Symbian UI concept video from SEE 2009
Published by Rafe Blandford at 16:10 UTC, November 3rd 2009
At last week's Symbian Exchange and Exposition, Lee Williams (Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation) showed, during the keynote, a concept video of what a future Symbian UI might look like. The video shows a typical use case: accepting an invite to a party via Facebook and, the next day, attending the party. There's a glimpse of a new look homescreen, complete with social web integration, navigation and mapping features enhanced by augmented reality functionality. Read on to view the video and my comments.
The video
To be clear, this is a concept video of a future Symbian UI. This is not the UI for Symbian^4 (although big UI changes are currently planned for this release). However, many of the ideas and principles that appear in the video will likely feature in the future implementations of the Symbian platform.
"An artist's concept of the future of the Symbian UI, also shown in Lee Williams' keynote at SEE 2009 on 27 October 2009. This concept is not part of the Symbian UI Roadmap, but we hope some of the cool features and effects will make it into our reference UI and/or delivered handsets."
Notable features
- The hardware has a send, end, home and back keys. A 'soft' toolbar running along the bottom of the screen at all times (replacing the tradition two softkey layout) indicates that the UI is optimised for one-handed usage.
The toolbar changes dependent on the context of the task being carried out (e.g. in navigation mode it switches to 'car', 'walk' and 'transit'. The individual icons contain information, for example, the messaging icon, in the image below, shows that there are three new/unread messages.
- Additional commands are accessed via a drop down menu at the top of the screen. The status bar area is also notably smaller than at the present time.
When combined with the bottom toolbar (above), this UI concept would allow for a flatter hierarchy of commands (i.e. no longer has all commands hanging off an Options menu).
- A long press (tap and hold) to bring up a context sensitive pop-up menu for further actions. Additionally, the screen is faded out to show the currently active action more prominently.
- A widget based homescreen with slide-in, variable sized, and gesture-to-full-screen support.
- Seamless integration between different application and web services. For example, the mash up of native mapping functionality with Facebook event information.
- Kinetic scrolling within a layered window, suggestive of a more advanced graphics framework and a more fluid UX / UI.
These last three items suggest a move away from an application-based paradigm (application launcher / grids) to a task-based paradigm (homescreen).
Features arriving in Symbian^2, Symbian^3 and Symbian^4
Although this is a concept video, many of the features will arrive in upcoming Symbian updates. In the Symbian Developer Forums Scott Weiss, Chair of the Symbian Foundation's UI Council, offers the following commentary:
- Kinetic scrolling (in Symbian^2)
- Location-based services (in Symbian^2)
- Different widget sizes (coming in Symbian^3)
- Animations and transitions (coming with NGA in Symbian^3)
- Compass and accelerator integration (coming in Symbian^3)
- Menu at the top of the screen (inspirational idea)
- Toolbar at the bottom of the screen, replacing soft keys (inspirational idea)
- Augmented reality integration (inspirational idea)
The Symbian Foundation is looking for your comments on the UI concept - you can add comments to the YouTube video or post on the Symbian Developer Forums.
Rafe Blandford
Categories: Software, Links of Interest, Developer, Industry, Editorial Thoughts, Events
Platforms: General, S60 5th Edition
News Discussion
Berty
They can't even get their current products right so lets not hold our breath about future ones. Looks promising though, roll on the year 2100.
Unregistered
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
lol @ the troll :d
lol @ the troll :d
adi_pie
@Berty I think you're forgetting this is the Symbian Foundation we're talking about not Nokia.
Anyway, the concept looks interesting but I doubt we'll see anything remotely similar before Symbian^4. We'll have to wait and see.
Good job, by the way, arranging and presenting all the UI elements so that we can see them better.
Anyway, the concept looks interesting but I doubt we'll see anything remotely similar before Symbian^4. We'll have to wait and see.
Good job, by the way, arranging and presenting all the UI elements so that we can see them better.
Unregistered
Maybe I am wrong but this is already possible with Android, isn't it?
Unregistered
Looks pretty bad...
Unregistered
looks like a google web app. no thanks.
Ammar_Dento
I like the ideas,but it still "ideas".
By the way...will they ship the devices with this theme? looks funny with these cartoonish icons.
By the way...will they ship the devices with this theme? looks funny with these cartoonish icons.
Antoine of MMM
@Ammar - the Symbian Foundation doesn't create devices, so the chances of them including this theme on a device is slim. Its already available and has been linked to here at AAS for sometime already. Its a pretty solid theme on my N97 actually.
@Unregistered/Android - some of its possible, not all of it. The Symbian Foundation seems to be moving in a similar direction as Maemo is in this respect. Widgets for aggregated use, ability to pane a unified window, and less dependence on applications in silos and more APIs shared across them so that the user creates the experience, rather than just whatever the device maker has in mind. While Android sports some of this, the licensing leaves it in the hands of the manufacturer to exploit this - some have, some are trying, some won't.
@adi_pie - don't be surprised if some of this shows in S^2. Much of this is possible, its the more complex part of the stuff behind the apps that's going to take a considerable amount of rewriting. I wouldn't even be surprised if the "device" was a real one running it, this just an artsy enough mockup to keep the concept ideal conceptual.
@Unregistered/Android - some of its possible, not all of it. The Symbian Foundation seems to be moving in a similar direction as Maemo is in this respect. Widgets for aggregated use, ability to pane a unified window, and less dependence on applications in silos and more APIs shared across them so that the user creates the experience, rather than just whatever the device maker has in mind. While Android sports some of this, the licensing leaves it in the hands of the manufacturer to exploit this - some have, some are trying, some won't.
@adi_pie - don't be surprised if some of this shows in S^2. Much of this is possible, its the more complex part of the stuff behind the apps that's going to take a considerable amount of rewriting. I wouldn't even be surprised if the "device" was a real one running it, this just an artsy enough mockup to keep the concept ideal conceptual.
Unregistered
they have always provided these kind of concept videos, and where's all of those other UI ideas right now?
mrochester
Just look at the UI videos of the N97 which all turned out to be a load of rubbish. I'll believe it when I see it.
Ian 23
It's easy to make vague animation about a distant future.
It's more difficult satisfy to current customers - where is kinetic scrolling for my Nokia 5800? I want Nokia Internet Radio I had on N82 - where is it? What about Nokia's bluetooth keyboard drivers for 5800?
I don't care what Symbian may look like in 3 years time (if ever...), because if my 5800 won't get kinetic scrolling and decent home screen (there is no technical reason not do do it, as the hardware is basically th same as N97), my next phone will be Android or iPhone... Nokia 5800 is my 7th Nokia phone, may be the last unfortunately. I was considering N97 mini, but I'm not that brave - will it be obsolete soon, stuck on Symbian ^1? Will Nokia allow upgrades to ^2, ^3 or whatever it is? The first iPhone can run current OS in the extend the hardware allows, no artificial limitations.
Supporting your customers pays off. Nokia/Symbian Foundation - please get to work and improve your products NOW, stop presenting BS.
It's more difficult satisfy to current customers - where is kinetic scrolling for my Nokia 5800? I want Nokia Internet Radio I had on N82 - where is it? What about Nokia's bluetooth keyboard drivers for 5800?
I don't care what Symbian may look like in 3 years time (if ever...), because if my 5800 won't get kinetic scrolling and decent home screen (there is no technical reason not do do it, as the hardware is basically th same as N97), my next phone will be Android or iPhone... Nokia 5800 is my 7th Nokia phone, may be the last unfortunately. I was considering N97 mini, but I'm not that brave - will it be obsolete soon, stuck on Symbian ^1? Will Nokia allow upgrades to ^2, ^3 or whatever it is? The first iPhone can run current OS in the extend the hardware allows, no artificial limitations.
Supporting your customers pays off. Nokia/Symbian Foundation - please get to work and improve your products NOW, stop presenting BS.
Unregistered
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ian 23
It's easy to make vague animation about a distant future.
It's more difficult satisfy to current customers - where is kinetic scrolling for my Nokia 5800? I want Nokia Internet Radio I had on N82 - where is it? What about Nokia's bluetooth keyboard drivers for 5800? . |
Basically, if you wanted a phone with kinetic scrolling in the OS, why didn't you buy one? You've bought a cheapo bottom end phone and you want extra options added for free? You won't be getting any. The 5800 is at V31, and effectively finished. If you want a 5800 with kinetic scrolling then you have to pay for it. Buy an X6, that's a kinetic scrolling phone with the 5800 feature set.
And don't bother pointing out that 55xx etc are the same price and have kinetic scrolling. The are all missing functional features that 5800 has. You get what you pay for. And N97 is a phone costing 3 x the price of 5800 and wasn't finished when it came on sale. The 5800 has the feature set that it does for its place at the bottom end of the range, and that's it.
I just bought a really nice digital SLR camera, it does 4.5 frames per second, but some cameras from the same manufacturer can do 12 frames per second. I demand that my cheaper camera can do the same as them. Duh.
Unregistered
The 5800 has kinetic scrolling already, in the browser and therefore in all WRT type widgets that are based on the browser. And also in applications like profimail and Gravity.
Ian 23
@Unregistered
"Basically, if you wanted a phone with kinetic scrolling in the OS, why didn't you buy one?"
Because there were NO Nokia phones with KS in January 2009 (when I bought my 5880), that's why :)
I was considering N97 in June, but guess what - it did not have kinetic scroll either. It now finally does, but Nokia forgot to put memory in... :)
X6 - please show me, where can I buy this now? Have you even seen one? N97 mini? Coming soon.
And in the meantime Symbian Foundation basically declared ^1 obsolete, Qt is the future etc. Will I see this future on N97 mini or X6? I want to upgrade, ready to pay, but lost my trust in Nokia. Should I really upgrade to ^1 device now?
"Basically, if you wanted a phone with kinetic scrolling in the OS, why didn't you buy one?"
Because there were NO Nokia phones with KS in January 2009 (when I bought my 5880), that's why :)
I was considering N97 in June, but guess what - it did not have kinetic scroll either. It now finally does, but Nokia forgot to put memory in... :)
X6 - please show me, where can I buy this now? Have you even seen one? N97 mini? Coming soon.
And in the meantime Symbian Foundation basically declared ^1 obsolete, Qt is the future etc. Will I see this future on N97 mini or X6? I want to upgrade, ready to pay, but lost my trust in Nokia. Should I really upgrade to ^1 device now?
Unregistered
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ian 23
@Unregistered
"Basically, if you wanted a phone with kinetic scrolling in the OS, why didn't you buy one?" Because there were NO Nokia phones with KS in January 2009 (when I bought my 5880), that's why :) I was considering N97 in June, but guess what - it did not have kinetic scroll either. It now finally does, but Nokia forgot to put memory in... :) X6 - please show me, where can I buy this now? Have you even seen one? N97 mini? Coming soon. And in the meantime Symbian Foundation basically declared ^1 obsolete, Qt is the future etc. Will I see this future on N97 mini or X6? I want to upgrade, ready to pay, but lost my trust in Nokia. Should I really upgrade to ^1 device now? |
N97 Mini is shipping now and are in stock with several sellers for more than twice the cost of a 5800.
X6 is available on 11 december. About the same price as a N97 mini.
Nokia 5530 is shipping now with kinetic scrolling about the same price as a 5800 but no 3G.
You get what you pay for.
You could go and buy an Android phone. There are currently Android 1.5 and 1.6 phones in the shops. But if you buy 1.6 now, 2.0 is coming soon with Multi-touch. NO guarantee that you could upgrade.
Or buy an iPhone 3GS for silly money, but there is a 4GS rumoured for June 2010 with dual core processing.
Do what you like.
Unregistered
@Unregistered
Can you read and understand? :) I bought 5800 in January 2009, it was not old then. It was the one and only Nokia with touch. State of the art, top of the line, at least for Nokia :) So your suggestion would be to not buy 5800 in January, because it was crap, wait till November for something better, yet unknown at that time? :) So now, would you recommend not to buy N97 mini, because it is crap, wait for ^2? And In the months you will say, you have old N97 mini, piece of junk, don't expect ^2?
I do not understand you logic.
Why you can run latest iPhone OS on first, two year old iPhone? Why HTC will issue Android 2.0 for Hero? They could say, as you do, forget your "old" phones, buy new ones :)
If you bought a PC with Vista, would you expect having a possibility to upgrade to Windows7, or you accept, that it is obsolete after 10 months?
Can you read and understand? :) I bought 5800 in January 2009, it was not old then. It was the one and only Nokia with touch. State of the art, top of the line, at least for Nokia :) So your suggestion would be to not buy 5800 in January, because it was crap, wait till November for something better, yet unknown at that time? :) So now, would you recommend not to buy N97 mini, because it is crap, wait for ^2? And In the months you will say, you have old N97 mini, piece of junk, don't expect ^2?
I do not understand you logic.
Why you can run latest iPhone OS on first, two year old iPhone? Why HTC will issue Android 2.0 for Hero? They could say, as you do, forget your "old" phones, buy new ones :)
If you bought a PC with Vista, would you expect having a possibility to upgrade to Windows7, or you accept, that it is obsolete after 10 months?
Unregistered
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ian 23
Can you read and understand? :)
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ian 23
I bought 5800 in January 2009, it was not old then. It was the one and only Nokia with touch. State of the art, top of the line, at least for Nokia :)
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Check the prices.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ian 23
So your suggestion would be to not buy 5800 in January, because it was crap, wait till November for something better, yet unknown at that time? :) So now, would you recommend not to buy N97 mini, because it is crap, wait for ^2? And In the months you will say, you have old N97 mini, piece of junk, don't expect ^2?
|
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ian 23
I do not understand you logic.
|
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ian 23
Why you can run latest iPhone OS on first, two year old iPhone?
|
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ian 23
Why HTC will issue Android 2.0 for Hero? They could say, as you do, forget your "old" phones, buy new ones :)
|
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ian 23
If you bought a PC with Vista, would you expect having a possibility to upgrade to Windows7, or you accept, that it is obsolete after 10 months?
|
2. A PC with vista is not obsolete.
3. A 5800 without kinetic scrolling is not obsolete.
Unregistered
Contrary to many (the majority?) of the posters here, I expect great things from Symbian in the future.
http://www.mobileinfoplanet.com/blog...ure-of-symbian
http://www.mobileinfoplanet.com/blog...ure-of-symbian
Ian 23
@Unregistered
OK, I understand you have different expectations than me. Customers are different. Some will accept everything and be happy, some will not.
I had almost the same case with E90 not too long ago and that was not low end phone by any means. Abandoned by Nokia almost immediately.
And check your facts - iPhone OS 3.1 WILL work on 1st gen iPhone, just some functionality will not work (MMS etc.). Your arguments are pointless if they are based on made up facts :)
Do you even use Nokia phone by the way? :) Which one?
OK, I understand you have different expectations than me. Customers are different. Some will accept everything and be happy, some will not.
I had almost the same case with E90 not too long ago and that was not low end phone by any means. Abandoned by Nokia almost immediately.
And check your facts - iPhone OS 3.1 WILL work on 1st gen iPhone, just some functionality will not work (MMS etc.). Your arguments are pointless if they are based on made up facts :)
Do you even use Nokia phone by the way? :) Which one?
Unregistered
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ian 23
@Unregistered
OK, I understand you have different expectations than me. Customers are different. Some will accept everything and be happy, some will not. |
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ian 23
@
And check your facts - iPhone OS 3.1 WILL work on 1st gen iPhone, just some functionality will not work (MMS etc.). Your arguments are pointless if they are based on made up facts :) |
It will run but you won't get GPS, MMS, UMTS, HSDPA, compass, nor a better camera, faster processor and graphics or even a better signal strength because of the plastic. There's a few more.
So it's still the crap phone from 2 years ago.
Nokia have released 10, 11, 12, 20, 21, 30 and 31 for the 5800. It works on all the 5800s.
[quote=Ian 23;445532
Do you even use Nokia phone by the way? :) Which one?[/QUOTE]
A 5800 cheapo plastic phone. Basic value for money.
moonshot
My Nokia has KS
Ian 23
@Unregistered
Fine, I agree with you - Nokia 5800 is a cheap plastic crap phone from 1 year ago. I should not expect much from it then. It would be a waste of time for Nokia to release kinetic scroll for it or improve the home screen - why bother improving this cheap junk.
Indeed, I don't know why Apple supports first generation crap iPhones with new OS and keeps one software version for everybody - big mistake. They should maintain separate OS version for each phone model and keep old models on old versions - as Nokia does. More expensive to maintain, but good for customers! :-)
Fine, I agree with you - Nokia 5800 is a cheap plastic crap phone from 1 year ago. I should not expect much from it then. It would be a waste of time for Nokia to release kinetic scroll for it or improve the home screen - why bother improving this cheap junk.
Indeed, I don't know why Apple supports first generation crap iPhones with new OS and keeps one software version for everybody - big mistake. They should maintain separate OS version for each phone model and keep old models on old versions - as Nokia does. More expensive to maintain, but good for customers! :-)
Zaqfalcon
"inspirational idea" you mean 'aspirational' surely?
Unregistered
Who'll be in charge of firmware updates once these new versions of Symbian reach the public? It could be interesting if the phone manufacturers get to focus on the hardware while the Symbian foundation takes care of bug fixes / upgrades.
Unregistereds
stop bashig the commenters, he has a good point, they should work on current products rather than release and release one after another each month, is driving people away from Symbian/Nokia. (N97 owners)
KINETIC SCROLLING
ok if you have KS in 5800/N97, why not all applications? that's really stupid, why should I buy another phone?, I'm not a Nokia follower that buys every single phone they make, I just want a phone that has what it should have.
pure BS trying to defend Nokia on this letdown, yea maybe I should buy a iPhone but it's a ripoff, something that is catching my attention is Android or Maemo but maemo is a coin toss, not many applications, they have announced Mameo 6, so knowing what the future will be, Android might be the best option for today, "since they update their OS", N900 will have Mameo 6? with Nokia sticking their nose... you never know...
Symbian is the most advanced mobile OS in the world in features but there's so many models out there, is there only one person developing the firmware updates? they take sooo long for release.
KINETIC SCROLLING
ok if you have KS in 5800/N97, why not all applications? that's really stupid, why should I buy another phone?, I'm not a Nokia follower that buys every single phone they make, I just want a phone that has what it should have.
pure BS trying to defend Nokia on this letdown, yea maybe I should buy a iPhone but it's a ripoff, something that is catching my attention is Android or Maemo but maemo is a coin toss, not many applications, they have announced Mameo 6, so knowing what the future will be, Android might be the best option for today, "since they update their OS", N900 will have Mameo 6? with Nokia sticking their nose... you never know...
Symbian is the most advanced mobile OS in the world in features but there's so many models out there, is there only one person developing the firmware updates? they take sooo long for release.