Google packed in more surprises than thought with every new release of android and the latest one, the Froyo (Android 2.2) was the king of them all. The updates till now focused extensively on feature additions but looks like the next upgrade in Gingerbread (Android 3.0, as rumored) will focus on bringing massive improvements in User Interface, which has failed to impress many Android fanboys out their.
Custom UI like Motoblur from Motorola and Sense UI from HTC supported Android in its early version by adding valuable features not found on plain Android. But with Android growing to version 2.0/2.1/ 2.2, that’s not the case anymore and custom UI in fact add to slow performance and rather look outdated when compared to Android, which improved dramatically when it came to features and social integration.
Google took the notice of the fact and with Android 3.0, Gingerbread aims to make the addition of Custom UI pointless and bring the same experience (far from the reach of custom UI) to all users, manufacturers no bar.
The Android team responsible for Gingerbread have nearly all the features they want to update Android with but still, surprises could hit anytime.
The motive behind ‘total focus’ on UI is to compete with Apple whose iOS has better and easier UI than Android’s.
We bet manufacturers will have hard time to believe that plain versions of Android in the future is all their customers would expect and need and will be tempted to add a tweak or two to differentiate their products among themselves and other manufacturers.
We are sold to what Google thinks but would also like to know ‘what you think’. Or have you also been haunted by custom UI of your phone that seems no match to Version 2.1 of your Android phone?
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