New technologies always come with new experiences. And new operating systems come with new UI (User Interface). This is because manufacturers think that their design is better than the competition or sometimes they just do it to distinguish themselves from the pack.
Google Android OS is one, they are positioning themselves as the new Smartphone Operating System. Challenging Apple's iPhone iOS, Microsoft's Windows Phone, RIM's Blackberry and Nokia's Symbian. Android is more closely knitted to Apple's iOS, which features some similar functions of the iPhone, like Maps, Full Browser and an App Store, or Market as they call it in Android.
To make it a little simpler, we will compare some aspects that may be similar to a PC function.
The Buttons
Android devices unlike the iPhone or the iPad has 3 major buttons as compared to Apple's famous Home button. These are the "back", "menu" and 'home", these can either be hardware or software buttons depending on the hardware manufacturer.
Back Button - is a button used to return one step backwards, it is sometimes used in some applications that uses a back function. A good example is a browser, the back button can be used to return to a previously visited website much like the back button of a PC browser. Some eBooks also use this to return to a previous page. The button function goes beyond the program itself, like if you press too much will bring you to the Home Screen.
Menu Button - will show menus of a particular application. This is comparable to Windows' or Mac's famous "File, Edit ..." drop-down menus when using a program.
Home Screen Button - this instantly bring you back to the Home Screen, no PC equivalent for this one. This is a smart phone / tablet thing.
Finger Gestures
Aside from the 3 buttons, you must also remember the basic finger gestures of the device. These are "swipe", "long press" "tap" and "double tap".
Swipe - is when you hold down your finger and slide it across the screen, this can either be done vertically or horizontally depending on the application or program used.
Long Press - is holding down your finger a little longer than 3 seconds. This launches some other menus similar to the mouse's right click.
Tap - is the term used in touch screen devices as the equivalent of clicking the mouse. You can run or start an application by tapping the icon.
Double Tap - is like double clicking, but it has a slightly different function in some application. In maps and browsers, double clicking is used to quickly zoom in and sometimes zooming out.
The Screen
Upon booting, you will be greeted with a Welcome screen with time and date. Depending on the OS version, there are 2 ways of logging in. For the Android 1.6, you have to press the home button for 3-5 seconds. For Android 2.1 and 2.2 you slide the lock button from left to right.
Android 2.1 unlock screen
Once you have entered or logged in, you will see some icons or "shortcuts" and sometimes may include "widgets" like the Google search bar on top. The Home screen also features a tiny arrow, either on the bottom or at the right side, this contains "All Applications" (programs) installed in the device, similar to the "All Programs" in Windows or "Applications" on a Mac.
By default you have 3 desktops, this is used to organize shortcuts and widgets. You can access the additional desktops by swiping left or swiping right.
Organizing and Using Android
Basically, the default setup of every Android device gives you access to the following : Mail, Browser and Contacts, these are the basic use of Tablets or Smartphones. But you may wish to rearrange, add or delete specific shortcuts. You can do this with the "long press" gesture.
To Delete a shortcut from the desktop "long press" the icon you wish to delete (Notice the icon's slight lift, and the small arrow on the bottom or on the right side becomes a Trash Bin icon), drag it to the rightmost or bottom side, where the Trash icon is located and lift your finger as soon as the icon is on top of the Trash. This deletes the shortcut, but not the application (more on installing and uninstalling applications in Part 2).
Rearranging icons and shortcuts are much similar with deleting them. But this time instead of dragging them to the Trash bin, you drag it where you want it located.
Adding shortcuts to the desktop is done by first accessing the "All Applications" arrow, and long pressing the icon you want to place on the desktop. As soon as the icon gets lifted, the "All Applications" pane will slide back to show the desktop, lift your finger on where you want the shortcut placed.
Continued on Part 2
Gesture Photos from Gesture Works
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