Can you “cheat” in User Interface design?

Are there ways in which you “cheat” when designing a quality user interface system? When the user changes apps on Apple’s iOS platform, the device captures a screenshot of that app and shows it when the system returns to the same application. This allows the app to appear instantly to the user instead of having them see a blank screen while the application takes a second or two to completely load. Ultimately it provides for a better user experience as it appears the system is running smoothly and quickly.

The question of whether or not this is “cheating” or simply good UI design, though, could be argued. And the issues of how the user experience is affected when the system takes longer than few seconds to load are worth contemplating.

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