Current Instapaper and former Tumblr developer Marco Arment wonders out loud if Google Android phones can ever achieve the levels of usability and polish Apple’s iPhone has arguably had since day one:

Android will continue to exhibit what Google does best: great low-level engineering and tight integration with Google's other services. But it's never going to be Apple-like in user experience, polish, or design.

Attention to detail, like most facets of truly good design, can't be (and never is) added later. It's an entire development philosophy, methodology, and culture.

Armant argues that users waiting for Android to get iPhone-like fit and finish “any day now” shouldn’t hold their breath. (Probably any more than iPhone users should hold their breath for Google-like features, such as a less curated market open to system-wide enhancers.)

Smartphone platforms as reflections of the corporate cultures is an interesting idea that doesn’t stop with consistent UI or tightly integrated hardware. HP/Palm’s webOS, is both slick and far more “open” when it comes to end user than open-source alternatives. Apple has wrested almost all control away from carriers, as they rest almost all control away from users as well. Google has let carriers run roughshod over Android’s user experience, writing fringe blog posts about the problem but not withholding Gmail or Android Market from user-hostile handsets. (The way Apple would withhold the entire iPhone for years — see Verizon.)

If that’s the case, can those corporate cultures be transcended? Could Android 3.0 Honeycomb come out with a UI as consistent and delightful as anything from Apple? Could iOS 5 packs as much power and as many features as Google throws at their phones? I think they can, though it requires Keyser Sose (or Steve Jobs) level “single act of will” to achieve. I’m betting there’s no C-level drive at Google to go iPhone’s last usability mile and Steve Jobs has no interest in being more like Android.

So Android probably won’t ever achieve iPhone’s level of polish and usability, and that probably doesn’t matter to anyone who isn’t already using an iPhone for those very reasons. We’re left in a world where each platform has its strengths and weaknesses and we have the luxury to move between them as best suits our needs at the time.

[Marco.org]

Will Android phones ever achieve iPhone’s level of polish and usability? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Just get a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad an curious how to rearrange your app icons and put your favorite programs exactly where you want them for faster, easier access? Maybe you want Facebook right up front and that default stock app to get lost? It’s easy to do and we’ll show you how, after the break.

• From the iPhone or iPad home screen, touch and hold any icon until all of the icons start to jiggle (this is called “jiggly mode”)
• Once they’re jiggling, just touch an hold an icon and then move it around the page until it’s exactly where you want it.
• If you drag an icon to the extreme left or right of your home screen, almost off the edge, you’ll scroll to the previous or next page and be able to place the icon on a new or different home screen.
• You can even drag apps out of the dock that you might not use that often and put more frequently used apps in the dock (like replacing iPod with Messages for frequent SMSers).
• If you drag an icon on top of another icon, you’ll start a new folder. You can put up to 12 apps in an iPhone folder and 20 apps in iPad folder. (And yes, you can put folders in the dock as well!)
• If you tap the X on top of a jiggling icon, you’ll delete it so make sure you don’t do that unless you really want to!
• Once you’re done, click the home button to exit jiggly mode.

Bonus tip: If you want to rearrange a lot of icons all at once it can be a lot faster to plug your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad into your Mac or Windows PC and do the heavy lifting in iTunes. Then, when the virtual screen in iTunes is just the way you want it, click to sync and all the changes will be carrier over.

Bonus Jailbreak tip: If you are jailbroken you can use Gridlock to leave blank spaces and otherwise more precisely place your icons.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments. If you’ve already rearranged your iPhone or iPad apps and found something that really works well for you, let us know!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Daily Tip: How to rearrange iPhone and iPad app icons [Beginner] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Should you wait for the legendary Verizon iPhone? Or rather, who should wait for the hotly anticipated Verizon iPhone, and who should get an AT&T iPhone or Verizon BlackBerry or Android phone now? Ever since the Verizon rumors picked up speed and 2011 seemed like the year we’d finally see the Big Red iPhone, that’s the question more and more readers have been asking us, and it’s the subject of the latest episode of our new, conversational video show, TiPb TV!

Is AT&T the best carrier in your area or is Verizon better? Do you have time left on your contract or is it up now, or did you just lose or break your phone and need a new one urgently? We’re still not 100% sure if much less when — January, April, June, later? — the Verizon iPhone will land, so how badly do you need a phone and how badly do you need it to be the iPhone? Watch along and we’ll help you decide!

TiPb TV 9: Should you wait for the Verizon iPhone? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Well it was a good short run for developer Igor Barinov and his WikiLeaks app for iPhone but Apple has officially pulled it from the App Store just four short days after first approving it. I wouldn’t expect to see it back anytime in the future.

The app gave instant access to the WikiLeaks web content as well as provided access to the site’s Twitter account. WikiLeaks has at the center of political and media controversy lately for publishing secret information in the form of documents, memos or other confidential transmissions about the government. Recently other big companies like Amazon, PayPal, Mastercard, Visa and Bank of America have all tried to get their names away from anything associated with WikiLeaks and it appears as Apple might be trying to do the same thing.

Did you download the WikiLeaks app before it got pulled from the App Store? Do you think Apple should have pulled the app even though it doesn’t appear to violate any of the terms of services set forth by Apple themselves? Tell us your thoughts about the issue below.

[ TechChrunch ]

WikiLeaks App for iPhone gets pulled from the App Store is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Our TiPb Forums are the best iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV community on the ‘net (and in the ‘verse!) and proof positive is this wonderful poem posted by user dmcary:

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the TIPB store Were decorations for my new iPad and much, much, much more!
With Georgia in her T-Shirts and Leanna in her cap,
Rene settled in for a long Garrett rant.
When out from the forums there arose such a clatter,
I turned down the podcast to see what was the matter.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a free 32 gig iPad for Christmas this year!
The extra 3G love makes it so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment my story had to be slick.
Now Ally, now Dieter, now Jeremy and Farbod;
Team Jailbreak, Team Pure send that shinny gift down here!
Use your Waze Social Navigator to keep traffic out of sight,
And most of all Happy Christmas and to all a GOOD NIGHT!

Thank so much Derrick! Do you have a holiday poem for TiPb? A limerick perhaps? Please share, just try to keep it family friendly!

Happy Holidays from the TiPb Forums! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, Xbox Kinect, PlayStation Move, Jambox, Nexus S, MacBook Air — there seems to be so much wonderful tech out there that I am finding it increasingly difficult to figure out what I would really like to receive this holiday season!

What type of tech gifts are you hoping to find under the tree? Is there something cool you really want from that someone special in your life? Help me out, TiPb community, and let me know what you want!

TiPb asks: What tech gift do you want for the holidays? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

The Epic Unreal 3 engine spinning Infinity Blade for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad has just had its first update hit the App Store, so if you’ve been itching for more action, here’s what you get:

• 5 new Swords, 5 new Shields, 5 new Helmets, and 1 new set of Armor – Collect and Master them all!
• Maximum Character Level raised from 40 to 45!
• New Enemy – The MARROW FIEND! This creature is rumored to devour its victims, taking their bones for its blade and shield…
• Because it’s awesome, you can now listen to your own music while playing INFINITY BLADE!
• PURCHASE GOLD! Due to popular demand, we have added the ability to buy extra Gold via in-app purchase!
• Optimizations and minor Bug fixes

Interesting that they’ve added a bit of the freemium model to a non-free game. What do you think about in-app purchase for gold? A way to answer fans demands, a way to make more real money off fake money, or both?

Infinity Blade for iPhone, iPad updated, new gear, new enemy, new levels is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Apple announced today that sales of Apple TV are expected to top 1 million units this week. The significantly smaller, significantly less expensive Apple TV was introduced at Apple’s annual iPod and iTunes event in September and released at the end of that month. With a focus on rental rather than purchase, streaming rather than sync, Hollywood rather than “amateur hour” and Netflix as well as iTunes, Apple’s PR on the subject provides some interesting stats but strangely, no quotes from Apple execs:

iTunes users are now renting and purchasing over 400,000 TV episodes and over 150,000 movies per day.

While it took longer than iPhone 4 or iPad to reach the 1 million mark, is this any indication Apple TV might be poised to move beyond “hobby” status? Or will that still take Hulu, HBO, and major league sports deals?

[Apple PR]

Apple TV sales top 1 million is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Camera+, the iPhone photography application that was pulled from the App Store after tap tap tap programmed an easter egg which allowed the the volume buttons to be used as a shutter release, is on its way back into the App Store.

For those of you who've been clamoring to hear some news on the ultimate photo app, Camera+, we've got some great stuff for you… our newest version is now finished and in review in the App Store, so it should be available anytime now.

tap tap tap goes goes on to say that this is the biggest update for Camera+ yet and that it will not disappoint.

Who’s looking forward to what the new and improved Camera+ has in store for us?

[tap tap tap, thanks Arnab!]

Camera+ for iPhone coming back to the App Store is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

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Rene, Chad, Ally, and Georgia talk about apps spying on us, no 7-inch iPads but 3 million a month?! Apple TV updates and bugs, iTunes updates and bugs, next generation games and coming back from Jailbreak. This is iPad Live!

Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

iPad Live podcast #35: Re-virginized? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog