Its good to see people really thinking about interaction design. Apple has given their developers many more resources in this are than Google has. As Ben wrote, I try to address some of this at my blog (http:// www.BinarySheep.com) but I have a long way to go.
The "+" button behavior on iPhone can translate in to Android in a couple of ways. It seems the Google's preferred method is to hide it in the menu. In the contact app it is under the menu on the top right. In Gmail the compose feature is in the same place. The YouTube app has an Upload option in the top right. So if you are going to borrow Google's interaction design you should put it in the same place. I remember reading about the idea of "muscle memory" that Google was trying to teach it users. Therefore when the user thinks "new" they will map that idea to the same touch activities in every app. One thing that has always worried me a little is the whole idea of a menu button. Nothing on the screen tells the user that there is a menu attached to your app. You just have to hope they are smart enough to try and tap that menu button. If they aren't then your app is useless to them. If the add button is very frequently used I would recommend putting a Button or ImageButton on the bottom of the screen. This would be the same as the bottom ToolBar on the iPhone (I think that is what its called). Of course if you do that you should also duplicate the add ability in the menu for those used to the standard action. I am hoping the Android community will come together on the subject of interaction design. Its going to take developers making apps with good usability for Android to beat iPhones market share. Kyle
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