Android 4.4 (kitkat) vs ios 8 a tough race

iOS 8 has been announced, let's look at how it compares to Android 4.4 KitKat

Apple has now announced the much-anticipated new build of its mobile software, iOS 8, so we thought it’d be an idea to see how it compares to its nearest rival, as is tradition. That rival, of course, is Google’s Android, and the latest build is 4.4 KitKat.

Android 4.4 KitKat

Truth be told, Android 4.4 KitKat was not a massive overhaul to Google’s existing formula – Google has largely already established its visual style and features in previous builds and is now gradually tweaking little details here and there over time. As a result, you could be forgiven for not noticing a difference at first, anywhere between Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Android 4.1-4.3 Jelly Bean and the new 4.4 KitKat.

That’s no bad thing though, there’s little reason to change Android’s design which is cohesive, functional and stylish. Google has long embraced clean and minimalist aesthetics thanks to Matias Duarte’s influence from Android Honeycomb.

UI

With Android 4.4 KitKat, the main visual change is the further simplification of Android – those heavy black bars at the top and bottom of the screen (the notifications/status bar and the navigation bar for the on-screen controls) are now transparent. The display is no longer ‘framed’ and you can see more of your wallpaper or apps behind.

It’s a small tweak, but the effect is to make the platform look cleaner and more airy. Alongside this, the coloured notification/status symbols in the top bar have been replaced with a clean white, another subtle change meaning these will not compete with wallpapers, apps or app icons for your attention. Likewise Google has modified its font, including the clock, to be thinner and tidier.

There are two things Google has done behind the scenes to ensure this visual change sticks throughout your Android experience.

• Ability for applications to trigger translucency in the navigation and status bars
• Ability for applications to use "immersive mode" to keep the navigation and status bars hidden while maintaining user interaction

In terms of UI functionality, Android 4.4 KitKat is the same as its predecessors. You’ve got your Homescreen with the ability to add more to swipe between, an app drawer for all installed apps, and the drop-down notifications bar at the top. Inside the notification bar there’s a Quick Settings menu and quick access to the full Settings menu, making it fast and easy to get to all the phone’s major functions. These functions, as well as notifications themselves, are also all accessible in the lockscreen, which is handy.

At the bottom there’s the trio of ever-present navigation controls – Back, Home and Multitasking. Home also functions as a way of accessing the Google Now interface via a long press, while the Multitasking key means you can always intuitively access a carousel of currently open apps, switch between them, or swipe away to close.

Apps & Cloud Services

Android also comes with Google’s suite of applications built-in, which gives you Gmail, Google+, the Chrome browser, Google Maps, Google Play, Play Music, Play Moves & TV, Play Books, Play Newsstand, Play Games, Google Drive (aka Drive), Hangouts (formerly GChat), YouTube and Photos. All of which link up through your Google account, together with your contacts if you wish, and all this can be linked via “the cloud”. You can, for example, access your Google documents, Gmail or Contacts list via a PC, tablet or smartphone.

That’s pretty much the size of how Android’s basic design and functionality looks and works, and the fact that it’s a fairly short description should say something about how usable and straightforward Google’s platform actually is.

iOS 8

While Google’s incremental design tweaks have gradually moulded Android into the impressive specimen it is today, Apple had previously let its platform get a bit dated, both visually and in terms of functionally, prior to iOS 7. iOS 7 saw a complete and dramatic design overhaul, however, moving from the previous skeumorphic approach to a flatter, cleaner and more modern implementation. iOS 8 doesn’t look set to change that visual style, although it does build on the major functionality additions Apple made in iOS 7.

UI

I’ll come back to functionality in a bit, but first I want to address the visual re-design, and that means pretty much going on a bit of a tangent about what iOS 7 did, because it’s the same for iOS 8.

On the subject of design changes between iOS 6 and iOS 7/8, there’s apparently a phrase from touristy parts of Southeast Asia a better-travelled friend recently told me about, that goes “Same, same, but different”, which seems rather appropriate here. The overall look and “message” of the iOS icons, whether it’s a clock, calendar, dialler or iTunes, has largely remained the same but with the excess sheen taken off. It’s as if older versions were still wrapped in cellophane and Jony Ive came along, took it off, and went “ta da!”

There’s more to it than that of course, and I don’t wish to sound like I don’t like it, because it is a change for the better, I reckon. Just like Android, the clunky menu elements are gone in favour of non-intrusive transparent or translucent iterations, complete with thinner fonts. The lack of skeumorphic components in icons, apps and menu components makes a massive difference as well – Jony Ive astutely realised that, in 2014, no-one wants their smartphone’s calendar app to look like  Roger Rabbit’s cartoon leather-bound organiser, and instead opted for a clean, minimalist approach which gets the job done elegantly – something that’s continued throughout the software.

Apple mimicked Android’s drop-down notifications panel, even calling it the Notification Centre, and it’s accessible from any screen, including the lockscreen, with a downwards swipe. iOS’s take on quick settings access was a little different with Control Centre, accessible with an upward swipe from the bottom of the display, again this includes access from the lockscreen. It’s a translucent panel with controls for rotation, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Airplane mode, a brightness slider, flashlight, timer, calculator, camera, AirDrop and AirPlay, as well as a music control panel and much more


Special thanks to Paul Briden