Initial user feedback related to the interface.

[Paal Joachim Romdahl]

I went online to find a music app to play my own music that is added to my phone.
I came across Poweramp and thought I would give it a test.

It is now downloaded and I started up a song to see what the play screen looks like. (See attached screenshot as to what I saw.)

The first thing I noticed was the really messy interface.

Containing the music art.
On top of that and rotating the title of the music piece.
Just below the title a thumbs up / thumbs down.
To the right of that the 3 dot drop down menu.

4 buttons faded into the background.
Below the equalizer vertical bars.
On top of that the play buttons.
Just below left. Current time in the track. To the right shows how long the track is.
Below middle. Type of file.

Below additional options faded in.

First of all a welcome screen should be seen upon installing the app asking questions in relation to what to see.
I would right away hide the equalizer bars (as an option to not show these), as I find it distracting to see it when playing a file.
I would probably have the title in the top and then the cover art just below it. 
I would remove the thumbs up/down. I do not need these. I even wonder why it is there. I just plan on playing my own music.
Place the 3 dot into the bottom options icons menu.
Remove the faded options seen just below the cover art, and consolidate these with the options in the bottom.
Remove some options that are more general from the play screen and add these into the settings screen.

Bottom options have these fit better in with the area it is located in.

Because of this UI, I might just have to uninstall the app. 
I will wait and see the response to my feedback. As I got a feeling that app is really good, but that the initial impression i get is that the UI is messy and crowded.

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by Paal Joachim Romdahl
Adjusted the title to reflect that it is user interface feedback.

[andrewilley]

Poweramp is a very powerful app, but the problem with lots of customisation features is that there can be a bit of a learning curve. There are also a number of third-party skins that can alter the look-and-feel of the display.

For starters, even with the default skins (which are just black or white), I would suggest the following adjustments might help you:

• Enable Settings=>Look and Feel=>Skin=>(choose you desired skin)=>Alternative Layout
• Enable Settings=>Look and Feel=>Skin=>(choose you desired skin)=>Pro Buttons
• Choose 'Simple' for Settings=>Look and Feel=>Skin=>(choose you desired skin)=>Seekbar Style
• In Settings=>Look and Feel=>Player UI change the Rating Type to either '5-stars' or 'Disabled' if you don't want to see it at all.
• In Settings=>Look and Feel=>Player UI you can use Hide Menu to remove the floating three-dots menu icon. You can get the exact same functionally by long-pressing on the album art area on the player screen, so that just removes some extra clutter. You can do the same with the Chromecast button, but looks like that's already disabled for you anyway.
• If you don't like the scrolling of long titles, disable Settings=>Look and Feel=>Player UI=>Animate Long Labels
• I like displaying a track counter too, with Settings=>Look and Feel=>Player UI=>Show Track Counter
• Long-press on the metadata line (the type of file, at the bottom of the player screen) to view other types of information if you prefer.

You can also change the option in Settings=>Background (even ending up with a pure black or white screen) if you want to make the buttons more or less obvious.

Have a play around with the settings anyway - or if you want even more flexibility there are third-party skins that offer more options than you can shake a stick at. See the Skins subforum.

Andre