Videos: Windows Phone Controlled Bubbles UI desktop of the future?

@Chansearrington tweeted this post from engadget a couple of weeks back. It’s quite interesting actually.

It includes a couple of videos from Microsoft Research showing the future of computers which are becoming more invisible to us as they appear in more places around us. Computers it seems will be taking the work from us. It’ll be much more intuitive to accept more natural interactions that cut learning curves that would essentially bring benefit of computing and connecting billions more people.

The second video shows Windows Phone controlling a desktop bubbles interface. We’ve seen bubbles UI on MeeGo devices, we’ve got it in Beta Labs for Symbian^3 handsets – some guffawed at the practicality of having bubbles oriented user interfaces but Microsoft seem to be spending some time on it. Their version takes all your information and presents them in a “bigger bubbles = more important” context. You can react to certain bubbles which can predict how the whole interface might look like if you alter a certain aspect of it, analysing for example, your calendar for that added intuition.

From the first video

Computers becoming invisible. They’re not in things we call computers any more – called something else. If we want to bring the benefits of computing to billions more people and in many other parts of their lives. we’ve got to make it easier for them – get rid of the learning curve. Many of these advances we call natural user interaction are a move in that direction. What’s really gonna happen now with more powerful computers an integrated information, is work on our behalf and not work at our best. Computers further advance productivity at work and help arrange increasingly complicated and connected world in a much more orderly way. MS is in a geat position to advance this. Kinect sensor is one example where we’re bringing all these technologies together, making the computer a lot more like we are in the way we interact with it.

Looking ahead

Bubbles

via Engadget – tweeted by @chansearrington

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I think I find the Kinect/MS surface stuff a little more appealing (more so because it’s here now). Imagine if somehow Microsoft took MS surface…to tablets?

MS seem to be slowly building up their ecosystem one post at a time that doesn’t necessarily follow the “Me too” brigade. Kinect is different way of controlling games, beyond controllers, simple cameras and motion sensors. Windows Phone is a totally revamped UI that has switched the current grid interfaces to more task based contextual panoramic UI. The OS and parts of the UI still needs some work, tweaking here and there but there’s good foundation to build upon.

Seems to be a pattern of providing a ‘real’ alternative on what the competition provides. Will it pay off? For Nokia’s sake it better do. Windows 7, Windows Phone 7, XBox, Kinect, Zune (to be renamed as what?), Office…
On the topic of Windows 7: This is a very good post at understanding what the Windows Phone UI/UX is all about. I might focus/highlight this on this in a future post. It does seem to come from very pro, pro Windows eyes (it is a Windows ‘fan’ site). Having said that, the guy seems to use iPhone as main phone. :S

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/mobile-and-wireless2/windows-phone-key-themes-part-1-metro.aspx

…This design focus also works to further emphasize Microsoft’s point that a Windows Phone is not a tiny PC, as were all previous Windows Mobile, Pocket PC, and Windows CE devices. This is a new way of looking at the phone, something even the apps-driven iPhone and Android devices don’t provide….

Somewhat sharing what MeeGo was about. It’s not Phone UI into Tablet. It’s specific interfaces for specific types of interaction. Essentially, they key to Windows Phone interaction is not about being identical to the competition. But (hopefully) this doesn’t mean being different for the sake of it.

Anyway, I’ll cut this short for now as I have other stuff to finish. But definitely something I want to discuss again as it discusses the ideals of Windows Phone user experiences – the core aspects behind the design. Perhaps after I’ve done my impression of Windows Phone eh?

Category: MeeGo, Nokia, Rant, Video, Windows Phone