Since then, I’ve had many smartphones in my hands and used them myself. Currently, I use an Apple device, but before that, I had Android devices. In between, a very brief excursion to webOS and then of course Sailfish OS. All systems had something going for them, and over the past 16 years, you can see how fundamental functions have become established.

Pure gesture control on the Jolla smartphone with Sailfish OS or webOS was extremely innovative at the time, but it’s standard today. Sometimes still not as well implemented as with Sailfish OS, but intuitive enough. And if we’re being honest, the differences in look and feel between Android and iOS aren’t that significant anymore. iOS still has the edge for me, especially in terms of consistency, but the concepts are very similar.

And that’s where the problem lies for me. Home screen with apps and widgets, a quick bar at the bottom, a status bar at the top. Pull down quick settings from the right, notifications from the left. On Android, possibly an app drawer, that’s it. But even after 16 years of smartphones, I don’t feel like this concept suits me.

Want a few examples? I practically never use app icons. I tap on search, type 1-3 letters, and select the app. At most, I open a few frequently used apps via the icon on the home screen. But only because I have notifications there. These are my second annoyance. Why are they hidden? I’d prefer to have them on the home screen itself as a list.

Why? I manage my notifications very precisely. Which app is allowed to send me notifications at all? Which notifications should it send me? Sometimes even when. And then they’re simply hidden behind a swipe. Yet notifications are the reason I take my smartphone out of my pocket. I want exactly that information, which is why it’s active. And then interact with it directly. Well, hidden… And for me, unfortunately: Out of sight, out of mind.

I’m not entirely sure, but I think with Windows Mobile you had notifications on the main screen. Well, there were hardly any apps that sent notifications back then. But emails, appointments, and messages were definitely directly visible. I miss that.