Android Honeycomb is going to be unveiled very soon, and Google exec and designer Matias Duarte gives us a little insight on what he wanted out of the platform. The main theme seems to be that Duarte doesn’t feel like humans should do what a computer should, hence his distaste for Android task killers.
If you’re a die-hard Android fan, you’re from one of two camps – those who abhor task killers, and those who swear by them. Scouring forums and Android blogs, it’s amazing to see the split between the two, but it exists and so it leaves me wondering who’s right. On one hand, Duarte and a number of users feel that the platform does a fine enough job of managing tasks and applications. On the other, there are the users who keep getting system errors due to low memory because several apps are hogging up resources. The latter swear by task killers and say they can’t get through a day without them.
All Things D reports:
“Managing the computing resources, deciding what takes up resident RAM, what takes up resident cycles,” Duarte said in an interview with Mobilized, “this is not a task we should ask humans to do, because, first of all, humans don’t do a very good job of it. They don’t have enough information and enough context.”
So why do the developers bother making task killers and why do some users swear by them? When I owned an HTC EVO4G, I used a task killer very aggressively and never had a slow device. I also managed to get 14 to 16 hours of battery life on the 4G-capable device, which is a miracle for an Android handset being used often.
One thing Android has that stomps all over the iPhone is its user notification system: it’s unobtrusive and subtle. You know when you receive a message, and there is a small reminder that lingers until you handle it. On the iPhone, it’s one damn notification after another that stays prominently on the screen until you close each one. I’ve found myself saying, “Gooooood byyyyeeeeeee,” on the phone just so I can close each notification before I can actually hang up the call.
For Honeycomb, the notification system will be even better according to Duarte.
We’re expecting to see all the goods very shortly, so be sure to stay tuned as we bring all the details and highlights to you from the Google Honeycomb event.
[Via: AllThingsD]