Android Ice Cream Sandwich vs iOS 5.0 UI comparison

As far as I know, this is a first objective and detailed comparison of usability between Android and iOS. This discussion limits itself only to the software UI when applied to phones.

My first observation, I made when I first had a hands-on with a honeycomb device (Motorola Xoom, which sucks by the way), is how much the modern Windows UI, first shown in Windows 95, is similar to Android UI.

Honeycomb tablet home screen

Windows 7 Desktop

The similarities:

• Desktop vs Home screens
• Alt-Tab or Windows-Tab to switch apps vs App Switcher in Honeycomb
• Non-intrusive notifications at the right bottom in both.
• Start button vs App Drawer (though, on the opposite ends of the screen)
• Desktop widgets in Windows vs Widgets on home screens
• Free development - run any app developed for it (agreed, not UI).

Lets get started with our deep dive.

Android scores over iOS:

1. Home screens are designed for customization. It doesn't need to contain anything you don't use frequently. Allows for paradigms like where you can customize each home screen for one function - for e.g., I have one for communication (gtalk, whatsapp, facebook), one for media (music widget, youtube, gallery, camera etc.) and more.

My communication home screen on Samsung Galaxy S2 (I am using Go Launcher here, but this type of customization is common to all androids, including ICS).

2. Has widgets. Significantly reduces effort to read facebook updates, next calender entry, turning on bluetooth etc. Windows Phone 7 also has dynamic tiles for this purpose. iOS is the only laggard, and it also gives rise to problems: like how hard it is to change brightness or turn bluetooth, gps on or off.

Widget to toggle settings - WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, Sync and Brightness.  Screen shot from a Froyo phone.

3. Presence of fixed back button gives a consistency to the UI. It is heavily used.

4. The App drawer lists apps sorted by name, instead of sorted by time of installation. This makes finding an app much faster (computer engineers would remember that in a sorted array, binary search is possible, which takes O(log N) compared to O(N) time complexity for linear search).
5. App Switcher soft button is directly visible - easily discoverable and easier to use than the double click of home button of iOS. Furthermore, there are screen previews instead of just icons

6. Gmail UI is far superior to iOS email.

• Going to different account or folder/label takes less taps in Android (though it is not totally obvious that "xyz@gmail.com" or "Inbox" are clickable buttons).
• Select squares are present by default - makes it easy performing an action to multiple emails. Ditto for starring.
• Try reading a long conversation. Android vs iOS comparison is like Heaven vs Hell.
• Reading consecutive mails is so easy, using swipe right gesture.

7. Android has a search box visible in each home screen. In iOS its like a treasure hunt, you have to swipe beyond the left most home screen, giving the tiniest possible clue - a tiny lens icon to the left of dots identifying which home screen you are on.

8. Subjective: I like the fact that android’s scrolling conserves momentum if you "push" hard. iOS artificially applies brakes on the scrolling, no matter how hard you push it.

9. If you don’t like the UI, and are willing to invest some time, you can change it via the numerable apps available in the market for that purpose. I would argue that this fosters innovation in UI. Just look at all the research that has happened in on screen keyboard area since android launch. Swype sold for $102M!

iOS scores over Android:

iOS 5 homescreen, with tiny counts for unread items for some apps.

1. Complexity of the home screen model in Android: the separation of home screens and app drawer brings complications:

• A novice needs to understand the difference, and be made aware of the app drawer icon to view all apps.
• The point is to customize your home screens. Not everyone is willing to make that effort. For them, a tap on app drawer just adds an extra tap to get to an app.
• Adding an app or widget through long presses is not easily discoverable (though new phones have a little “teacher” widget on the home screen which teaches few basic things like this.)

Android can help mitigate this if it allows for an "unlock to Apps" option in the unlock screen (like you can unlock to camera in ICS), and keep the bottom dock of essential apps visible in the app drawer too.

2. In Android, once notifications are cleared, you dont know if you still have unread email, messages or missed calls. You can selectively clear notifications which partially takes care of the problem. iOS wins here with its tiny unread number icons.

3. I think how to open the lock screen is a bit more obvious in iOS than in Android.

Coverflow UI for navigating albums in iOS

4. Music app's coverflow is not only cool, it also makes obvious how to navigate through gestures and shows results visually. Android still can't match this.

Both Suck:

1. Both rely quite a bit on icons which don't have text labels to explain their meaning, and not always is the icon's purpose obvious. Andriod starts at the home screen - the bottom dock of icons have no labels, nor do the 3 navigational soft buttons (back, home, app switcher). The send arrow button in email or messaging has no label. iOS has this problem occasionally - the biggest example is the 5 icons at the bottom in the browser.

2. Many times some menu or other navigational item is positioned at the top of the screen. It is not ideal because it is harder for the thumb to reach the top part of the screen - when using the phone with one hand. Android is better than iOS here because there is at least a back button at the bottom.

Conclusion

From the counts, looks like Android won! But the counts deceive you - because some issues are more important than others.
With the launch of Ice Cream Sandwich, the separation of home screen and app drawer remains the biggest reason for Android's complexity over iOS. Gingerbread had more issues: options hidden in hardware menu button, too much reliance on long press, tab switching in browser, a complicated settings screen etc. But with Ice Cream Sandwich, Google has recognized and fixed these issues. A detailed comparison between Nexus S running gingerbread and Galaxy Nexus running ICS is the topic of another post in the future, when I get my hands on the Galaxy Nexus.

I would say iOS continues to be easier to use, simply because there is no discovery to be done before you find all your apps. This is one of the core differentiating factors of Android vs iOS and I doubt if Android will ever move to iOS model or vice versa. This difference is here to stay, and as a result I believe users seeking utmost simplicity will always remain customers of Apple, and others looking to be able to customize their phone for faster daily usage will flock to Android.

Of course, a complete experience depends on many more things, like the apps available, other services in the eco system, the hardware etc. Stay tuned for analysis of these aspects in the future.