Android L


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Why not just give it support for themes, rather than randomly displaying loud colours? 4.4 is such a nice and elegant design, this feels like a step backwards, it's just too obnoxious for my liking

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I haven't used the L developer preview, but I do not like the direction Google is heading in terms of design. I like what I'm seeing about L's features, but good God, this is just hideous. Why does everyone insist on a flat design, I liked Android the way it was. Luckily it's Android and it's highly customizable. Yes, there is lots of wasted space, but then again, I'm also one that hates on-screen buttons. They do take away precious screen real-estate! 

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Personally I think it's an improvement, as Android was definitely in need of a refresh. Having said that I'm mostly interested in the apps and performance improvements, as I use the Aviate launcher and the Lumos icon pack and much prefer it to stock Android or Samsung's TouchWiz.

 

As Warwagon pointed out, there is a lot of wasted space that isn't used to display content - in that respect it bears similarities to Metro. Still, with the animations, expanding sections and such it does enough to distinguish itself. The problem with Metro is that Microsoft forced desktop users to run apps fullscreen, which highlighted how wasteful it is when it comes to screen real estate - while that benefited Metro on phones and tablets it was catastrophic on desktop. That will change in a coming Windows 8.1 update but the damage to its reputation is already done.

You're only forced to work full-screen if you lack a windowed (desktop) alternative - the difference point for most applications is exactly that.

 

I *personally* have been pointing that out since the Windows 8 Developer Preview; that didn't change any.  If a windowed view fits what I want to do better (which IS the case most of the time), then I use the (Win32 or Win64) application I had been using - how did application choice decrease any by adding a new API?  If anything, I have greater application choice, not less.

 

With L, what will matter will be support for older APIs going forward - it will be what Windows has been dealing with since XP.  Specifically, in terms of Android, how well will ART support applications compiled against Dalvik (older API) compared to ART (new API).  Yes - the issue with L will be the "older application problem".

 

Contrariwise, the issue with 8 has been the "older application mindset", as support for older applications has not only NOT gone anywhere, it has largely improved on an application-by-application basis.

 

L is closer to Vista (if you want to compare it to any version of Windows) - not 8.

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I have no problems with "flat" design. The idea is to make the content as prominent as possible, and I like that. Hell, I still wish I could run the Windows Classic theme on Win8, I've always liked simple, no-frills UIs like Win9x and similar.

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I have no problems with "flat" design. The idea is to make the content as prominent as possible, and I like that. Hell, I still wish I could run the Windows Classic theme on Win8, I've always liked simple, no-frills UIs like Win9x and similar.

Part of THAT issue is a fear that L won't support the use of older styles (which is similar to the fear that Windows 8 would obsolesce older APIs).  I have no idea if L would do any such thing; however, that fear has been present in every OS - only Windows (since XP) has not removed any APIs while it has added support for newer ones.

 

That really IS the sixty-four cent question with L - are "styles" API-dependent?

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I have no problems with "flat" design. The idea is to make the content as prominent as possible, and I like that. Hell, I still wish I could run the Windows Classic theme on Win8, I've always liked simple, no-frills UIs like Win9x and similar.

Windows 8 headed in that direction with the updated interface. Microsoft got rid of transparency in favour of flat colours and I really like it.

 

As for Android L and the new material design scheme, I love it. I had a conversation with my best friend about the lack of UI consistency in Android. I'm really glad that Google is pushing it to developers. It's something that Apple has had for awhile and Android desperately needs it.

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For anyone running L: does the new Music player (which I assume is Google Music by default), does it add an on-screen volume slider? It seems odd to me there isn't one on the 4.x versions.

 

 

Windows 8 headed in that direction with the updated interface. Microsoft got rid of transparency in favour of flat colours and I really like it.

 

As for Android L and the new material design scheme, I love it. I had a conversation with my best friend about the lack of UI consistency in Android. I'm really glad that Google is pushing it to developers. It's something that Apple has had for awhile and Android desperately needs it.

Agreed. I also like the increased importance being given to typography. It has led to the adoption and usage of some very nice typefaces, instead of the always generic Times New Roman, Arial, etc.

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