design

HTC launches new design studio to create better phones

February 6, 2012 | By Surur

HTC did not have a good Q4 2012, and blames it on thicker LTE products with poor battery life (possibly the HTC TiTan II?)

Here is what HTC CFO Winston Yung said in their earnings call:

“When we look back to the 4th quarter of last year, we simply dropped the ball on products. If we compare some of the products that we have launched, (especially in the U.S., LTE products) with some of our competitors products, you’ll see thicker form factor for example. And LTE at this point also has some compromises, like battery life. So we simply need to do a better job on both the design, and also the internals and the components of products.

They however have a plan to succeed:

And these are the various areas where we will be working on. From the design point of view, from the choice of components, having a lot more open mind as to what components we use, and using the most appropriate components for the phone. By having a more focused approach to our product strategy, and having the organization behind the product strategy to support it. I think I have told some people when talked about the creation of this “Studio”, which is a department within HTC that reports directly to Peter (Chou, HTC CEO). And this group of people comprise the team from design, the team from engineering and etc; working on a cross disciplinary approach, and reporting directly to Peter. It has a lot of focus, is spending a lot of time on the key products that we are going to launch this year. And I think from these various perspectives, organization more focused on strategy and having a more open mind on components, choosing the best components, will allow us to regain the edge in products. “

Hopefully the initiative will also involve their Windows Phones, meaning we will also see super thin and super sexy Windows Phone 8 devices at the end of the year.

Via Unwiredview.com

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Are we going to get better looking Windows 8 apps?

December 17, 2011 | By rush24

Note: I wrote this article before this story that partly covers the future of Metro UI at Microsoft. It answers some questions but I think this post is still relevant .

Ever since Microsoft brought Metro UI to the forefront with Windows Phone 7, the design principles now seem to pop up everywhere from apps to websites. This is a good development. Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to be jumping on the bandwagon without any thought of aesthetics. Simply designing websites or apps with large flat colored tiles overlaid with text betrays the spirit of the Metro guidelines.

I’ve seen way too many apps on WP7 that are no more than the default template with developer content plugged in. Where are apps that look like the image below from Clarity Consulting which were showcased when wp7 was introduced?

Most apps also don’t seem to take advantage of the Panorama controls offered by the platform to create a magazine effect. It seems like there are a lot of programmers but not enough designers.

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The Windows Phone 7 design team pictured

November 29, 2011 | By Surur

Ever wonder what those who are behind the look of Windows Phone look like? Mike Kruzeniski, the creative director of the Windows Phone design team tweeted this picture.

The design of Windows Phone 7 is its most lauded and unique feature, winning a number of awards over the last year, meaning we have a lot to be grateful for to the above team.

Read more about the design of Windows Phone at Kruzeniski’s site here.

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Potential Windows Phone 8 UI design concepts

October 7, 2011 | By Surur

Update: Well, the best proof that these are real is that we just received a take down notice from Microsoft. I guess those large and mini-tiles are coming after all XXXX has taken down his whole site it seems.

We often feature Windows Phone UI concepts, but it is not often that these concepts originate from Microsoft designers.

XXXXX worked at Microsoft in the design department.

The mockups and drawings show much larger live tiles with greater visual identity, almost providing a background image effect without actual wallpaper, and also shows collections of mini-tiles which may be a folder concept for Windows phone often imagined by many fans.

Of course there is no guarantee that these concepts will make it into a real UI, but this is likely as close to seeing Windows Phone 8 as we will get for many months.

We are somewhat hampered from interpreting these concepts by not understanding Chinese. If our readers spot anything else new and interesting let us know in the comments below.

The images have been taken down in most sources.

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HTC’s new design chief: Expect more of the same

August 29, 2011 | By Surur

The pinnacle if HTC’s recent design language.

One would have thought the departure of HTC’s chief innovation officer Horace Luke would have resulted in some improvement in HTC’s design ethos.

Unfortunately one would be very disappointed.

Scott Croyle, previously vice president of design and ex One and Co, who designed the iconic HTC Diamond, is Horace’s successor and is not planning to rock the boat at all.

“We’re always questioning how we approach design, even if we’re not necessarily making a radical change” he told Venture Beat.

Although Croyle stated that design is and will always be a focus at HTC, he also said, since Luke and Croyle have similar philosophies and inspirations, we can expect incremental shifts in how HTC handsets look and feel and not to hold one’s breath for any seismic activity.

“Horace led HTC through a transition, creating a culture that puts a major emphasis design,” Croyle told VentureBeat. “That culture continues to thrive today… [HTC CEO] Peter Chou’s attention to detail forces us to keep designing products that give people the opportunity to create their own memorable experiences.

“In this sense, my day-to-day won’t change, given that our ‘consumer first’ focus is core to our DNA.”

In the near future, Croyle said the company will “concentrate on delivering more content and services into our products, focusing on the user experience. For example, larger screens for streaming video and enhancing the entertainment experience, and front and rear camera to take advantage of real-time face chatting with friends and family.”

Croyle seemed to be largely unaware of the current mediocre design language of HTC handsets. He noted product design language was first implemented in Taiwan and then sent for refinement to One and Co in USA.

He gave the recently launched HTC Flyer as an example. The tablet-cum-stylus combo was first sketched out at the company’s Taiwan headquarters. After executives hammered out a product-specific design language, the Flyer project was shipped off to the company’s Seattle-based user experience team. The Seattle team’s goal was to make user experience suggestions based on how consumers interacted with HTC product.

This is the opposite of real design-led companies like Apple, where the look, feel, shape and design of the phone is fixed first, and the technology is found to fit the design, not the other way around.

HTC’s Android success has masked the increasing failure in their design department, but there is little doubt that this will catch up to them eventually.

Maybe its time for HTC to have another wake-up call.

Read the full article at Venturebeat here.

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1000 user survey finds Windows Phone 7 UI second only to the iPhone

August 21, 2011 | By Surur

The Windows Phone 7 user interface is pretty special, featuring a beautifully minimal design devoid of the clutter seen in other mobile operating systems.

Now, according the John Best, chief technology officer for Wescom Resources Group, a wholly owned CUSO of the Pasadena, Calif.-based, $3 billion Wescom Credit Union and a provider of mobile banking solutions, the Windows Phone 7 UI is the second most popular user interface after iPhone.

The Windows Phone Metro User Interface has recently won a patent protecting the elements of its design, increasingly copied by companies like Google in their various properties.

The survey was from a recent test of 1,000 mobile banking users performed by Wescom Resources Group.

The information is quoted in CUTimes article addressing the rise in Mobile Banking, an area increasingly important for credit unions and an area in which Windows Phone 7 is relatively under-served.

Read the full article at CUTimes here.

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HTC Ruby offers hope for updated HTC design language

July 22, 2011 | By Surur

We do not know if the HTC Ruby runs Android or Windows Phone 7, but the handset, which recently showed up as a reflection in a series of shots of the HTC Flyer, does offer one feature we hope to see on many more HTC handsets – a look which has finally been updated.

I suspect I am not the only one who is finding HTC’s designs increasingly boring, and a far cry from the amazing look and feel of products like the HTC Touch Diamond and HTC Touch Pro, or even the Touch Pro 2.

Despite only being able to see the back, the new handset looks fresh and new, and we hope this change will infect all of HTC’s new line-up of devices.

See more spy shots on Flickr here.

Via Mobile88.com

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Discover for FREE ‘Hangman : Monster’ – The first hangman game with world records and thousands of players.

July 22, 2011 | By aheadsolutions

CaptureHangmanMonster3

Hangman : Monster (With Worldwide leaderboard scores and thousands of players!) is a fun hangman game available on your Windows Phone! Don’t hang the monster or you will lose the game… Ok you may hang him to see what it looks like too… Anyway, this hangman is a lot of fun to play with and has a long game lifetime, plus three levels of difficulties!

The game includes :

All level of difficulties included with the app for FREE
3 levels of difficulties : Easy, Medium, Difficult
Possibility to beat your scores : your score equals the total number of words you found successively without being hanged at all…
More than 200 different English words per level of difficulty!
A fun game design.
Worldwide player leaderboard! Beat other players and have the highest hangman score ever. Take the challenge now and show all players you are the best at discovering words.

Easy to play, fun to play… Give it a try and enjoy !
You may also download, from the same collection :

Hangman : Pirate skeleton
Hangman : Business man (Yes you can hang him too!)
Hangman : Cowboy

Hangman Monster is free and can be found in Marketplace here.

Ahead Solutions is one of the leading software company on Windows Phone and an innovative company that develops many games & apps for Windows Phone including : GeoQuizz, MyThings (Top to do list app – www.mythingswp7.com), AlcooloTest (Alcohol Tester app – http://www.mythingswp7.com), MyQuiz games, MyMemory games and many to come. Follow us on twitter : http://twitter.com/aheadsolutions / For any issue feel free to contact us at : support@ahead-solutions.com

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Try for Free the brand new Hangman games for Windows Phone

June 20, 2011 | By aheadsolutions

Hangman : Cowboy / Business Man or Pirate games are fun classical Hangman games first available on your Windows Phone! Don’t hang the cowboy or you will lose the game… Or you may hang him to see what he looks like too… Anyway, this hangman is a lot of fun to play with hundreds of words to discover, plus three levels of difficulties and personal high scores.

Capture6_inside The game includes :

The easy level of difficulties included with the app trial version
3 levels of difficulties : Easy, Medium, Difficult
Possibility to beat your scores : your score equals the total number of words you found successively without being hanged at all…
More than 200 different English words per level of difficulty
A fun game design.

Easy to play and also fun for kids. Give it a try and enjoy!
You may download within the same collection :

Hangman : Pirate skeleton
Hangman : Business man (Yes you can hang him too!)
Hangman : Cowboy

Hangman is $0.99 with a free trial. Download it from hangman.ahead-solutions.com.

Ahead Solutions is one of the leading software company developing casual games and apps for Windows Phone including : GeoQuizz, MyThings (Top to do list app – http://www.mythingswp7.com), AlcooloTest (Alcohol Tester app – http://alcoolotest.ahead-solutions.com), MyQuiz games, MyMemory games (http://mymemory.ahead-solutions.com) and many more to come. Follow us on twitter : http://twitter.com/aheadsolutions / If you have any issue feel free to contact us at : support@ahead-solutions.com

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Now Google goes Metro also

June 15, 2011 | By Surur

Microsoft’s Metro UI, which concentrates on content and form following function, rather unnecessary chrome, seems to have caught on even with their competitors, with Google’s I/O website clearly inspired by this.

I think it is rather cheeky however to use the same to same UI to sell Android handsets also.

Via OneTrueAccess.com

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Microsoft On Its Way To Deliver Future UI Using Metro Design

March 25, 2011 | By Pradeep

Recently Windows Phone 7 Design team has been sharing its design thoughts on Metro Design to help developers build beautiful yet effective UI for their applications. Metro Design is not a simple UI design for Windows Phone 7 applications, its going to be the future UI Design across Microsoft’s products and services. If you haven’t seen Microsoft’s Future Vision video still, look at it below. Did you notice the UI across all of those devices and screens? This is what exactly Microsoft is trying to deliver on its Metro Design. You can find many of them similar to what we are enjoying with our Windows Phone 7 devices. The simple, chrome less, typographical looks make the UI clear and presents the information straightforward to the user. I’m excited about the future UI we are going to play with. What about you?

I found an excellent blog focussing on UI, especially with some great Metro UI related stuff. Head over here when you have some spare time.

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Windows Phone Design Tips with Corrina

January 21, 2011 | By rush24

The Metro UI design principles differentiate WP7 from the other icon based smartphone OSes out there. Unfortunately, a good portion of developers in the Windows Phone marketplace seem to ignore, or loosely follow the guidelines leading to some very ugly looking applications. In order to help developers design better look apps, Channel 9’s Silverlight TV show is launching a miniseries to correct this problem. They say it will be a monthly series, but I hope it becomes more frequent than that. A weekly show would be ideal in my opinion because of the vast amount of areas that need to be addressed. From the website

New Windows Phone 7 applications are being uploaded to the marketplace all the time. But is your application standing out? This week, John and Corrina Black kick off a new Silverlight TV mini series called "Windows Phone 7 Design Tips with Corrina" to highlight ways you can improve the design of your application. Each week, Corrina will focus on some issues and show both how to work through them and how to improve the application’s design. In this first episode, Corrina discusses the idea of the mini series and gives some insight into five of the design tips she unveils, including:

Designing a compelling application tile

Startup image design

How to avoid banding with gradients

Startup / Splash / Loading screen and avoiding navigation backstack issues

Tips when using progress bars

I hope that app developers out there will tune in and incorporate some of these useful suggestions into their products.

via channel9

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Cocktail Flow: A shining example of good app design in WP7

December 8, 2010 | By rush24

Cocktail flow has to be one of, if not, the best designed Windows Phone 7 app so far. We have talked about how too many apps in the market place lack any semblance of thought when it comes to aesthetics so it is nice to find one that doesn’t. Not only is this app visually pleasing, the functions are well laid out to provide an overall delightful experience. I think a lot of developers, especially the ones who may be lacking in the graphics design experience should look at this app as a model for their own products.

We had covered this app before when the developer provided a teaser video but now 1800pocketpc has a full review of the app that you can check out here. I just wanted to highlight the design aspect of the app as an example for others to emulate but I would also encourage you to buy the app if it fits your needs. One more picture after the break

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