How To: Give Your Android Phone Some “Material Design” with Google's New Calculator App

With Google's latest version of their mobile OS, Android L, the most notable aesthetic difference is the newly introduced Material Design concept that will soon be ever-present through the interface. The objective of this bold design is to create "hierarchy, meaning, and focus," as described by Google, and the deliberate choices of color and white space "to create immersion and clarity."

If you followed our guide on how to acquire the Android L keyboard, then you received a small glimpse of what material design will look like on your device, but with dev virjog's .apk, we can now preview Material Design in the form of the Calculator application to get a better understanding of Google's objective.

On your device, make sure to enable installation from "Unknown sources", since the app isn't on the Google Play Store. Then simply download the MaterialDesignCalculator.apk onto your device, and tap the notification after it's downloaded to install the app.

As soon as you open the Calculator, you will notice the new colors and layout. As soon as you calculate an equation, the screen changes to a soft turquoise to capture your attention, which definitely helps immerse users.

Additionally, advanced functions can be exposed by pulling them out from the right.

Again, this is just a peek of things to come, as Google prepares their apps to look and work seamlessly with their latest build. Let us know what you think of the design in the comments below.