Google has added an interesting tweak to their current crop of Android apps; splash screens with the Google logo. If you’ve updated and used some of Google’s Android apps lately, you may have noticed a brief splash screen upon opening the apps. The screen is simple, displaying the app’s logo and Google’s brand logo at the bottom, but it definitely creates a slight delay when opening the app. That’s not a good thing.
Most of us want our apps to open as quickly as possible, but Google wants to give themselves and other developers a chance to push some brand recognition. They’ve even changed Android’s app developer guidelines to suggest making a brief splash screen while an app initializes, recommending a concise logo or tagline without flooding the screen with too much text.
It’s not completely clear while Google is doing this, although it could have to do with trying to maintain brand recognition and loyalty through Google services, not just Android. That is, after all, where Google’s actually making money off of this whole “smartphone” thing. So far there aren’t any other major apps that have followed suit, at least not that I can find, but if Google wants to set this precedent we might end up seeing this become common practice for Android apps.
Out of the apps I’ve tested, I’ve seen the splash screens on YouTube, Google Maps, and Google Drive. Gmail, Inbox, and Google’s Play suite of apps (Play Music, Play Games, etc.) launch straight into the application without any sort of delay. Resuming an app if you’re multitasking also doesn’t appear to have changed, so you’ll only have to see the splash screen if the app is starting up after being closed in the background.
With that being said, there’s a good chance that Google will update all of their apps to include this splash screen, and I just haven’t gotten those updates yet. You know how Google is with updates.
If you have any Google apps on your phone, test them out and see if a splash screen is showing up for you. Let us know which apps are affected in the comments.
source: Forbes
via: Pocket Now
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