While using the Android apps, I’ve not deeply thought about the guideline behind them. I guess because of the different limitation and defaults, Android apps naturally differ from iOS apps visually and in the UX way. After reading the Android design guideline, I recalled the design of my old phones. 10 years ago, the phones did whatever you wanted them to do. It was dumb that people have to try to adjust. Also, old phones varied in UI/UX designs, switching phones was a big deal. people had to spent time learning to use the phone. Especially I remember, I was very afraid of pressing buttons. Sometimes, I accidentally deleted content. Without notices and intuition, I was surprised by how the old phones treated me. In contrast, in Android design guideline, I saw “If it looks the same, it should act the same” and “Decide for me but let me have the final say” which saved people from being lost in the interface and learning and remembering all the different functions.
However, something I feel interesting in the guideline is “It’s not my fault – Be gentle in how you prompt people to make corrections. They want to feel smart when they use your app. If something goes wrong, give clear recovery instructions but spare them the technical details. If you can fix it behind the scenes, even better.” This point indicates how people feel frustrated because of the failure of technology. However, I don’t think a user will feel him/herself dumb because of the technology failure, which means, you do not need to make them feel smart. There were so many times my apps or phone failed. I never blame myself but the stupid phone or developer. I just hope the phone is as smart as me.
Anyways, the guideline was clear on what direction Android would like to go, but I still believe there is a long road for all smart phones/apps to be intuitive or smart like a human. As apps/UI/UX evolve to fit human needs, humans also learn to use technology products. It is why things need to get improved at all time.