iPhone 6

[Bryn]

Your issue is with bad design and ease of use. I have just pointed out a glaring UI element flaw in Android based on the virtual buttons. The majority of iOS apps make use of the tab bar for quick and easy navigation like Tweetbot, Facebook, Dropbox. These navigation elements are presented and bottom of the screen for easy switching of tabs and in the bulk of the iOS apps it includes a settings option as well. Look at Dropbox on Android... All your tab options are situated in the top left of the navigation bar which on iOS is reserved for "back" and the right side reserved for your "share" options. Edge swiping left to right on iOS takes you back as well and edge swiping on the opposite end takes you forward again... Not to some hidden navigation and settings options.

Have a look at the Android Skype app... Navigation elements placed on top of the virtual buttons in a blue bar. It makes for a convoluted mess all in the name of what you term as quick multitasking. Is double pressing a button at centre stage really that much harder than pressing once?

As for the size, the reason I brought it up is because 90% of the population cannot reach navigation elements that high on the screen with one hand... But you're audacious enough to talk about bad design.

A tab bar is not needed for 'quick and easy navigation', good design is. Not all Android phones have a virtual navigation bar. My OnePlus One can switch between off-screen capacitive buttons or on-screen buttons. I opt to use on-screen buttons because general navigation is so much faster.

You say that having to reach the top of the screen is a schlep with one hand, but forget that on iOS that's where most back buttons are! You need to access a back button much more than you need to access settings. On Android you can navigate the system by barely moving your finger. Dropbox has a great Android app. The UI is clean and unambiguous. As I've said, Android apps have very consistent elements. If their isn't an options button on the screen you're looking at, swiping will reveal whatever settings options are available. Skype is simply a poorly designed app. It happens. The vast majority of popular Android apps do not place navigation elements at the bottom of the screen.

It's not just having to press the home button twice, it's having to press a tactile button twice. Pressing an on-screen button once is much faster, especially considering its closer proximity to what's going on on the screen.

 

[cerebus]

So it's OK for Apple to have fundamental UX elements, such as a back button, at the top left corner of the screen, while it is incorrect for some Android apps to have additional feature buttons there? Your argument makes no sense.

The top left of the screen is reachable for me without stretching most of the time as I mainly use my left hand. It becomes increasingly more of a pain to access as the phone stretches out. That's a lot of the reason I don't care too much for the 6+.

 

[Maverick Jester]

The top left of the screen is reachable for me without stretching most of the time as I mainly use my left hand. It becomes increasingly more of a pain to access as the phone stretches out. That's a lot of the reason I don't care too much for the 6+.

Which is exactly why Android has dedicated back buttons, either onscreen or capacitive. If all Android devices were a fixed size the way iPhones are, it most likely would have been different.

 

[Hush9300]

A tab bar is not needed for 'quick and easy navigation', good design is. Not all Android phones have a virtual navigation bar. My OnePlus One can switch between off-screen capacitive buttons or on-screen buttons. I opt to use on-screen buttons because general navigation is so much faster.

You say that having to reach the top of the screen is a schlep with one hand, but forget that on iOS that's where most back buttons are! You need to access a back button much more than you need to access settings. On Android you can navigate the system by barely moving your finger. Dropbox has a great Android app. The UI is clean and unambiguous. As I've said, Android apps have very consistent elements. If their isn't an options button on the screen you're looking at, swiping will reveal whatever settings options are available. Skype is simply a poorly designed app. It happens. The vast majority of popular Android apps do not place navigation elements at the bottom of the screen.

It's not just having to press the home button twice, it's having to press a tactile button twice. Pressing an on-screen button once is much faster, especially considering its closer proximity to what's going on on the screen.

You bemoan iOS for having to press the home button twice but you're perfectly ok with pressing or swiping once only to have to press again... The tab bar in the music app which you had a field day with yesterday is a perfect example of quick switching and easy navigation between what I decide are my most used tabs.

As for going back and forward... I don't press any button or any on-screen button. I simply edge swipe.

If the Android Dropbox app is what you consider to be a great user interface as opposed to the iOS one then we're done here.

 

[cerebus]

If the Android Dropbox app is what you consider to be a great user interface as opposed to the iOS one then we're done here.

Fool! The iOS Android debate has no beginning nor end.

 

[Bryn]

You bemoan iOS for having to press the home button twice but you're perfectly ok with pressing or swiping once only to have to press again... The tab bar in the music app which you had a field day with yesterday is a perfect example of quick switching and easy navigation between what I decide are my most used tabs.

As for going back and forward... I don't press any button or any on-screen button. I simply edge swipe.

If the Android Dropbox app is what you consider to be a great user interface as opposed to the iOS one then we're done here.

I don't use Dropbox so I couldn't care less about its interface. Last I used it it looked perfectly fine though. Few iOS apps have swiping to move backward and forward, so how about you move on from your lone example.

Settings are accessed very, very infrequently. So yes, I'd much prefer that they not take up space in the main UI. When a swipe is required, it won't only be the settings that are exposed. Other aspects of the app will also be available. The same goes for the ellipsis button when it's present.

The tabs in the iOS music app is not easy navigation. The buttons are small and finicky, and half the tabs are only present in an overflow screen. Most Android music apps give you a full screen to navigate your music, and you simply swipe to change view. In addition to being ugly, the iOS music app is laggy, has poor file support and a very average Now Playing screen. It's basically as average as a music app can get.

 

[cerebus]

Which is exactly why Android has dedicated back buttons, either onscreen or capacitive. If all Android devices were a fixed size the way iPhones are, it most likely would have been different.

That's not why Android has dedicated buttons. Those were in place way before screens started to get so big. Functionally the Android back button isn't the same as the app back button. It's meant to indicate some kind of system UI flow but it's not very fleshed out so it either takes you to a previous step in the app or takes you out of an app or takes you back to the previous app and it's a potluck what will happen.

 

[Maverick Jester]

The tabs in the iOS music app is not easy navigation. The buttons are small and finicky, and half the tabs are only present in an overflow screen. Most Android music apps give you a full screen to navigate your music, and you simply swipe to change view. In addition to being ugly, the iOS music app is laggy, has poor file support and a very average Now Playing screen. It's basically as average as a music app can get.

Agreed. The stock iOS music player is pretty average, even in iOS 8.

 

[Bryn]

That's not why Android has dedicated buttons. Those were in place way before screens started to get so big. Functionally the Android back button isn't the same as the app back button. It's meant to indicate some kind of system UI flow but it's not very fleshed out so it either takes you to a previous step in the app or takes you out of an app or takes you back to the previous app and it's a potluck what will happen.

The back button in Android only exits an app if you're on the app's home screen, which seems like an obvious thing to do.

 

[Maverick Jester]

That's not why Android has dedicated buttons. Those were in place way before screens started to get so big.

Yes and no. Android always had a back button (i.e. a capacitive one), but Google began standardising onscreen buttons and their usage when it released Honeycomb- a tablet OS.

Functionally the Android back button isn't the same as the app back button. It's meant to indicate some kind of system UI flow but it's not very fleshed out so it either takes you to a previous step in the app or takes you out of an app or takes you back to the previous app and it's a potluck what will happen.

That is a fault of the app, not the UI. The intention is for the Android back button to replicate the app back button, and a few apps do use it in this manner. I agree that the inconsistency is annoying, but I'm finding less apps that actually divert from the intended usage of the button when in-app.

 

[Hush9300]

I don't use Dropbox so I couldn't care less about its interface. Last I used it it looked perfectly fine though. Few iOS apps have swiping to move backward and forward, so how about you move on from your lone example.

Settings are accessed very, very infrequently. So yes, I'd much prefer that they not take up space in the main UI. When a swipe is required, it won't only be the settings that are exposed. Other aspects of the app will also be available. The same goes for the ellipsis button when it's present.

The tabs in the iOS music app is not easy navigation. The buttons are small and finicky, and half the tabs are only present in an overflow screen. Most Android music apps give you a full screen to navigate your music, and you simply swipe to change view. In addition to being ugly, the iOS music app is laggy, has poor file support and a very average Now Playing screen. It's basically as average as a music app can get.

Every single app I have utilises the swiping gesture... Tweetbot, Hours, Skype, AnyList, Instagram, Flipboard, Shazam, 1Password, TeeVee, WhatsApp, Pocket, Dropbox, PayPal, Supersport, ScoreMobile, Scanner Pro, My Vodacom, Youtube, IMDb, Airbnb...

It's pretty much a system feature and I would harbour a guess that the developer would have to disable it.

 

[Maverick Jester]

Every single app I have utilises the swiping gesture... Tweetbot, Hours, Skype, AnyList, Instagram, Flipboard, Shazam, 1Password, TeeVee, WhatsApp, Pocket, Dropbox, PayPal, Supersport, ScoreMobile, Scanner Pro, My Vodacom, Youtube, IMDb, Airbnb...

It's pretty much a system feature and I would harbour a guess that the developer would have to enable it.

FTFY. It's actually optional, and can be used for more than just the back option.

 

[PostmanPot]

Back button is not necessary. The onscreen navigation buttons work just fine.

Or just swipe back? So smooth and responsive too.

 

[PostmanPot]

Tell him his phone is simply average though, and all hell will break lose!

How dare anyone refer to an iPhone as only average?!

Why cast the first stone though? What do you expect, especially when casted with a fallacy.

 

[whatwhat]

Why cast the first stone though? What do you expect, especially when casted with a fallacy.

Because Dolby is just as average as his phone.

 

[Dolby]

Because Dolby is just as average as his phone.

*foams at the mouth*

 

[whatwhat]

*foams at the mouth*

Sorry, should have known you were a female. I change my statement to

Because Dolby is just as average as her phone.

 

[Hamish McPanji]

Sorry, should have known you were a female. I change my statement to

Because Dolby is just as average as her phone.

Don't get it

 

[PostmanPot]

Because Dolby is just as average as his phone.

Yes, feeling average/inferior could be a reason for wanting/needing to cast the first stone.

That isn't Dolby though, even though he's cheeky at times.

 

[Dolby]

Don't get it

+1

I'm not sure he's over 18 though, so I let these little comments slide

That isn't Dolby though, even though he's cheeky at times.