The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Android?

[portalfocus]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

Windows 10 Mobile isn't going to be an Android like device. It doesn't look like it and it doesn't operate like it.

The Hamburger buttons/menu is an Android thing?

So sick of hearing this and have no idea what this actually means.

The button with three lines rather than three dots??

Anybody with Cortana on their phone, open it up and look around. There's a hamburger button there and it's been there from the start as far as I remember. And now people are complaining that there's a hamburger button in Cortana on Windows 10? It's nothing new and not anything Microsoft threw out as a surprise to anybody paying attention.

The concept apps and UI for Windows 10 Mobile are the same as they always were in 7.5/7.8/8/8.1 but with some updated features.... Updated features people in the community have been asking for for a long time.

Now they added those things in and suddenly they're still doing something wrong and people still find something to complain about.

The hamburger buttons, the hamburger menus, the icons, the start menu, the start screen, the lack of transparency effects, the new settings menu.... People complained about Windows 8/8.1 (I didn't) and then complain that Windows 10 isn't like Windows 8/8.1

As Michael Fisher said in the last podcast, is the Windows "fans" that are killing the popularity of the platform, no the App gap.

 

[Sagar Limaye]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

As Michael Fisher said in the last podcast, is the Windows "fans" that are killing the popularity of the platform, no the App gap.

Well excuse us for trying to maintain the uniqueness of the platform.

 

[tgp]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

The Nokia X was a project conceived by Nokia, not Microsoft. Microsoft ended the Nokia X line not long after Microsoft officially acquired Nokia's mobile division.

Do we know this for sure? I see this posted here all the time but as far as I know there is no concrete evidence. Didn't Nokia and Microsoft have some kind of exclusivity agreement? And wouldn't this have prevented Nokia from manufacturing Android devices without Microsoft's approval?

This sounds radical, but I wonder if Microsoft wasn't behind the whole Nokia X deal. It might have been an experiment, and Microsoft could do it via Nokia and save face. If it had been a success, would we have seen the headlines, "Nokia X Gamble Inspired By Microsoft Paid Off"?

It's not like Microsoft doesn't dabble with Android. They just announced investing in Cyanogen. I'm sure they're not doing it simply as a place to invest their cash.

 

[psiu_glen]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

I honestly think that die-hard WP users are the only one's in love with the old WP app style. iOS & Android users aren't choosing their ecosystem because of how the apps looks. It's phone features, availability of apps and the functionality of those apps --- areas that WP lacks. More advanced users may tend to like the customization capabilities of Android.

So...you're saying the die-hard WP users went with an obscure platform because of the look and feel, giving up features, apps, and depth within those apps?

And other people choose their platforms based on the features and apps?

So the "fix" is to mess around with the look and feel, maybe add some features. Which will *surely* get those entrenched users coming over. Do I have that right?

 

[Jazmac]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

Fill in all the holes in the store, make a mobile Spartan browser that's beautiful=everybody hates IE, build hardware that's even more unique, make it so the OS can be tweaked and changed=let handset makers personalize it, start selling devices cheaper...these things would help.

...

Is that all they have to do? What were we all thinking?

 

[anon(5383410)]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

1. the ui looks nowhere near as similar to android as you claim. look no further than the start screen
2. you're attempting to make an assessment about the functionality of something you saw a few pictures of
3. you're taking the cyanogen investment and rrrrrreaching to try to connect the dots

 

[portalfocus]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

Well excuse us for trying to maintain the uniqueness of the platform.

I really do understand your worries but just wait until we get W10 on our phones and try it out. and then We can give them feedback based on Experience, not images. That's why they are listening their costumers based on their experience, not concepts

 

[Jas00555]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

Let me start off again with the original quote:



The "code" that Google leaves out of AOSP is stuff like Play Services, the store, Chrome, etc. This is Google's stuff, and would never be included in AOSP to begin with. When you said "Google would have to move more code into AOSP".. exactly which "code" are you talking about? The Google apps and the back end that runs them is not part of AOSP.

There is a group called the Open Handset Alliance, it is comprised of 84 different technology companies, and it works together in unison to manage and improve AOSP. Members of the group can use Google's proprietary "stuff" on their phones, but if they do, they have to pretty much use all of it. Not only that, but Google's apps have to have prominent placement on the home screen(s) of the device.

Here's a snippet of what Google requires:





These are the things that people rebel against, they can't simply use one or two Google apps, and they MUST place everything exactly where Google wants them.

Nobody is expecting them to "add their stuff" to AOSP, which is what I'm assuming what you are talking about. Handset makers can take AOSP and do whatever they want with it without Google apps(except dual boot with Windows) or they can play by Google's rules and include the crown jewels.

*edit
Maybe AOSP WOULD be allowed to dual boot with Windows, but the Google version of Android has been barred from doing so in the past.

While Google services such as Gmail, Search, etc... are *part* of what google puts into the proprietary part of it, there is a lot more, and arguably some of that stuff could've been included in AOSP, but Google didn't do it..... which almost defeats the entire purpose of AOSP existing in the first place.

For a more in depth thing of what I'm talking about, I'll refer you to ArsTechnica, who did a great write up of the situation.

Google?s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary | Ars Technica

Edit: Now that I read your post again, I think I see what the original confusion was. I was trying to say that since AOSP is running on almost half of the devices (according to Twit, I haven't seen any recent statistics), of Google keeps pushing GMS and ignoring AOSP, it'll leave AOSP with deprecated APIs. If AOSP continues to steamroll over GMS, developers would code for AOSP and not include any of the "good" APIs. That would leave Android with subpar apps and developers frustrated.

 

[Jas00555]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

You changed a bunch of stuff in this post, so lets try this again.

Wait, what? I added literally one word an entire 10 minutes before you even submitted your answer. Lol I think you skipped over a bunch of what I said the first time.

 

[anon(3463402)]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

Where have you seen that Windows 10 is (so) similar to Android?

It's NOT.

 

[Bojan Malinovic]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

The UI is strikingly similar to Android, so similar that the first thing I thought of when i saw the UI was that Windows 10 has to be a transitionary placeholder before Microsoft makes the full move to their own flavor of android. Not just the hamburger menu, but everything functions like android would.... What would be the point of making an OS when it looks and functions like another major OS? wheres the "windows selling points" of Hubs and Live tiles and what not? hubs dont exist anymore, live tiles arent saving the OS and can be replicated in an android fork (plus apps like the music app no longer has a live tile that it did before), major apps are jumping ship and other major apps are left in indefinate beta (instagram)...theres no difference in UI between android and windows other than the homescreen now, and the homescreen can be replicated in android if microsoft wanted to make their own fork....Also, at the Windows 10 event, they barely touched on the phone interface and features, as if its not a priority.

Nokia X was the beginning experiments to see public sentiment. The recent investment in CyanogenMod makes me think this even more. Microsoft cares about selling services now more than selling "OSs" or even devices.

Another thing i thought of is that Microsoft can do what they did with the xbox, they can run 3 operating systems on each phone/device... Windows for the services, Android for the apps, and a hypervisor to connect both... it can be seemless and the user would never notice, especially since the UIs are melded together now. my point here is that there are ways microsoft can go about this.

The main reason i think they can move to android is for the apps of course. with all these companies jumping ship, and microsoft continuing to invest all their resources in iOS and Android apps before windows apps, it would be interesting to see if this becomes right. microsoft wants to sell services, so it wouldnt matter if the phone runs iOS or android, as long as youre subscribed to office and music and everything else.

I want some of what you are smoking...cos bigger pile of rubish havent seen for a while.

 

[Geddeeee]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

I'd like to stop you there. Windows 10 for phones was shown off in the presentation running on live phones.

As I said in my original post...

"No one has actually seen the W10 for phone UI yet...
A few blurry screenshots and a few Office 10 and OneDrive shots from the video presentation do not mean anything."

So... NO... we haven't seen the UI yet... A few glimpses of what MIGHT be... But that is all!!!!

Thanks for posting....

 

[btgusto]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

NO They are not moving to Android BUT if you all remember it was Microsoft who said they were going to build a better android. I dont remember who at MS said this but it looks like they are on their way

 

[iice cage]

No microsoft just improve windows phone design to make it modern.. Look at iphone 6 plus the builtIn apps are super modern thats why people around world are blinking their eyes towards iphone because it has super modern built in apps designs. Designing an apps start with the SDK controls.

 

[Soble]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

Yeah no more hubs no more live tiles.....I'm very sad :'( office is no more selling point all devices now have office...... What WP got is only Cortana

 

[Soble]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

No microsoft just improve windows phone design to make it modern.. Look at iphone 6 plus the builtIn apps are super modern thats why people around world are blinking their eyes towards iphone because it has super modern built in apps designs. Designing an apps start with the SDK controls.

I don't think so. They just blinking their eyes cause the phone is just got bigger and thinner.

 

[iice cage]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

I don't think so. They just blinking their eyes cause the phone is just got bigger and thinner.

I think there many android phone that bigger and thinner tha iphone 6 plus. Now lets compare the designs of photo albums iphoto vs gallery.. Iphone setting page, android setting page vs windows phone setting page. Buttons,, toggle butons..

 

[plot_almighty]

Attractive UI elements can only be twisted, tweaked, shaded, shaped, and stylized so much before things start to look similar to other UIs. Also, just because one company did a particular UI element first, it only means others will eventually copy it in some form or fashion if its successful.

Apple did the Notification Center in their own way, and took inspiration from WPs design to do iOS 7. Same with Microsoft and its Action Center. Google took note on the design front and started the whole Material Design to unify the look and feel of Android.

It's not time to press the panic button just because WP is borrowing UI cues from another OS. Android and iOS saw the glowing reviews for WPs design and thought "Damn, I'd like to see some of that". Now WP is taking notes from the other two to evolve the look and feel of WP. It's still a tile based OS at its core after all, which if I'm not mistaken, is the reason most of us picked it up.

 

[Soble]

I think there many android phone that bigger and thinner tha iphone 6 plus. Now lets compare the designs of photo albums iphoto vs gallery.. Iphone setting page, android setting page vs windows phone setting page. Buttons,, toggle butons..

I mean the IPHONE is GOT BIGGER AND Thinner so people Buying it. And It was Apple's last card.

 

[Visa Declined]

Re: The "Windows 10 for phone" UI is so similar to Android - Is Microsoft preparing to move to Andro

And It was Apple's last card.

What do you mean it was Apple's last card.