Do you like the MotoBlur UI?

[ottscay]

I dragged all of the Moto widgets to the trash shortly after getting my phone.

I don't know why Motorola wasted it's time with that nonsense. Those widgets either suck, or, are totally redundant.

I did too, but the reason they "waste their time" with it is because they are trying to make the experience more enjoyable to customers that haven't used Android before, and to try and establish a recognizable "brand" that will appeal to users and make future purchases of their phones more appealing (i.e. "market differentiation").

I think they've met at most fair-to-middling success, and moreover I think they know it, since MotoBlur has become a LOT less intrusive of a UI skin since the Devour, and even now they've announced they are going to de-emphasize it from their marketing altogether in the future. That's about as close to admitting defeat as you get in corporate speak IMO.

That said, I do know some people who like it (and yes, it was their first Android phones) so they aren't totally off their rockers, they just failed to make something as compelling as Sense, so perhaps with an eye on Gingerbread they seem to be moving towards a more stock experience with perhaps improved Blur Apps/widgets pre-installed. And there's really nothing wrong with that, since it's easy enough to not use them.

IMO they make compelling enough hardware that Moto doesn't need to worry about tacking on some skin to build customer loyalty...we'll see if they agree in the future.

 

[fishngrits]

I did too, but the reason they "waste their time" with it is because they are trying to make the experience more enjoyable to customers that haven't used Android before, and to try and establish a recognizable "brand" that will appeal to users and make future purchases of their phones more appealing (i.e. "market differentiation").

I think they've met at most fair-to-middling success, and moreover I think they know it, since MotoBlur has become a LOT less intrusive of a UI skin since the Devour, and even now they've announced they are going to de-emphasize it from their marketing altogether in the future. That's about as close to admitting defeat as you get in corporate speak IMO.

That said, I do know some people who like it (and yes, it was their first Android phones) so they aren't totally off their rockers, they just failed to make something as compelling as Sense, so perhaps with an eye on Gingerbread they seem to be moving towards a more stock experience with perhaps improved Blur Apps/widgets pre-installed. And there's really nothing wrong with that, since it's easy enough to not use them.

IMO they make compelling enough hardware that Moto doesn't need to worry about tacking on some skin to build customer loyalty...we'll see if they agree in the future.

I get the market differentiation aspect, but they're still very basic; and that's coming from a first time Android, (and former iphone), user. I also realize they're easy enough ignore, which is what I've done.

I'd rather Motorola focus on the hardware, which they do really well, IMO. Let Google handle the software side.

 

[RayStinkle]

I don't think its apparent if you haven't used vanilla android like the nexus just how bad the MOTO UI is and how slow and laggy it is in comparison. The X should destroy my nexus in speed and smoothness, but it didn't in person. It was opposite. Their UI is ruining the phone but you might not realize that with nothing to compare to.

 

[ottscay]

Hold on there, how are you comparing then? If you're comparing the N1 with Froyo to the X that's not really a fair comparison. When the N1 first shipped it had its own ui issues.

Also, using Launcherpro I get an extremely smooth and fluid ui on the X, even though I can't remove the Blur parts. Not that I don't want the ability to remove stuff I don't want - I do - but let's not overstate the situation.

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[Cory Streater]

I like that I have the option of turning it all off, which is basically a bunch of widgets vs. an actual UI (unless you consider the dock a UI). HTC Sense and Samsung's Touch Wiz are UI's. What you see on the X is mostly stock Android. I do like the Social Networking app they threw in. Launcher Pro Plus FTW.

 

[Dubbayoo]

I use it w/o most of the default widgets. It does get slow at times and mine just rebooted w/o even touching it. That's happened 2-3 times. I'd like to be able to decrease the number of screens.

 

[Bond32]

I use it w/o most of the default widgets. It does get slow at times and mine just rebooted w/o even touching it. That's happened 2-3 times. I'd like to be able to decrease the number of screens.

LauncherPro!!! Try it!

 

[davidnc]

The Droid X does not use MotoBlur.

You must not have a Droid X.....

Actually I thought it didn't use the same "blur" as they used on older phones . I read they redid it or something . So maybe that why they said it does not use MotoBlur , but everybody still calls it that .

Its not that big of an issue with me whichever the case maybe .I like Sense but "blur" or whatever it is doesn't bother me that much or I would sell it, or do as some of the previous posters in this thread did .

PS: I didn't vote in the poll ,netural

 

[fecurtis]

I wasn't a fan of blur, thank God for LauncherPro Plus.

 

[maverick96]

Actually I thought it didn't use the same "blur" as they used on older phones . I read they redid it or something . So maybe that why they said it does not use MotoBlur , but everybody still calls it that .

Its not that big of an issue with me whichever the case maybe .I like Sense but "blur" or whatever it is doesn't bother me that much or I would sell it, or do as some of the previous posters in this thread did .

PS: I didn't vote in the poll ,netural

Well it is definitely a MOTO overlay on top of vanilla android. It may not be as much of a drastic type change as say sense BUT I will say that MOTO's overlay "blur" creates far more problems as in bugs, lag and etc.... It is no where near as smooth as sense and it also doesnt play very nicely with some market apps.. Especially social networking ones. I dont want to have to buy a phone then go and remove every widget it came with and then have to go install LP just because what the manufacturer put on is complete junk. This is why I prefer sense, as it seems most others do as well....

 

[maverick96]

I like that I have the option of turning it all off, which is basically a bunch of widgets vs. an actual UI (unless you consider the dock a UI). HTC Sense and Samsung's Touch Wiz are UI's. What you see on the X is mostly stock Android. I do like the Social Networking app they threw in. Launcher Pro Plus FTW.

With the Evo I believe you can turn off sense right? This would give you the most true form of android. Even after removing all the Moto widgets your still running "blur" and it still affects the OS as a whole..Its junk... I'm just glad MOTO realized its junk also and has halted any further use of it...

 

[ottscay]

Pretty sure you can't turn off Sense at all without root or custom ROMs.
With stock android you'd still have to download and install new widgets and apps (including a launcher if you wanted to customize the dock, etc.). So basically the complaint boils down to the need to not sign up for the Blur social apps and spending 2 minutes dragging Blur widgets to the trash?

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[warp]

I like that I have the option of turning it all off, which is basically a bunch of widgets vs. an actual UI (unless you consider the dock a UI). HTC Sense and Samsung's Touch Wiz are UI's. What you see on the X is mostly stock Android. I do like the Social Networking app they threw in. Launcher Pro Plus FTW.

+1

I compared it to my D1 before I sold it and besides the launchers and extra widgets/apps on the X, both UIs looked exactly the same. But I use the free LP and it runs great on the X.

 

[jaseq]

i actually like it quite a bit...well the launcher at least. I could care less about its widgets as I dont use any of them. The only thing i dont like is the 7 screens, is it really that hard to just make the screens selectable 3 screens is more than enough for me.

 

[tech42er#AC]

I put LauncherPro on the X as soon as I got it, but I love the resizable widgets and the Contact Quick Tasks that come with Blur. I still use those with LauncherPro (prefer individual Quick Tasks to a scrolling Sense/LauncherPro style People widget). I'd never use just the naked Blur UI, but I really don't mind it as much as Sense.

 

[Flawson]

I spent a week with the stock launcher, then tried launcher pro and decided that I like it better overall, but I still use 7 home screens. I showed it to my fiancee and she decided to stick with the stock launcher on her X. Whatevs.

But, I still use the social widget and the news widget, because, well, I like them. There's just something I dig about flipping through those cards. I use beautiful widget on my main home screen.

Now, isn't it the case that the X does have a slightly more laid back version of blur? I mean, didn't you HAVE to create a blur account on previous devices? (maybe not og droid)
Btw I am one of the aforementioned people that has this as my first android phone. But I have to say, this mug has been plenty fast for me, even using a couple of blur widgets.

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[Jumper_jax]

Im kind of indifferent i guess... i used blur for a week or so and it was ok but i like launcher pro better i like the moto contact widgets.and still use the social status widget (i like choosing where to post) but other than that i don't care, id probably.prefer something a little less intrusive but its ok for now.

 

[LordBlackmore]

As a first time smartphone owner, the blur UI seemed fine. I switched to launcher pro, though, because it has some features the default UI doesn't and I like the launcher pro dock better.

 

[revwill]

I haven't used any other Android phones, so I don't have a lot to compare it to, but I have no problems with the blur UI. Some may be more prettyful, but everything is useful and functional, and seems so far to work like it should. Put me down as a "like."

 

[mikejs78]

I like that I have the option of turning it all off, which is basically a bunch of widgets vs. an actual UI (unless you consider the dock a UI). HTC Sense and Samsung's Touch Wiz are UI's. What you see on the X is mostly stock Android. I do like the Social Networking app they threw in. Launcher Pro Plus FTW.

What I don't like ant PhilBlur (or any other custom UI) is that you often can't turn them off or remove the bloatware that comes with them. Even running ADW Launcher, I still see PhilBlur running in memory. I suspect that this device could really fly if the option to disable PhilBlur and all of the bloatware could be truly turned off.

What also bothers me is that there is now no mainstream consumer phone on the market with stock Android.

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