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allnameswereout's Avatar
Posts: 3,397 | Thanked: 1,212 times | Joined on Jul 2008 @ Netherlands
#1073
BlueTooth does the job for me. I don't see why IR is required, and stating 'IR does some things BT doesn't' is a useless remark because it doesn't state what IR does more/better/whatever. The N96 won't contain IR support either. I think IR support on gadgets is on the way out. I use IR to open my garage, and frankly, the distance is too big. With BlueTooth 2 or later it'd work fine over 100 meters which is more than enough time to open the garage before the car is there.

Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt View Post
That's true! Also, it's done in a way that is quick (no pause, stutter, or redraw) and doesn't completely occlude the information below it. Simple, but highly useful feedback!

What I find most interesting about the interface in the demo is the fact that although the resolution was constricted (perhaps to something similar to the N800) there was much more 'usable' space due to the simple zooming of the interface. Some of the elements (the pictures) could even be interacted with when zoomed out! In the end, you have a user interface that has comparable (if not more) 'real-estate' than a desktop whilst being easily accessible.

This type of an interface opens the gates for windows of different dimension, floating widgets (zoomed out view), floating controls (zoomed out view), and multiple 'levels' of these 2D window arrangements. Users could customize the zoomed-out background graphics with picture(s), widgets, and controls. Also, not all apps need lay flat. Some of them could be perpendicular to the plane (like pages of a book standing up) to allow a fan-like selection of many elements. Of course, some simple 3D objects on the plane would be fun; like big red 'arcade' style buttons, or draggable dice, or swimming fish (with a refracted water overlay animation) .

What you end up with is a highly-stylish, highly-customizable, but also highly functional "zoom-top" (coined... lame? har har).

Wow! I would love for the N900 to have an interface like this. A little bit of polish and not only would it look great, but would also serve a great functional benefit.
Zooming is awesome. The reason is that, like with fullscreen, the user is able to commit total focus to the application (or part of the application) the user wants to use. Besides being able to zoom in, the ability to zoom out is also useful. The first time I used it was on a WM called 3ddesktop, and I also used 3DWM back in the days. With software rendering though. Using the arrow keys one was able to zoom out from the desktop and zoom in to a different desktop (virtual screen) and continue other applications there. Nowadays, there are many research projects behind us implementing this, and also serious implementations.

Compiz (and QEdje (Evas is faster than Xorg)) provide a lot of interesting features. Like a cube task manager. I already gave some examples of minimizing and maximizing, but there are more examples.

I used Spotlight the other day, and instead of having desklets/screenlets/gadgets/widgets/applets/whateverets on the background on the desktop you bring them to the foreground with Spotlight, plus transparancy. You can see this kind of functionality back in the iPhone. It allows total focus to the specific task the user wants to execute. Also take a look at Expose. You can also see similar (and perhaps better) features like this in Compiz. Imagine using the cube as task switcher on the NIT.

Sun implemented with Looking Glass something similar as Compiz in Java, but AFAICT it never took off. I remember in the demo by Jonathan Schwartz in which he shows RealPlayer with the ability to turn RealPlayer 180 degrees and see the video in mirror mode (left is right, right is left). He also showed the ability to put notes on the back of the application (in that case, RealPlayer). OS X uses the same idea in Spotlight to configure the widgets (if that is what they're called). Every applet has an 'i' on the bottom right. Click on it, the applet turns around, and you can configure it.

If Nokia keeps the NIT simple (hardware-wise) to cut costs then competitors will be able to make a clone more easily. The advantage Nokia will have is experience in open source software development, Qt, Nokia Maps, multimedia integration, and years of experience with mobile phones. If Nokia keeps innovating they can use the previously mentioned advantages to earn more money while staying ahead in the technical sense provided the devices are ahead of the competitors. For this, the hardware has to be top notch, too. Ofcourse such comes with a price. That is normal. But new features are important. For example, a useful innovation in the iPhone 2G was the WiFi location positioning system. If you really want a simple device then you're at the wrong company (except for their phone line, which contains devices from very simple to very advanced). Many clone corporations are able to make a simple device for not many costs. The source for the maemo software is there as well.
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