The Desired Interface of Phones

This is a sudden spur of interest to blog about me knowledge on mobile phones, in IMM's McDonalds lol.

I must say, getting the Sony Ericsson P1i was probably me most anticipated purchase this year, whilst it was the NewUrbanMale bag for 2007. Well frankly, I didn't even considered the P1i previously; most of the forums I frequented had great impressions of the PDA phone, but as said, "PDA phone" - never really considered a PDA phone as quite affordable by meself.

Definitions

Just a few definitions before I gets on with filling you the onslaught of technical stuff (geeky stuff lol).

OS: Operating system, the backbone of anything related computer, e.g., Mac OS X, Windows.

PDA phone: Phones that, (a) sport a touch-screen interface, operated with a stylus or finger, (b) runs on an OS that permits installation of third-party applications, like on a desktop or laptop.

Symbian OS: An operating system for phones; owned by Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola. Symbian OS requires an interface layer, like UIQ or S60.

iPhone OS: An operating system for Apple Inc. designed iPhone, only available to iPhone, probably the best interface out there currently.

Windows Mobile: An operating system for phones; by Microsoft, probably the worst interface out in the market currently.

UIQ: An interface layer for Symbian OS; owned by Sony Ericsson and Motorola.

S60: An interface layer for Symbian OS; owned by Nokia.

Firmware: The blood of the phone, very essential.

The interface

The most contentious nature embedded in me when getting a phone, is how toot I am on interfaces; I avoid phones with interfaces that are cmi. From 2004-2006, I tried Windows Mobile (a mobile phone operating system by Microsoft), which:

a: the interface was so laggy that sometimes, no user experience can be experienced,

b: interface looks like feces,

c: it was difficult to modify, or I was too new to the platform during those days.

Below are pictures of the interface I worked on in 2006 (pre-U 1).

^ Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 desktop (left), my first PDA phone, hp iPaq rw6828 (centre), inside the Windows interface (right). Butt ugly eh? I know lol.

I sold my hp rw6828 in September 2006, and bought a iPod 30GB instead (haha). Admittedly, I was using another PDA/smartphone before I got the rw6828 in June 2006 - Nokia 3250, which run on Symbian OS 9.1, S60 3rd edition.

That may sounds gibberish to you, Symbian OS is a major operating system for phones, that is run on most PDA/smartphone today, controlling 65% market share in the global phone OS , compared to 12% of Windows Mobile. Symbian OS runs on:

The only thing different between a Nokia and SE/Motorola Symbian phone, is that Nokia uses the S60 interface layer, while SE/Moto uses the UIQ interface layer, which looked entirely different.

^ Symbian OS 9.2, UIQ 3.1 (left - Motorola RIZR Z8), Symbian OS 9.1, S60 3rd edition (right - Nokia 3250)

The most significant similarity that struck between an UIQ and S60 device, is that when you receive documents via bluetooth, it will save right into your mail inbox, instead of your phone or flash memory. It will be a bitch if your friends decided to show their entire photo album of more than 50 files, all of which you will have to save into your phone painstakingly, one by one.

Usability and the priced interface

Me first brush with a mobile phone that runs on an identifiable operating system, was the Motorola MPx200 (left), running Windows Smartphone 2002, in December 2004. I began a passion for mobile phone operating system, without any prior experience with a smartphone, or the OS platform. I call myself a "perfectionistic" graphic designer, since 2000, and that means that I am easily, an interface fanatic, and constantly tries to improve the graphical user interface (GUI) of computer systems around me. I tried replacing the default theme used in MPx200, and even tried to replace the boot image of the Windows OS in it lol.

It wasn't a practical chore to do; replacing the theme, which was a considerably difficult task in the archaic Windows Mobile system, did not bring about any significant advantages, it didn't improve the performance. But it was aesthetically approving, which matters the world for a graphic designer, erm, I mean perfectionist.

The first thing a new MPx200 user realise, is how user-unfriendly it is; a smartphone that runs on the priced Windows OS, was widely considered to be exclusive to full-fledged IT geeks, who have nothing better to do, other than plunging money on a phone, that is apparently nothing more different than an inferior Siemens phone. In 2005, my last year in secondary school, I spent most of time with me GCE O Level Art & Design coursework, me DSLR equipments, and the Moto MPx200 lol. No time was spared for me other academic studies at all. (Dumbass)

Running the Windows Smartphone 2002 means that I can install 3rd party applications on the phone, which realistically, was awfully lacking in 2004-2006, especially when Microsoft decided to be a bastard (since when they are not? After all, Windows was stolen from Apple Inc.), and release new OS versions that officially made my phone the most outdated shit on the market.

April 2006, I was a nooby student in Millennia Institute, on a fine occasion before arriving the depilated Toh Tuck Road Palace, I lost my MPx200 in SMRT 77A. It was the single worst experience, MPx200 being the phone that I wanted truly. But immediately, I began another journey on a different operating system platform: Symbian OS.

Symbian OS and the underlings

Symbian OS holds almost monopolistic powers (65% marketshare) in the mobile operating system market, extensively marketed by Nokia. I purchased the Nokia 3250 (left) in April 2006, which runs on Symbian OS 9.1, S60 3rd edition. Let me make it easy for you, on what the whole string of technical terms meant:

Symbian OS 9.1: Refers to the operating system that the phone runs;

S60 3rd edition: Refers to the interface that the Symbian OS uses; S60 is entirely owned by Nokia, so the interface became a signature of Nokia smartphones

User experience with Symbian OS was entirely different, for one, Symbian OS 9.1 is much more updated to interface technologies, and looked much more sleeker, compared to Windows Mobile. The down point about S60 interface is that, it looked pretty much like a generic Nokia device, just more customisable; it supported the installation of 3rd party applications.

While that's said, Symbian OS was far more stable than any other conventional operating system out there, partially because it was developed by the 3 major phone competitive rivals: Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia.

Application installers are files with .sis acronym, so it was pretty straightforward; to install a new software on your Windows desktop, you double-click on the .exe file, so for Symbian OS, to install a new software, open up the .sis file. That's all. Unlike on the archaic Windows Mobile platform, this was straightforward, and that holds true even today, on most of new UIQ and S60 devices, like the Nokia N series and Sony Ericsson high-end devices.

The snag is, applications for Symbian OS was too lacking like nobody's business. Just before I was settled with Symbian, I received an irresistible opportunity: my new workplace offered me a Windows Mobile PDA phone - hp iPAQ rw6828.

Back to Windows Mobile

Actually, I was courting misery when I decided to go back to Windows with the iPAQ (left). The reason of the move, was because the iPAQ offered a better solution to push e-mail and corporate communications, which was obviously lacking in me Nokia 3250.

The iPAQ was a touch-screen device with no physical keypad at all, which made typing of SMSs and e-mail a freaking bite in the arse. Imagine having need to retrieve the stylus from the PDA constantly, just because I need to read some messages. It was physically impossible to use finger for text input, mainly because the archaic Windows Mobile 5 that it runs, had such an inferior interface, that every icons and buttons are so tiny, I can only use the stylus to tap on it, me fingers were too fat. (sad...)

As usual, I began almost immediately to find 3rd party applications to spice up the phone. It was probably just 2 weeks into using the phone, that I find meself using a PDA phone that was quite the slowest feces on earth. It was lagging constantly, perhaps the huge amount of apps I installed and the uncleared messages; it slows down me workpace considerably, that I decided to do a master reset.

Which I performed almost 5 times from June 2006 to September 2006 alone. Not only so, the device freezes frequently, especially during voice call or when the WiFi was activated. I received a free GPS bluetooth dongle to couple with the iPAQ, which enabled me to receive realtime GPS data. That was at times, quite inaccurate and unreliable. I was told by the device that I was in Johore, Malaysia, when I am standing outside Sheng Siong Supermarket of Woodlands Centre.

September 2006, I decided it was too much to tolerate, and sold the iPAQ and bought an iPod instead lol. Not like it was anything related, but because I was going to buy the MacBook Pro during that period, so push e-mail and other tools became less immediate to me, which I can use the Mac to retrieve via Wireless@SG whenever necessary.

Dumbstruck and persisting with Symbian OS

I returned back to using me Nokia 3250, which after all, is a reliable device that still serve me well today, after more than 2 years of wear and tear. For the entire span of September 2006 to May 2007, I was entirely reliant on the Symbian device.

May 2007, I received the Nokia N95. N95 was running on the Symbian OS 9.2, S60 release 3.1. I brought the N95 to Pre-University Seminar 2007 and NUS Singapore Model United Nations 2007, where I tested most of its capabilities: WiFi, push e-mail, corporate server communications and most of all, the messaging, telephony and photographic qualities. N95 was one the earliest 5 megapixel camera phone, which now, starts another contention for me to explain to you.

In the world of photography, packing more megapixels to your camera does not make it a better camera than one with lesser megapixels. Megapixels just tells you how much imaging sensor elements there are on your camera. That said, a 5MP camera on N95 will definitely be inferior to me old 3MP Canon D30, because of the external capabilities that me DSLR is capable of: Mounting a different lens for different settings and purpose, mounting of an external flash unit for a pleasing capture, and definitely, mounting my DSLR on a tripod for a long-exposure shot, which is entirely impossible on the N95 5MP camera.

So the next time you get a camera phone, don't just get cheated by the number of megapixels, because if it's camera phone, chances are, the camera sucks. Surprisingly though, N95's camera was not that entirely bad at all. Below are some demonstration photos (click to enlarge):

So it performed rather well for me, just that, the slider etch was too shaky and flimsy, that I had no faith in it to withstand me rough handling. I decided to return it and go back with me Nokia 3250, again. Lol.

Petrified, angered, but at last, Sony Ericsson

In March 2008, I decided that I needed a replacement for me ageing Nokia 3250. The battery had swell up, housing depilated, it was due for retirement. But like I told you in the beginning of this post, I am such a toot that I can never find a good enough replacement for meself. June 2007, iPhone was released in United States, and I enshrined it as the only phone I will ever want.

I bought the iPod Touch 8GB with my lovely donkey Anita in February 2008 though lol. And soon enough, I was all too familiar with the iPhone OS and decided that I don't really need an iPhone per se, since the functionality are still pretty restricted and worst of all, iPhone is locked to carriers, which means, when it is launched in August here, chances are iPhone will be locked to SingTel, and feces, I just signed a 2 year contract with SingTel, which set me back till after NS. Shit heads.

March 2008, I signed a plan with M1 and got the Sony Ericsson W910i. W910i runs on a proprietary operating system, which essentially means, its locked, which meant that it was impossible to load 3rd party applications native to the OS, to install. It only supported Java apps, which are slow at times on this laggy device. Worst of all, it cannot display the agenda view on the home screen, which means I cannot see the list of appointments or tasks I have for the day. And that sucked alot, although the great Walkman Player and games apps on it compensated limitedly, that lost.

Interface on the W910i was however, the prettiest I had ever used. Everything was designed meticulously. This phone permits the use of Flash enabled themes with Flash lite! Which menus and home screen backgrounds are animated, and look absolutely superb, nothing like the boring all Nokia OS interface, or S60.

Although some of the shortcomings on this phone are fatal. The slider mechanism of W910 was too flimsy, giving the impression that the phone build quality was inferior. It was highly fashionable, but the build quality left much to be desired for. Now the fatal shortcoming: The slider design have serious flaw such as unsecured openings when the slider is up, allowing dust or water to settle inside the mainboard of the phone, causing stupid shits like erosion.

I sent me W910i for servicing in early May 2008, and the shit-filled accented service personnel told me that my W910i have severe erosion within the phone, and me warranty is voided. After just 2 months of usage! Worst of all, my peril was nothing to this service personnel, and he was so apathetic, that I signed the shit forms and left hastily.

UIQ, trust me, I enshrined it now

Just days before our half-year anniversary, my lovely donkey and I sold the W910i (lol), and on 19 May 2008, I was the happiest donkey on earth. It was the day we celebrated our half-year anniversary, and also, we bought the Sony Ericsson P1i (left)!

The P1i is a convergence device which marries the functionality of both a smartphone and PDA phone; it comes with a full-fledged touch-screen, and a full QWERTY keyboard, which what I always wanted. It runs on the Symbian OS 9.1, UIQ 3.0 interface. By 2008, there were plenty of 3rd party applications for Symbian OS, and no lack of free, open-source softwares to try out on the phone.

Something about P1i bothers me tremendously though. P1i that are sold in Singapore are Chinese-characters enabled, which meant that the firmware used had awful looking fonts. Fonts used in Chinese-characters enabled firmwares are in unicode, which means apart from being capable of displaying latin alphabets, it can display cyrillic alphabets (used in Russian), East Asian characters (Chinese, Japanese and Korean). Packing so many different alphabets and characters into the fonts sacrificed the aesthetic looks of the font: It was rough and pixelated. Below is an illustration.

So, its Sliv all over again lol. I set out to find the best way to work around this font (or typography) issue. I found out after days of endless searching and reading and studying the UIQ structure, that the only way to get smooth, anti-aliased fonts, is to flash the Singapore firmware in my P1i, to the World firmware, used in European states. It was a risky business, mainly it was not advisable for computer illiterate, due to the programming knowledge required, and difficulty curve of learning to flash a firmware.

And the result is:

I didn't stop there, I was unsatisfied by the default Sony Ericsson font, so I replaced it with Helvetica Neue Condensed (which is what you saw in the screenshot above). I installed GDesk, an open-source application for Symbian OS, to replace the generic homescreen. Let me show you what it does to my homescreen.

Now I am satisfied with the new interface, the screenshot of the homescreen of me P1i today (above right), show you the endless capabilities of a Symbian OS phone, except maybe limited only by your imaginations. I changed the icons, remove the Operator signature (SGP-M1-3GSM) and added a shortcut to SMS my lovely donkey, which is a picture of her at the top right corner lol.

Now that the transformation is complete, let me show you just 2 comparisons between the original UIQ 3 interface and the one I am using today:

So you shall conclude which is better eh. For me, what I have today is of course, still not enough. I am still hopeful that one day Sony Ericsson will wake up and provide us, P1i users, a new firmware with new operating system with new interface lol.

So this conclude me "brief" article on mobile phone operating system. I hope the analysis outlined help you to understand what Symbian OS, Windows Mobile and iPhone OS meant. Leave me a note if you wish to add on to what I have, or suggest any revision.

Next time when you buy a new mobile phone, go and research about the internal OS before you make a decision, enjoy!