Mobility Digest » User Interface

Windows 8 Metro UI: Bold Move By Microsoft Or A Doom ? 3 Possible Scenarios

Gil Bouhnick — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:34:11 +0000

After participating in the Windows 8 ‘Build’ event few days ago, I came back home full of ideas and thoughts about the impressive stuff Microsoft showed in the opening session.

No doubt, adding the Metro Style UI to Windows is a bold move. Extremely bold, considering the fact that the latest products to use Metro style user interface (Zune HD, Windows Phone 7) did not create enough traction in terms of sales.

So the question remains: will this bold move put Microsoft back in the mainstream of the mobile world (namely tablets and even [as a non-direct result] smartphones)?

Here are 3 scenarios I can think of:

Scenario #1: Nothing Changes:

Windows 8 is released (end of 2012?), the desktop version is similar to Windows 7, the Metro Style UI gets a lot of positive reviews and praises, but similarly to Windows Phone 7, it gains little traction. Consumers either love it or hate it.

The result: Windows continues to dominant the PC market, but the PC market continues to slow down. Windows fails to penetrate the tablets realm, while iPad continues to lead the constantly growing tablets market and Android continues to gain wild momentum in all mobile fronts: smartphones, tablets, combined netbooks, webtops, etc.

Computers world is changing, but Microsoft fails to lead the revolution. Nothing changes.

Scenario #2: We Are Saved!

Windows 8 is released with a wide range of cutting edge tablets that can run more than 6 (hopefully even more than that) hours and give a decent fight to the iPad. We are all saved. No need to look after productivity tools that never reach perfection – we now have full windows running on tablets.

Metro Style UI becomes the most admirable user interface ever, consumers either love it or hate it, most of them adore it.

The combination of a stylish, simple, fresh, tablet optimized UI with the power of a real Windows with all of its productivity tools creates an all-in-one beast. Something nothing can match with. Not the iPad or even Android.

"Let’s see you run Visual Studio or Photoshop on your iToy", are laughing Windows 8 owners at Apple fanboys…
"Still no decent Excel in your Android crap-let?" – they mock at the Google fans…

The result: Tablets are evolving from luxury toys into the next generation of portable PC’s – computers that can serve both as real working stations or as entertainment tools. The revolution is led by Microsoft because both Apple and Google cannot turn their smartphone focused OS into a PC competitor.

Microsoft wins the game (for now): iPads and Android tablets are slowing down fast, while Windows 8 (and Window Phone 7 followsh) both ride on the success of the Metro Design. People are buying Windows 8 tablets with docking stations that turn them into a full-capacity desktops. Metro design becomes standard, and as a result, Windows Phone 7 becomes the second biggest mobile OS after Android (just like Gartner said it will…)

Steve Jobs returns to Apple (hopefully) and the company secretly starts building the next biggest invention ever: the iSky: an invisible gadget that lets you fly in the sky.

Scenario #3: Windows 8 is a disaster. It’s all over:

Metro UI is full of bugs and too limited to allow actual work. Metro apps lack real multi-tasking while "old fashion" apps still drain battery so fast the tablets are completely dead after 2 hours. Overall experience is poor, users end up switching from the slate interface (Metro) to the desktop one, over and over, and over…

Consumers either love Metro or hate it. Most of them HATE it. The reviews are horrible, Vista is a sweet dream from the past comparing to this Windows 8 hell. After a short while, no one builds Windows tablets, and Windows Phone 7 suffers from it as well.

The result: Game is over. Windows 8 is the last of the Mohicans. PC world cease to exists.
Post-PC era begins; for real this time, everything is 100% pure mobile, Google Android is the indisputable king, running on just about any device out there regardless to the form factor, replacing Windows as the leading operating system for both pleasure and work. iPad is the jewel. Windows is no more.

I know what option I’m betting on… do you?

Originally written for the mobile spoon.

Samsung Galaxy S II Motion Control UI Integration

Doug Smith — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:51:23 +0000

The Samsung Galaxy S II is the hottest Android device on the blogs right now and getting a lot of attention because of the once again, huge carrier support it is going to get here in the US. We already know how big the device sold in the rest of the world taking it by storm. I have hammered the device specs already, 1.2GHz dual core, 4.3 Super AMOLED Plus screen, 8 megapixel camera, etc. But here is little more about what special things Samsung is doing with the UI using Motion Control. Most if not all top end smartphone come with a gyroscope for game play, or flying one of those cool drone helicopters from your device. But what Samsung is trying to do is integrate more of the gyroscope ability into the UI to make everyday actions even easier. Take for example the moving of icons on your today screen. You have to grab and hold and move them off the edge of the screen which is a pin. Now you can grab and hold the icon, and then tilt your device to shift to another panel to drop the icon. Simple, but still pretty cool. A second use of the gyroscope in the UI is in the photo gallery. Before where you would pinch to zoom, now all you have to to is two finger grab, and tilt your device to zoom in and out.

Check out the video below for some Motion Control UI integration on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S II.

SPB Shell 3D passes $500K in three weeks and gets updated v1.1

Doug Smith — Thu, 12 May 2011 21:59:07 +0000

I have been using SPB Shell 3D on the Dell Streak for the last couple of weeks and I think it has an excellent user interface and was one of the most stable builds I have used of the years in the Mobile Shell family. But what I did not figure was just how popular the app would be! In less than three short weeks, SPB Shell 3D for Android has passed $500K in revenue making it one of the best sold Android products world wide!

With success comes a lot of attention an SPB has already released an update for SPB Shell 3D which includes the following:

Today SPB Software updates SPB Shell 3D to version 1.1; bundling some of the most requested features, such as free widget placement, live wallpaper support and 3D birthday widget. Having gathered valuable user feedback, SPB Software worked on features and quality – improving the overall memory consumption, performance and stability – to let Android users net the most out of the software platform and hardware.

SPB Shell 3D supports Android 2.1 or higher and will set you back $14.95 for the app. Head on over to SPB for more details or hit the link here: http://spb.com/android-software/shell/

SPB Shell 3D for Android is released

Doug Smith — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 17:58:25 +0000

Android owners will have some really cool eye candy to play around with because SPB has just released Shell 3D. If you remember back to the Windows Mobile days of old we were saved from a horrible user expereince by HTC Sense and the second biggest UI replacement SPB Mobile Shell. SPB really put a lot of time and development into this product and it has always show with excellent graphics and usability. Now that they have released Shell 3D for Android it is clear that they have another winner. I really like the speed and fluidity that it has and the massive custimization available.

The now famous SPB Carousel that allows you to rotate between pages, now enables you to interact with each frame while you are still in the carousel instead of actually launching the page and reverting back to the carsousel when finished. There is a ton of other enhancements that I am going to take for a (cough) spin shortly when I get this loaded up on my Android device.

For now, check out the video and press release below if you are using SPB Shell 3D on your Android device!

Here is the Press Release:

March 30th, 2011 – SPB Software, a leading mobile software developer, has launched SPB Shell 3D for Android – a 3D user interface for end users with the best-in-class user experience that offers a seamless fusion of functional usability and visual aesthetics. SPB Shell 3D is a product built on SPB UI Engine – a technology platform – optimized for building next generation, high-performance mobile user interfaces.

SPB Shell 3D is a successor of the SPB Mobile Shell product line. The SPB Mobile Shell series is the most awarded mobile UI solution available on the market today. It has been publicly recognized as the number one best-selling mobile UI application across all smartphone platforms for the past 4 years. SPB Mobile Shell has also been successful among mobile carriers and OEMs, and has been deployed by over 15 device manufacturers and carriers, including Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, and O2.

SPB Shell 3D provides the users with a rich engaging user experience that transforms the whole Home screen into a 3D space. Fast switching between screens with a single gesture, unique smart folders with easy access to all important apps directly from the home screen, and a rich set of animated 3D widgets, make the navigation simple, effective and intuitive. The underlying SPB UI Engine makes the UI fast, natural and highly responsive.

“The SPB Mobile Shell product line became very successful mainly because it matched up impeccably well with qualities that end users really like,” said Sebastian-Justus Schmidt, CEO of SPB Software. “SPB Shell 3D is a fine example of the UI that can be created using SPB UI Engine showcasing its capabilities, and it becomes a solid base for the custom UI solutions we create for device manufacturers and mobile operators.”

SPB Shell 3D currently supports Android 2.1 and higher. Available for Smartphones with an OpenGL ES 2.0 compatible graphic controller. SPB Shell 3D is available for 14.95 USD at Android Market.

Motorola Xoom More Like Pedestrian

Murani Lewis — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:13:23 +0000

If you’re getting ready to “eat up” a Motorola Xoom tablet featuring the evolutionary Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS you might want to prepare to snack on a sampler before ordering the full course meal. ZDNet has published an article basically highlighting what has been whispered and noticed ever since reviewers got their hands on the Xoom. Honeycomb as it turns out is aptly named since it is quite the buggy OS.

To make matters worse the hype built up around the Xoom’s specs and the subsequent failure to deliver the expected performance gives Apple ammunition. You just know that somewhere Steve Jobs is sitting writing his next Android zinger. The Xoom’s "tepid” sales and buggy software also highlights why Android is a huge gamble for OEMs.

Android’s OEMs are battling each other not just Apple for product differentiation. They have to conceptualize, manufacture and ship products at such a blistering turnaround pace that full optimization will never be achieved. So while Apple takes up to a full year to nail the nuances of their OS, Android OEMs takes a month or two tops. Blink and the next OS will hit the market and customers will be complaining on the hold up.

Its not a good thing for Motorola to launch a major ad campaign for the Xoom and be hit with analyst predictions that production will need to be cut not enlarged. For Verizon the blow is softened because they have the iPad 2 they can begin to put the full force of their marketing behind. Again, the full article touches on a couple other excellent points that deserves a reading. Hit the link and enjoy.

Oh yeah, to get the full picture please know that apparently the Torch is outselling the Atrix. Ouch!!!!

Source: ZDNet

Windows Phone 7 Copy & Paste Implementation Looks Awful!

Gil Bouhnick — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 21:40:26 +0000

Am I the only one thinking that the copy/paste implementation for Windows Phone 7 looks like Windows 98?

I mean, hey, Apple already showed how to do it, Google copied as they often do and made it quite good, but this… this doesn’t look so great…

The arrows are clearly not finger friendly, the icon looks like it was taken from Windows – can it be that this is a fake running on Windows Mobile?

See for yourself:

My HD2 Featuring NRG’s GTX ROM

Ramon Trotman — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:13:09 +0000

My daily weapon of choice is none other than the beautiful T-Mobile HD2. Not that this device needs much of an introduction, but I’ll go ahead and point out a thing or two for those of you who have been residing in a cave for the past few months.

The HD2 is outfitted with a huge 4.3 inch multi touch screen, a 1GHz snapdragon processor and the ability to hold the phone however you want to make phone calls. There is a laundry list of other really important features I should be mentioning, but oh well! Huge screen and 1GHz processor sums it up nicely.

Directly from T-Mobile, the phone comes loaded with the latest and greatest version of HTC’s Sense UI. I doubt most will ever understand how big a deal this is, but considering this thing runs windows mobile 6.5, a top notch UI like Sense is more than welcome!

Around here, we have a problem with running things “as is.” It’s just the rebel in me, the need to do exactly what they told me not to do. If I were to buy an iPhone, I would jailbreak it the minute I get home. If I were to buy some sort of android device, it would be rooted in the car on the drive back from the store. And so, my beloved HD2 has been Hard SPL’d and ready for war!

Hard SPL is a little firmware hack that allows us to load up custom ROMs on the device. This is where the real fun begins. Custom ROMs offer the absolute latest and greatest from all aspects, be it software updates from newer devices to new and improved radio drivers for the cell phone radio itself. It’s all available and waiting for you. But you will be warned! You can and will brick your device should you not read and follow instructions! Luckily, there is a wealth of information available on the forums and lots of people willing and able to help out.

After you’ve flashed your first ROM, you will never be able to stop. You will develop a constant need to flash. You will read things like “so much faster than the previous ROM,” and your instincts will get the best of you. And then your mind takes over, you start to tell yourself things like “man, this really is faster!” But its okay, I welcome you! I’ve been waiting for you! We will walk this sad road together! And we will discuss why we think the device freezes when it wakes up from suspend mode. And so on and so forth.

Mental issues aside, I am here today to discuss what I am currently running on my HD2. What ROM I am running, how it’s set up and even an app or two. Not that anyone cares, but I like to tell myself you guys love me, so let’s dig in!

Usually I stick to Dutty’s ROMs, but today I went back over to the NRG camp to see what was going on. NRG is just about the most popular chef there is, mainly because he cooks ROMs for a long list of devices. This is where I developed my love hate relationship with his ROMs. I remember having my Touch Pro II running NRG’s ROMs, and it wasn’t always a nice thing. Some obvious things would be missed up or missing or simply ignored because he didn’t have the time to devote a little more TLC to one device. But none the less, the ROMs for the most part were always stellar and always worked.

So coming home to a NRG ROM would feel very familiar. Then came the exciting part, which version would I select? He cooked so many it is almost over kill! I said almost! After running Dutty’s No frills strictly performance ROMs, I felt like it was time for some eye candy, so I went with the NRG GTX version. Boy oh boy what a choice!

Figure 1 My home screen after setup

GTX is a very attractive skin for HTC’s Sense UI. Just about everything has been retouched to pull together a beautiful white colored experience. It’s done so well, you could swear it came from HTC themselves. On first boot, it’s really a thing of beauty to look at. Even hours after setting up the phone, I can’t help but look at the theme in awe. But GTX shouldn’t have all the credit here, NRG has added some little tweaks and touches of his own as well. He really pulled it all together nicely.

Visuals aside, the NRG performance and stability is very much present here. This ROM is as fast and responsive as they come. There is no lag at all when navigating the UI or when using app in your everyday routine. Also present are NRG’s expert chef choices. Things like using the default text messaging method over HTC’s buggy offering, or the inclusion of ArkSwitch task manger to assist in multitasking.

Figure 2 NRG has included the new lock screen from HTC.

NRG even added a widget of his own that will display the change log in his newest rom, very nice! Because his cooking style and choices are so mature, there is very little tweaking I have to do after a flash. The first is to turn the backlight back to auto; NRG has the backlight set to full brightness by default. Second is to log in to MyPhone to pull down contacts, then off to marketplace to download my apps. And lastly, install the rest of my apps from the .cab files on my storage card. It may sound like a lot, but trust me, it really isn’t. NRG’s ROMs are very usable right from flash. Nice!

Figure 3 My quick links applications

From the marketplace I grab a few key apps I use every day. Personal Assistant from Page One is my first download. This app allows me to add just about all my financial accounts from bank accounts to phone bills. It has a very straight forward UI, and really keeps me in the loop as to where my money is going.

Then I grab my favorite twitter app MoTweet, followed by my second favorite TouchTwit. Please don’t ask me why I feel the need to use two twitter apps, because I don’t have an answer for you!

Lastly I grab Wordy. This is a highly addicting word game, and just in case you want to know, I suck at it! Go figure.

From my storage card, I install my SPB wallet app, which keeps a digital copy of all my cards for reference should I need them. EverNote for all my notes. There are a few more apps, but last but not least I install IMAP Pusher. This is a neat little app to enable push on all my Gmail email accounts on the phone. I simply cannot live without this, and kudos to the developer who took the time to make it happen.

All in all, my setup of this ROM took about 5 minutes, and it was a very worthy flash. My only complaint really isn’t a complaint anymore because I am used to it. For whatever reason, NRG’s ROMs just seem to have some sort of vendetta against the battery. This rom is no different; it eats through the battery like you would not believe. But because it’s so beautiful, I really don’t care! To combat this I have an extra battery with me at all times, so eat away pretty little ROM…eat away! Besides, it could be worse, I could be using a Sprint EVO.

I highly recommend this ROM to anyone running a HD2, or any NRG supported device for that matter. It’s simply a thing of beauty. Now, if you’ll be so kind as to excuse me while my HD2 and I go off to fight crime!

Metro Home – Is More Less or More? Take a Poll

David K — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:06:11 +0000

Windows Phone 7 comes with its distinctive large tiles on the home screen. User bkf1 of XDA tried to slim line this by making some tiles smaller so you get more on the page and more info is available. I was surprised by the comments at XDA and how many people really like the large tiles of WP7 even though it clearly has less info at a glance then the redesign. Apparently, there is something to the simplicity and style of it all. So put aside the fact that bkf3 used curved edges and assume that the style was a little more Metro (still square and the fonts blend into the tile for example). Is the original WP7 theme and look better, worse, intolerable in any form? Voice your opinion in the poll and comments:

[poll id="13"]

Which Of These UIs Is Not Like The Others

David K — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:46:26 +0000

Saw an interesting slide from a TechEd presentation today that I decided to play with a drop. It shows the stock UIs of smartphones today…and they’re all the same for the most part – just app launchers. A grid of shortcuts. That is except WP7 which is an actual UI. Anyway, I dropped in one of the phones that started it all – the Treo. Yup – the UI was an app launcher and years later the trend still lives on the majority of phones. That’s about to change…Holiday 2010. It’s about time.

Cookie’s Home Tab update.

Matt Anderson — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:15:06 +0000

For all you WinMo Sense UI lovers out there, the most awesome mod on the block has gotten a pretty substantial update. No vast differences in function but the guys at XDA have shoved a lot more polish and some extra function into the latest release. For those of you not already acquainted with Cookie’s Home Tab (CHT) it’s an all in one Sense home screen tweaker. From lock screens, to wallpapers and animations it has everything you need to get your info from the bowels of the phone menu system abyss directly to the home screen. Read on for a change log, install links, and some minor direction.

So instead of just swiping upwards on the Sense home screen once for a list of quick shortcuts to applications you can keep swiping up or down to reveal fully customizable screens that you can populate with anything from app grids, clocks with/without weather, tasks (new feature), notifications, etc. Touchflo was a pain in the ass to modify to your liking but with Sense we’ve seen a lot more effort to make these changes functional in the hands of the average smartphone user (well, average WinMo user anyway.) If you’ve never used this before then it will be easy to get going. Just go HERE and HERE and install both (XDA username required).

The first is the actual home screen modification and the second is the editor that makes all the difficult changes for you. If you’ve got this cooked into your ROM then go ahead and install as well. If you’ve installed a previous version the author wants you to uninstall, soft reset, then install for best results. Don’t be lazy and mess up your own phone when you’ve been warned. Both programs integrate into one another so well that I doubt you’ll be able to tell when you’re switching between them. The whole package works nicely, although the lock screens are a little glitchy and slow. It could be my incredibly old Fuze or the fact this was made for the HD2, but I just don’t use them and it works like a charm. Here is the change log for the new CHT:

Changelog:
#v1.8.0
-[new] many lockscreen improvements
-[new] new quick link types: switches, notifications and misc
-[new] wallpaper controls: home, all tabs, lockscreen
-[new] wide scrolling home wallpaper
-[new] 4 home levels and landscape are customizable
-[new] tasks
-[new] new list control for appointments and tasks (unlimited item count)
-[new] anything will hide behind the expanded app/tasks list (not just quick links)
-[new] music player with 3 layouts
-[new] text color settings
-[new] analog clock is x-axis movable and resizable
-[speed] significant boost to quick links animation speed/smoothness
-[change] tab slider is now always visible on white submenus (related to retractable slider)
-[fixed] many lockscreen related problems
-[fixed] highlights that stick
-[fixed] second hand freezing
-[removed] animated wallpapers (not weather wallpapers, just the 3 animated ones)