Gripes about UI/UX of Android phones/tablets and so called "openness" that is nonsense to consumers.

If you also have an Android phone, you are welcome to email me your gripes as well. If you don't but you want to buy one, read this blog before you do it. :-)

-- A big fan of Google, not Android

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    Re-think the four hardware buttons on Android

    The gripe about Android’s four hardware buttons has come to me on the first day I started using it. They are unnecessary, they are confusing, they are ugly, they take space, they cause users making mistakes… they should be remade.

    Previously people have discussed about the button layout varies on different phones. Let’s take one step back here, do we really need four hardware buttons?

    The “Back” Button

    Let’s start with the “back” button. As previously mentioned, the behavior of the back button is inconsistant. It depends on how you start an app. The “back” button sometimes brings back to the previous screen within an app, but sometimes closes the app. Even within an app, the “back” button is not always consistent.

    In contrast, apps on iPhone use graphic buttons to go to the previous interface when needed. Those buttons clearly tell which interface to go back to. Take the official Twitter App as an example:

    The “Menu” Button

    The “menu” button is even worse. Its functionality totally depends on which app you are using and which stage of that app you are at. It could be used for things like preference setting, refresh the page, the “about” information, logout/account switch, go offline in chatting, go fullscreen… so basically if you cannot find out how to do certain things on the screen, give a shot to the “menu” button. This “menu” button destroys the fun with a mobile device with a touch screen. It makes me feel like I’m using a desktop system all over again.

    Instead of having a “menu” button, the system should let developers decide how to make functionalities easily accessible. If the system allows a “menu” button, developers are confused. They don’t know which functionalities should be put on screen and which should be put in menus. As a result, the users are confused as well.

    The “Home” Button

    Ok, now I need to give Android some credit for having a “home” button there. It is indeed necessary. However, it is too close to the screen on some devices, such as Nexus One. Several times I accidentally hit the “home” button and close the app I was using.

    The “Search” Button

    Among all four buttons, the “search” button is the only one that is absolutely useless. Almost all the apps that need the search functionality already have a graphic search interface.

    Some of them even have two search buttons to emphasize the search capability, like this one:

    Besides, many “menu”s also contain “search” buttons. Why do we really need yet another hardware button for search?

    If Android removes the “back”, “menu” and “search” buttons and put the “home” button a little far away from the touch screen, it becomes to look like something that already existed more than four years ago. Is that why Android invented these four hardware buttons?

    1. tgadget reblogged this from android-gripes
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    3. techjunkie reblogged this from android-gripes and added:
      Another good post
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    6. ireallylikethisstuff reblogged this from android-gripes and added:
      other day that said some choose...only because they hate Apple. That’s
    7. android-gripes posted this