News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
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Nokia has turned in its proposal for the user interface in Symbian^4, with the goal of developing an interface that can compete with the iPhone and Google’s Android OS.
The proposal was turned in to the Symbian Foundation on Friday, and will now undergo open evaluation, according to a blog post.
Symbian ^4—which will show up on smartphones in the beginning of 2011, according to the Symbian Developer Web site—will have a new user interface, according to the Symbian Foundation.
Improvements include minimising user prompts, autosaving features to reduce save commands, the same look-and-feel for all applications and a new interface layout, according to Nokia’s proposal.
Nokia previewed the next-generation Symbian user interface.The interface
will have four main views: contacts, music, photos and applications,
according to Nokia. Users will be able to create shortcuts, placed on
the home screen, to access specific content items or collections, Nokia
wrote.
Context-based menus, which will be accessed using a long press, will provide faster access to common commands, according to Nokia.
Another look at the next-generation Symbian interface
Nokia’s CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has openly admitted that Symbian’s user interface needs to improve and is convinced his company and the Symbian community are up to the task. By the end of next year Symbian’s user interface will be a non-issue, Kallasvuo said at Nokia’s Capital Markets Day in December.
Prior to the arrival of Symbian^4 the Symbian Foundation will put out versions 2 and 3, which will also feature user interface improvements.
Symbian^2, which is the first open version of the Symbian platform, will, for example, have a customisable home screen.
Symbian^3 will use single taps throughout the touch-based user interface — no more tap to select, then tap again to action — and feature multitouch gesture support, according to the Symbian Developer Web site.
Smartphones based on version 2 and 3 will arrive during the first and second half of 2010, according to a Symbian Foundation road map.
As I type these words, I am waiting for Apple's Developer Connection web site to ease up sufficiently for me to download the long-awaited Software Developer Kit for the iPhone (and iPod touch, just by the by). In a way, I hate developer-oriented announcements — "here's a really cool thing we're working on, and it's available now, and hoi polloi can have it in about six months". Actually, it's the six months I hate.
Matthew JC. Powell | Mar 7, 2008
This morning Apple released a new version of its iPhone SDK for developers. iPhone SDK beta 2 includes Interface Builder, a component of Apple’s development tools that lets developers create the interface for their applications. That seems to be the only major change in the latest build, according to the SDK’s read me, which continues to list some known issues. Apple says “this second beta is known to be incompatible with installation folders other than the default /Developer.” Given the importance of UI on the Mac, Interface Builder is a pretty critical tool in the development process, and some developers had chosen to hold off on their efforts until the SDK was revised. Apple unveiled the iPhone SDK at a special event earlier this month, allowing developers to begin building applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. Several high-profile companies have already jumped onboard, demoing their applications at the event. Highlighting the demos was AOL with a native AIM client; other applications from Electronic Arts, Salesforce.com, and Apple were also shown.
jim dalrymple and Dan Moren | Mar 28, 2008
We don't normally run rumour stories in AMW, but this one's getting a bit too loud to be dismissed as rumbling. The Apple reseller "grapevine" has been abuzz this morning, with numerous sources now telling AMW that the iPhone will be released at the end of June or the beginning of July. While there has been no official public announcement from Apple yet, it is believed that the company has briefed its resellers on more detailed plans. Among the other tidbits: no network will have exclusivity and any Apple reseller — not just telecommunication resellers or Apple-owned stores -- will be able to sell it.
Matthew JC. Powell | Apr 9, 2008
Vodafone has made an iPhone announcement, telling Australia that it will be selling the iPhone in Australia, New Zealand and eight other countries. The release says nothing about 3G, exclusivity, timing or anything else, really — will Voda be the only carrier? And if so, what will it be carrying? And when?
Anthony Caruana | May 6, 2008
App Store developers will now be able to reach customers in 13 new countries, according to an announcement on the iPhone Developer Program news page.
