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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

#61

Post by boyter »

JamesPeterson wrote: post #27
flyosity wrote: post #16

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.

I agree. I bought a Samsung Omnia 7 with Windows Phone 7 over android (and I am a free software kind of guy) because I found the Android experience lacking. I just found every Android device to miss the nice snappy response iOS and WP7 gives.

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

#62

Post by jarek »

cpeterso wrote: post #53
jarek wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Judging by sales, an awful lot of people seem to agree with their assessment.

Many of those Android "sales" are free phones (with contract).

"Free phones (with contract)" is a bit like saying the house you bought was one fifth the list price (with a mortgage).

Perhaps we should only count phones that are sold for the full, unsubsidized price, to avoid giving an unreasonable edge to phones that sell for $200 with contract.

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

#63

Post by joebadmo »

pkulak wrote: post #26
ethank wrote: 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.

You're wrong.

This screen has an HD resolution screen with ~316 ppi. So they made a bigger and higher pixel density screen. With AMOLED.

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

#64

Post by ugh »

CoffeeDregs wrote: post #58
flyosity wrote: post #16

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, or if >letters didn't appear on the screen until a moment after you pressed your keyboard. Even in my imagination, Android installed base is still growing at nearly 2X of that of the iPhone. Apparently, most people don't care for whatever you're saying they should care about. I have experienced the lag you mention, but I have a big, lovely scree…

It’s not a silly thing if I truly care about it. Lag drives me crazy. I hardly ever need more than a few minutes before I want to throw an Android device at the wall.

This reason is personal. Others don’t care about it. That’s certainly true. But I do. Why am I not allowed to bring this up? Why is that silly?

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

#65

Post by ethank »

joebadmo wrote: post #60
ethank wrote: 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?

How hard is it to not buy the phone? There are other phones out there, including the iPhone that have smaller screens. I have a Droid X, and while at first it felt a bit big, I've totally fallen in love with having a ton of screen real estate. I have relatively small hands, and I rarely have issues. Also, I think the stuff about Apple having found the One True Size because it fits your hand for one handed action is b…

Who isn't letting you decide? But as an app developer the screen war makes for pain. The UX gets different (if not more difficult) as you increase screen size. A good app UX has to account for modes of operation.

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

#66

Post by drivebyacct2 »

tullidil wrote: post #40
noilly wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

afaik, it's android's lack of GPU acceleration for the UI

I didn't hear it during the stream, but ICS is purported to have this (just like Honeycomb already does, AFAIK).

Thank you. All 2D surfaces can/are accelearated I would bet money that the lag is in legacy apps. For some reason, new apps have to opt-in to hardware acceleration. I can't see any lag at all in all of the hands on videos I'm seeing.

By opt in, they have to bump their targetSdkVersion, so it's not a big deal. Source: http://developer.android.com

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

#67

Post by [deleted] »

ethank wrote: post #65
joebadmo wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How hard is it to not buy the phone? There are other phones out there, including the iPhone that have smaller screens. I have a Droid X, and while at first it felt a bit big, I've totally fallen in love with having a ton of screen real estate. I have relatively small hands, and I rarely have issues. Also, I think the stuff about Apple having found the One True Size because it fits your hand for one handed action is b…

Who isn't letting you decide? But as an app developer the screen war makes for pain. The UX gets different (if not more difficult) as you increase screen size. A good app UX has to account for modes of operation.

[deleted]

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

#68

Post by resnamen »

ethank wrote: post #23
tdoggette wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Speak for yourself. My S' screen is no match for my mighty bear claw.

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

#69

Post by resnamen »

pkulak wrote: post #26
ethank wrote: 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.

They aren't using a pentile layout anymore - it resulted in fuzziness while rendering line art.

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

#70

Post by jarek »

kevinchen wrote: post #59
seunghomattyang wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it comes down to the fact that most of the Android users don't care about the responsiveness. Maybe there exists this mentality at Google that since Android is expanding pretty well, why bother spend extra resources into GUI acceleration or design? And to an extent, that makes perfect sense. Most Android users don't care enough about responsiveness to pay more (sometimes less) for iPhone or don't even know sm…

The “let’s cut corners because most people won’t notice or care” mentality you mentioned is where sub-par software comes from. Good software shouldn’t be a luxury that one can be “spoiled” by — it should be the standard.

The big problem with this argument is that there isn't a software creator out there that doesn't cut corners, not the least because there isn't one agreed-upon master list of what constitutes a corner.
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