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Chrome might not be the smoothest browser on smartphones after all, but it’s still a whole lot of fun to use (even more after the latest update with the new gestures). The ‘New Tab’ page, however, is a mess on both, Chrome for Android and on the normal desktop version. And this although it’s probably the first site a lot of users get to see first after starting the application everyday.

This concept deals with a redesigned ‘New tab’ page for the mobile version. First, the new grid app menu has been added directly at the very top, alongside the notification bell and a Google logo.

Below this, the tabs ‘Most visited’, ‘Bookmarks’ and ‘Other devices’ have been placed. This menu has also been slightly redesigned, thus being now more consistent with other Google services and looking up-to-date.

The list of ‘Recently closed’ sites has also been moved from the very bottom to the top, which indeed also makes more sense, as a user certainly wants to find accidentally closed tabs as fast as possible.

Then (finally) the ‘Most visited’ pages are listed. There may be still not more than 6-8 of them, but they do now take much more space, as they are much larger. Google Now’s card interface has been adapted here. The biggest part of the cards is filled by screenshots, though a new bar has been added at the bottom, containing new options, such as a separate button for opening the site in a new tab (which could of course also be done by simply holding on the icon) and a share option.

Multitasking is somehow one of Android’s key features. It works fast, fluid and no matter what we've seen to come with iOS7: because of software buttons you’re always one click faster than on every other OS. And that’s what multitasking is today essentially also about: switching between applications as fast as possible.

So below is a concept showing how multitasking on #Android may become even better. The idea is that the user can swipe between the opened applications by swiping either from the left or the right edge of the phone with two fingers.

Throughout the last few years Google has somehow reached to make kind like all of it’s applications look great and fun to use. One of the apps that has not been full-redesigned for some time now is the Google calendar. It’s also a great application and much better than most not-Google apps, but it’s not comparable to what we've seen lately. So I kind of looked at other recently updated Google apps, such as the Play store, Google Maps and Music, and designed some changes and ideas on my own!

At first, the top bar got colored and a navigation menu has been added. There’s also now always the current agenda at the bottom, which can be pulled up, listing events that are set during the time space your looking at (for example month or another week).

The idea of chrome web apps on the Android version of Chrome is kinda strange, as on the one hand side Google is already in charge of a much better working app store for Android, where most chrome apps are even already listed. Furthermore Chrome apps have been designed for laptops and not for phones or tablets.

The solution below, however, is really great for Chrome extensions. You might remember: other than Chrome apps, extensions mostly focus on the web experience. They're kind like more advanced and less annoying and hideous browser toolbars. And they've basically been part of the Chrome Web Store's origin.

My idea for a great Android Key Lime Pie update is to build an Android desktop, thus making the OS finally much more attractive for tablets. At first this does not only seem to be a very extensive and ambitious idea, but also a strange one, as other firms are currently moving away from the desktop, and as Google already has chrome OS for this kind of things. But I think the desktop is sometimes just superior, and full-screen applications won’t last forever. Meanwhile Microsoft just fails in making the Windows desktop finally touch-friendly. The concept photo below shows an example of how such a desktop could be implemented. The desktop UI is placed above the homescreen, so that you can get there by scrolling up (like switching between the different homescreen pages, but up). To make the windows as simple as possible, all interactions, such as minimizing or closing, are implemented within the task bar (swiping the icons up, down, left or right). And as many Android applications are already pretty good in adapting to different screen sizes, they are probably also already well-prepared for working in windows. The idea is that every application can be opened on the desktop and not only special ones, though developers can of course also optimize their apps to this interface.

In the concept I tried to focus on two main aspects. On the one hand side I wanted it to show such a full-functional experiece, being similar to the real play store on Android phones. On the other hand side I also tried to find a way the store could be used as well without the need of any voice-commands, but only with the touchpad.

To achieve the latter one, scrolling and swiping plays a very important role. Scrolling upon the pages bottom or top can set off full interactions, as for example to install an application or to navigate back (much like the ‘swipe down to refresh’ feature found in many mobile applications).

Further more there is also a new way to point the user to voice commands incidentally: The commands are often part of headlines. So the real title is formatted differently than the thing you might say.

I think all in all this could work really well. Especially the fact that you don’t need voice commands is something I’d really like about it. You just cannot always speak freely, sometimes it’s too noisy and sometimes you just don’t want everybody to know what you’re doing right now.