What an engagingly written interview with a thoughtful designer. Two points stand out:<p>1. Unlike Apple, which apparently eschews formal user research, Google relied on "ethnographic research" to shape Android 4.0.<p>2. In between Apple's hyper-realistic UI and Microsoft's Spartan aesthetic, Google is trying to find a middle ground in Android 4.0 that facilitates new approaches and new experiences.<p>From the screenshots alone, it's hard to tell what it actually will be like to use Android 4.0. But it's great to see that Google is thinking so deeply about user experience.
I heard rumours that google was doing 2 things in particular to deal with the version fragmentation issue for developer's sake:<p>* Enforcing a minimum hardware level, eg opengl es2 acceleration (eg no more cheap&slow androids that do the brand no favours)
* Making it so that software updates cannot by stymied by hardware makers and carriers any more, so that as soon as google makes a new version, anyone can update to it without needing to root their device.<p>Are these true does anyone know?
Sounds like Duarte is bringing much needed focus on user experience.<p>I thought Honeycomb was garish and the futuristicity forced. This tones it down quite a bit, but also moves away from Apple's kitschy skeuomorphism. I like it.<p>I also really like the new typeface.
Everything Matias said today about iOS is true but the bottom line is he's been on the job for a year, ICS was his baby and yet from what I gather it still stutters like Porky Pig in a helicopter.<p>Optimize your fonts and visual style all day long but at the end of the day the magic of the OS is dispelled if the OS doesn't respond to input properly. Jellybean I guess...
"it doesn’t matter how great a product you have and how revolutionary the product is… distribution and marketshare are the things that matter"<p>That's an interesting point of view.
Imagine how good Andoid could be if Google just built one phone. Just one frickin phone with incredible people like Duarte working on it.<p>All wood behind one arrow.<p>Yeah, it's not their general strategy. They are a software company commoditising hardware etc etc. But cannibalising that strategy could really make Android as great a product as Google Search.<p>Imagine.
Android and iOS are looking more and more similar as time goes on. Android copies iOS... iOS copies Android. Sometimes Android is ahead with features, sometimes iOS. Eventually both OS's will reach a point of maturity with relatively equal features but with a distinct look and personality.