[HN Gopher] Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign
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Android and Wear OS are getting a redesign
Author : whatever3
Score : 34 points
Date : 2025-05-13 19:19 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.google)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.google)
| jsheard wrote:
| An article that's not even 600 words long immediately offering to
| use AI to make itself even shorter has to be up there on the
| useless-AI-shit-for-the-sake-of-it leaderboard.
| awill wrote:
| So many people I work with (in tech) were on Android for years,
| and all eventually switched to iOS.
|
| My biggest issue with Google is they aren't convicted in anything
| they do. They just guess, or try 5 different things, and see what
| sticks. That makes it a mess for users, as the UX constantly
| changes.
|
| I also can't understand why Google decided a circular face made
| sense for Wear. It's good for analogue watches, and garbage for
| everything else. Try reading a message where words are either cut
| off, or you're stuck basically using a square inside the circle.
| It makes no sense other than because Google didn't want to 'copy'
| Apple with the rectangular shape.
| bsimpson wrote:
| Google gave out the HTC Evo at I/O in 2010, which was what got
| me to switch to Android.
|
| At the time, it had a much bigger screen than an iPhone and
| gave you more control over the device. It could play Flash
| games/apps, and let you use the apps/keyboards/etc you wanted
| without a company's blessing.
|
| Apple is a lot more open now than they used to be, in ways that
| might have driven power users to Android before.
| spencerflem wrote:
| They are, but I'll not be fully convinced until there's a
| Graphene OS equivalent for iOS.
| ivm wrote:
| I like circular face on my Garmin Venu. Almost all their
| watches are round and circle'ish UI flow is used a lot in their
| OS.
| apocalyptic0n3 wrote:
| Yeah, I agree. I have a Pixel Watch 3 and generally like the
| circular form factor. I wish they did more with it at times,
| but I feel like that's kinda what I'm seeing from the
| previews in the OP blog post
| JamesSwift wrote:
| The thing that made me switch, funny enough, is the 'budget
| phone' category. The Moto G line and low-end Pixel line
| completely abandoned the "small, 200-300 dollar phone" segment.
| And so I got a brand new iphone SE for $200. Havent gone back,
| and probably wont at this point now that I've moved over and
| use the family plan for apple one etc.
| frfl wrote:
| Your comment seems out of date. There's no $200-300 iPhone
| anymore. iPhone 16e is the cheapest model I think? That's
| $600usd? But there are in fact $200-300 Moto phones still and
| new ones every year, with decent specs for the price and
| fairly close to stock Android OS. No, they dont have 6 or 7
| year of OS upgrades, but that was never a realistic option in
| the budget Android phone market anyway. It would be unfair
| and inaccurate to Moto "abandoned" that low end market.
| danieldk wrote:
| The Samsung A5x line usually goes towards 300 dollar/euro
| pretty quickly and e.g. the A56 get 6 years of updates. The
| Pixel 8a is currently 369 Euro in my country and has a long
| update cycle.
| JamesSwift wrote:
| These show as $270 new https://swappa.com/listings/apple-
| iphone-se-3rd-gen-2022?car...
| frfl wrote:
| The catch being that's a phone from 2022. Sure, if that's
| acceptable. I was just referring to current models rather
| than models from multiple years ago
| mnkypete wrote:
| Funnily enough the first smartwatch that was interesting to me
| was a round watch, so I got the Pixel watch. I don't mind
| having the UI not being as usable (debatable), but I much
| rather have a nice looking watch, more like a classic watch.
| That's like, your and my opinion, everyone has their
| preferences.
| tifik wrote:
| Storytime: my partner used to be a long time Samsung fan. She
| had the phone, tablet, headphones and watch and probably more
| gear that I don't even know about. Then she moved to Canada
| with me. Because of how poor the QA in their ecosystem is,
| after an update her latest-model Samsung watch couldn't pair
| with her one-year-old model Samsung phone, which severely
| diminished its usefulness (this was a heavily reported issue at
| the time). So we went to a mall and entered a store with big
| SAMSUNG logos everywhere, and were told to go skip rocks. They
| would not even touch the devices with the same logos they had
| on their shirts, because both the phone and the watch were
| bought in a different country.
|
| There was an Apple store in that mall as well, so we walked in
| and asked "if we buy an apple product here, and there is an
| issue with it while we are in a different country, would they
| help us in an Apple store there". The answer was "well yeah of
| course why wouldn't they" with a "what's the catch" tone and
| raised eyebrow.
|
| Needless to say she is now fully switched over. Even after two
| years, she gets delighted every now and then by how smooth the
| experience is. I recall many "LOL Samsung could never" events.
|
| My current Pixel 6 is my last android phone due to the UX
| issues that keep piling up with every single update. Last one I
| noticed: Turning on bedtime mode is now double (2) the clicks
| it used to be.
| Padlock4543 wrote:
| I purchased a phone in a European country without an official
| Apple Store, so I bought it from a "Premium Authorized Apple
| Retailer." After one year, the phone broke. While in a
| different country, I visited an Apple Store to have it
| repaired under warranty. However, they informed me that I
| needed to return to the original store where I purchased it
| to activate the warranty.
|
| My experience with Apple doesn't sound so different from
| yours.
| tifik wrote:
| Yes, in some European countries Apple doesn't have physical
| stores and relies on official partners for retail for
| physical stores. In some of these countries, you can still
| shop online on the official Apple store for that country.
| Major down side is you can't get Apple care at all.
|
| The difference is my partner didn't buy her gadgets from a
| retailer. It was all from physical Samsung stores and under
| extended warranty. It sounds like an oversight on the
| retailers side that they didn't 'activate' your warranty
| for some reason.
|
| But yeah, official stores and Apple Care not being
| available is a major downside, which is why I'm waiting
| until Im back to Canada to get an iPhone (it's also quite a
| bit cheaper on that side of the Atlantic).
|
| One limitation I know of with Apple Care is that if you
| need to replace your device under warranty, they will need
| to mail it to you from the country of purchase, but you
| will get a temporary device while you wait for that.
| Samsung would never...
| pjmlp wrote:
| Still on Android.
|
| All the Apple gear I use belongs to my employer.
|
| You should listen to some Apple development podcasts, grass is
| not so green on the other side.
|
| There are also plenty of unfinished things, some of them have
| turned into memes by now.
| fidotron wrote:
| > So many people I work with (in tech) were on Android for
| years, and all eventually switched to iOS.
|
| There is a curious demographic of people that worked closely
| on/with Android in the early years that have a particularly
| extreme allergy to it today.
|
| Sundar gets a lot of deserved stick, but Andy Rubin was no
| saint when it came to guiding development either, as
| demonstrated by the memory holed Skyhook fiasco. (
| https://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/536913/google-android-sk...
| ) JBQ resigning from the AOSP really was the sign that true
| believers in the Android ecosystem are simply suckers.
|
| It is such a missed opportunity it's unbelievable. iOS
| shouldn't be in contention at all.
| ivm wrote:
| Android Kiki to Android Bouba evolution:
|
| From square icons and sharp Roboto to blobby amoeba-shaped
| designs and rounded fonts.
|
| Also, Chile mentioned!
| eternityforest wrote:
| It looks nice visually, I just hope they don't add more gesture
| shortcuts I can't disable
| saubeidl wrote:
| I wish Google would stick with a design paradigm for a bit for
| once.
|
| It's not just their own apps that need updating, it's everyone
| else's, too. Most of which will never happen, so users are stuck
| in a hodgepodge of several generations of different design
| paradigms.
|
| Material was fine. So was Material 2. So was Material 3. So is
| Material 3 Expressive, I guess. Just stick with something!
| wiseowise wrote:
| They've been copying iOS for years, time to bring some of that
| Windows "consistency" into the mix.
| saubeidl wrote:
| To be fair, as of late, iOS has been copying Android more
| than the other way around - think notifications and widgets.
| kridsdale3 wrote:
| Those were both more than 10 years ago.
| bydo wrote:
| And both from WebOS.
| krackers wrote:
| Current "material design" is the anthesis of what "material
| design" was originally supposed to be.
| jsnell wrote:
| > You can now customize Quick Settings to squeeze in more of your
| favorite actions like Flashlight and Do Not Disturb.
|
| I feel I'm missing something. Hasn't customizing the quick
| settings been possible forever?
|
| In fact the only thing preventing me from having the single tap
| Do Not Disturb in the quick settings _is that these same UX
| people removed the option in the latest version of Android_ , and
| buried it in a "Modes" menu for no reason at all.
|
| Super happy to have that back, but good grief, trying to pitch a
| rollback as an innovative new feature is pretty audacious.
| skiman10 wrote:
| You can expand or shrink every tile now instead of only being
| able to swap position of the tiles. So more tiles per page.
| ndneighbor wrote:
| The number one issue I have with Android is that while this looks
| cool, because of the fragmentation of the OS delivery between
| vendors- I have no idea which phone or timeframe when I could see
| the rollout of Material 3 Expressive.
|
| More than 10 years later, shopping for an Android phone with the
| latest OS is a nightmare. Android leadership keeps on getting
| shuffled around, Google changes priorities every 6 months it
| seems. Despite Apple flubbing the ball on AI, at least I know
| that the phone will be supported for at least 4 years.
|
| They will need to improve on their ecosystem commitments if
| they'd like people like me to switch back.
| skybrian wrote:
| Buying a Pixel phone seems pretty easy? I rarely upgrade and
| stopped looking at the others.
| Ajedi32 wrote:
| If you care about always having the latest software with the
| latest Google features just get a Pixel. 7 years of OS and
| security updates:
| https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en
|
| Google doesn't control what other vendors do; that's the beauty
| of open source. (You can argue how open Android really is these
| days but it's still more open than iOS.)
| malfist wrote:
| What happens when one of those updates bricks your battery so
| it only lasts an hour or so off charger?
| FreakyT wrote:
| Not sure why you're getting downvoted, considering that
| this actually happened:
|
| https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/google-pixel-4as-
| rui...
| alright2565 wrote:
| They replaced my battery free of charge when they did that.
| aucisson_masque wrote:
| Pixel have other issue, quality control and run on Samsung
| exynos hardware with bad performance and connectivity.
|
| I'd argue that Android is technically more open than iOS but
| in practice it isn't. Google have dark pattern and elaborated
| ways to get Android user to stay in the 'walled Google play
| service garden'.
|
| Like when you install a third party store and Google play
| protect warns you it may be insecure.
|
| Or having to press install for every app installed outside of
| the store, over and over.
|
| The fact you can't get push notification without enabling the
| Google play services, which is the core framework of the
| Google data collection happening on every Android.
| karlgkk wrote:
| > I have no idea which phone or timeframe when I could see the
| rollout of Material 3 Expressive.
|
| Not a problem with a pixel
|
| > More than 10 years later, shopping for an Android phone with
| the latest OS is a nightmare
|
| Not a problem with a pixel
|
| > They will need to improve on their ecosystem commitments
|
| Not a problem with a pixel
| jsheard wrote:
| The problem with a Pixel is the hardware is always a step or
| two behind what other vendors are doing at the same price
| point, and they tend to be weirdly buggy for a first-party
| device. For example the bug where Pixel phones are randomly
| unable to call emergency services has been happening for
| _years_ and keeps regressing again and again.
|
| 2021 https://www.vice.com/en/article/google-pixel-bug-
| prevented-u...
|
| 2022 https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/y039zn/i_c
| ompi...
|
| 2023 https://www.androidauthority.com/psa-google-
| pixel-911-emerge...
|
| 2024 https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/1ano09x/pi
| xel_...
| karlgkk wrote:
| Not a problem with an iphone
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| A headphone jack is unfortunately a problem with a pixel.
| Otherwise I would still own one. I had a Pixel 1, then a
| pixel 3a, then Google decided to get rid of a basic feature
| that every phone should have. So I stopped buying them.
| AndrewDucker wrote:
| Same here. Would still have a Pixel, but I'm not giving up
| my choice of headphones.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Also no microSD slot. Decent internal storage, but the
| ability to expand, swap, and pull from a dead phone
| shouldn't be underestimated.
| mattlondon wrote:
| Just get the Google Pixel phones?
|
| If you buy something from some other random manufacturer that
| is using the open source android code then yes you are going to
| have a different experience since they want to add their
| "special touch" which invariably is shite.
| _old_dude_ wrote:
| > at least I know that the phone will be supported for at least
| 4 years
|
| It's 4 (mid) to 7 years (flagship) for Samsung.
|
| https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-android-updates-114...
| wiseowise wrote:
| > Man, I wish my Android had 'better' UI
|
| Is what I have never, ever heard. I don't what to shit on
| designers, who also need to justify their job, but it would be
| cool to see some ACTUAL improvements to important things. Like
| battery life.
| Ajedi32 wrote:
| "Big refresh" seems like an exaggeration compared to the
| overhauls Android has gotten in the past. These are pretty subtle
| design tweaks. Which is fine; I don't think Android particularly
| needs a huge overhaul at this point.
| surgical_fire wrote:
| Looks like shit. It seems that on every UI/UX update, Google
| products become shittier.
|
| I'll keep using Android anyway because I find Apple UI/UX even
| more disgusting.
|
| Smartphones don't matter anyway. What most people do in high end
| devices can be done in mid-tier or even shit-tier devices too.
| Calwestjobs wrote:
| Great job! for shipping this and Great job! for presentation.
| modeless wrote:
| Differently-shaped buttons and more swoopy animations are not
| what Wear OS needs. Wear OS needs better information density and
| more attention to detail in interaction design and implementation
| rather than appearance. The whole thing feels like it was
| designed in After Effects and implemented to spec with no user
| feedback in the process at all.
|
| I continue to strongly prefer the Pebble UI after all these
| years. It just does a much better job with the basics like
| notifications and alarms. it's not even close.
| jcalx wrote:
| Another "big refresh". I've already disabled animations because
| of the faintly ridiculous system-wide overscroll effect [0] which
| makes every menu and webpage bounce like the viewport is made of
| gelatin, so I'm a little bemused to see them doubling down on
| "natural, springy animations". I know this is "old man yelling at
| cloud" of me, but I don't care for my notifications to "subtly
| respond" to adjacent ones being dragged.
|
| [0] https://github.com/flutter/flutter/issues/83355
| malfist wrote:
| That's one of the first things I do with a new phone. Want to
| make a phone feel sluggish? Wait on all the stupid transition
| animations designers made
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| Given how much of a downgrade the last visual refresh was
| (Android 12 I think?), this is news I do not welcome. Anyone else
| remember the lock screen being a giant two line clock with no way
| to customize it, or the way the settings buttons got way bigger
| for no good reason? It was awful. I don't look forward to seeing
| what they will screw up this time.
| eitally wrote:
| Related to that lock screen "quirk", the latest UI/UX "feature"
| that bugs me no end is the fact that on Pixel phones you can't
| remove the Google search bar on the home screen... yet there is
| now a Gemini widget available that does much more useful
| things, so in order to use it, you'd have two full width
| horizontal bars on your home screen. I assume this is going to
| evolve with Android 16 releases, but it's a really dumb
| feature.
| kotaKat wrote:
| We keep making the screens bigger to make the interfaces even
| more dumbed down and stupid.
|
| Are we in Idiocracy at this point or what, Google?
|
| Some of you fuckers need to go pick back up The Zen of Palm and
| re-read it because y'all have no idea what you're shipping these
| days in comparison.
|
| https://archive.org/details/zen-of-palm
| brap wrote:
| Looks good. I'm happy. Now if they can please change their apps
| icons to not all look the same, that would be really nice.
| bhouston wrote:
| As an iOS user so many of the headline effects this Android
| update mentions seem to be already part of my iOS experience.
| Thus this seems to be catch ups to iOS.
| thecrumb wrote:
| This will be my last Pixel phone. I had the original and it was
| perfect. No fluff. Simple. Each version gets worse and worse. 7
| is horrible. Still can't remove the stupid date from the home
| screen.
| ErrorNoBrain wrote:
| that annoyed me as well (pixel 8a)
|
| but i just switched to my go-to launcher, Nova. I've used it
| quite a bit over the last years.
| brunoqc wrote:
| Wasn't Nova sold to some advertising company?
| ErrorNoBrain wrote:
| i like the changes are coming but i wish they didn't remove the
| old look
|
| I mean... what if i prefer the older version of the UI? my only
| option is a different launcher or not updating
| dr_kiszonka wrote:
| In human-computer interaction, baby duck syndrome denotes the
| tendency for computer users to "imprint" on the first system they
| learn, then judge other systems by their similarity to that first
| system. The result is that "users generally prefer systems
| similar to those they learned on and dislike unfamiliar systems".
| The issue may present itself relatively early in a computer
| user's experience, and it has been observed to impede education
| of students in new software systems or user interfaces.
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_(psychology)#Baby...
| brunoqc wrote:
| I wish Google would sponsor or create incentives to motivate devs
| to support wearos. There is very little useful apps on it.
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