iOS 14 Announced With All-New Home Screen Design Featuring Widgets, App Library, and More

[spinedoc77]

What you say doesn't make sense. Widgets haven't changed on Android.

Makes perfect sense, not having a widget available anymore seems like a pretty big change to me for the worse. I've had others which are still available lose functionality though, for example you can't scroll or take actions within the Google Voice widget anymore. Also the UI differences between widgets is worse as different versions of Android had different UI's, with some widgets not being updated now you have all sorts of different UI's which look really bad next to each other. Not only in terms of UI, padding, fonts and sizing but also colors/themes, some widgets are still blinding white and don't have a dark option.

I haven't fired up my Pixel in a long time but I'll see if I can set it up to refresh my memory on what other widgets I had issues with.

 

[nickdalzell1]

The only changes I've noticed on Android re: widgets/UI are how simple it is today and boring. I very well remember early Samsung UI and HTC UX design being quite fun to use and fancy:

HTC Thunderbolt LTE:

Samsung Galaxy Note 2:

Widgets used to have a lot of detail and gloss. So did the overall UI. Why does 2010-12 feel more modern than what we got now? Seriously?! Glad I kept my Note 2, might consider a Thunderbolt on Amazon one day. I wish UI would go back to this. I hate flat. I miss the fun and whimsy.

Now you can get most of that design back via launchers and widget apps like XWidget Pro, at least on Android, since many of the modern widgets from Samsung or HTC are now just bare text with maybe a simple weather 'icon' unlike the detailed 'forest field view' that Samsung did with the Note 2 or the 'flip clock' HTC used (yes, it animated too). But that's literally skin deep. I keep hoping Apple will ditch Ive's icons for better more detailed ones. I hate any reminder of iOS 7.

Right now my iPhone 6S is doing a pretty decent impression of a Samsung Galaxy S4, with the lockscreen wallpaper, keyboard app design (third-party), some older apps that got updated to support modern iOS while retaining their skeuo, and ringtones from the Galaxy series as well. No widgets sadly but if they had launchers like they do keyboards perhaps more people would be happy. Not all of us wanted flat UI design. Forcing everyone to have it on ANY phone today, be it Android or iOS (really now, does anyone else miss having more than just those two? BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Symbian RIP) and forcing the same lame huge brick design just reeks conformity. Bring back the variety we had in 2010!!!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/g0dsid

 

[M3gatron]

Makes perfect sense, not having a widget available anymore seems like a pretty big change to me for the worse. I've had others which are still available lose functionality though, for example you can't scroll or take actions within the Google Voice widget anymore.

Not every app needs widgets in the first place so some apps excluded them while others apps added more widgets and improved them(which is what you are trying to ignore). Android has widget that mostly show information or utility widgets which allow to execute quick action without needing to open an app, so it does offer more options and flexibility. Even from a visual point of view, possibilities are endless as you can go as far as to even create your own widgets(or download custom widgets created by others)
Google Voice has options for 3 different widget types for example. You can scroll an take action in any widgets made by google where these 2 things are used by users in general.

Also the UI differences between widgets is worse as different versions of Android had different UI's, with some widgets not being updated now you have all sorts of different UI's which look really bad next to each other. Not only in terms of UI, padding, fonts and sizing but also colors/themes, some widgets are still blinding white and don't have a dark option.

I haven't fired up my Pixel in a long time but I'll see if I can set it up to refresh my memory on what other widgets I had issues with.

What UI differences? Widgets are generally the same no matter the Android version.
Calendar Apps, Weather apps, News feed apps, email apps, Note apps etc. on Android in general have very good widget support(so apps where widgets make sense).
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The only changes I've noticed on Android re: widgets/UI are how simple it is today and boring. I very well remember early Samsung UI and HTC UX design being quite fun to use and fancy:

You can find widgets as fun and as colored as those you mentioned, you only have to use a modern Android phone and see what's available.
I like simple/minimalist widgets more. For example Google At a Glace widget is may favorite for Weather/Date info.

 

[nickdalzell1]

As I have said, I was comparing stock built-in widgets. Clearly the stock built-in weather widget on a Galaxy S10 is so simple to be boring (to me at least) compared to the one on the Galaxy Note 2 or S4.

There are always third-party ways to bring back classic widgets on Android, and I have mentioned one, Xwidget Pro.

Unfortunately, most of my ability to theme Android since 9.0 was stopped by the dropping of most backward compatibility with apps from the Android 2.1-4.4 era. Pie and up refuse to run most of my classic games, apps and so on similarly to how iOS 11 broke some previously purchased apps/games on my iPhone. So who knows how long I can work around things? I don't buy newer devices (my MacBook Pro in 2019 was literally my last) so I really have nothing to worry about unless they break.

 

[spinedoc77]

Not every app needs widgets in the first place so some apps excluded them while others apps added more widgets and improved them(which is what you are trying to ignore). Android has widget that mostly show information or utility widgets which allow to execute quick action without needing to open an app, so it does offer more options and flexibility. Even from a visual point of view, possibilities are endless as you can go as far as to even create your own widgets(or download custom widgets created by others)
Google Voice has options for 3 different widget types for example. You can scroll an take action in any widgets made by google where these 2 things are used by users in general.



What UI differences? Widgets are generally the same no matter the Android version.
Calendar Apps, Weather apps, News feed apps, email apps, Note apps etc. on Android in general have very good widget support(so apps where widgets make sense).
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You can find widgets as fun and as colored as those you mentioned, you only have to use a modern Android phone and see what's available.
I like simple/minimalist widgets more. For example Google At a Glace widget is may favorite for Weather/Date info.

I'm not trying to ignore anything, many of the widgets I used to find useful are no longer being developed. I can only speak to my personal experience and the apps/widgets I use. If you can't see the UI differences then you may be blind. Just huge glaring differences in fonts, sizing, themes, colors, etc that look really jarring and in my personal opinion terrible when all jumbled together. Once again just my personal opinion, someone else might love that, nothing wrong with that. I've just grown used to Apple's overarching UI and everything looking nice and neat.

 

[compwiz1202]

Number row on the keyboard, Please.

Especially on longer phones. At least have an option to toggle.
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So App Library = Vertical scrolling through folders I didn’t create.

#innovation.

What am I missing?

Yea only things I like are that you can have apps in there without having them on your home screen(s). And if you click into search, you get an alphabetical list. But I could just use spotlight search instead.

 

[Tech198]

If there is one thing that blew my mind is the ability to search in mail in iOS 14..

I think this is the first time a feature like Spotlight from Mac has gone from MacOS TO iOS.. not the other way round.

Usually Apple is all about "bringing features to the Mac"

The category stuff for apps is good, but their is a search field for that. If the categories are to long, one must search anyway.