Android KitKat: little details matter

  • Post by Nicolas Ramz
  • Feb 06, 2014
Android KitKat: little details matter

With the latest iteration of Android, Google refined some little details. No big changes, but a lot of new small modifications that matter. In a previous experiment I wondered how could time widgets be improved.

In Android KitKat, Matias Duarte’s team finally changed the way the clock widget works. Instead of having a wheel and selecting hours digit, then minutes, and waiting for the wheel to stop, you may now directly move the clock hand. This is a huge improvement! For more precision you may still type the exact time yourself of course.

This new widget is accessible by the Clock application as well as input events of type time.

Another detail that’s found into Android is the ability to have fullscreen desktop and applications. Applications that take advantage of this new mode can now take the whole space of the screen: the OS application and navigation buttons will then fade away: giving an impression of bigger screen.

fullscreen

While this is a good thing for some screens, this gives quite a mess when text appears below the navigation buttons. Here is an example of the Talon Twitter client:

talon