My Nexus 4 arrived on Thursday, right before we started recording the Android Central podcast. I've been using it ever since, thanks to a handy nano- to micro-SIM adapter, and enjoying the experience quite a bit.
I've had a Nexus 7 for a couple of months, and it never clicked with me. I need tablet-optimized interfaces and apps on a device that big. I like Jelly Bean *much* more on the Nexus 4.
I'm going to keep using it over the holidays and try to get a good feeling for the state-of-the-art-of-Andoid.
Some quick thoughts so far:
1. Google Now *crushes* Siri
2. I miss not having my non-Gmail accounts in a unified inbox with my Gmail accounts (I have 2 of each)
3. Intents are fantastic. The flexibility of apps in general is fantastic.
4. Google Play is much better than the Android Market I remember (and the App Store sucks worse than it used to in terms of search and curation -- too many scam and junk apps)
5. Android scroll views are still terrible. Worse than iOS 1. Keyboard lags like iOS 4. I think Butter was a failure and Google needs to re-write UI prioritization from the ground up. (Like Apple needs to re-write multitasking and inter-app communication -- both were bolt-on solutions)
6. Animation is way better and the overall look is way, way better than pre 4.x versions
7. Icons are still inconsistent and poorly designed. Hire the Iconfactory already.
8. I have no use of widgets. Data should come to me no matter where I am. I shouldn't have to go look for it. Actionable notifications are the near-future of UI.
9. Settings in notification center are awesome, but the two-finger swipe is awkward.
10. Call quality is fantastic.
AND I HAVEN'T BROKEN ANY GLASS YET!
I'll be posting a bunch more on the N4 here, and on iMore.com so any tips/tricks/feedback/suggestions are welcome.
In between posts, I'll be chatting about it on Twitter, so feel free to yell at me http://twitter.com/reneritchie
Now I'm off to figure out how to take a screen shot!
I've had a Nexus 7 for a couple of months, and it never clicked with me. I need tablet-optimized interfaces and apps on a device that big. I like Jelly Bean *much* more on the Nexus 4.
I'm going to keep using it over the holidays and try to get a good feeling for the state-of-the-art-of-Andoid.
Some quick thoughts so far:
1. Google Now *crushes* Siri
2. I miss not having my non-Gmail accounts in a unified inbox with my Gmail accounts (I have 2 of each)
3. Intents are fantastic. The flexibility of apps in general is fantastic.
4. Google Play is much better than the Android Market I remember (and the App Store sucks worse than it used to in terms of search and curation -- too many scam and junk apps)
5. Android scroll views are still terrible. Worse than iOS 1. Keyboard lags like iOS 4. I think Butter was a failure and Google needs to re-write UI prioritization from the ground up. (Like Apple needs to re-write multitasking and inter-app communication -- both were bolt-on solutions)
6. Animation is way better and the overall look is way, way better than pre 4.x versions
7. Icons are still inconsistent and poorly designed. Hire the Iconfactory already.
8. I have no use of widgets. Data should come to me no matter where I am. I shouldn't have to go look for it. Actionable notifications are the near-future of UI.
9. Settings in notification center are awesome, but the two-finger swipe is awkward.
10. Call quality is fantastic.
AND I HAVEN'T BROKEN ANY GLASS YET!
I'll be posting a bunch more on the N4 here, and on iMore.com so any tips/tricks/feedback/suggestions are welcome.
In between posts, I'll be chatting about it on Twitter, so feel free to yell at me http://twitter.com/reneritchie
Now I'm off to figure out how to take a screen shot!