Life with Me in the middle
software
Blackberry OS gets a slight facelift with v.6
Apr 27th
Blackberry hears its users and moves towards an “all new” user interface. It has a hint of old school Blackberry look and feel to it with a dabble of salt and pepper but I wouldn’t call it an all new look and feel. To me this is more of an enhancement but either way it’s a very welcome addition to the Blackberry platform. What do you think? Is this what you have been waiting for or are you disappointed?
The gates are open.
Intuitive User Interfaces introduces a learning UI for Android
Feb 9th
Android has its fair share of custom user interface front ends, each customized by different manufacturers to tailor to its targeted audience. Today Intuitive User Interfaces released a new interface they claim is “based on understanding and predicting which actions users want to perform in various situation, and enabling those actions with one touch”. The entire interface is based on predicting what the user wants to see and displaying it in a new 3D design.
The new innovative interface was written to provide three major aspects:
- Personal – The phone understands which features and actions are important to different users, as each individual user utilizes the phone differently.
- Relevant – Users perform different actions in different scenarios. By identifying these associations, a set of the most relevant actions for a specific situation is presented to the user.
- Intuitive – The activation of these actions is easy, simple and instantaneous.
Having a user interface that knows what I’m thinking based on actions and locations seems like a great idea. However combined with the fragmentation that Android already faces I can’t see this being a big success. Had this been the interface that shipped with Android from conception things might be a bit different. What are you thoughts?
image provided by androidcommunity.com
via Intuitive User Interfaces Introduces One Touch User Experience for Mobile Phones.
Mobile application stores need a personality
Feb 8th
Image provided by nowsourcing.com
As I move from phone to phone exploring all the different choices we have in the application stores (Ovi, Apple App Store, Android Marketplace) there is one thing that they all share in common. Each lacks personalization and personality. Some could argue that having the ability to have applications suggested to you based on what you browse or purchase is a form of personalization but this is not enough to make it a compelling experience for most.
How many times have you found an application you would like to try but don’t have the time or resources to do so? What if the application store gave you the ability to add the application to a want list so you can follow up at a later date. If you chose to be notified with reminders one would be sent out at a predefined time to remind you to review the items. Currently if you browse away from that application the chances that you will come back to it and buy it in the future are slim to none.
Apple attempts to capture your likes and dislikes through the use of their Genius engine but if you have ever used it before you know that it is about as helpful as a sled without snow. Why not add the ability to like and dislike application types prior to actually buying the applications. With this in place a better suggestive engine could be built and custom tailored for each user. If you are anything like me you don’t want to spend your hard earned money just to rate something. Obviously the like/dislike system wouldn’t be public to other users and would be used primarily to make your experience a better one on the store itself. The existing rating (5 star) system would remain in place for public ratings for the applications themselves.
Last on my list is a developer/consumer communication channel. Every application store fails thus far with binding the consumer with an easy to use developer support channel. Because all application stores are not made equal, the developers are having a hard time keeping up with demand and support with their applications. What if a normalized developer support channel was setup for all mobile application stores? Not only would we see more cross platform development but the user experience would be much more friendly and consistent.
If you could change your favorite mobile application store to be have more personality with higher levels of personalization what would you suggest? The gates are open….
The Symbian Foundation gives away source code on a flash drive
Feb 8th
This is a brilliant idea to boost more excitement about the only truly open mobile operating system. If you want in on the action you better get to retweeting right away. Best of luck to you all.
Mobile app store prices compared, surprising results
Dec 30th
via gigaom.com
After looking through these results I find it hard to believe. I am going to have to do some research on my own to determine the truth to this. What do you guys think do these results seem accurate?
Symbian users rejoice as Evernote beta finally arrives
Dec 8th
via nokiaexperts.com
Thanks to Brettq and Matthew Miller and of course Evernote, many Symbian users prayers have finally been answered. On November 30th a post was made in the Evernote forum with the link to a beta version of the Evernote client for Symbian (S60 V5) smart phones. What are you waiting for get out there and download it and share your feedback.
Waze Releases Social GPS Application for Symbian
Sep 23rd
via symbian-guru.com
A new service that I have been addicted to, thanks to Ricky Cadden, is called Waze. What is Waze? Here is what they claim, “Real-time maps and traffic information based on the wisdom of the crowd”. In a nutshell this means that all traffic information including wrecks, obstructions, and much much more are all provided by us the users in real time. While driving you are able to see these alerts and change your route based on what others have reported.
Waze has hit a niche in the market that has been itching for innovation for some time. The solution is far from perfect but its still in in infancy and can only get better from here. The developers seem to be open minded and have pushed their product to all of the major platforms including Android, iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Symbian V3 (5th Ed is in the works).If you haven’t given Waze a try yet do yourself a favor download it and go wazy.