Android may soon have a flatter look, if these leaked shots are real

By Christian Brazil Bautista April 14, 2014

leak points major design makeover upcoming version android redesign — Photo via Android Police

Android is getting a makeover. According to Android Police, a major redesign may be coming to the Android interface, one that emulates what we’ve seen in iOS 7.

The supposed leak, which Android Police said came from “a source familiar with the new designs,” shows a flatter interface similar to the design scheme that first appeared in iOS 7. The new design, which is said to be called “Moonshine” internally, shows Android app icons that more closely resemble their desktop versions.

leak points major design makeover upcoming version android androidredesign2

leak points major design makeover upcoming version android androidredesign3

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The leaked photo is a screenshot of an Android home screen that shows the revamped icons for Google+, Chrome, YouTube, Hangouts, Maps, Gmail, Calendar, People and the Play Store. To make the changes a lot easier to spot, Android Police put out a side-by-side comparison of Google icons, which can be found below. As added proof, the site also published a screenshot of a Google Partners home page that shows the new flatter icons.

We should point out that design elements can be easily changed so you should take this leak with a degree of skepticism. It’s also unclear how far along the new style is in the design process so even if it does show up in a future Android release, some elements can be changed completely. There’s also no way to tell when this may come out. However, some publications have already called it for the upcoming Android 4.5 release. If that turns out to be accurate, we may see it as early as this summer.

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Christian Brazil Bautista

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Christian Brazil Bautista is an experienced journalist who has been writing about technology and music for the past decade…

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With Quantum Paper, Google aims to unify Android’s design

google hopes to boost army of android developers with free online course

Google I/O is fast approaching, and while most of the rumors have focused on the debut of Android Wear, there are also several new reports about Android 4.5. The mysterious Android "L" might be named "Lollipop" or "Lemon Meringue Pie" (after "J" for Jelly Bean and "K" for KitKat), but that's still anybody's guess. It's unknown exactly when the next version of Android will debut, but many rumors indicate that Google will try to unify Android's design, simplify things further, and get updates out to devices faster.

Each year, Google creates an Android-improvement project. For Ice Cream Sandwich, it was Project Butter, which aimed to make Android move smoother. For KitKat, it was Project Svelte, which sought to cut down on bulk, so that Android could run on any device, whether high or low end. This time around, it's allegedly Quantum Paper, a project dedicated to creating a cohesive, comprehensive Android design that can travel across all kinds of devices. It will also be used to dictate the design language of apps on the Web and iOS.

Mobile

Adobe rolls out major Photoshop Express redesign for Android

adobe rolls out major photoshop express redesign for android update

Adobe is continuing to make improvements to its mobile photo-editing app – Photoshop Express for Android – with a sizable update rolled out Thursday bringing a fresh design and optimization for Android 4.4 KitKat.
The free app, which debuted on Google's mobile platform in 2011, has been rebuilt from the ground up, with users now given faster access to features such as filters, cropping, red-eye reduction, and auto-correct.
Coming to Android for the first time is Adobe's image rendering engine, designed to offer improved performance and better handling of large file sizes. Users should also find they can access and process images saved on a device's SD card quicker than before.
In line with the ever-growing pile of other photo apps available to mobile users today, Photoshop Express's filters, or what Adobe calls Looks, show up the moment you snap a shot, allowing for speedier beautification of images should your photo require it.

New slider controls offering more accurate adjustments have also been introduced, with users able to easily tweak various elements of their image, such as exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, temperature, tint, and so on.
Of course, if all that sounds like too much effort, just hit the app's auto adjust button and in a flash you'll have a photo with more punch than Vitali Klitschko (hopefully).
In a blog post detailing the update, Adobe's Manu Anand also announced integration with Revel, the software giant's image-syncing and storage service, although currently users can only perform the simple task of uploading and downloading images. Functionality to manage images, create new folders and so on, may come later.
You can pick up Photoshop Express for Android here, or grab the update via your device.
[via Cnet]

Mobile

What could have been: A leaked shot of Nokia’s Android phone

Nokia Normandy Leak

At the end of December, there was a lot of fuss over a device codename Normandy, a low-end Nokia phone. Why? Because it supposedly runs a forked version of Android, and not Windows Phone or Nokia’s own Series 40 software. Now, the phone has popped up again in a series of leaks, this time showing a press render of the device, indicating Nokia is - or was - planning to release the phone.
The new leaks began on January 12, when what was described as an, “engineering prototype,” of the Normandy was leaked through a Twitter account. The image shows the same phone seen in December, characterized by the back arrow below the screen, all wrapped up in a rubber protective case. According to the tweet, the image originated on the Chinese social network Sina Weibo.
Two days later, infamous Twitter-based phone leaker @evleaks came up with an image too. Again, the phone resembles those leaked before it, but this time in a more traditional press render setting. A green Normandy is flanked by multiple phones in various colors, with the center device giving us a look at the user interface.
As expected, it doesn’t look anything like Android. We’d been told the OS would have a Live Tile-style UI, and sure enough, the design has more in common with Windows Phone than it does Android. While this would see the Normandy fit in with the rest of Nokia’s family, we doubt it would be well received by Microsoft. Ultimately, the fate of the Normandy will probably come down to Microsoft, unless Nokia can get the phone out the door before the takeover is finalized.
So, will the Normandy come, like some believe, in 2014? There’s certainly an outside chance. If it’s going to do so, Mobile World Congress at the end of February seems like a likely launchpad.