An Open Letter to the Lollipop Keyboard

10 Dec 2014

Dearest Lollipop Keyboard,

This is most upsetting. I upgraded my Nexus 7 to Android Lollipop and quickly regretted it after using you for the first time. Fatigued is the best word to describe how I felt. Why would I feel fatigued!?

Just take a look at yourself.

The freaking lines separating your keys are gone. Along with the characters themselves, the lines helped my finger hit its target. Yes, I do type with just one finger. They’re gone. I typed a little more and my fears were confirmed; I was exerting myself more than usual.

Seriously. You were an amazing keyboard and then Google came along and lathered “Material Design” all over you. I’m sick of the excess use of bright white, I’m sick of thin grey fonts on white backgrounds, I’m sick of everything going flat, and I’m sick of labeling all this under some holier-than-thou Material Design umbrella and expecting everyone to be excited about it.

Sincerely disgruntled,

Mark