N900 Fremantle Concepts
 

I just had some ideas for things that *might* make Fremantle a bit easier to use, so I spent some time today using Photoshop to make those concepts "realities."

This is a transparent keyboard concept:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3452/...2164b409fc.jpg

A lot of people are disappointed that the n900 will not have a portrait mode for the browser (as far as we know), but here is how it may look if we get a pleasant surprise:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3519/...5d9560c28d.jpg

I really like the concept of the task manager, but I want to be able to group windows based on either originating program (i.e. all MicroB programs in one group) or by arbitrary selection.

Here is a basic idea about how the grouping could possibly work.
1) Drag one window onto another.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2511/...89e410a5bd.jpg

2) Grouped windows will have a different title bar.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2671/...375711cb09.jpg

3) Touching the window representing the grouped windows will bring up the "grouped windows" menu.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3518/...6cf3775b13.jpg

I hope you guys have some other ideas about features you could use in Fremantle!

If someone could spend a little more time on the transparent keyboard and create a version for portrait mode, I think it would look pretty nice.

Anyone that wants to edit the images can download the:
PSD Files
PNG Files

Have fun! :D

Note: These are ALL concepts. None of these pictures represent actual device functions. Credit for all pictures goes to mobile-review.com

Re: N900 Fremantle Concepts
 

I don't like the grouped apps in the task manager. Web pages could be apps in the future, or even today. I want the fastest way to change apps, and adding a layer would mess that up. But love the portrait views and opaque keys.

Re: N900 Fremantle Concepts
 

Opaque keys is a nice idea if the normal view is still available too as I think having this opaque only would be bad for accessibility.

Re: N900 Fremantle Concepts
 

Do you guys mean transparent?

Re: N900 Fremantle Concepts
 

Or better yet, translucent.

Re: N900 Fremantle Concepts
 

I've been wondering about the opaque comments myself..
I thought they're talking about the browser toolbars.

Re: N900 Fremantle Concepts
 

i think they mean transparent not opaque :p

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/0...s-easy-instal/

something like this?

Re: N900 Fremantle Concepts
 

I wanted to write a new virtual keyboard that's more reminiscent of what a typical qwerty keyboard layout would be. I've installed the sdk but I haven't got a chance to start coding yet mostly because I'm not sure where to start. Ideally I would like to look at the code for the current keyboard to see how it's initialized and to see what type of widget it actually is.

Here is a quick layout I did in Visual Studio to get a general idea of what it might look like. I did the calculations and with the current config it takes up about 40% (vertically) of the screen which is pretty good considering the spacing between keys.

If it's possible making the keys "translucent" maybe it's something I could add as a task if people think it would be useful.

What do you guys think?

Re: N900 Fremantle Concepts
 

Maybe look at Enlightenment, Fremantle or Mer folks how they did it.

Usability research has shown you don't want a big spacebar you want one easily reachable with the right hand.

You also cannot put a key on the very outside of the screen because there your pointer device will never reach it. So you need some open space there.

Re: N900 Fremantle Concepts
 

1.) Thanks, I'll check that out

2.) That's assuming the user is right handed isn't it? There's been a lot of controversy surrounding Nokia's decision to put the space bar on the right. I'm not sure how they did there "Usability Research" but from what I can tell it hasn't received a very warm welcome. I myself hate it but maybe it's just me. I'm more inclined to leave it in the middle because I think that's what people are used too and it doesn't give an advantage to right handed users.

3.) Thanks, forgot about that!