Oppo Android phone arrives next year, straight from the 22nd century [Android]

We've reviewed Oppo DVD players — the world's best — and now it looks like the company's learned something from its foray into building sexy portable media players. Check out this smartphone Oppo will be releasing next year, running the Android operating system and sporting a 3.5' WVGA capacitive touchscreen.

Nice. At first, that looked like a slide-out transparent display with edge lighting, but no, it's a bit thick for our tastes. See the gallery below for details. Slim it down a bit, Oppo, and price it right, and you'll have our undivided attention.

[DVICE via Cloned in China, via Ubergizmo]

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10/GUI: Fascinating Multitouch User Interface Design [User Interface]

User interface designer R. Clayton Miller thinks the mouse and the windows-based desktop metaphor should die. It's just too confusing. However, he also argues that multitouch displays are not the answer. Looking at his solution, he may be right.

This video examines the benefits and limitations inherent in current mouse-based and window-oriented interfaces, the problems facing other potential solutions, and visualizes my proposal for a completely new way of interacting with desktop computers.

I recommend you watch the whole thing, because he makes some very good usability points—discussing the pros and cons of different UI approaches—before getting into his proposal—which looks beautiful and, more importantly, useful.
I like a lot of the things I see here. I like the way the applications are organized and accessed, combined a modal approach with a stream. I love how he solved the general menu vs application menu dilemma. What I don't like is the idea of having a control surface below the keyboard. I guess we are all used to it, through laptops and trackpads. And he is right that it may be a great way to transition to touch-interfaces for most users—because of that familiarity. However, I would like to see this implemented in a different form factor Both on the go—in the tablet—and in the desktop—in whatever new format the hardware manufacturers can come up with.
[Gizmodo via 10/GUI via Unplggd]

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Mac Mini Gets an Aluminum Unibody Update [Mac Mini]

Apple today launched an updated Mac Mini, which now has an aluminum unibody housing and far more powerful hardware than the previous iteration.
The specs now start with a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 2 GB of RAM, 320 GB hard drive, and an NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics chip, all of which will set you back $699.
Those in need of a slightly more powerful machine can get the $999 version, which sports a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB of RAM, dual 500 GB 7200-rpm hard drives, GeForce 320M graphics, and Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard.
Both versions come with an SD card reader, 802.11n WiFi, 4 USB ports, a Mini DisplayPort jack, and a HDMI-out jack. The elegant new enclosure was created by Apple’s unibody construction process, and it’s only 7.7-inches square and 1.4-inches thin.







[Mashable]

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Devon Tread 1 Motorized Watch Looks Awesome, but Crazy Expensive [Watches]

I have said before that I don’t wear watches. If I were a billionaire and could just throw away money on cool stuff that I don’t really need, I would buy this new Devon Tread 1 watch.

This thing has a clear polycarbonate case that is supposedly bulletproof. The coolness is that all the numbers to tell time are printed on bands that are woven together and move to place the correct numbers in each of the colored boxes on the watch face.

This has to be one of the coolest watches that I have ever seen and all the moving bands require four little motors on the inside. The downside to all the cool the watch has to offer is the ISL 56,026.17 ($15,000) price tag.

[technabob via The Awesomer]

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How the Nexus One Was Created [Nexus One]

Google has launched a series of videos on its official Nexus One YouTube channel, documenting various details on how one of the world’s best Android phones was created.
The videos are being gradually rolled out; two are already live, and the other three will appear in the next three days. Other than soothing music, cool animations and 3D models, they do contain some interesting information. For example, the folks at Engadget and Android Central noticed there’s a car dock there, and another dock with an integrated spare battery charger, which aren’t yet available in stores. Check out the first video in the series below.


[Mashable]

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