What do you guys think of the Android Lollipop? Is Google heading in the right direction design-wises with the Lollipop? At this point do you think it is better than iOS 8 or does it still have some catching up to do?
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Thoughts on Android Lollipop?
- Thread starter saintforlife
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Well I think asthetics are always going to be a subjective thing. From what I've seen it looks fine. However I also don't mind ios 7/8 and have never had a problem with the way it looks.
In terms of functionality and features it's still quite a bit ahead of ios 8.
In terms of functionality and features it's still quite a bit ahead of ios 8.
Aesthetically it's interesting to see both Apple and Android moving to a very similar plateau albeit from different starting points.
I think it looks great but also don't mind iOS 7/8 ..
Heck I don't mind touchwiz version of lollipop aesthetically (they are finally addressing my long standing issues with the aesthetics of their core apps like messages and dialer/contacts).
I think it looks great but also don't mind iOS 7/8 ..
Heck I don't mind touchwiz version of lollipop aesthetically (they are finally addressing my long standing issues with the aesthetics of their core apps like messages and dialer/contacts).
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Thinks this one will be very popular with the kids... atleast until they realize it's a phone and not candy.
Am I the only one that thinks Lollipop loses function over form? Granted I haven't quite used it yet but telling from the newly updated material design apps, certain apps no longer function like they used to. I guess it's cool and all that Android has improved leaps and bounds aesthetically but the reasons I prefer Android over Apple were due to the plethora of options. Hopefully I'm just jumping the gun and this isn't the case.
I think it's awful. My biggest complaint is the white on off white theme, I'm having a hard time fathoming that Google forgot about dark places and nighttime. That is a HUGE form over function error IMO.
Otherwise I'm quite underwhelmed. Why spend so much time and money on aesthetic changes that aren't' really needed. What Android has always needed is simple uniformity, to throw away all the little pieces from each OS upgrade and just pick a single theme. I don't get why such a big deal over a flat theme, skeumorphism, or whatever marketing crap they invent next year. There is so much that is buggy and not fully functional in android that they need to put their energy into, but instead I get icons that look the same except they are flatter and have a shadow, woohoo that's really going to help my work flow.
Otherwise I'm quite underwhelmed. Why spend so much time and money on aesthetic changes that aren't' really needed. What Android has always needed is simple uniformity, to throw away all the little pieces from each OS upgrade and just pick a single theme. I don't get why such a big deal over a flat theme, skeumorphism, or whatever marketing crap they invent next year. There is so much that is buggy and not fully functional in android that they need to put their energy into, but instead I get icons that look the same except they are flatter and have a shadow, woohoo that's really going to help my work flow.
I can only judge from the tablet side, as I have the latest preview loaded on my Nexus 7(2013).
The performance is much better. And it's not just because of ART, cause I have ART enabled on KitKat as well.
The settings menu is perfection. The main settings page is very organized, minimal, and makes things super easy to find.
Not really a fan of the notification bar. From what I've seen, it looks good on smartphones. But on tablets, the icons and texts are a little too small for my liking.
I hate the all white wifi icon.
Love the multiple and guest user, and how easy it is to toggle between them.
All my apps that didn't work at first have updated to work with Lollipop.
I think performance is the biggest upgrade with Lollipop. It's that big of a difference, even though my Nexus 7 was super fast on KitKat, now things are lighting fast on Lollipop.
The performance is much better. And it's not just because of ART, cause I have ART enabled on KitKat as well.
The settings menu is perfection. The main settings page is very organized, minimal, and makes things super easy to find.
Not really a fan of the notification bar. From what I've seen, it looks good on smartphones. But on tablets, the icons and texts are a little too small for my liking.
I hate the all white wifi icon.
Love the multiple and guest user, and how easy it is to toggle between them.
All my apps that didn't work at first have updated to work with Lollipop.
I think performance is the biggest upgrade with Lollipop. It's that big of a difference, even though my Nexus 7 was super fast on KitKat, now things are lighting fast on Lollipop.
Performance increases are what I'm hoping for most
Hopefully noticeable coming from kit kat ART like said above!
Have high hopes for project Volta. Hopeful better standby battery life.
New camera api is supposed to be huge
Hopefully noticeable coming from kit kat ART like said above!
Have high hopes for project Volta. Hopeful better standby battery life.
New camera api is supposed to be huge
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Trust me, if you don't like the look of Android, wait two revisions. It'll be changed again.
That said, I like the look of Lollipop. It's got me thinking about purchasing a Nexus 9 just to try it out.
I appreciate your interest in Lollipop, but you show your ignorance with the previous statement. I could make a similar statement about iOS, but the adverse. "If you don't like the look, oh well, you'll have to live with it for at least 7 years".
Matias Duarte who is the VP of design on Android came on right when Honeycomb was released and knew it was a massive disaster. His real influence began with JB which is why you started to see hints of the card style UI which he actually had as a part of WebOS. His goal has always been to bring design to Google and bridge all of their platforms with a cohesive design. If you watch any of his interviews with Josh Topolsky he goes on to state that MD is a launch pad for what design is going to look like for Android going forward.
Well, we are now moving on to year 8 and while thing like notification center, an extra row of icons and badges on icons have been added, the basic look of a grid of dead icons that can't be altered in any way remains.
I wish Apple would allow people to place icons and folders where we want to, just like with Android. maybe in another 5 years?
Same could be said about iOS at this point.
Android went threw 6 revision with o huge change in its looks. Those being 3.x 4.0, 4.1 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 on the Halo style. That was over 3 years worth of time (Galaxy nexus, n4, n5) all on the Halo style. 5.0 was a major change.
Before that the 1.6 threw 2.3 had the same style.
I personally seem to be on a trend getting a nexus semi regularly. Got the Galaxy nexus, then N5 and I just got my hands on the Nexus 9. I have been sitting on a new tablet now for few months waiting on the new nexus tablet.
I don't mind it, but Google wasn't very considerate of Amoled users with this update.
Not a fan of the app drawer either but that's minor and I don't go into it much anyway.
Not a fan of the app drawer either but that's minor and I don't go into it much anyway.
Similar to TacticalDesire, I don't particularly care for the App Drawer either. But between my 4 and 7. I think I'll keep the 7 completely normal, and experience Lollipop as Google intended it, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep using Nova Launcher on my 4 post upgrade. I love having different tabs in my drawer, and being able to hide/rearrange things.
Finally got the lollipop update. My early impression is that Android L is a complete joy to use.
IMHO with Android Lollipop the gap to iOS is getting much smaller. With Kitkat that gab was huge, in favor of Android of course. But Android Lollipop is a fail so far and I regret the update. I can't see a single improvement over 4.4.4 so far.
To give some examples:
4.4.4 was clear cut and intuitive and Steve Jobs would have loved it if given the chance to try. Lollipop feels like iOS.
To give some examples:
- Double unlock. First you need to touch unlock the screen, then do the code unlock.
- No more flight and silent mode from the power button. Silent mode now needs Power > Vol down. Flight mode needs Power > page down > flight mode
- email client got terminated. Is now Gmail. You need to open Gmail and need several clicks to get to your individual email accounts in case you have several. Some settings got lost and most email accounts don't work now and need to be setup fresh. Some accounts can d/l mail because of SSL error, although send works.
4.4.4 was clear cut and intuitive and Steve Jobs would have loved it if given the chance to try. Lollipop feels like iOS.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of email clients available on the Play store, many of which likely outperform the stock email client from Google. No need to rely on the Gmail app.
One thing I'm missing is that the volume button only goes down to Vibrate, instead of one more notch to vibrate off. Is there a handy way to turn off the vibration.
In general, there are some steps back but so far I feel like there are more improvements, things like wifi on and off losing a click or two.
So what is the star on the right side of the top bar? I see it every so often, not sure what it means.
If you lower the volume to right before vibrate, power the phone off, it reboots with the volume at silent and no vibrate.
I think they will fix that in 5.0.1. It seems like a ton of people use the phone on silent, but without vibrate.
