I’m glad Android is getting better animations, but I’m tired of this nonsensical ‘test’

Ben Schoon | Oct 27 2024 - 9:00 am PT

Animations are a part of basically any modern software, but there are only certain times when you actually notice them. On Android, one of the times it’s unfortunately common to notice animations is when they aren’t as smooth as they should be, and while I’m glad that’s getting better, it’s getting way too much emphasis on one specific area.

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One of the common points you’ll hear from enthusiasts regarding iOS vs Android is how much smoother and polished Apple’s platform is, and a big part of that is in the attention to detail in the animations found throughout iOS. Android has gotten way better over the years in this regard, to the point where the vast majority of people can barely tell the difference, but there’s a vocal group that’s been pushing for further improvements.

This week, OnePlus showed off OxygenOS 15, based on Oppo’s ColorOS which was announced last week. In both cases, there’s a heavy focus on animations as there are some considerable improvements in these updates.

Thanks to a new “parallel processing” method, OnePlus and Oppo devices will be able to show smoother animations by allowing two to play at once. A great idea, but where’s the application?

The focus of this particular feature really seem to be on a “test” that’s been popularized online where a user will open up their phone and very rapidly open and close apps, often showing the footage in slow motion to see where the animations break off or lag as the test goes on. Frankly, it’s a ridiculous “test” because it doesn’t reflect how anyone actually uses their phone. It’s a stress test, absolutely, but I’d argue that animations aren’t “broken” in these tests when that’s not actually how people see them.

Regardless of that, though, it’s what inspired the improvements here, clearly, as OnePlus showed the same open-close-open-close “test” over and over again in a 17-minute video detailing what’s new in OxygenOS 15.

No one uses their phone like this! – Also, why isn’t the second clip in slow motion?

My point here isn’t to say that the work OnePlus and Oppo, and other brands, are putting in to improve their animations isn’t important. It is. We all want our phones to be smoother and faster. But to put so much emphasis on it just feels ridiculous. Animations, especially ones like these, are supposed to fade into the background and go unnoticed. When done right, no one notices these, and I just worry that putting so much attention on this takes away from things that actually matter, like the animations you’re supposed to notice.

What do you think?

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Top comment by Joshua âTacoâ Salles

Liked by 12 people

It's frustrating to me that they've made it so the system defaults to wait for the animation to finish in order to start executing any action, thus creating the problem of "being faster than your phone".

Example being trying to set a time/date with the Material time & date selector, if you select forward or back by a big amount that the system has to play the animation before actually "choosing" the option.

Oof, simple fix come on Google... and as far as OnePlus goes they should have pushed this commit to the Android repo 🫠

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