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The user

Inspiration

T3 the gadget magazine had grown increasingly frustrated with the quality and experience being offered by the various mobile phones that they were being sent to review. In response they got together with TheAlloy to create a concept for the ultimate mobile phone taking on board current industry best practice and incorporating feedback of thousands of T3 readers.

To satisfy today’s convergence trends the phone had to fulfil many functions: voice music camera/video email web GPS and gaming. This led TheAlloy to create a unique interaction concept reflecting the need to simplify the user experience of doing many things on one device.

TheAlloy created a completely new interface concept for the 01 Phone – which is unlike anything else available on a mobile phone or portable multimedia device. It is this concept that is being entered into the MEX Design Awards.

Offering the ultimate in style and usability the 01 Phone is targeted at the 30+ style conscious technologically aware affluent early adopter who uses a broad range of mobile applications and services. It will appeal to those who may have tried many device options but been satisfied with none. Whilst this is likely to be a reasonable expensive device - the 500000 worldwide readers of T3 have the income and desire to spend money on technology to enhance their lifestyle. This demographic drives the overall look and feel of the 01 Phone concept.

Ultimately the target audience for the user interface is anyone who wants to use their mobile phone to do more in a more intuitive and user friendly way than allowed before. It is a phone that allows for older eyes and clumsier fingers as much as for the younger touch screen savvy generation. In this respect the 01 User Interface has significant cross over value and broad appeal that could be applied within any multi functioned mobile handset or multi media device.

The experience

Human interaction is critical to the success of mobile experiences, and often where current phones let people down. The 01 Phone design addresses the real needs of users interacting with a multi functioned device. At the core of this concept is a completely new user interface that is embedded into a tactile, rubberised sliding keyboard that is uniquely context sensitive.

Research shows that full screen QWERTY solutions remain popular, but are an imperfect interface for many modern mobile applications. On touch screens, there was a strong need to improve the accuracy of input, as well providing ‘feel-forward’ and ‘feedback’, which currently fall well short of user demands. Also, users report issues with the smudging and smearing of the screen, with the latest mobiles described as “needing more rubbing than Aladdin’s lamp!” TheAlloy has long been a proponent of dual screen solutions, one for input, one for viewing, but it became apparent that the input screen required significant additional consideration.

The physical aspect of the keyboard combines a transparent tactile button layer fitted over and protecting a bright OLED capacitive touch screen. OLED touch screens guarantee clarity and extended battery life, whilst the tactile layer offers screen protection, feel forward, haptic feedback and a significantly more comfortable experience when using the keyboard.

The key aspect of the 01 Phone user interface is the uniquely context sensitive graphical user interface that underlies the tactile ‘button’ layer. When sliding open the keyboard, the user sees the full transparent QWERTY keyboard, this keyboard then changes depending on the phone mode selected from the main menu. This means that each phone application has a completely unique and appropriate set of controls – all utilising the tactile button matrix. This concept dispenses with complex multifunction keys, and the complete dependence on sometimes inaccessible touch screen technologies – to create a unique and compelling user experience.

Choice is key with the 01 Phone concept. If the user prefers – all applications will also function completely via the main touch screen – the slide out keyboard can be used just for those applications where it is most preferred.

Taking the gaming interface as an example, on launching a mobile game on the handset, the interface will intelligently switch to Game Mode and the keyboard reflect a more familiar and dedicated control interface, with direction and action buttons clearly defined and distanced from the start/select/home buttons. Such a gamer friendly layout delivers on the aspirations of our target users who are traditionally irritated by the poor control options on mobile phones when it comes to playing, for example, popular, fast paced, arcade style action gaming.

“The 01 phone not only looks beautiful, it brilliantly addresses many of our readers’ desires for their ultimate mobile phone. We created the 01 Phone to challenge the industry to deliver better; we believe we have the design for a worthy market-leading handset.”
Michael Brook, Editor, T3 Magazine