Re: future NIT form factor - Dpads?
 

Actually, the d-pad pre-existed the NIT and was originally intended to be a replacement for a mouse/pointing device. The other keys [zoom+][switchview][zoom-] are not conventional function keys, (although the openness of the platform may allow functions to be mapped to the keys). They were specifically designed by Nokia years ago for handheld touchscreen devices (they are placed where the thumb and forefinger rest) and their functions are meant to relate to the small screen size.

some of the comments simply fail to take into account the unigue device characteristics of the NIT. Within the mobile touchscreen category, personally I prefer the functionality focused design of the NIT to the barren touchscreen style of the iphone. If you want an iphone, go buy an iphone; the NIt should aspire to better than the iphone not to imitate it.

Re: future NIT form factor - Dpads?
 

If your only tool is a hammer, then the world looks like a nail.

If you only have a touch screen, then you're forced to solve certain problems in a manner that may not be actually be optimal, nor even close to optimal, for that form of input. For example, virtual keyboards -- a touchscreen implementation for solving the "how do I create text input", yet it's an incredibly poor way to implement that goal.

If the device provides choice, then you have multiple tools for accomplishing a given task, and you can pick which device that best suits that task. Yes, software designers might do a lousy job, but IMO it's better for them to have a choice to make bad decisions than for the user to not have a choice to use the best tool for a given situation. You solve the software designer problem by having well written style guides and suggestions, a well developed set of standard applications which shows the right way to solve the problem on that device, and an on-going effort to push that forward (when none of the apps available do their job according to the style guidelines, make one that does, and thus raises the bar for the app makers, both the ones that want to make that same type of app, and the ones who want to be stylistically compatible with the base-line of the platform).

For NIT designers to complain about poor style consistency, and apps with poor adherence to a given style, they need to have put in the work on putting that infrastructure into place (style guides, rich set of style implementations for app designers to both leverage and compete with, etc.). Where's the solid finger friendly email application? Modest may be better than what was there before, but it's still not something I'd hold up as an example of great finger/touch-screen design. Where's the solid finger friendly PIM suite? Where's the finger friendly web browser? For NIT designers to preach about "we should eliminate hard buttons from the design, for design purity", then they must first be an example of that design purity, not an example of the design problem. Lead from the front, and lead by example.

And, even then, it's still going to come down to "there are times when the best/fastest information input will be typing". Or, because it's an _internet_ tablet, it's going to be using web pages and web apps that were also designed for desktops, and are thus either keyboard focused or have shortcuts that make input much faster with a keyboard. In those cases, not being able to use hard buttons becomes a limitation.

Re: future NIT form factor - Dpads?
 

It's not an either-or. It's a "which is best for a given situation". I have an N810 _and_ a Bluetooth keyboard. Pulling out my iGo while I'm standing on a bus and just want to do a few quick things that involve typing? If I am forced to choose between a virtual keyboard and an external keyboard, I'll instead "think outside the box" and buy a different device. One that suits my needs, instead of forcing me into artificially constrained input mechanisms that don't cover my use cases.

If I'm in a meeting and wanting to take notes, or need to do a LOT of typing, that's when I pull out the iGo.

Choose the best tool for the job. Give your users a rich set of tools to choose from.

Re: future NIT form factor - Dpads?
 

that's kind of my feeling on the whole thing.

thanks for the response to my first thread too everybody :cool:

Re: future NIT form factor - Dpads?
 

If the devices had 5 extra keys on the top, as Ragnar suggested (although in a sarcastic mode I believe), playing Duke Nukem would have been easier on the N800. And if it didn't have the d-pad it wouldn't be possible to play it at all.

Of course this is an application that has simply been recompiled for the N8x0, with very few adjustments. But isn't that how we want things to be? It should be possible to use software that hasn't been specially designed for some futuristic special magic display. We don't want to be limited to Nokia Approved (tm) software. The internet tablets were meant to be flexible, open devices.

Re: future NIT form factor - Dpads?
 

This is why different form factors should exist, so that flexible and open remain constants, and innovation can come from users and developers alike.

Re: future NIT form factor - Dpads?
 

First off, it was Nokia UI designers who came up with the idea of supplementing the small touch screen with a few hard keys, and who led "from the front" that way, keeping that design in the NITs. There was a good early example (7710) of using that design, but it has fallen out of the collective consiousness among the excitement of maemo development.

It is not the NIT designers (at least to my knowledge although I wasn't at the summit) who are preaching about removing hard keys, but a few people on this site (who I am trying to address). My understanding is that they pondered openly about a future, more finger friendly UI, but that does not at all necessitate removal of the hard keys AFAIK.

Re: future NIT form factor - Dpads?
 

I'm curious, do you know who ragnar is?

Re: future NIT form factor - Dpads?
 

I read these, and found myself chuckling at the way they fit neatly into stereotypes. Although as a typically engineer, I find myself more in agreement with (and perhaps beyond) Igor's viewpoint...

Re: future NIT form factor - Dpads?
 

I was replying to one of them who was doing exactly that.