For the past two years, there has been a long and painful war fought between parties with similar ambitions but opposing opinions; a war between iPhone and Android users. At the centre of this great debate is the question, "Which system has the best user experience?"
iPhone offers a clean and simple experience; there are no app drawers, no widgets and no pull-down notifications. These are, of course, the very things that Android users love so much about Google's platform. The notification curtain is a handy way to centralise system and personal messages and live, web-enabled widgets are key to the Android UI.
Recently we found a new firmware mod for Android which we think is almost spot-on and definitely offers food for thought for both Apple and Google. MIUI is firmware that originated in China. Luckily for us, some clever coders got their hands on the firmware and have translated it, the most recent results of which are featured in this gallery.
Wiggling widgets
Alongside the iPhone-like app layout, you can also install and use Web-enabled widgets.
This picture shows the editing mode, with the bin at the top and a
thumbnail of the home screens below.
Death to the app drawer
One of the major differences between MIUI and the stock Android experience
is the total absence of the app drawer. When you install a new app, it's placed
on the next available spot on your home screen. You can then move the app
whereever you want it, toss it in a folder or delete it by dragging to the bin
at the top of the screen in editing mode..
Wiggling widgets
Alongside the iPhone-like app layout, you can also install and use Web-
enabled widgets. This picture shows the editing mode, with the bin at the
top and a thumbnail of the home screens below.
Pinch-to-view
From the home screen you can use a pinch gesture to view all of your active
home screens. You can add new ones and delete current screens and reorder
them so your favorite apps come first. You can also press the little "home"
button to select which screen becomes your default home (i.e. which display
you jump to when you press the Home button).
Themata
The latest MIUI update delivers something we hope all new phones will have
next year: The ability to download and apply complete themes. These
themes update the look and feel across the system, including custom icons
for all the major Android apps.
Update your style
The customization of this firmware extends to the lockscreen wallpaper, as
well as the main panoramic wallpaper--another page taken out of the iPhone
playbook.
Advanced lockscreen
Missed calls and unread text messages leave notifications on the lockscreen.
If you press and hold either of the icons you will see the latest message, and
if you drag those icons up rather than the lock icon, you will go directly to
that application.