Which Of These UIs Is Not Like The Others
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.
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davidk
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I noticed that they left out WM6.5 and Android
Dunno, I wouldn’t quite consider TouchFlo an app launcher. Viewing mail, texts, photos, weather, appointments, calendar, music etc. without opening an app was pretty innovative, so you have to give credit where credit is due. I know it is not stock WM, but its also a bit more than a 3rd party app.
WP7 may very well improve the user experience, but Microsoft should thank HTC for opening their eyes to the possibilities.
@ryusen:
the stock UI of WM 6.5 is not an app launcher. It lists the most commonly used features on the phone in a scrolling list and gives you a preview of each category. The Touch Flo or Sense just expanded on that and made it much user friendly.
ryusen – Android is the same- just an app launcher (when stock).
Well said. I cannot wait for this holiday season to get here!
David,
I disagree about android being the same. And the argument can be said for Sense and even the stock windows mobile interface. Android’s home screens can be strictly app launchers, sure. But what makes the android interface as awesome as it is are the myriad of widgets that allow you to do damn-neat anything you want on the homescreen without having to launch a single app. The same could be said about Windows Mobile’s homescreen to an extent. Sure that interface is clunky and the apps that can take advantage of it are rare, but it’s still possible. And Sense (especially with the newest mods available today on XDA) is much more than an app launcher. The UI ‘revolution’ as you are describing WP7 has already started, WP7 is taking a different path with it, but can you agree that Anroid, WM, and WP7 has similarities? each CAN be strictly used to launch apps, and each can also have ‘widgets’, ‘live tiles’, or ‘home screen items’.
Again, I think that WP7 is an evolution of this revolution, not the source.
@Chris – I noted that it’s a ‘stock’ UI. Sense can be mvoed anywhere but that’s not Android- that’s HTC.