Can Android be Simplified?

[Liam Perry]

As much as I enjoy the freedom to completely customize my phone, is there any ROM or launcher or something that drastically simplifies the UI?

Having just upgraded to a Jellybean phone.... I actually miss Gingerbread as it was a lot simpler and more straightforward. As much as I love the holo theme, my new Motorola is really infuriating me. Tasks that I used to complete with one button press now take me through menus and dialog boxes that just weren't there in GB. Sending texts, and using the music player, even taking photos is a longer process.

When I'm in a hurry, and I need to say, send a text quickly, or find a contact's email in just a couple of seconds.... I really don't have the patience to go menu hunting.

Are there any apps or roms or launchers or something that can make the UI/general experience a simpler, more straightforward process? Like, changing the brightness involves literally 10 different menus on my device.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Scott Kenyon]

These new things will take time to learn. There are many customizations that will make life easier. Power toggles will put your power toggles either on your home screen or the pull down bar. There's a setting for screen brightness you can just tap on (since you mentioned that). There are also Gingerbread themes for your homescreen in several launchers available on the Play Store.
A better idea, perhaps, is to do some reading on how to set up a home screen. The basics of this is using shortcuts to activate your most often performed tasks such as texting. You can grab the messaging app and create a one tap shortcut on the home screen to be able to have access to that functionality at any time in an instant. One thing that I use to be really effecient is Action Launcher. It integrates the app drawer into the home screen. You slide it out from the left side of the device instead of having a separate experience. There are also new options called Shutters and Covers that work with folders to make access to direct dial contacts, on demand small app widgets and other things much faster and easier. Again, there's a learning curve with Action Launcher, but it's well worth it for me.
I hope this helps a bit and if you have any specific questions feel free to post them up!

 

[Golfdriver97]

As much as I enjoy the freedom to completely customize my phone, is there any ROM or launcher or something that drastically simplifies the UI?

Having just upgraded to a Jellybean phone.... I actually miss Gingerbread as it was a lot simpler and more straightforward. As much as I love the holo theme, my new Motorola is really infuriating me. Tasks that I used to complete with one button press now take me through menus and dialog boxes that just weren't there in GB. Sending texts, and using the music player, even taking photos is a longer process.

When I'm in a hurry, and I need to say, send a text quickly, or find a contact's email in just a couple of seconds.... I really don't have the patience to go menu hunting.

Are there any apps or roms or launchers or something that can make the UI/general experience a simpler, more straightforward process? Like, changing the brightness involves literally 10 different menus on my device.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome to the forums!
You should be able to create a shortcut to a contact. Press and hold home screen to get the options. You should get options like add widget, shortcut and folder.
You can try Nova, that launcher makes customizing your device a little easier as there are more options.
Vanilla Android has the option of a brightness slider.