Why it’s easier to design interfaces on an Android then it is on an iPhone

Mobile applications market has boomed. Only iTunes itself hosts more than 10000 aps in less than five months. And some developers have become millionaires quite fast.

Researchers go even further and say that by 2020 the mobile phone will be the main device to connect to the internet. And that the internet will be reshaped by this small portable devices

Creating a flawless user-experience for a small device is completely different from designing for the personal computer. New unwritten yet rules apply

The mobile user behavior is engaged by different factors so both navigation and structure are to be thought out in a different context.

I started studying all the aspects of the user interaction with the mobile phone, from how it’s perceived, learned and used for quite a while now. I studied Nokia Devices, Android phones and of course the
iPhone in action. But the Android is so far my favorite. Here’s why:

1.THE BACK BUTTON

The real estate of the screen is maximized just because they added the back button so handy. Let me explain this.

On the iPhone mobile you will always see a disguised back button on top that takes about 1/10th of the screen.

As if the screen wasn’t small enough.

On the Android phone (G1 so far) the back button is conveniently placed under the screen

2.THE MENU BUTTON

Another one that saves me. If the application is feature rich, I can keep the important ones handy and hide the rest under this button. If the users really need them (the stakeholder is always sure we need as many as possible to make the user happy) he can find them all hidden there

Instead of having this on every screen:

We just have “the button”

3. FLEXIBILITY

Apple is told to be the leader in applications design. User experience professionals often adopt a design a la “Steve Jobs” to save their time and present it as easy to use. iPhone has a widely accepted beautiful interface. But what do you need when you customization?

iPhone UI doesn’t let you do much. You can use this and that component. Within this structure. With this bar. With this buttons. If you want your own sleek interface you do it web based and then you embedd it. The journey here is not a pleasant one. The ways to have some cool elements from the iPhone interface (like date picker for instance) are complicated. And they don’t always look as good

On the Android it’s a different story, nonetheless the ways to get to the desired results are not easy either. The XML interface gives you flexibility but if you are CSS master you will feel in a cage. To use the stylesheets freely you can go web.

While iPhone did redefine the mobile user experience and started a revolution in 2007, the Android took it to the next level. Can’t wait to see the new devices that will run Android Platform. The G1 is for old people.

* Adaptive Path has an interesting article on mobile trends to watch in 2009 on their blog