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Comment by jan_g | Hacker News Reader

>Might also be why the "mainstream" is primarily using Apple iPads/iPods/iPhones

I don't believe the reason for that is UI responsiveness (also, I don't agree with your 'primarily' assessment, but let's not chew on that). In my opinion, the differences are so small that UI performance just isn't an issue. There are other areas where iDevices are noticeably better compared to every competing device.

>What bothers people is that when you swipe from screen 1 to screen 2, there can be a > .5 second delay

Hm, I don't remember that ever happening to me in the last ~2 years with two devices that I've used most: nexus one and motorola defy. But ok, I grant you that it can happen. So what? I've also seen an iPhone freeze completely.

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For me, the UI performance is the single biggest reason why I don't use Android as my primary phone. No matter how fast the underlying action is, the jumpiness and occasional lagginess makes it feel slow to me.

It frustrates me - there's so much I like about the OS that so many good things can be erased by leaving the visible perception of being slow.

Hm, I don't remember that ever happening to me in the last ~2 years with two devices that I've used most: nexus one and motorola defy. But ok, I grant you that it can happen. So what? I've also seen an iPhone freeze completely.

That's funny. I use a Nexus S on a daily basis, and compared to my primary phones I've used over the last 3 years (iPhone 3GS, 4, and now 4S), the touch screen is awful.

The incontrovertible truth is that every mainstream Android device on the market, including the newest SGS2's, have this annoying 500ms/20 pixel touchscreen 'slop'. And it's annoying as hell. It makes the touchscreen and all the widgets feel slippery. It ruins the built-in android keyboard (I can type at 40+ words per minute on the ios5 touchscreen keyboard, and I need swiftkey if I want to type that fast on android).

Ignore this all you like. Those of us who want something better know where to get it.

But you're forgetting the other big screen criteria people have: "not from Apple". Once you factor that in, the Android platforms all fare much better. :)

Or rather, not from a monopolistic company bent on calling users criminals for accessing their own devices.

But yeah, if you agree that that describes Apple to a T, or maybe a P, then "Not Apple, (or Microsoft, or ...)".

This has got to be mostly a perception problem, because it's all I ever notice when using any Android device. Swipe/scroll lag has always been noticeable for me. And yes, iPhones do crash/break/jitter, but it's by far a very small percentage of the time compared to how often they're used.

As for a "reason" for people using Android: most of the people I know who use Android-based devices have "It's not Apple" as one of the top few reasons for using it.

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