Core calls
Or how to call/sms your favorites with 2 click-and-drags on an iPhone.
The last update of the iPhone software gave the double click on the home button the same functionality of bringing up the favorites, but there is maybe a way to avoid these two clicks.
1. First click and drag : unlock the phone.
2. Rotate it anti-clockwise to display the favorites. It works to call the Coverflow interface when playing music, so it might as well work to call an action from the home screen. I guess. Anyhow, this is where the double click disappears.
3. Select one of the favorites : that's the second click (or tap, how do you call them...). As a result, the other contacts icons and names fade out a little, and two bars appear at the top and bottom on the screen to invite you to the next step.
4. Drag and release the icon of your contact on top to call (the result is a fade to the classic call screen of the iPhone), and on the bottom to send a text message (also fades to the classic sms app screen). Once the icon enters one of the area it changes color to tell the user ot has understood his call for this action and performs it on release (so it's always possible to change your mind even if you entered an active zone).
Recursive actions need to be simple so they don't get boring or tiring to perform, and this is what it's all about.
One limitation though is that it would work well if you have up to 10 favorites. Passed this number, I don't know if the interface sensibility can deal with smaller icons/names, and as I don't live in the US, I can't check for myself on the device. Maybe somebody can tell ?
On the other hand, 10 is way enough in terms of favorites as far as I'm concerned.
The last update of the iPhone software gave the double click on the home button the same functionality of bringing up the favorites, but there is maybe a way to avoid these two clicks.
1. First click and drag : unlock the phone.
2. Rotate it anti-clockwise to display the favorites. It works to call the Coverflow interface when playing music, so it might as well work to call an action from the home screen. I guess. Anyhow, this is where the double click disappears.
3. Select one of the favorites : that's the second click (or tap, how do you call them...). As a result, the other contacts icons and names fade out a little, and two bars appear at the top and bottom on the screen to invite you to the next step.
4. Drag and release the icon of your contact on top to call (the result is a fade to the classic call screen of the iPhone), and on the bottom to send a text message (also fades to the classic sms app screen). Once the icon enters one of the area it changes color to tell the user ot has understood his call for this action and performs it on release (so it's always possible to change your mind even if you entered an active zone).
Recursive actions need to be simple so they don't get boring or tiring to perform, and this is what it's all about.
One limitation though is that it would work well if you have up to 10 favorites. Passed this number, I don't know if the interface sensibility can deal with smaller icons/names, and as I don't live in the US, I can't check for myself on the device. Maybe somebody can tell ?
On the other hand, 10 is way enough in terms of favorites as far as I'm concerned.
Labels: apple, cellphone, communication, interface, iPhone, software, tech, wish
Eames live in 1956.
On top of the pleasure to discover Charles and Ray Eames moving and talking, here are two quotes I found interesting, regarding the design practice :
- Is there a basic theory of design for your chairs ?
- There is one that is : the attitude in all of them is really the same, we've never designed for a fashion, or with the idea of fitting in a fashion, and the Herman Miller furniture company has never ever requested that we do pieces for a market (...) the timing is more or less our own and sometimes it's too slow, but we are allowed to follow it through.
Eames desire to move freely in a world of enormous and unlimited possibilities is combined with a very accurate sense of discrimination and taste (...) This is an ability to select among the unlimited possibilities* and return considerable richness to the world.
Discrimination and taste. Wow, right on. I never considered discrimination as being used in a positive way, as it's always associated with "racial" issues. But that's what a designer does, choices.
Nice to see how they hold their hands, when Eames enters the set. Was it common on tv at this time ?
* this word didn't quite passed the "my first language is french" filter, so if anybody reads this and understands it better, I'd appreciate to be corrected, thank you.
Via the Mighty Coudal.
Send. Receive. Period. {6}
This is the sixth post about a cell phone design project that started here.
Considering the amount of time I could allow in modeling, I had to make a choice between the solutions that were presented before. The Mies track and the leather track were, to me at least, the most interesting solutions.
The essence of the project is really expressed in the Mies one, as we're aiming at minimalism and simplicity from the start.
Getting the leather solution further was interesting because this object has a strong statement : you could own a well crafted object (and therefore more expensive) that is not tied to high end technology.
The green led is the visual feedback : it flashes once when a key is pressed.
The blue leds are for the reception level and the red ones for the battery level. A single press on them and they display the level by quarters (1 led = 25%).
The front is three sided to help navigating and choosing the right key to press.
The hold button is pressed "inwards" to unlock the keypad. It stays in this position to act as a sign. The "send/end call" button is just under it : in a single and well placed press, the user can unlock and answer an incoming call.
The bottom cap (incorporating the mic) protects the USB plug and the quick SIM card access.
In this case, the light chamfer around the keys, as well as the stiffness difference between the leather and the metal, help the user to point the right key. No plastic in this one, metal only. Leather and plastic rarely feel right...
The hold button is a slider. When it's on the right, thus aligned with the buttons grid, the keypad is unlocked.
The back side can be uncovered to access the SIM card (U shaped cut in the leather) and to slide out the USB plug.
As a conclusion, here is a transcript of Orange's director of technology Norman Lewis about 3G, during the '06 Emerging Telephony conference (link to his talk) :
if every one of our customers, theirs families and their dogs had mobile phones and used them for 6 hours a day for the next 31.7 years, we would get our money back from what we spent on 3G licensing
In other words : a mobile phone transmitting voice only ? It may suits your needs, but not the telephone companies wacked business models.
(Many thanks to Volker Weber and Steven Frank for their feedback)
Considering the amount of time I could allow in modeling, I had to make a choice between the solutions that were presented before. The Mies track and the leather track were, to me at least, the most interesting solutions.
The essence of the project is really expressed in the Mies one, as we're aiming at minimalism and simplicity from the start.
Getting the leather solution further was interesting because this object has a strong statement : you could own a well crafted object (and therefore more expensive) that is not tied to high end technology.
The Mies track
The green led is the visual feedback : it flashes once when a key is pressed.
The blue leds are for the reception level and the red ones for the battery level. A single press on them and they display the level by quarters (1 led = 25%).
The front is three sided to help navigating and choosing the right key to press.
The hold button is pressed "inwards" to unlock the keypad. It stays in this position to act as a sign. The "send/end call" button is just under it : in a single and well placed press, the user can unlock and answer an incoming call.
The bottom cap (incorporating the mic) protects the USB plug and the quick SIM card access.
The leather track
In this case, the light chamfer around the keys, as well as the stiffness difference between the leather and the metal, help the user to point the right key. No plastic in this one, metal only. Leather and plastic rarely feel right...
The hold button is a slider. When it's on the right, thus aligned with the buttons grid, the keypad is unlocked.
The back side can be uncovered to access the SIM card (U shaped cut in the leather) and to slide out the USB plug.
As a conclusion, here is a transcript of Orange's director of technology Norman Lewis about 3G, during the '06 Emerging Telephony conference (link to his talk) :
if every one of our customers, theirs families and their dogs had mobile phones and used them for 6 hours a day for the next 31.7 years, we would get our money back from what we spent on 3G licensing
In other words : a mobile phone transmitting voice only ? It may suits your needs, but not the telephone companies wacked business models.
(Many thanks to Volker Weber and Steven Frank for their feedback)
Labels: cellphone, communication, phone, project, tech
Send. Receive. Period. {5}
This is the fifth post about a cell phone design project that started here.
As much as the shape of an object, materials and finishes determines its personality. Stiffness, reliability, simplicity should then be the attributes of the material used in this case. Economics are usually also driving the choice of a particular material over another, but as this is some sort of a dream project, we'll stay pretty vague and just say that that a thermoplastic is the most appropriate material for this kind of object.
The last track chosen in the form factors part of the project was born considering the portability of the object, and the answer was to give a rounded shape to the object so it would be adapted to be carried in pant pockets for example. Materials can also respond to the considered context and induce a solution. At least it's what happened here when I realized that in the objects that I carry around, a lot of them use leather : my bag, wallet, notebook,... Personal taste is of course involved, but leather reaches the attributes cited above, is soft on touch and shape, gets nicer when it gets older, smells good and speaks of good craft by its own. A cell phone made of leather first got me to think of these oh so nice phone cases with a belt clip, but it sure could be better than this. Anyhow, the leather track was on.
Next
Materials and finishes.
As much as the shape of an object, materials and finishes determines its personality. Stiffness, reliability, simplicity should then be the attributes of the material used in this case. Economics are usually also driving the choice of a particular material over another, but as this is some sort of a dream project, we'll stay pretty vague and just say that that a thermoplastic is the most appropriate material for this kind of object.
The last track chosen in the form factors part of the project was born considering the portability of the object, and the answer was to give a rounded shape to the object so it would be adapted to be carried in pant pockets for example. Materials can also respond to the considered context and induce a solution. At least it's what happened here when I realized that in the objects that I carry around, a lot of them use leather : my bag, wallet, notebook,... Personal taste is of course involved, but leather reaches the attributes cited above, is soft on touch and shape, gets nicer when it gets older, smells good and speaks of good craft by its own. A cell phone made of leather first got me to think of these oh so nice phone cases with a belt clip, but it sure could be better than this. Anyhow, the leather track was on.
Next
Labels: cellphone, communication, phone, project, tech
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