My team at work is starting to make a big push to start having more of a mobile presence. This meant that I had the privilege of being sent to a training course for iOS development (via Pragmatic Studio). I had only done some minor Android development before this so I was fully prepared to give iOS and Apple the stink eye. Something strange happened though. The more I sat in the class and worked on writing apps for iOS, the more I started to see what I consider the biggest flaw in Android. What is that you might ask? Android does not have a common look and feel across the OS and apps.
The more I wrote apps for iOS, the more I realized how each app had a common look and feel. Even though they had different styles, they all had similar behavior and button/field placement. I could easily pick up any iPhone and open an app I would know how to navigate and what to expect in the screen layout. When I open my Android phone, it is quite the opposite. If I open 10 apps, I can expect to see 10 different screen layouts. This is annoying to have every app behave differently and does not provide a sleek UX . Google needs to get a handle on this somehow.
I know Google has refrained from going the Apple route of thoroughly reviewing all apps submitted to the App Store, but they have to come up with some solution to the UX problem if they truly intend to dethrone the iPhone. If it was me, I would just review apps to check for obeying UI and security guidelines. That would still give developers the confidence that their app would easily and quickly pass through the approval process and make users more at ease.
