Style and design change constantly. What was in and good-looking last year could be out and dated now. The UIs (User Interfaces) on smartphones are no different. Apple has, for better or worse, seemingly taken over the barometer for what’s in and out, at least according to the UI changes we’re starting to see in Android.
Gone are the skeuomorphic designs that once made up our icons and widgets. Back then, the goal was to make icons look not so much like icons but miniature versions of their real-life counterparts. The trend is now to lean more heavily on a flatter and more subdued look. Even the color scheme, which was once vibrant, is now shifting more towards the softer, almost pastel side of the spectrum. Google showed us pictures of the upcoming “L” update to the OS and what they’re referring to as “material” design is a flatter, but more refined theme across the board.
While OEMs like to offer their own design on their Android skins, such as Samsung’s Touchwiz, HTC’s Sense and Emotion from Huawei, they still generally follow the overlying feel of what’s popular in the degsign world now. What’s more is that if you follow custom ROMs and themes for Android, even they are almost universally offering a look that is more flat than what was used in the past. Icon packs are popping up by the dozens that offer the flat look. Even developers are updating their apps and logos to reflect this new trend.
The gallery below contains photos leaked from an unnamed upcoming Huawei device, so there’s no way of telling which smartphone Emotion 3.0 will be released on or when it will even come out. Judging from the size of the Settings page, it looks like a screen from a large-sized phone or even a phablet. The Huawei Honor 6 that was recently released uses Emotion 2.3 UI.
What do you readers think about this new look? While Huawei doesn’t have a huge presence here in the U.S., it’s important to see the landscape of how our phones look changing throughout the smartphone industry, not limited to Android, but all over the world.
