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by bstar77 5017 days ago
I agree that Android can look gorgeous, but that can only go so far. Android's problem is consistency. I've used every alternate android build I could find, and the custom (and default) themes and UI menu system lacked consistency. My favorite was MiUi and even that had terrible consistency issues.

iOS, on the other hand, is supremely superior in this department. The cohesiveness of the experience is second to none. I value that over custom configurations any day. My android phones have been wonderful hack-fests, but at the end of the day, the one thing I can't hack into them is a consistent experience.
1 comments
chrisrhoden 5017 days ago
Have you installed any apps on your iOS device? Consistency is pretty hard to come by these days.
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bstar77 5017 days ago
I find the iOS UI patterns to be consistent, but the "skins" on those UI elements tend to vary quite a bit. Now this is the case on the iPad, since I don't have an iPhone I cannot speak to that. Just getting a podcast program on android that had a consistent UI where things made sense was a fruitless effort. Streaming content is not consistent either, some apps stream really well (audio galaxy), while other stream terribly. These are the types of things that I found maddening.
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chrisrhoden 5017 days ago
The ActionBar is very consistent on these apps - of the first several dozen I only saw 2 that were not using an ActionBar.

Streaming has nothing to do with UI consistency. It's a battle, because the APIs are very high level and you're limited in the amount of control you have without a ton of work, and it seems like manufacturers are screwing with the stack somewhere. Doesn't matter, though, because we're talking about UI consistency.

The podcatcher app is sort of ripe for some good competition in this space, with Google Listen no longer available. I am working on something. http://imgur.com/RtG8e , but someone else should get in here too.

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nuclear_eclipse 5017 days ago
Specifically for podcasts, I have found the Doggcatcher app to be very high quality, streams very well, and still has plenty of options and features to make it work exactly how you want it to. It's $5 and well worth it:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.snoggdoggl...

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