I always try to be someone who offers constructive criticism, so here’s mine for the new Android TV version that was pushed out to my Shield last night after about an hour of using it.
- There’s about a half-second delay between pressing the button on the remote and the corresponding action on screen that didn’t exist in the previous client version
- Core functionality such as next/previous episode in a TV series is wholly absent
- Having any kind of music play by default is always a bad idea
- Can’t change the stylized logos for show/movie names
- The option to tell if a video is direct playing is wholly absent
- The forward seek gets stuck and carries over even into a new episode
This UI seems to be designed to look good in screenshots but when it comes to usability I have to wonder if any of the devs are actually using it beyond just testing whatever random function they’re working on at the moment.
Just because Apple/Google/Microsoft/whoever decides to do something stupid UI wise it doesn’t mean you guys have to copy them. Especially if it makes no sense for your particular app. This minimalist UI nonsense has been taken beyond the extreme. Pruning a few duplicate or rarely used functions is one thing, removing core functionality like next/previous episode is something else entirely.
At best I would call this current version an early beta. I could adjust to the new look of icons and whatnot, but the overall lack of optimization and missing core functionality are just simply inexcusable in a version being pushed out to the masses. I can only hope someone pushed the wrong button somewhere and this change will be reverted until the new app has had more time to bake.
