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IPhone VS Androids Phones?
- Thread starter inka
- Start date
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Exactly! Having the extra Menu button actually SAVES screen space. Why not put it somewhere there is no screen instead of every app basically having the button on their screen? Just one of the reasons I got sick of the Single button interface that the iPhone has.
Because of this, most Android apps really take advantage of the entire screen. For example, Gmail on Android. There is the statusbar on top, message count, and then the WHOLE SCREEN is filled with my Inbox. Compare that to iPhone where you have to show all the controls. Most of the time I'm in my email I'm just touching and reading and not using those other controls. On Android I get to them just by hitting the Menu button or doing a long press on a message.
I really do think it comes down to preference, but it's just narrow-minded to consider the addition of these buttons a negative design choice.
Have you seen the homescreen thread in the Hacks forum? Plenty of ugly themes. Also, believe it or not, everyone doesn't think the iPhone looks brilliant. I still like it, but I'm bored as heck. 2 years of looking at the same screen...
This is where my opinion will differ from yours. It seems you are pleased with the situation with iAds, which is good!
When I think of the ad provider situation Apple are at an advantage having so much control over the platform. There is no way or room for another provider to create ads that could perform at an iAD level due to the control Apple have.
The "openness" of Android gives other parties a way to flourish on the platform with no direct control from Google (or any 3rd party application provider) so they can come up with new ways of doing things.
With the iPhone's single button, you end up with extra UI elements using up screen real estate, for example:
iPhone last.fm app:
On the iPhone last.fm app, we have the Back and Info buttons on screen on top, we also have the Love, Ban, Settings, stop, skip and Volume (for first gen touch which lacked volume rocker I assume) buttons all displayed on screen.
On the android app we have less buttons on screen:
Just love, ban, stop and skip buttons on screen thanks to the universal menu, back and home buttons on the handset. The menu button on the phone will access extra features like info and settings. This could lead to Android apps having an advantage when using screen real estate thanks to the dedicated buttons (it seems the people at last.fm have squandered these extra pixels by having extra large media buttons) but the potential is there.
Neither way is right or wrong but both have advantages/disadvantages. It's all personal preference really.
the buttons on the iphone screen are less intrusive compared to the android ones. so when you compare the space on screen for the album artwork, both devices have the same amount of space for this, though on the iphone app, last fm have used slightly smaller images with a nice reflection at the bottom going under the song title and artist info, they could have made that bigger with less of a border, but the reflection is a nice touch. as for the volume slider, i actually quite like it as you can be ever so more precise with the volume than using the buttons on the side. anyway my point being, your buttons take up the same amount of screen real estate as the iPhone's multiple on screen buttons do. plus our like and ban buttons just look so much better, your android ones are blurred slightly.
You seem to have missed the point I was making. I wasn't comparing last.fm iPhone Vs Android app directly, I was posting about the advantages of hardware buttons vs virtual UI elements.
It can lead to more screen real estate but it hasn't on this particular application.
I'll use TweetDeck on iPhone and Android to show this if you don't understand.
Tweetdeck on iPhone, same UI elements using the screen.
Tweetdeck on Android, no additional UI elements using the screen. Any elements missing on the iPhone screenshot are handled by the menu and back buttons.
EDIT: Also, it isn't my last.fm app as I am in no way involved with any of the applications I am discussing.
Here's an example of the use of screen space with physical buttons.
First Maps:
Since I have multi-touch I turn off the + - buttons as well.
Web Browser:
Same thing with the Zoom buttons.
Gmail:
![]()
Sorry this screen is small. Click it for bigger.
Google Voice:
![]()
Same about this screen size. Click it for bigger.
Any kind of menu buttons show up by hitting the Menu button. I didn't use screenshots from my phone because I didn't want to worry about censoring personal info. I'm assuming everyone here has an iDevice to compare to... So I won't bother with those screens.
First Maps:
Since I have multi-touch I turn off the + - buttons as well.
Web Browser:
Same thing with the Zoom buttons.
Gmail:
Sorry this screen is small. Click it for bigger.
Google Voice:
Same about this screen size. Click it for bigger.
Any kind of menu buttons show up by hitting the Menu button. I didn't use screenshots from my phone because I didn't want to worry about censoring personal info. I'm assuming everyone here has an iDevice to compare to... So I won't bother with those screens.
You seem to have missed the point I was making. I wasn't comparing last.fm iPhone Vs Android app directly, I was posting about the advantages of hardware buttons vs virtual UI elements.
It can lead to more screen real estate but it hasn't on this particular application.
I'll use TweetDeck on iPhone and Android to show this if you don't understand.
-snip-
Tweetdeck on Android, no additional UI elements using the screen. Any elements missing on the iPhone screenshot are handled by the menu and back buttons.
EDIT: Also, it isn't my last.fm app as I am in no way involved with any of the applications I am discussing.
i get what you're trying to say, but the tweetdeck app on the iPhone looks much better, and looks more like the desktop version than yours. so you get an extra coupla tweets or emails on your screen, thats really nothing much to be honest. we have nice simple quick ways to do everything we need there on the screen. our apps just look sleeker and more elegant, the android ones really look mostly half baked efforts. i commented on the last.fm as thats what you used as your comparison.
so basically you have to push your menu button then select whatever actions that we already have right there on our screen? that sounds a long winded faffy way to do stuff. like for maps, since we have the search bar right there at the top can quickly search for stuff.
the android screens provided that show more screen real estate, isn't really that much of a big deal and it sounds like you have to faff about with a button just to get functionality we have straight off on the screen. not really that efficient is it?
I think your comment really shows how pointless it is to carry on a discussion with you, but I'll try anyway.
In maps, instead of tapping in the bar once and typing, I just tap my dedicated search button once. Then I can type or speak what I want to search and it searches it right in Maps. Same amount of effort for what is probably the MOST common thing done in maps. Not long winded at all. And after my search, I have the entire screen to look at my map without having a bar across the screen so I can get back to my search menu.
The most common tasks in these apps are not the functions in the menu. It's things that are already on the screen. It's a waste of screen real-estate on a small screen when you have a occasionally used button taking up a portion of your small (3.7") or even my large (4.3") screen. So yes. I do find it more efficient that I can see more content on my screen at the expense of tapping one extra button every so often than having that button in my face all the time.
Believe it or not, but Apple doesn't ALWAYS do things the best way. You may not prefer the way that Android has things or you may be totally happy with the way the iPhone handles things, but to just write this off as "faffy" or "long winded" is just plain ignorant.
thats your opinion, but i, and alot of people, find it more efficient having the buttons we have on screen, they're the most commonly use functions and they're there rather than having various extra buttons and hitting the right one for the right thing. in my opinion, the android way is faffy and longwinded. i'm not being ignorant, i am stating my opinion. as i stated before, most android screens i have seen are just ugly, messy and filled with too much stuff. bigger screens do not equal better screens. alot of the handsets are just too bulky to comfortably carry in my pocket with the other items i have, unlike the iPhone 4. also the androids i have actually tried have been laggy, crashed and just downright nightmare to use. there is a point where there is too much customisation which just ruins the experience, plus the fact that many different networks customise and lock off stuff they don't like is just a joke. thats my opinion, i stand by it.
Have you used an iPhone 3G running iOS4?
Also, what happen to be your most used functions? Mine are reading emails, searching maps, searching Google, sending messages. All those are done with elements on the screen right away. Yes, bigger screens can be more bulky, that's why I think it's important to make the BEST use of every inch on the screen and not have it occupied by UI elements. I think it is now a poor design choice having experienced the alternative.
Next, choice is never bad for the consumer. How is having too many networks a bad thing? What's the number one complaint about the iPhone? It's that it's locked into At&t. And as far as carriers locking out things... the ONLY carrier doing that is... you guessed it. At&t.
There's benefits to each approach. The main thing to be concerned with is consistency. Android might have extra buttons, but they are consistent in their application, so it's probably not that difficult to grasp.
yes, i used my 3G running iOS4 until i switched to my iPhone 4 earlier this month and it was running fine. Apple did say that the 3G wouldn't necessarily support it, so really it was going to be a gamble anyway, its like putting windows 7 on a 3 year old laptop, not necessarily going to work, am sure some old android phones cannot run the latest updates either....
when using the browser having the back, forward, refresh, add to bookmarks, new tab, search and address bar on screen is quite efficient for me as they are used often and are right there for quick and easy use, i can search, delete, compose new emails and sync the inbox all much quicker than you probably can on your android.
compared to my iPhone 4, most the android phones are like bricks, just a nightmare to have in my pocket. due to the nice high resolution on the iPhone 4's screen, i can read alot of the small text on some websites without even having to zoom in. it just looks sharper and crisper than on the android phones even the 3GS.
as for carriers, i wasn't arguing that android being on many networks was a bad thing, just that carriers lock stuff off and put their crappy stuff on it is a bad thing, which alot of networks in the UK do as well. as i said i'm in the UK, so i don't have the disadvange that you americans have on carrier choice for the iPhone, so really that wasn't the best point to argue anyway.
we're not going to agree, so i am leaving it there.
you talk about consistency, but android OS varies from network to network, some running old versions compared to others etc, whereas on the iphone, the os is consistant with the versions on the iPhones, iPod Touch and iPad...
The only BIG
Android phone on sale in the UK at the moment is the Streak. The likes of the EVO or the Droid X aren't on sale over here so which ones are bricks out of interest?Regardless of that, the buttons we are discussing do the same on each phone.
They all operate in the same way though, with the same options and back buttons etc. It's not like the whole operation of the UI changes from one version to the next.
In addition, devices like the Samsung Galaxy S are marginally bigger than the iPhone 4, but actually smaller than the 3GS. So logically, if you could cope with the 3GS, you can definitely cope with a lot of the high end Android devices.
The only BIG
Regardless of that, the buttons we are discussing do the same on each phone.
there are many android phones on sale over here, just cos you think the only big one is the streak, there are alot of others that get pushed, the HTC HD2 i find quite chunky for my liking. plus its not hard to get some american phones imported over here, i was in america recently, was in a phone shop with my friend that lives out there and, couldn't tell you what ones they were, since i didn't really bother to look up their actual names, but some were just clunky and brick-like for my liking, compared to my iPhone 4.
my point about inconsistency is with the OS, not the buttons. i didn't say the buttons vary from device to device.
i find the iPhone's size has been just perfect for my pockets, anything bigger, even marginally just is too much... again, thats my personal preference.
The HD2 is a Windows Mobile phone and the Evo and Droid-X are CDMA phones which wouldn't ever work over here.
maybe it wasn't the HD2, it was a HTC and guessed at the model name as it was one i saw at some point, as i say, i don't really know what each phone is called.
its still fair enough to talk about the evo and the droid-x though as they are still actual android devices. i can't exclude them just cos i'm not in the country they are sold in.... the only reason i brought up the fact i was in the UK was due to him basing his argument just on the US, so saying i can't use the american only phones in the conversation is like saying i can't join in the conversation as i'm only in the uk.... much like he can't base his argument on things just based in the US either as they are devices that are in many countries....
I take it you didn't own an iPhone prior to the 4 then since they were all too big?
i've had the iphone since the orginal, thats why i said iphone's rather than iPhone 4, the difference between each one has only really been a matter of millimetres, the android devices i have seen have either been longer, wider or thicker than the iPhones, or have just not felt comfortable when holding them compared to the iPhone. like i said, that is MY personal opinion and preference, so you cannot really question that.
I'm just confused because of your earlier post:
Most meaning "the majority" and the only large Android phones I know of are the Streak, The Evo and the Droid X.