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Windows Phone 7 UI continue to win Android users and developers over

May 20, 2011 | By Surur

We have earlier seen that there is a whole android community devoted to copying the Windows Phone 7 UI, and now they also have a pretty good copy of the Zune music player also, courtesy of the developer of LauncherPro.

Of course while the copy is pretty good, it does not include major features like the Zune Marketplace, and probably looks rather out of place in the icon-dominated iPhone copy which is the Android UI.

Hopefully after patching together a poor copy of Windows Phone 7 a few of those Android users will realize its much better to have the real thing and chose a WP7 handset for their next phone.

Via Engadget.com

Thanks Ishmeet for the tip.

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Ballmer: “Windows will look very different in five years”

March 12, 2011 | By l3v5y

Steve Ballmer, speaking at a lunch at Houston Technology Centre (not to be confused with the other HTC), emphasised the importance of mobile and tablet-based systems to Microsoft’s future development, and said that the (desktop) Windows of 2016 will be very different to that of today.

Ballmer said the operating system found on more than 90 percent of today’s PCs will evolve to become something very different in the next five years.
Those changes will be driven by such innovations as sophisticated smart phones and tablet computers.
Windows “will look a lot different and it will run different applications” than it does now, Ballmer told a crowd of business leaders at Union Square in Minute Maid Park. With these innovations, “Will Windows five years from now look like it does today? Of course not!”

Nothing exactly concrete there, but the Metro UI and its clean, typography-rather-than-chrome design language has generally been very well received; can we hope, perhaps, to one day be seeing something that looks like Metro on our desktops?

via SFGate.com and MySanAntonio.

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“OS7″ – WP7 UI on iOS

January 31, 2011 | By l3v5y

Theme creator wyndwarrior is developing a WP7 theme for iOS, complete with customisable live tiles. It requires a jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch, so is likely beyond the average iOS user.

You can read the announcement thread – and download a beta version, if you have an iOS device – at modmyi.com here.

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HTC promises deeper Sense in future Windows Phone 7 handsets

September 24, 2010 | By Surur

htchub We have by now all seen how HTC intends to implement their Sense UI in Windows Phone 7, and its fair to say that, besides the eye candy, most people are not terribly impressed.

In an exclusive interview with FierceWireless, HTC CEO Peter Chou promised future versions would do better.

"Initially, we don’t have time to bring things on top of that," he said. "But over time we will innovate on top of that to provide some HTC experience."

"I don’t think we would do complete Sense UI on Windows Phone 7," he said. "However, I will say that we will innovate differently to improve the experience and to get some HTC unique and differentiated experience on Windows Phone 7 in the future."

An HTC spokesman clarified:

“In the long term, with the Sense experience, we are looking for ways to enhance the user experience using HTC innovation. … Sense, by definition, is a way for HTC to improve the user experience in both big and small ways–which we will certainly work to do with Windows Phone 7 devices. But, if this does not include a fully revised user interface, that does not mean that it doesn’t have a form of the Sense experience–it may just be expressed in ways that do not include the interface."

Hopefully in the future HTC’s Sense on Windows Phone 7 will improve the user experience in much the same way they did on Windows Mobile, with features such as USB Mass Storage mode and WIFI tethering, both features presently missing from Windows Phone 7.

Do our readers think HTC should engage in such low-level tinkering with Windows Phone 7, or should they wait for Microsoft to deliver? Let us know below.

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Is this HTC Sense for Windows Phone 7–I think so!

September 16, 2010 | By Pradeep

A YouTube account, Dailaphone, have uploaded a concept video of HTC Sense on Windows Phone 7, and it sure looks great!

There is absolutely nothing subtle about the user interface and animations, which is a massive departure from Windows Phone 7, but may be exactly what the consumer wary of Authentic Digital is looking for.

For the record, due to the extremely sophistication of the animations I personally feel the video does depict a real HTC concept, but of course the final deliverable may be very different.

Do our readers feel its real, and do you like it? Let us know below.

Via MobilityDigest.com

Thanks Mobile Paddy for the tip.

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Touch-free UI demoed on Symbian phone, may come to Windows Phone eventually

September 10, 2010 | By Surur

eyeSight Mobile Technologies, a developer of Hand Gesture Interface solutions for mobile phones and consumer electronics devices, announced the successful launch of a unique new application which allows users to control a mobile phone MP3 player with simple hand gestures.

"Moove" MP3 Player , available only to the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic users has had more than half a million downloads from Nokia’s Ovi Store. "Moove" MP3 player allows users to play or stop tracks, as well as skip between songs by using simple hand gestures above the device’s frontal camera.

So, for instance, people who are running on a treadmill can simply place the device on the treadmill deck and skip songs while running without touching the device. Drivers can operate their smartphones with a wave of the hand, allowing them to control the music player or mobile phone navigation system without looking at the device to find its controls.

"The Hand Gesture Interface that offers interaction Beyond Touch, has been enthusiastically adopted by users of touch screen devices," said Itay Katz eyeSight’s founder & CEO. "We are in talks with mobile phone manufactures to license the Hand Gesture Interface to be integrated into new smartphones."

The Touch Free technology can be applied to any camera-enabled device, including mobile phones, navigation systems, netbooks, MP3 players and more.

Pocketlint notes that Microsoft suggested such Kinect-like technology may come to Windows Phone in the future also.

One cant also help but remember Microsoft has had such ambitions for Windows Mobile 7 in the past, as laid out here.

“Windows Mobile 7 will use motion gestures, something the iPhone does not. It will not use an intricate and complicated series of gyroscopes and accelerometers. Instead, it will use the camera on the phone to detect motions and create appropriate actions. You will be able to shake, twist and otherwise manipulate the phone and get things done. The phone will be able to perform actions when placed face down on a surface, and it will know when it is in your pocket or bag.”

Do our readers see a use for this technology? Let us know below.

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TAT 2014 concept looks like AMAZING, like Windows Phone 7

September 6, 2010 | By Surur

Regular readers will know we are fans of the Swedish design company TAT, who has designed the popular Android UI and also has had some unspecified involvement in Windows Mobile (see our interview with their co-founder here.)

Above is their concept what a mobile phone will look like in 2014, when cheap, flexible and transparent screens are ubiquitous, and interestingly it appears clearly inspired by Windows Phone 7 and its typography-themed user interface.

Hopefully this amazing design house does have a continuing influence on Windows Phone development, and will help bring these dreams to fruition in Windows phone 8 .

Via Gizmodo.com

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For Developers: Microsoft to publish more UI code samples to preserve 3rd party UI consistency

August 26, 2010 | By Surur

Various UI effects in Windows Phone 7

According to Long Zheng from the IstartedSomething blog Microsoft will be publishing further code to allow developers to use the same user interface effects as Microsoft uses in their applications, in an effort to maintain consistency in the look and feel of the OS and third party developers.

Microsoft will already be releasing Pivot and Panorama controls with the final SDK in September, but will now also release code samples to allow developers to make use of the Tilt effect, where controls subtlety distort when pressed.

Some code to achieve the same has already been published by Microsoft employee Peter Torr here and further examples such as the e-mail swoosh effect will make its way to MSDN shortly.

Read more about Microsoft’s user interface efforts at istartedsomething.com here.

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Exclusive: An interview with Hampus Jakobsson, Co-founder of TAT

August 25, 2010 | By Surur

We have been lucky enough to be granted an e-mail interview with Hampus Jakobsson, the co-founder of TAT, one of the most influential smartphone user interface design houses in recent years, and were able to ask the questions we always wanted to.

Read the interview below:

Q: Thank you for agreeing to an email interview. For a company with such a high profile in the smartphone world surprisingly little is known about your projects and involvement in OS development, but of course your demo videos are legendary. May I start by asking, as much as possible, which phones and operating systems bear your mark at present, and if there is any one adopted user interface feature you are particularly proud of.

A: Our technology is shipping in every eighth phone sold worldwide, and soon 500 million units sold, from Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and pre-embedded in Symbian (S60). We also did the UI design for AndroidOS. Some of the devices I am proud of are Sprint Instinct from Samsung, as well as Wave, from Motorola they did a great job with the KRAVE. There are a lot of funky devices in Korea and China as well, but they are not too visible outside, as well as some versions of the Omnia2 sport our stuff.

Q: What does your company do exactly. Your Cascades product usually appears in your videos – what is this exactly?

A: We provide a UI platform, Cascades, which can be embedded in OSs or put in an app an then run "on top". The videos you see are mostly implementations of UIs running on real hardware using Cascades. These are done to show off what the platform can do, but also to inspire companies to not just to copycat UIs.

More after the break.

Continue reading →

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UI Centric announced tablet user interface for Windows 7, Windows CE 7 OEMs

August 1, 2010 | By Surur

Leading user interface designers UI Centric today announced details and first images of their upcoming tablet computing interface for Windows 7 devices – codenamed Macallan.

The Macallan user interface (UI) is designed from scratch specifically for tablet/slate form-factor devices. As a purpose built tablet UI it is not an adaptation of a desktop or mobile phone operating system UI. It aims to offer the most intuitive and responsive user experience of any tablet device.

Major benefits over other tablet device user interfaces include:

Native multitasking
Adobe Flash support
USB and memory card support
Camera and video chat functionality

Macallan will be available under a licensing model to hardware manufacturers targeting Microsoft Windows 7 or Windows 7 Embedded Compact. As a comprehensive "off-the-shelf" solution, it will empower manufacturers to easily and affordably offer a next generation multi-touch user experience. The first device from a major manufacturer’s to run Macallan will debut in Q3 2010 (more details to be available in a future announcement).

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UI Centric specialise in creating attractive and compelling user interfaces for a wide range of applications and industries.

With offices in London, New York and Mexico, their team comprises of graphic designers, software developers, information architects and usability experts. Combining these services they create graphical user interfaces that are visually striking, highly usable and accessible.

UI Centric will be demonstrating a selection of broadcast centric user interfaces at this year’s IBC exhibition in Amsterdam, September 10-14th.

Comment

Microsoft, buy this company right now! The main spoiler is that 3rd party apps will not use the same UI paradigm, something which can only be ameliorated if the tools used to create the user interface is released to all developers.

See some more screenshots after the break.

Continue reading →

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MaxSense UI, the ultimate HTC Sense hack

May 31, 2010 | By Surur

Pocketnow have published this video of the latest iteration of the MaxSense UI for Windows Mobile devices. The software is based on HTC Sense, but with a complete reconfiguration of the familiar TouchFlo3D interface.

The software features:

Full Screen (Wallpapers 960×800)
3 Home Widget Screens (Scroll left/right)
75 Quicklink accessible on all tabs
Tab launcher screen accessible on all tabs
Full Taskbar with dropdown features accessible on all tabs
Widgets (a lot of customization options and more to come)
Clocks (Analog, Digital, Slide)
Alerts (Calendar, Call History, Mail, SMS, Alert Display Panel)
Quicklinks (3 additional program shortcut widgets)
Communication (Wifi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode)
Others (Weather, Music Player, Favorite Contacts, Internet Search, Blank Panel)
General Settings
Weather Animation (Maximized, Minimized, or Hide)
Auto-Rotation with accelerometer
Autolock
AutoMute
Taskbar (Maximized, Minimized, or Hide)
Change Colors for Home Button Arrows and Text

Only available via custom ROMs at present, the mod is available for the HTC HD2, HTC Touch Pro 2, HTC Touch Diamond 2, HTC Touch HD and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Read more ad find download links at Pocketnow.com here.

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HTC HD2 envy – TouchFlo3D for the iPhone

April 25, 2010 | By Surur

We know HTC’s Sense UI is pretty attractive, such that HTC even transplanted it onto Android.

Jailbreaking iPhone owners have however not been left out of the game, with quite a few HTC Sense themes for iPhone around. Here is another, which takes the hack even further, to include animated.

Obsessionxyz writes:

To begin, YES i know there is tons of this modded theme here, but none has satisfied me, so I have rewritten the alot of codes and combined various javascripts to make this work. ok the theme now, it has a working animated flipclock, and animated weather, so far the same as others, but, this one you can actually tap on to update. which is the way i want it.

I have recreate all weather elements myself, and compare to the original (Weather Elements v3) the file size was huge, mine is only 5MB big, (the whole theme)

As for the animated flipclock, that also have i recreated the images. if you want to have the theme i will also create AM/PM images.

If you succumbed to the dark side, this hack which gives you a UI which is actually a bit more than a grid of icons may make you feel a bit more at home.

New Spinner Control in Windows Phone 7

April 24, 2010 | By Surur

Making data entry screens finger friendly is not easy. Windows Phone 7 includes a new Spinner control which makes it easy to enter bounded items such as date and time.

The control is not at present part of the SDK released by Microsoft, but has been found hiding in the emulator, and will hopefully be made available directly to developers in an updated release.

Via Youtube.com

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