Why has Apple gone for the Android look?

[falconeight]

Wasn't the concept of icons a Xerox invention?

Yes the xerox PARC was the first system to use icons but it was not a consumer device. Later on with Steve Jobs and members of the Xerox PARC team. The first consumer device using icons was released. It was the apple Lisa and it was in 1979. I don't remember android or google being around in 1979, 1989, or 1999.

 

[KieranDotW]

I think I should point out here that a considerable number of my Android-using friends were quite jealous upon seeing iOS 7 on my iPhone, their pleasantly surprised reactions coming mainly from the new look alone.

 

[Kohkane]

Nonsense, I saw a samsung commercial where the whole city was bumping phones and paying for stuff with a swipe of their quality plastic phones.

Keyword, commercial

Unless you were being sarcastic. Hard to tell over the internet.

 

[daviddth]

I am not a huge fan of the current look, but it's clean. I sort of liked the old style, but it needed a good cleanup of the design to make it more uniform.

At least we can thank Apple they did not go to the Windows 8/Windows Mobile look - those dull bland and solid colors make me want to rip out my eyes!

 

[IFRIT]

Who copied who?

That shows your ignorance right there, thats Samsungs custom interface that had nothing to do with Google.

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I agree with everything you said except this one. I've been researching this and its not actually a skin. Its worse and this is why. Companies like samsung, htc, sony etc. take android and rewrite it to make their own. So its no longer stock android it is its own OS based on android. So now android has no say as to what comes on the phone or if it is updated. Since android is free the manufacturers can do what they please with it. Then the carrier does their thing with it. So you end up with a OS that is made to satisfy them and not you.

hmm no, they just add a different frontend and add a few features it's still Android at it's core.

 

[falconeight]

That shows your ignorance right there, thats Samsungs custom interface that had nothing to do with Google.

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hmm no, they just add a different frontend and add a few features it's still Android at it's core.

Do I really have to post a picture of stock android?

Second argument is no. Its not a skin.....watch the video. Life is more complicated than that.

 

[Renzatic]

Yes the xerox PARC was the first system to use icons but it was not a consumer device. Later on with Steve Jobs and members of the Xerox PARC team. The first consumer device using icons was released. It was the apple Lisa and it was in 1979. I don't remember android or google being around in 1979, 1989, or 1999.

The Lisa came out in '83. Also, lets not forget that Xerox Parc sued Apple for using their GUI interface for the Macintosh, which wasn't part of their initial agreement. They lost by default because they waited too long to file a suit.

...afterwards, Parc pretty much gave up, and most of the Star team went to work for both Apple and Microsoft. Some of the greatest unsung innovators of the computer industry went to work for the competition, and life went on. Many great things were made by many other people, even more great things stolen, and no one really cared because that's the way the world works.

Oh, and Google were incorporated in 1998. Android has been around in some shape, form, or fashion since 2000.

 

[falconeight]

The Lisa came out in '83. Also, lets not forget that Xerox Parc sued Apple for using their GUI interface for the Macintosh, which wasn't part of their initial agreement. They lost by default because they waited too long to file a suit.

...afterwards, Parc pretty much gave up, and most of the Star team went to work for both Apple and Microsoft. Some of the greatest unsung innovators of the computer industry went to work for the competition, and life went on. Many great things were made by many other people, even more great things stolen, and no one really cared because that's the way the world works.

Oh, and Google were incorporated in 1998. Android has been around in some shape, form, or fashion since 2000.

Lisa was started in 1979 and finished in 1984. That doesn't matter though what matters is that the people that worked on PARC brought it to Macintosh. Android didn't release a product and even that product was based on Linux until 2007 yes google acquired them in 2005 but still. Compare 1979 to 2005. Its ridiculous how much apple, microsoft, xerox(still makes millions off of its patents), and or symbian. The only claim to fame that android has is patents its acquired through buyouts(Motorola). Android is not an innovator they copy ideas, incorporate them, and embed advertising to make billions. The only reason it is an open based OS is so that companies can manipulate it to their liking not the consumer.

 

[Renzatic]

Lisa was started in 1979 and finished in 1984. That doesn't matter though what matters is that the people that worked on PARC brought it to Macintosh. Android didn't release a product and even that product was based on Linux until 2007 yes google acquired them in 2005 but still. Compare 1979 to 2005. Its ridiculous how much apple, microsoft, xerox(still makes millions off of its patents), and or symbian. The only claim to fame that android has is patents its acquired through buyouts(Motorola). Android is not an innovator they copy ideas, incorporate them, and embed advertising to make billions. The only reason it is an open based OS is so that companies can manipulate it to their liking not the consumer.

Google's strengths don't lie with the OS in and of itself. They're an internet and information company first and foremost, one that uses Android as a gateway to all their services. It's here where Google shines most, and here where they beat Apple soundly. We can argue that iOS is a stronger (or at least a more innovative one) OS than Android overall, but it's just as easy to argue that Apple's services pale in comparison to Google's offerings. Each company has their own strengths, and brings their own touches to the industry as a whole. You can't claim one is "less innovative" simply because they're weak in the one particular area your favored company tends to excel at.

To me, who did what first and who innovated before everyone else is a pointless argument. Being first is a nice door price, but is ultimately overrated. For most consumers, it's all about who has the best product now. If Apple were to, for some odd reason, release a bunch of horrible products that barely work three years in a row, no one's going to continue buying them simply because they brought the GUI to the consumer market nearly 30 years ago. There have been plenty of groundbreaking companies come and go over the years. What they're going to is buy what works, regardless of if it's copied from company X or company Y.

And lets not forget that Apple is just as guilty of buying innovation as Google is. Gesture based multitouch computer interaction? Fingerworks. SIRI? Bought from Nuance. I'm sure there are hundreds more I'm not thinking of. Does it matter to me? Not really.

 

[falconeight]

Google's strengths don't lie with the OS in and of itself. They're an internet and information company first and foremost, one that uses Android as a gateway to all their services. It's here where Google shines most, and here where they beat Apple soundly. We can argue that iOS is a stronger (or at least a more innovative one) OS than Android overall, but it's just as easy to argue that Apple's services pale in comparison to Google's offerings. Each company has their own strengths, and brings their own touches to the industry as a whole. You can't claim one is "less innovative" simply because they're weak in the one particular area your favored company tends to excel at.

To me, who did what first and who innovated before everyone else is a pointless argument. Being first is a nice door price, but is ultimately overrated. For most consumers, it's all about who has the best product now. If Apple were to, for some odd reason, release a bunch of horrible products that barely work three years in a row, no one's going to continue buying them simply because they brought the GUI to the consumer market nearly 30 years ago. There have been plenty of groundbreaking companies come and go over the years. What they're going to is buy what works, regardless of if it's copied from company X or company Y.

And lets not forget that Apple is just as guilty of buying innovation as Google is. Gesture based multitouch computer interaction? Fingerworks. SIRI? Bought from Nuance. I'm sure there are hundreds more I'm not thinking of. Does it matter to me? Not really.

Apple user experience, hardware, os, and ecosystem is what dwarfs google. If you like advertising, shoddy software, bad hardware, and small shelf life then google will suffice.

 

[darngooddesign]

Honestly man, the grid look we've grown to know on the iPhone existed before the iPhone...

You're correct, the Apple Newton existed before the iPhone.

 

[appleisking]

*Let me start things like NFC are tucked away in menus and no wonder nobody uses it as it's hardly visible.
- I use Notification Centre all the time. You don't have to see something to use it.

Facepalm. NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATIONS not notification center.

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Apple user experience, hardware, os, and ecosystem is what dwarfs google. If you like advertising, shoddy software, bad hardware, and small shelf life then google will suffice.

Bro I like Apple products and everything but you are being seriously fanboyish. Google makes great products and android is a great OS. Fact. Do I respect Apple for their many past innovations? Yes. Do I hate google for inventing an os competitor? No. It offers a different user experience that many prefer. It's like saying mac os is better than windows, etc. Meaningless. All I care is about which one I like better, not which one other people like.

 

[falconeight]

Facepalm. NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATIONS not notification center.

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Bro I like Apple products and everything but you are being seriously fanboyish. Google makes great products and android is a great OS. Fact. Do I respect Apple for their many past innovations? Yes. Do I hate google for inventing an os competitor? No. It offers a different user experience that many prefer. It's like saying mac os is better than windows, etc. Meaningless. All I care is about which one I like better, not which one other people like.

Not the same WP8 is a different and inventive os. Android is a copy of iOS and always will be. Im not a fan of anything. I am a fan of the truth and I think WP8 is better than iOS. The only reason I stick with iPhone is the ecosystem. Android is a horrible user experience. It reminds me of Windows vista and its clunky, laggy, crashing interface. It has nothing to do with being a fanboy its more about accepting truth.

 

[tekboi]

There should only be one thread for all iOS 7 Bitching and Complaining.

 

[viskon]

Apple user experience, hardware, os, and ecosystem is what dwarfs google. If you like advertising, shoddy software, bad hardware, and small shelf life then google will suffice.

If you like openness - freedom of self expression, freedom to do what YOU want with your device - Android is your choice.

I find Android to be a lot like democracy. It looks messy, there are a lot of opinions, no one agrees with each other - but in the end, the collective efforts of people from all over the world ( think CM, AOKP, PA) keep pushing the platform forward.

iOS, not as much of a democracy. More of a authoritarian state.

 

[appleisking]

Not the same WP8 is a different and inventive os. Android is a copy of iOS and always will be. Im not a fan of anything. I am a fan of the truth and I think WP8 is better than iOS. The only reason I stick with iPhone is the ecosystem. Android is a horrible user experience. It reminds me of Windows vista and its clunky, laggy, crashing interface. It has nothing to do with being a fanboy its more about accepting truth.

Legit quesiton: have you seen the latest android phones? Do you really believe they are laggy? There are tons of people using gs4, htc one, nexus etc. who experience few problems, certainly not to the extent you're claiming. Don't buy into stereotypes. See it for yourself if you haven't.

 

[falconeight]

Legit quesiton: have you seen the latest android phones? Do you really believe they are laggy? There are tons of people using gs4, htc one, nexus etc. who experience few problems, certainly not to the extent you're claiming. Don't buy into stereotypes. See it for yourself if you haven't.

I owned the galaxy s4 att version and it was laggy. It got a little better if I turned off all the features. It was a terrible experience. I currently now a iPhone 5 and a Nokia 925 international version. I don't like the android experience. I don't like how complex it is, I don't like that the apps, I don't like the hardware(except the htc one), I don't like the viruses, I don't like that the software gets outdated with months of its release, and I don't like that they release new hardware every month. I would use BB before I ever use android again. Unless they fix the software. The Nexus one was the only good android.

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If you like openness - freedom of self expression, freedom to do what YOU want with your device - Android is your choice.

I find Android to be a lot like democracy. It looks messy, there are a lot of opinions, no one agrees with each other - but in the end, the collective efforts of people from all over the world ( think CM, AOKP, PA) keep pushing the platform forward.

iOS, not as much of a democracy. More of a authoritarian state.

Not really if you go to a carrier and buy an android its not open. Android is open for OEM's to put bloatware and mess up but thats it.

 

[Renzatic]

I owned the galaxy s4 att version and it was laggy.

Out of curiosity, what's your definition of "laggy"?

I've played around with a Galaxy S4, a Nexus 7, and an HTC One, and even one of the Motorola Atrix phones. Anything on Jelly Bean tends to be pretty smooth from my experiences, just about on par with the framerate in iOS.

Not really if you go to a carrier and buy an android its not open. Android is open for OEM's to put bloatware and mess up but thats it.

Sure it is. All you have to do is check and see if a phone you want is rootable, and go to town with some custom ROMs.

 

[falconeight]

Out of curiosity, what's your definition of "laggy"?

I've played around with a Galaxy S4, a Nexus 7, and an HTC One, and even one of the Motorola Atrix phones. Anything on Jelly Bean tends to be pretty smooth from my experiences, just about on par with the framerate in iOS.



Sure it is. All you have to do is check and see if a phone you want is rootable, and go to town with some custom ROMs.

Ok then iOS is customizable as well. You can jailbreak it. Lag is when you give a command and it stutters. And yes all androids lag. Keyboard lag, frame change lag, browser lag, etc. I wish it didn't but it does. Why do you think they cram as many cores in them as they do?

 

[Renzatic]

Ok then iOS is customizable as well. You can jailbreak it. Lag is when you give a command and it stutters. And yes all androids lag. Keyboard lag, frame change lag, browser lag, etc. I wish it didn't but it does. Why do you think they cram as many cores in them as they do?

The only consistant lag I saw while playing with Android was when I used an app that pulled pictures or sound files from the internet. Sometimes I'd see a half second hitch while it loaded stuff up. And that was only when I'd scroll through something really, really fast.

And it's not like the problem is completely nonexistent on iOS. There have been plenty of times I've seen Safari freeze up for a couple of seconds on my iPad, or I've been typing something on my iPhone, and it'll pause for a couple of seconds, then splay out all the keystrokes I've typed while it was lagging all at once. Hell, I can't even count the amount of times I've had an app crash on me for no apparent reason.

One thing I've always noticed about these platform arguments is that some people over exaggerate problems with Android, while completely ignoring any issues they've experienced with iOS. From what I've seen, both are pretty smooth under normal usage, and both can get real goofy real fast under the right circumstances.

Oh, and the one problem with jailbreaking is that Apple constantly fights against it. If a new version of the OS comes out, a jailbreaker either has to sacrifice their changes, or wait months for someone to discover yet another exploit to take advantage of so they can use it. Android is a little better in this regard. Sometimes you can get a rom of the latest version long before it comes out for the phones and still set it the way you want to.

Really, after all is said and done, there are advantages and disadvantages to both. I think iOS is a little better myself, but I'm hardly scoffing at the cool features Android offers simply because it's Android.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Oh, and Google were incorporated in 1998. Android has been around in some shape, form, or fashion since 2000.

Why was Steve so angry about Android and why does everyone say Android copied iOS if Android existed first?

 

[Zerilos]

Seriously man, this is your third thread or something whining about iOS 7 and Android. You've got issues.

You're talking to a guy who, upon seeing the WWDC keynote, decided iOS 7 looked too much like Android for his liking; then sold his iPhone and purchased an Android (which BTW looks a lot more like Android that iOS 7)! He doesn't appear to be prone towards rational decision making.

 

[falconeight]

The only consistant lag I saw while playing with Android was when I used an app that pulled pictures or sound files from the internet. Sometimes I'd see a half second hitch while it loaded stuff up. And that was only when I'd scroll through something really, really fast.

And it's not like the problem is completely nonexistent on iOS. There have been plenty of times I've seen Safari freeze up for a couple of seconds on my iPad, or I've been typing something on my iPhone, and it'll pause for a couple of seconds, then splay out all the keystrokes I've typed while it was lagging all at once. Hell, I can't even count the amount of times I've had an app crash on me for no apparent reason.

One thing I've always noticed about these platform arguments is that some people over exaggerate problems with Android, while completely ignoring any issues they've experienced with iOS. From what I've seen, both are pretty smooth under normal usage, and both can get real goofy real fast under the right circumstances.

Oh, and the one problem with jailbreaking is that Apple constantly fights against it. If a new version of the OS comes out, a jailbreaker either has to sacrifice their changes, or wait months for someone to discover yet another exploit to take advantage of so they can use it. Android is a little better in this regard. Sometimes you can get a rom of the latest version long before it comes out for the phones and still set it the way you want to.

Really, after all is said and done, there are advantages and disadvantages to both. I think iOS is a little better myself, but I'm hardly scoffing at the cool features Android offers simply because it's Android.

I'm not over exaggerating because of a platform war or what I own. I enjoy a great user experience. Mac OS delivers hands down the best tech interface user experience. iOS has an amazing ecosystem and great hardware. The interface is boring and is getting old. Android throws too much nonsense on their operating system and they don't put enough effort into making it work properly. I'm not making it up or hate android it's just the truth. Wp8 is blazing fast easy to use and different. It will pick up the following that iOS will eventually lose because its so mainstream now. BB is just lost in the sauce with its half android half iOS operating system and ugly old looking hardware. If android wanted to win my business they could start by making a iTunes type interface for PC and Mac. Then they would fix the fragmentation and virus vulnerability of their software.

 

[Renzatic]

Why was Steve so angry about Android and why does everyone say Android copied iOS if Android existed first?

According to the ever wise and all knowing KDarling, Jobs wasn't talking about the entire OS, but rather its multitouch features.

...which iOS might've actually had first, but since Apple didn't invent multitouch, well...tough beans for them.

 

[falconeight]

Why was Steve so angry about Android and why does everyone say Android copied iOS if Android existed first?

Sure they did. Show me that in writing.

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You're talking to a guy who, upon seeing the WWDC keynote, decided iOS 7 looked too much like Android for his liking; then sold his iPhone and purchased an Android (which BTW looks a lot more like Android that iOS 7)! He doesn't appear to be prone towards rational decision making.

That's funny I would hate to have to eat out with him.