Gadgets online: UI

Showing posts with label UI. Show all posts

Samsung Bada screenshots hit the web, but what’s with the Series 60 font?

Hey, good on Samsung for trying to make their own OS. I'm sure it will be wonderful for them. It saves them from having to, I don't know, use Android? But what's with all the Nokia Series 60 font usage in the UI?

These screenshots, which are floating around right now, show some of the UI elements of the new OS, Bada. The font they're using is approximately (or exactly, I'm not a font scientist (fontographer?)) the same font used on most Series 60 Symbian phones.

[CrunchGear]

Else Intuition OS Looks Pretty Sweet on First Phone Expected Q2 Next Year [Cellphones]

No comments

This video is the best-look yet at the slick OpenGL-accelerated OS from Else (formerly Emblaze) and Access (who developed a next-gen Palm OS before Palm ditched it for their own). The big news: The First Else phone arrives next-year.
Confusingly, the name of Else's first phone is actually 'First Else'. As we mentioned in October, the phone has a 3.5-inch (480 x 854-pixel) touchscreen display, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and 5-megapixel camera (capable of 480p video at 30fps). It's also very likely to have a TI OMAP 3430 processor, a 1450mAh battery, up to 32GB internal memory, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Apparently, it may only support HSDPA 3G and EDGE (no Verizon).
As for the Linux-based OS, it uses a one-thumb wheel that avoids digging through menus, has GPS aware reminders, can record voice calls/messages and store them along with when the call was made, and straight-up looks sci-fi.

It seems that Linux-based mobile operating systems like Android and webOS will soon have a new competitor.

ELSE INTUITION™ is a complete mobile platform developed by ACCESS and Emblaze Mobile. Thanks to the combination of ACCESS Linux Platform v3.0 and an advanced user interface engine, jointly developed by Emblaze Mobile and ACCESS, ELSE INTUITION™ delivers a highly compelling and differentiated user experience, coupled with state-of-the-art hardware, accelerated 2D/3D graphics and elegant transition effects. ELSE INTUITION™ takes advantage of ACCESS Linux Platform v3.0 to provide advanced flexibility and configurability, enabling users to run multiple applications simultaneously, switching between them with ease. All data and content, including contacts, appointments, videos and photos can be rendered anywhere, not just within a single dedicated application, giving users faster, easier and more consistent access to their information

[Gizmodo via First Else via Pocket-Lint and SlashGear]

Did Samsung Just Announce Another Mobile OS? [Samsung]

No comments

They're calling it 'Bada,' which means ocean in Korean. And it's got an SDK! After sifting through hundreds of words of deliberately vague press release, this is all we really know about Samsung's new mobile OS. Well, almost.
Samsung is as aware as any company of just how many smartphones OSes there are in the world, since they license almost all of them, from Windows Mobile to Symbian to Android. Throwing another OS into the mix seems like it might confuse things, but at first glance, that's exactly what it looks like they're doing:

In order to build a rich smartphone experience accessible to a wider range of consumers across the world, Samsung brings bada, a new platform with a variety of mobile applications and content.

So, a new OS with an emphasis on apps. But why the awkward language about 'smartphone experiences' and 'accessibility?' On the project's website, Samsung's a little more clear:

More and more people want rich and connected application-experiences that are currently available only for smartphone consumers. Samsung has developed bada to make these exclusive smartphone experiences available to everyone.

Ah! So it's probably not a full-fledged smartphone OS, but a feature phone OS with an SDK. Samsung is a huge company, so this can't be ignored, but it doesn't mean that smartphones are about the get more confusing. If anything, it means that feature phones are about to get better.
Or not at all! We won't know for sure until Samsung stop being cryptic for sport, or whatever it is they're doing here. [Samsung]

Samsung Launches Open Mobile Platform:
Samsung bada – The Next Wave Of The Mobile Industry
Developers get the chance to create mobile applications
for millions of new Samsung handsets
November 10th, 2009, Seoul, Korea – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today announced the launch of its own open mobile platform, Samsung bada [bada] in December. This new addition to Samsung's mobile ecosystem enables developers to create applications for millions of new Samsung mobile phones, and consumers to enjoy a fun and diverse mobile experience.
In order to build a rich smartphone experience accessible to a wider range of consumers across the world, Samsung brings bada, a new platform with a variety of mobile applications and content. The name ‘bada', which means ‘ocean' in Korean, was chosen to convey the limitless variety of potential applications which can be created using the new platform. It also alludes to Samsung's commitment to a variety of open platforms in the mobile industry. Samsung bada also represents the fresh challenges and opportunities available to developers, as well as the entertainment which consumers will enjoy once the new platform is open.
Based on Samsung's experience in developing previous proprietary platforms on Samsung mobile phones, Samsung can create the new platform and provide opportunities for developers. Samsung bada is also simple for developers to use, meaning it's one of the most developer-friendly environments available, particularly in the area of applications using Web services. Lastly, bada's ground-breaking User Interface (UI) can be transferred into a sophisticated and attractive UI design for developers.
Samsung will be able to expand the range of choices for mobile phone users to enjoy the smartphone experiences. By adopting Samsung bada, users will be able to easily enjoy various applications on their mobile.
Samsung bada also offers an easy-to-integrate platform for mobile operators so that mobile operators can provide unique and differentiated services to their customers. Samsung established its mobile application ecosystem through the launch of Samsung Mobile Innovator in 2008 and the Samsung Application Seller Site followed by Samsung Application Store as another key element of this offering.
Dr Hosoo Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Media Solution Center at Samsung Electronics said, 'By opening Samsung's mobileplatforms we will be able to provide rich mobile experiences on an increasing number of accessible smartphones.' He added, 'bada will be Samsung's landmark, iconic new platform that brings an unprecedented opportunity for operators, developers and Samsung mobile phone users around the world.'
The official website (www.bada.com) will open on November 10th and will feature a range of information on bada including updates onproduct launches, features, and event notices. Samsung will also host an official launch event for bada in London, UK in December and will also unveil its bada software development kit (SDK) to developers for the first time on this date.

[Gizmodo]

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

No comments

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]

BumpTop 3D Desktop Gets Unique Multi-Touch Gestures [Multitouch]

No comments

For all its new multi-touch goodness, Windows 7 only has about 7 basic gestures. So if you're all about the touch (and say, have a tablet PC) BumpTop's stack of unique new gestures could be a very good thing.
As we've mentioned in the past, BumpTop isn't a new OS or shell replacement, it just adds a 3D workspace to your desktop. The $30 mulit-touch version of the software is available now, but you'll need to have Windows 7 (and a multi-touch tablet, laptop or all-in-one PC). The good news: we're going to see a bunch of those arrive alongside the new OS on October 22.

[Gizmodo via BumpTop via TechCrunch]

New Toshiba Screen Lets You Bend to Zoom in Google Earth [Flexible Display]

No comments

Toshiba is showing off a novel user input case for its flexible LCD screen: you can physically bend the screen to zoom in or out in Google Earth. Shown off at the Society for Information Display 2010 Conference, the bend sensor in the display changes resistance values as the screen is flexed.
The 8.4-inch LCD panel is only 0.1 mm thick and displays at an SVGA resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. Custom software from Toshiba handles the translation between changes in the bend sensor’s resistance values and the level of zoom in the aerial Google Earth display.
It’s a surprisingly simple gesture that looks awfully intuitive. Check out a video of the flexible display in action below and let us know what you think. Do you want to see consumer devices begin to incorporate flexible displays?

[Mashable via Engadget]

Is This How the Google Tablet Will Look in Action? [Google]

No comments

Looks like we're getting a first look at what Google's Chrome OS based tablet may look like. Apparently Glen Murphy, Google Chrome's designer, posted a UI demo concept video along with some images on Google's official Chromium site.

[Gizmodo via Chrome Source via TechCrunch]

Nokia Gives Us a Glimpse of the New Symbian UI

No comments

The folks at Nokia are working hard on the new Symbian^4 platform, and now we can see a part of their progress, at least where the UI part is concerned. Granted, this is just a proposal for Orbit and Direct UI, but it shows Nokia’s commitment to rectify all the issues that current implementations of Symbian undoubtedly have, especially when compared with the iPhone OS or Android.
In a nutshell, the new visuals seem to be better suited for a finger-controlled touch-phone, with a toolbar at the bottom of the screen, floating dialogs and drop-down menus from the top navigation bar.
It’s all distant future, though, as we won’t see Symbian^4 based phones at least until the first half of 2011, but one can’t deny the UI looks better than what we see on current Symbian phones.