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As a professional UX designer, the padding is the least of the issues.
I'm hoping I get used to it, but I miss more skeuomorphic design. It's like a designer wanted to push it to be edgy and forgot about real people using it.... which describes the bulk of Apple design, too, for that matter. I think we overshot the balance point.
Edit: forgot my real point halfway through commenting: I will say even that isn't the worst of it, though. The dynamic theming is a bit of a branding nightmare.
I miss the UI from android 4.3.. it was so clean and minimal.
I miss TabletUI :(
Agreed on that count - I like that UI consistency is an option for those who prefer it.
As long as it's an option, I really don't care. I like stuff having their distinctive look, but I will never say no to more options, especially regarding customization.
But companies like to brand for, among others, usability and legal reasons. They aren't going to participate in neutering the brand they have invested so much in. It doesn't really matter if the user "likes" it because it's pretty. What matters is if the companies pouring money into app development like it, and if the users can easily identify the apps they want to use. That's why it has such low adoption.
Most apps aren't "choice" apps. Things like banking, transit, etc. I doubt you'd change your bank or refuse to take the bus just because they don't allow their app to be colored based on a random pixel measurement from a background image. I'll go out on a limb and guess you'd also not choose an app with that option but fewer features. And if so, I'd like to think you'd be in the limited minority.
Edit to clarify: Good companies, given a choice, will by and large invest in material (pun intended) improvements over a confusing and variable prettification feature with no real usability advantage.
Because big companies have a lot more on their plate than startups or open source that may or may not pan out.
Anyone with a modicum of skill in observation who has worked in such environments knows exactly why the little guy (especially a little guy with free labor) spends a lot more time or money on less essential UI.
I've been in UX design and marketing/branding for over 20 years, mostly enterprise (large corporations.)
It's not hard to throw together a few vector lines to shape an icon. What's hard is designing one that will work in all situations and meet requirements across various platforms, rendering appropriately in all screen sizes and resolutions at any relevant size, as well as when printed on a billboard or on the side of a pen in one to four+ colors.
But designing icons falls under illustration/graphic design, which isn't paid nearly as well as UX design for a reason. I do things like the above paragraph if I need to rest my brain for half an hour.
So believe me when I talk about why the people who invest the most in tech generally aren't interested in throwing a monkey wrench into that just because a few designers and users like the novelty. There are, of course, a few exceptions to that general pattern.