The days of a mobile device living or dying on the strength of its operating system are gone. Now, it’s all about the apps. An OS will make it pleasant to use those apps, and will probably give you a reason to use the device more, but the real value-add is the apps available in the device’s ecosystem.
Apple’s iOS is undoubtedly the king when it comes to sheer volume of class-A apps. The list of marquee apps for the platform that are simply delightful to use is long. That’s not necessarily the case for Android, where the lower barrier-of-entry for app makers can at times be difficult to wade through the crap to find the gold.
That’s why this list of ‘Android niceties‘ is welcome. It’s a Tumblr, shared by developers Steven Troughton Smith and Sam Steele on Twitter that I feel is pretty packed with good examples of Android apps that don’t suck.
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The list is focused on showing off apps that utilize Android user interface conventions, or come up with their own, in a good way.
Some of the examples that I thought were solid:
So, not every app on here is a complete home run when it comes to usability, and I certainly don’t agree with some of the selections, but a good UI is normally priority one on a mobile device. Some of the apps are also available on iOS in a similar form, but are translated well to the framework of Android.
In these days of small screens and a market place glutted with choices in apps, a good and standout UI is almost a pre-requisite for success. So whether you’re a desinger looking for inspiration, or an Android user that just wants some cool apps to use, check out the list here for yourself.
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