I finally figured out what really bugs me about the way you're expected to use mobile devices (Android, iOS).
You're limited to one application, full-screen at a time (widgets and such not withstanding) but you must deal with EVERY app installed at once when not using one particular one.
There's no nice little organization unless you specifically create one on your home screens. The Android "app drawer" is the worst combination of the Windows Start Menu and your desk's junk drawer; everything's in one place regardless of their purpose, how often you use them, or whether they're related to each other.
Even running apps work this way. Android has a method to switch to recent apps, which roughly means ones you may have been in recently. But since there's no way to technically *exit* apps, there's no distinction between ones you're done with and ones you may have just switched out of for a minute.
A standard desktop has multiple states: Not running, active (windowed/fullscreen), and inactive (minimized to various places or just not the active program). Android has equivalents, but no control over any of those states except Active.
Usually this isn't much of a problem, honestly. But just now I accidentally clicked a link in a Twitter client that sent me to my browser. Normally, the global "back" button would send me back a screen/app, except that the Browser intercepts that as "back in history", which OFTEN makes sense, but not here. Since the browser never actually closes, I would have to Back though tons of pages to get the expected behavior. So instead, I hit the "recent apps" button and see 18 apps, very few of which I would consider "running". Some I haven't accessed for 20 hours!
I realize these aren't meant to be desktop replacements, but management of application state would be wonderful.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Android in the House
My Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 arrived last week. Due to various events, I've only had limited time to play with it, but here are several of my initial observations:
Android syncing is awesome. This is only my second Android device. I've had my Nexus One for a year and a half now, but I'm not the type to throw out perfectly good technology for a new Shiny (though I have been having more issues with storage space, recently...). As such, this was the first time I experienced logging into a new device and watching all my apps and contacts immediately start syncing. That was pretty cool.
Android syncing is...odd. Later, I noticed that it didn't download all the apps I have on my phone, and there wasn't an obvious pattern. Some of the larger ones (Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons) didn't download, but neither did an alternate keyboard and some other odds and ends.
Honeycomb is not Gingerbread. I was expecting the interface to feel different; I'd seen enough videos of it, after all. But it does feel like an entirely different system. Much of that is because of a sense of freedom. The larger screen is just a lot less claustrophobic. The configuration screens are familiar but different and, most noticeably, the "App Drawer" is completely different. Similar to the market, you can look at either All Apps or My Apps and, honestly, I'm not sure I can tell the difference other than the preinstalled apps (stock and Samsung-specific) don't show up under "my apps". But that didn't stop some of them from suddenly showing up on my phone, either. Very strange.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is not stock Android. Though I'd tried, I hadn't seen much discussion only about whether this device was stock Android. I figured it wouldn't be far off and, honestly, I still don't know if it's been modified beyond the base installed apps, including a Samsung App Market, which makes no sense to me (especially since it wasn't even on the home screen by default). However, it DOES ship with a Samsung keyboard replacement. And... I don't know why. It seems to have no benefit over the stock keyboard whatsoever. In fact, it feels exactly like the stock keyboard, but with ugly gray buttons like it was written for Windows 95. Mostly I was frustrated by the missing quick-access for the numbers on the top row of keys, until I switched to the stock keyboard and found that that, too, didn't have it. So I bought Thumb Keyboard and haven't looked back.
Honestly, I haven't bothered to look at the preinstalled apps much (except for Pulse, just because I recognized it). I plan on doing so, but I generally consider anything preinstalled to be bloadware, so it'll take me a while.
Android Honeycomb apps... need... more... apps. The app environment for Android tablets is nowhere as evolved as it is for the iPad, and I expected that. I was surprised, however, to realize that not even the Facebook app is Honeycomb-optimized. Neither is Tweetdeck, which I would have thought was a shoe-in, if it weren't generally expected that Twitter is just going to kill it off. Even though this is the same OS as my phone and it runs the same apps, I feel like I'm starting a whole new search for the right tools.
In general, I'm still getting used to the concept of having a tablet; deciding what things work best on the phone vs a larger screen, finding new apps to take advantage of the increased space, etc. But I do love the batter life so far. It's never been far from the charger, but the only time I've had to plug it in came after several sessions of various games chewing through the screen and processor.
Android syncing is awesome. This is only my second Android device. I've had my Nexus One for a year and a half now, but I'm not the type to throw out perfectly good technology for a new Shiny (though I have been having more issues with storage space, recently...). As such, this was the first time I experienced logging into a new device and watching all my apps and contacts immediately start syncing. That was pretty cool.
Android syncing is...odd. Later, I noticed that it didn't download all the apps I have on my phone, and there wasn't an obvious pattern. Some of the larger ones (Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons) didn't download, but neither did an alternate keyboard and some other odds and ends.
Honeycomb is not Gingerbread. I was expecting the interface to feel different; I'd seen enough videos of it, after all. But it does feel like an entirely different system. Much of that is because of a sense of freedom. The larger screen is just a lot less claustrophobic. The configuration screens are familiar but different and, most noticeably, the "App Drawer" is completely different. Similar to the market, you can look at either All Apps or My Apps and, honestly, I'm not sure I can tell the difference other than the preinstalled apps (stock and Samsung-specific) don't show up under "my apps". But that didn't stop some of them from suddenly showing up on my phone, either. Very strange.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is not stock Android. Though I'd tried, I hadn't seen much discussion only about whether this device was stock Android. I figured it wouldn't be far off and, honestly, I still don't know if it's been modified beyond the base installed apps, including a Samsung App Market, which makes no sense to me (especially since it wasn't even on the home screen by default). However, it DOES ship with a Samsung keyboard replacement. And... I don't know why. It seems to have no benefit over the stock keyboard whatsoever. In fact, it feels exactly like the stock keyboard, but with ugly gray buttons like it was written for Windows 95. Mostly I was frustrated by the missing quick-access for the numbers on the top row of keys, until I switched to the stock keyboard and found that that, too, didn't have it. So I bought Thumb Keyboard and haven't looked back.
Honestly, I haven't bothered to look at the preinstalled apps much (except for Pulse, just because I recognized it). I plan on doing so, but I generally consider anything preinstalled to be bloadware, so it'll take me a while.
Android Honeycomb apps... need... more... apps. The app environment for Android tablets is nowhere as evolved as it is for the iPad, and I expected that. I was surprised, however, to realize that not even the Facebook app is Honeycomb-optimized. Neither is Tweetdeck, which I would have thought was a shoe-in, if it weren't generally expected that Twitter is just going to kill it off. Even though this is the same OS as my phone and it runs the same apps, I feel like I'm starting a whole new search for the right tools.
In general, I'm still getting used to the concept of having a tablet; deciding what things work best on the phone vs a larger screen, finding new apps to take advantage of the increased space, etc. But I do love the batter life so far. It's never been far from the charger, but the only time I've had to plug it in came after several sessions of various games chewing through the screen and processor.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Android on the Way
I ordered myself a Galaxy Tab 10.1, and it will arrive on Wednesday. I pretend I bought it as my birthday present to myself, to negate the guilt for buying another gadget I don't really need.
I had previously told myself that I would hold out for a bit longer For the next full version of Android/Honeycomb, to find out if the rumors of an "official" Nexus Tablet were going to pan out... to just generally get to the next generation of the Android tablets.
In the end, I decided opting for the polished end of the first generation would work for me. I had to convince myself it would be okay to upgrade later, should a more ideal device come along. In this case, I am willing to take the hit on selling a device used in order to have one sooner. I also tell myself I could try developing for it.
I went into this year planning to buy no less than three tablet devices. One, the ASUS Eee Slate is a Windows-based tablet with Wacom pen input. I bought that specifically to play with Photoshop and a pen. The second was an ASUS Eee Note... a non-backlit grayscale LCD device with pen input, specifically for note taking. See, I love the idea of pen-based input, at least for things you'd usually use a pen for: notes, drawing, etc. Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn't really gotten it right and the Eee Note is given up as a no-show in the US. So... I'm one for three.
The third tablet was always going to be an Android tablet, I just wasn't sure which one. The iPad is still the best-in-breed for this type of device, but I just have no interest to step into that ecosystem; I deal with enough companies fighting to pull me into their exclusive environment already.
So... tablet two of the threatened three arrives this week. We'll see how I integrate it into my day. Unfortunately, I let one of my criteria slip and learned only recently that this device doesn't yet support the Netflix app. Oops. Well, if it's not supported by the end of the year, there just might be a device that convinces me to upgrade, and I'll feel no guilt for it.
I had previously told myself that I would hold out for a bit longer For the next full version of Android/Honeycomb, to find out if the rumors of an "official" Nexus Tablet were going to pan out... to just generally get to the next generation of the Android tablets.
In the end, I decided opting for the polished end of the first generation would work for me. I had to convince myself it would be okay to upgrade later, should a more ideal device come along. In this case, I am willing to take the hit on selling a device used in order to have one sooner. I also tell myself I could try developing for it.
I went into this year planning to buy no less than three tablet devices. One, the ASUS Eee Slate is a Windows-based tablet with Wacom pen input. I bought that specifically to play with Photoshop and a pen. The second was an ASUS Eee Note... a non-backlit grayscale LCD device with pen input, specifically for note taking. See, I love the idea of pen-based input, at least for things you'd usually use a pen for: notes, drawing, etc. Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn't really gotten it right and the Eee Note is given up as a no-show in the US. So... I'm one for three.
The third tablet was always going to be an Android tablet, I just wasn't sure which one. The iPad is still the best-in-breed for this type of device, but I just have no interest to step into that ecosystem; I deal with enough companies fighting to pull me into their exclusive environment already.
So... tablet two of the threatened three arrives this week. We'll see how I integrate it into my day. Unfortunately, I let one of my criteria slip and learned only recently that this device doesn't yet support the Netflix app. Oops. Well, if it's not supported by the end of the year, there just might be a device that convinces me to upgrade, and I'll feel no guilt for it.
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