T-Hub 2

My most recent project.



Review here http://androidaustralia.com.au/2012/08/reviews/review-telstra-t-hub-2/

And review straight from a customer.

Android market share passes 50% in Australia. Time to build your app?

Nielsen just reported that Android has tipped over 50% market share in the US.  So how's it doing in Australia?  Well slightly better at 56.9% (July 2012).

In Australia, Android is gaining share, increasing from 36.4 percent in July 2011 to 56.9 percent in July 2012. Likewise, iOS dipped from 36.9 percent in 2011 to 30.5 percent in 2012. Source: Kantel.

So if you're organisation proudly released it's iPhone app then perhaps it's time to get going with Android too.

3 essential resources for designing for Android

Firstly, Google's own Android guidelines and resources. 

Second, due respect to partner-in-crime Abs for his delightfully simple Android Niceties blog, showcasing contemporary app design.

And finally the excellent Android patterns

A look into the future - from 1999

"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future."  Niels Bohr

Highlights include predicting the end of boom/bust cycles, that the internet will have less impact on society than aircon as well as pointing out that there are no dotcoms in the Fortune 500 companies (with implication there never will be).

  

What's (still) wrong with Android?

The answer is not a lot...

Ice Cream Sandwich on the Galaxy Nexus is a wonderful experience. It pushes the envelope of mobile design and I love it (tick and tick for the 2 goals of Android UX Design Chief, Matias Duarte).


So having used it for 1 month and having put every screen, dialogue and interaction under the microscope, I find only 5 flaws worth mentioning...

1. Multitasking. Battery life remains an issue so it's time multi-tasking got fixed.  Yet I still don't get  how to kill an app vs leave it running. Windows had minimize and exit, it was simple and we have a decade of familiarity with it, mobiles need the same.
2. Options button. This has been the source of most frustration in our early-use user-testing. Yes it needed removing from the hard keys and yes it was brave to do so. But the "more options icon" and the random placing are a missed opportunity to improve this important feature.
3. Play music. To finally beat the iThing you have to get the music player right. A play button is expected to play this track AND those after it. It has since my first walkman and always should. Yet the play button on my Galaxy Nexus plays the current track and then stops. There is probably a gesture or learned behaviour to play all, but I don't know it, which is a nice segue to the next point.
4. Having to read the manual. The single most important task to get right is to be able to answer the phone when it rings. I couldn't do it the first time as I had to learn how to answer the phone. This to me is heresy, it's a joyful interaction once you've learned it, but it erodes confidence for exactly the user segment that Google now needs to win over. This of course is just one example, there are a few too many areas where I only discovered something by RTFM.
5. It is full of little inconsistencies. Inconsistencies that the average user won't even notice but that will gently erode their trust and love for it. Inconsistencies with earlier versions (OK/Cancel became Cancel/OK), inconsistencies with expected behaviour (the music play button) and inconsistencies within itself (was the Language and input section of Settings done by the same team?)

So that's all that's wrong with Ice Cream Sandwich. In the interest of balance, here are 10 reasons to get it.  Stop me and buy one.

Outstanding design

It doesn't happen often but here's one of those rare designs that immediately makes the previous best-in-class look archaic. Soon all coffee machines will no doubt look like this. Watch the video for the full picture.