Android’s new font, Roboto, looks awfully similar to Helvetica on the iPhone

Thu, Oct 20, 2011

News

Google’s new premier smartphone – the Galaxy Nexus – features a new font dubbed Roboto. Now we’re not saying that Android derives a good deal of inspiration from iOS, but folks with a keener eye for fonts than we possess noticed that Google’s new system-wide font is awfully similar to Helvetica, the font Apple initially used on the iPhone before moving to Helvetica Neue with the release of the iPhone 4.

A picture is worth a thousand words and Michael Degusta was savvy enough to cook up this gif showing how Roboto overlaps with Helvetica. Judge for yourselves below.

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2 Comments For This Post

  1. James Katt Says:

    So what if Roboto is a rip-off of Helvetica?

    Android had to rip it off since Helvetica can’t be shipped with open-source devices.

    Since it also looks awful on Android, suckers to its users.

  2. John Says:

    Really?? Sure, Roboto and Helvetica are both light weight san serif fonts, but there are many fonts that look more like Helvetica than Roboto. Clearly you are *not* font guys.

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