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Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

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Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#21

Post by mattlondon »

ndneighbor wrote: post #9

The number one issue I have with Android is that while this looks cool, because of the fragmentation of the OS delivery between vendors- I have no idea which phone or timeframe when I could see the rollout of Material 3 Expressive. More than 10 years later, shopping for an Android phone with the latest OS is a nightmare. Android leadership keeps on getting shuffled around, Google changes priorities every 6 months it…

Just get the Google Pixel phones?

If you buy something from some other random manufacturer that is using the open source android code then yes you are going to have a different experience since they want to add their "special touch" which invariably is shite.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#22

Post by jsheard »

karlgkk wrote: post #17
ndneighbor wrote: post #9

The number one issue I have with Android is that while this looks cool, because of the fragmentation of the OS delivery between vendors- I have no idea which phone or timeframe when I could see the rollout of Material 3 Expressive. More than 10 years later, shopping for an Android phone with the latest OS is a nightmare. Android leadership keeps on getting shuffled around, Google changes priorities every 6 months it…

> I have no idea which phone or timeframe when I could see the rollout of Material 3 Expressive. Not a problem with a pixel > More than 10 years later, shopping for an Android phone with the latest OS is a nightmare Not a problem with a pixel > They will need to improve on their ecosystem commitments Not a problem with a pixel

The problem with a Pixel is the hardware is always a step or two behind what other vendors are doing at the same price point, and they tend to be weirdly buggy for a first-party device. For example the bug where Pixel phones are randomly unable to call emergency services has been happening for years and keeps regressing again and again.

2021 https://www.vice.com/en/article/google-pixel-bug-prevented-u...

2022 https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/y039zn/i_compi...

2023 https://www.androidauthority.com/psa-google-pixel-911-emerge...

2024 https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/1ano09x/pixel_...

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#23

Post by surgical_fire »

Looks like shit. It seems that on every UI/UX update, Google products become shittier.

I'll keep using Android anyway because I find Apple UI/UX even more disgusting.

Smartphones don't matter anyway. What most people do in high end devices can be done in mid-tier or even shit-tier devices too.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#25

Post by modeless »

Differently-shaped buttons and more swoopy animations are not what Wear OS needs. Wear OS needs better information density and more attention to detail in interaction design and implementation rather than appearance. The whole thing feels like it was designed in After Effects and implemented to spec with no user feedback in the process at all.

I continue to strongly prefer the Pebble UI after all these years. It just does a much better job with the basics like notifications and alarms. it's not even close.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#26

Post by jcalx »

Another "big refresh". I've already disabled animations because of the faintly ridiculous system-wide overscroll effect [0] which makes every menu and webpage bounce like the viewport is made of gelatin, so I'm a little bemused to see them doubling down on "natural, springy animations". I know this is "old man yelling at cloud" of me, but I don't care for my notifications to "subtly respond" to adjacent ones being dragged.

[0] https://github.com/flutter/flutter/issues/83355

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#27

Post by mnkypete »

awill wrote: post #3

So many people I work with (in tech) were on Android for years, and all eventually switched to iOS. My biggest issue with Google is they aren't convicted in anything they do. They just guess, or try 5 different things, and see what sticks. That makes it a mess for users, as the UX constantly changes. I also can't understand why Google decided a circular face made sense for Wear. It's good for analogue watches, and ga…

Funnily enough the first smartwatch that was interesting to me was a round watch, so I got the Pixel watch. I don't mind having the UI not being as usable (debatable), but I much rather have a nice looking watch, more like a classic watch. That's like, your and my opinion, everyone has their preferences.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#28

Post by frfl »

JamesSwift wrote: post #18
awill wrote: post #3

So many people I work with (in tech) were on Android for years, and all eventually switched to iOS. My biggest issue with Google is they aren't convicted in anything they do. They just guess, or try 5 different things, and see what sticks. That makes it a mess for users, as the UX constantly changes. I also can't understand why Google decided a circular face made sense for Wear. It's good for analogue watches, and ga…

The thing that made me switch, funny enough, is the 'budget phone' category. The Moto G line and low-end Pixel line completely abandoned the "small, 200-300 dollar phone" segment. And so I got a brand new iphone SE for $200. Havent gone back, and probably wont at this point now that I've moved over and use the family plan for apple one etc.

Your comment seems out of date. There's no $200-300 iPhone anymore. iPhone 16e is the cheapest model I think? That's $600usd? But there are in fact $200-300 Moto phones still and new ones every year, with decent specs for the price and fairly close to stock Android OS. No, they dont have 6 or 7 year of OS upgrades, but that was never a realistic option in the budget Android phone market anyway. It would be unfair and inaccurate to Moto "abandoned" that low end market.

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#29

Post by karlgkk »

jsheard wrote: post #22
karlgkk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have no idea which phone or timeframe when I could see the rollout of Material 3 Expressive. Not a problem with a pixel > More than 10 years later, shopping for an Android phone with the latest OS is a nightmare Not a problem with a pixel > They will need to improve on their ecosystem commitments Not a problem with a pixel

The problem with a Pixel is the hardware is always a step or two behind what other vendors are doing at the same price point, and they tend to be weirdly buggy for a first-party device. For example the bug where Pixel phones are randomly unable to call emergency services has been happening for years and keeps regressing again and again. 2021 https://www.vice.com/en/article/google-pixel-bug-prevented-u... 2022 https:/…

Not a problem with an iphone

Re: Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign

#30

Post by saubeidl »

wiseowise wrote: post #13
saubeidl wrote: post #6

I wish Google would stick with a design paradigm for a bit for once. It's not just their own apps that need updating, it's everyone else's, too. Most of which will never happen, so users are stuck in a hodgepodge of several generations of different design paradigms. Material was fine. So was Material 2. So was Material 3. So is Material 3 Expressive, I guess. Just stick with something!

They've been copying iOS for years, time to bring some of that Windows "consistency" into the mix.

To be fair, as of late, iOS has been copying Android more than the other way around - think notifications and widgets.
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