problem.

Re: Google, Samsung unveil Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Galaxy Nexus

#26
post #18

4.6" screen? Do they not understand user experience at all? The arms race on screen sizes is getting ridiculous. It's like having a paperback book in your pocket. Why can't they increase pixel density but keep it in a dimension good for one handed operation with normal sized thumbs?

Because Samsung can't get high enough pixel density with AMOLED. They want more resolution, so they are forced to just keep making the screens bigger, use Pentile subpixel layouts, or, in this case, both.

Re: Google, Samsung unveil Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Galaxy Nexus

#27

From the review at This Is My Next: "The subtle, pervasive lag that has characterized the Android UI since its inception is still there." You have got to be kidding me. How is it that Android still doesn't map a user's finger movements with nearly 1:1 accuracy on the screen? Pinch, zoom and flick response times on the iPhone have been superior to Android for years, even with significantly less powerful hardware (comp…

I'm not sure why you're being downvoted; your point is valid. I can not accept owning an Android phone until this is fixed.

Re: Google, Samsung unveil Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Galaxy Nexus

#28

From the review at This Is My Next: "The subtle, pervasive lag that has characterized the Android UI since its inception is still there." You have got to be kidding me. How is it that Android still doesn't map a user's finger movements with nearly 1:1 accuracy on the screen? Pinch, zoom and flick response times on the iPhone have been superior to Android for years, even with significantly less powerful hardware (comp…

    > Imagine if your mouse cursor couldn't keep up with
    > your hand movements
That's why I gave up on using X11 and Linux back in 2001.

Re: Google, Samsung unveil Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Galaxy Nexus

#29
9 releases in 3 years -- anyone else think that's too much? I'm a mobile developer and just keeping up with Google/Apple updates is a huge task. It's almost come to a point where they ignore serviceability of products and just keep churning out new ones, expecting the eco system to keep up. And given Google's 'excellent' QA, my code is full of runtime-conditional checking to enable/disable features based on the user's version. Since users are slow to upgrade (carriers slow to push updates), the test matrix just keeps growing and keeps getting more complex.

Each SDK introduces new permissions, so now your app doesn't auto-update anymore. Which means you have a bunch of different versions of your app floating around, without converging. (I can write a whole essay about how their permissions stuff is broken - see iOS' model for a non-broken alternative).

There is a reason Honeycomb adoption is abysmal - developers haven't gotten around to customizing their apps for it, which in turn results in lower sales of Honeycomb devices. And keeping up this pace isn't going to make it easier.

Am I just being unreasonable here, or do others feel some of this pain too?

Re: Google, Samsung unveil Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Galaxy Nexus

#30

From the review at This Is My Next: "The subtle, pervasive lag that has characterized the Android UI since its inception is still there." You have got to be kidding me. How is it that Android still doesn't map a user's finger movements with nearly 1:1 accuracy on the screen? Pinch, zoom and flick response times on the iPhone have been superior to Android for years, even with significantly less powerful hardware (comp…

> Imagine if your mouse cursor couldn't keep up with > your hand movements That's why I gave up on using X11 and Linux back in 2001.

.... what?
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