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As an avid iOS user, every time I try and pick up an Android I experience the same types of issues. I wonder whether it actually is a lack of intuition, or that

As an avid iOS user, every time I try and pick up an Android I experience the same types of issues. I wonder whether it actually is a lack of intuition, or that I am so locked into the iOS way that it ends up feeling foreign right from the start. Re: the back button, I am curious how other mobile OSs handle this problem. An obvious solution would be that the OS forces a particular behaviour, but then again, you were referencing default apps with varying implementations. Having never worked with the Android SDK, I wonder if the behaviour is forced on 3rd party apps?

polshaw 14y ago
>same types of issues Elaborate please? The only common UX issue i can see here is the back button, most are aesthetic.
akjetma 14y ago
As a person who's never had an iPhone/Mac, I experience the same foreign feeling when I use an iOS device. I'm pretty sure this feeling is mostly due to unfamiliarity and not superior design on either side. Although it is worth noting that whenever I've borrowed someone else's Android phone it can be a completely different experience from my own Android device, whereas an iOS user borrowing an iOS device will know exactly how to operate it.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  Yep, I especially get this feeling when using a Mac, from the mouse acceleration curve. It just feels wrong, and I can only use a Mac for a few minutes before my hand starts hurting.
contextfree 14y ago
"I wonder whether it actually is a lack of intuition, or that I am so locked into the iOS way that it ends up feeling foreign right from the start." Intuitive means familiar, so the answer is "yes"
- roryreiff 14y ago
  To elaborate... What informs my thought process as to what I believe will happen when using the interface? Do I think it will behave a certain way because it seems to make the most sense, or because I remember the iOS implementation? Since it's probably fair to assume that my understanding of any UI is going to be derived from some other previously used UI, perhaps the question is a pointless one? I am not sure what the answer is.
ajross 14y ago
This is true of every major platform UX change. Everyone hates all platforms except the one they use, except for those rare conversion events where something trips in your brain and you decide to switch. Then you hate what you used to use and everything returns to normal.
georgemcbay 14y ago
" I wonder whether it actually is a lack of intuition, or that I am so locked into the iOS way that it ends up feeling foreign right from the start" Both, but mostly the latter. If you use both OSes regularly each becomes pretty natural to use. But there are some baffling things in Android that are just too vaguely defined, like the oft-mentioned-here back button. I use Android every day, and I'm still not 100% sure what the backbutton is going to do when I press it, even in apps I use pretty often. Unfortunately fixing this now isn't that easy because each app's Activities gets to choose what happens when the back button is pressed. This is bad for the obvious reason that some developers are bound to do the wrong thing, but made worse by the fact that Google themselves have attempted to "redefine" the back button various times and each attempt has made things more confusing (IMO).

polshaw 14y ago

>same types of issues Elaborate please? The only common UX issue i can see here is the back button, most are aesthetic.

akjetma 14y ago

As a person who's never had an iPhone/Mac, I experience the same foreign feeling when I use an iOS device. I'm pretty sure this feeling is mostly due to unfamiliarity and not superior design on either side. Although it is worth noting that whenever I've borrowed someone else's Android phone it can be a completely different experience from my own Android device, whereas an iOS user borrowing an iOS device will know exactly how to operate it.

w1ntermute 14y ago
Yep, I especially get this feeling when using a Mac, from the mouse acceleration curve. It just feels wrong, and I can only use a Mac for a few minutes before my hand starts hurting.

contextfree 14y ago

"I wonder whether it actually is a lack of intuition, or that I am so locked into the iOS way that it ends up feeling foreign right from the start." Intuitive means familiar, so the answer is "yes"

roryreiff 14y ago
To elaborate... What informs my thought process as to what I believe will happen when using the interface? Do I think it will behave a certain way because it seems to make the most sense, or because I remember the iOS implementation? Since it's probably fair to assume that my understanding of any UI is going to be derived from some other previously used UI, perhaps the question is a pointless one? I am not sure what the answer is.

ajross 14y ago

This is true of every major platform UX change. Everyone hates all platforms except the one they use, except for those rare conversion events where something trips in your brain and you decide to switch. Then you hate what you used to use and everything returns to normal.

georgemcbay 14y ago

" I wonder whether it actually is a lack of intuition, or that I am so locked into the iOS way that it ends up feeling foreign right from the start" Both, but mostly the latter. If you use both OSes regularly each becomes pretty natural to use. But there are some baffling things in Android that are just too vaguely defined, like the oft-mentioned-here back button. I use Android every day, and I'm still not 100% sure what the backbutton is going to do when I press it, even in apps I use pretty often. Unfortunately fixing this now isn't that easy because each app's Activities gets to choose what happens when the back button is pressed. This is bad for the obvious reason that some developers are bound to do the wrong thing, but made worse by the fact that Google themselves have attempted to "redefine" the back button various times and each attempt has made things more confusing (IMO).