Six Ways Android OS Could Match iPhone's Polish

Make all icons, fonts, graphics etc… scalable to the highest resolution possible: Using 1024×768 (iPad sized) as a boiler plate for the ‘biggest’ device out there, you won’t have to worry about scaling issues on devices — big or small — as screen DPI increases.

Increase the fluidity of screen motions: Imbue screen transfers with a sense of speed and movement. Right now, Android either ‘slides’ or ‘stacks’ windows on top of each other. It’s not a big deal, but can give the feeling of clutter.

Continuity of the ‘back’ button is needed: Sometimes, pressing the back button inside an app will load you to the previous in-app screen, but other times it will kick you back to the home screen. Example: opening a text message directly from the notification bar, and then pressing the ‘back’ button — in hopes of returning to your list of text messages — instead, will kick you to the home screen. Technically, the home screen was where you were, so you went ‘back’ to it, but I already have a home button for that.

A better stock music player: For all of Android’s high-points, the music player is the lowest. You can’t sort by genre, the buttons during playback are not ergonomically positioned either. The scrubbing bar sits above the Android devices ‘hard keys’ and under rewind/play/skip buttons. And they’re all tiny. Bad choice. I frequently miss-tap things with my fat fingers.

Better cross-app connectivity: iOS4 has a great ability to ask if you want to open a file in another app that’s capable, while inside a different app. Right now, Google’s implementation of this is to ask you what you want to open a file with, but it would be nice to have a default choice, and then tell that app to re-open the file in another app of your choosing. Right now, you either set a default, and deal (or re-assign), or don’t set a default, and get constantly pestered by Android about which app should handle the file.

Make it look sexy: Android’s icons and theme right now are a little bit cartoony. I want the device to look as every bit expensive and gorgeous as it really is. ‘Live Wallpapers’ don’t exactly scream “futuristic industrial design.” Give me some OS eye candy. Not bubbly colorful icons.