How long is the WP8.1 setting item compared to Android 4.4/iOS8?

This article is reproduced from Setentaydos, the original text was translated and proofread by the author Tai Lang Brother, and there were slight changes when reprinted.

About this comparison

We love to analyze, write, or read content related to a great user experience. A common practice is to choose an app, redesign a few interfaces without constraints, and then share it on Dribbble. However, complex factors such as the business requirements of the actual project and the constraints of multiple platforms forced us to rack our brains to find an intuitive and balanced design solution.

This is perhaps the direct reason why there are no articles discussing complex projects such as business intelligence, system platform settings full of button options, etc. Today, I want to take a moment to do a comparative analysis of Apple, Google, and Microsoft's mobile phone operating system settings.

Get straight to the point, there are many questions to discuss. Which operating system has a more user-friendly setup interface? Which one is more likely to drive user use? How can I tell if a current user is an audiophile by setting item? How to reasonably design the architecture of the application for novice users? Needless to say, planning these interface zombies is a huge and interesting challenge.

Use of screen space

There will always be some fixed menu controls in every native system UI, and the free space provided by each design language is different. This section compares the remaining settings that users can freely operate.

The combination of iOS's fixed menu with the Home Button is the smartest solution among the three OSes, taking up almost 11% of the screen space. Apple sets design specifications, and then a large number of third-party iOS developers only need to apply the combination of controls + Home Button correctly.

Compared to iOS, Android devices have to rely on the bottom 7% of virtual buttons because there are no physical buttons. In total, the screen-to-body ratio reached 18%. In Android 4.4 (KitKat), Android introduced a full-screen mode for apps, where the upper and lower controls can be hidden. Tap the screen (Lean Back mode) or slide the edge of the screen (Immersive mode) to invoke system controls. Android's huge user base has led to such a scheme. This is only a temporary issue, and hiding system-level menus is bound to become the new standard.

Microsoft's mobile operating system is currently extremely problematic. In theory, Windows Phone has two major advantages:

System Bar has three button action items, similar to Android; The System Bar is a physical button, much like itiPhonehome button; Why is screen space still tight? Is it reasonable to use 23% of the space as a fixed menu area for the system? The design language urgently needs to change, and thankfully Microsoft is aware of this.

Set the content length

Windows Phone - Let's talk about WP first. The settings do not follow a specific order and are extremely lengthy. Finding keyboard settings requires the same luck as buying lottery tickets, and I have never understood the difference between "about" and "extras+info". I was amazed by such an unordered list and the design ideas behind it. This is too harsh for users. Forcing users to learn is extremely bad. This list is longer than iOS and Android combined. At the same time, the top 23% of the system menu area, this design language definitely needs to be changed.

iOS - With a slight UI comparison, the iOS settings list is neatly combined. Users can quickly understand the differences between groups while forming pathways of operation in their brains. In addition, icons make each setting highly recognizable.

Android - Android's grouping of settings is somewhat different from iOS. Instead of using tonal contrast, Android presents a visual grouping effect with line heights and label names (of course, each item has an icon).

Some may say that it is enough for iOS to group by tone, but the vast majority of users are not tech-savvy. Label names provide a quick and accurate indication of the purpose of the current combination. So, I think the Android solution is the best at the moment. Then Android needs to change the body of its black backgroundAndroid 5.0– Lollipop is thoroughly optimized through the Material Design design language), and the tonal contrast design for iOS is very popular.

Sort

What process do Apple, Google, and Microsoft use to sort mobile device settings? If you were asked to design, what would you think? Here, we use Android as a measure because it has an optimal setting classification. I decided to choose the 5 categories of Android (network, device, personalization, account, system) and applied the card-style classification method to sort out the arrangement of iOS and Windows Phone well. As shown in the following figure:

Even without tag names, iOS sorting is very uniform and easy to master. As shown in the figure above, the settings are reasonably and evenly distributed, and the user's browsing experience is very comfortable.

Windows Phone, it's hard to understand. The settings are very confusing, not well distributed and balanced, which is extremely confusing. Users have to go through and understand each setting item one by one. Microsoft designers, have they ever been useful?

conclusion

This analysis is only a shallow comparison of system settings. Through the comparative observation of screen space, the length of the setting items and the ranking of the settings, we can find out the main experience of each OS setting item.

One could argue that one of the advantages of Windows Phone is that there are not so many sub-tiers within iOS or Android. Then, it is important that the mobile operating system allows users to use and immerse themselves in it from the beginning, helping them find what they want. At present, Windows Phone is far behind and relies heavily on users to adapt to such a complex and disorderly system.

iOS and Android dominate the mobile operating system market and have been surpassing each other. According to the current user experience, iOS is the best to use, while Android has the largest user base. In addition, the Material Design design concept led by Android 5.0 is gradually penetrating into the design of third-party applications on Android.

In fact, mobile experience is a common proposition faced by Apple, Google and Microsoft, but their own ways of understanding this proposition are different.