Lollipop and Material Design are starting to filter out to more Android handsets. LG G3 and G Flex 2, Galaxy Note 4 and S6. Unfortunately my experiences have been somewhat mixed.
Google has taken some interesting steps in improving the look and feel of their newest operating system. Nice sliding transitions and animations, yet I’ve found issues with phones lagging and stuttering while multi-tasking. Button presses delayed long enough to make the user question whether the press was registered at all.
Most recently, formatting on Material Design apps breaking functionality. Running my Youtube channel, I LIVE out of the Youtube Creator app which helps me manage comments on my videos. It recently got a Material Design makeover! Terrific! It’ll be prettier to interact with!
Except, the app wont scroll up to show the comments field anymore. The keyboard blocks the end of the comment and the area where I’d reply. Prettier doesn’t help me if I can’t interact easily with viewers while I’m on the go.
Of course it’ll get fixed in a future update, but I’m getting tired of waiting out a future update to address real and current concerns. I’m tired of the promise that eventually these things will work better in the future, especially when “updates” make them work less good than they used to work on older software.
Such is progress I suppose…