Let’s face it iOS users, it’s not the “most advanced mobile operating system” anymore is it? That’s not a bad thing, the pull of Apple’s famous OS is its simplicity and design (love or loathe).
The crown of ‘advanced’ goes to Google’s open-source Android, but – at stock – it’s not the most attractive.
Google, in my opinion, has done things the right way, with a focus on providing great underlying features and services whilst letting third-party applications and manufacturers customise the system to make it look how the user wishes.
This is hard to explain to the average user; the standard consumer wants something which looks great out the box. Now Android has the features, a fantastic stock design – I think – is the next step for the company, and we only have to look at recent design theology and 4.3 to see why it’s likely…
Over at Android Police, Ron noticed the ‘Roboto’ (Google’s font) files are 30% bigger than Android 4.2.2, and after an extensive teardown, found some extreme attention to detail.
So, I hear you ask? Well take a look at Mountain View’s latest design language with products such as Google ‘Now’ – that beautiful, flat, clean UI which currently looks totally out of place on Android.
Recently I’d created an article which included this image…
There’s the famous quote by Pablo Picasso (which was also quoted by Steve Jobs) that says: “Good artists copy, Great artists steal.”
After years of being called an “iOS clone”, whilst somewhat true, are you going to sit back and let Apple take your new design language Google? I don’t think you are.
Larry Page, after taking control of Google as CEO in 2011, has been on a mission for great design. Looking across the company’s portfolio of products; he’s certainly succeeding – Google Maps, Google+, Gmail, Google Search… everywhere is stunningly beautiful, except Android.
The features are above the competition – it’s time Android 5.0 brings a fresh design and a great “out of the box” experience which everyone can enjoy. Especially now more stock devices in the market.
What do you think we’ll see a focus on with Android 5.0? Will it be design, features, or both?
