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Designing smarter phones–Marko Ahtisaari (Nokia) and Albert Shum (Microsoft)
Including Joe Belfiore’s “Building a different kind of UI” talk as well (for completeness): see that in the very end.
Marko Ahtisaari interview: Nokia Senior VP of Design [The Verge, Oct 31, 2011]
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… the fact that he finds such harmony with Albert Shum’s Metro UI demonstrates the synergy that exists between Microsoft’s and Nokia’s design teams. As Marko explains while gesturing to his beloved Lumia 800, “What struck me so much is that when we got together, and looked at design principles that went into Metro, the design principles that went into this design language — it’s nearly identical, slightly different words. So great teams think alike.”
Nevertheless, Marko’s clear that innovation in the phone industry “isn’t done yet,” reminding me that it took 15 years for the automobile industry to standardize on the steering wheel as the dominant interface. While voice interaction like Apple’s Siri is an important development in the humane machine interface, Marko’s near-term interest is improving “design on the glass” via “sloppier gestures” that allow users to do something without requiring their full attention. He’s also exploring off-the-glass gestures, calling it a “key area where we’ll continue to innovate.” “The prototypes already exist,” he reassured me with a glint in his eye.
Suggested preliminary reading:
– Nokia to enter design pattern competition for 2011 smartphones with MeeGo [Dec 9, 2010]
– Nokia N9 UX [?Swipe?] on MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan [June 24 – Oct 27, 2011]
– Nokia Lumia (Windows Phone 7) value proposition [Oct 26, 2011]
Albert Shum on the Design of Windows Phone 7 [Feb 16, 2011]
Windows Phone Designer Seeks the Right Balance [Microsoft Feature Story for the press, Feb 16, 2010]
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Before joining Microsoft two and half years ago, Shum met with J Allard, chief experience officer in the company’s Entertainment & Devices division, and Don Coyner, general manager of Microsoft’s Entertainment Experience Group. They talked about using design as a way to not just create new mobile experiences, but also to help shift the culture at Microsoft.
“The tone was, ‘Let’s mix some folks from Nike, from the entertainment world, and from the technology world and start thinking differently about how we design, build and launch products,’” Shum says.
The first result of that new approach is Windows Phone 7 Series, a new mobile experience that’s designed for a life in motion, Shum says. The new user interface aims to connect content from the Web, applications, and services into one simple experience. “It presents a way to navigate and interact with the things you care about. That’s really the new fresh start we’re bringing to Windows phone.”
According to Shum it took an open, diverse team to look out across Microsoft’s various entertainment offerings and bring them all together into the new mobile experience. The key to connecting the dots was to stay focused on the consumer.
“You know, everybody says simple is the new awesome,” Shum says. “OK, make it simple. But also make it emotional and relevantfor the consumer.”
That’s what the design, engineering and business teams set out to do with Windows Phone 7 Series, he says. Shum hopes consumers see that personal connection right from the revamped Start page.
Dynamic icons called “live tiles” display real-time content from users’ contacts and applications. The tiles are gateways to “hubs” of the content consumers care most about: people and social networking, pictures, games, music and videos, their workplace, and an application marketplace.
“We took the idea of making it personal so when you look at it with the Start experience, it’s all your content, it’s all your people, it’s all your pictures, it’s all your music,” Shum says. “I think that’s really a key part – that personalized way of navigating the things that you care about, the things that you want to share, the things you want to listen to.”
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Metro Design Language of Windows Phone 7 [Microsoft Tutorial, Dec 10, 2010]
Metro Design Language of Windows Phone 7
Metro is the name of the new design language created for the Windows Phone 7 interface. When given the chance for a fresh start, the Windows Phone design team drew from many sources of inspiration to determine the guiding principles for the next generation phone interface. Sources included Swiss influenced print and packaging with its emphasis on simplicity, way-finding graphics found in transportation hubs and other Microsoft software such as Zune, Office Labs and games with a strong focus on motion and content over chrome.
Not only has the new design language enabled a unique and immersive experience for users of Windows Phone 7; it has also revitalized third party applications. The standards that have been developed for Metro provide a great baseline, for designers and developers alike. Those standards help them to create successful gesture-driven Windows Phone 7 experiences built for small devices.
Guiding Principles of the Design Language
There a few core concepts of the Metro design language which we’ll outline here. Each concept, or guiding principle, contributes to the look and feel of the whole system as well as the layout and frequency of elements used within the interface.
What’s covered in this video:
- Design inspiration for Metro
- Guiding principles of the Metro design language
- Examples of each principle in action
[clickable in the original]
Principles of Design
Typography. Type is beautiful. Not only is it attractive to the eye, but it can also be functional. The right balance of weight and positioning can create a visual hierarchy. Additionally, well placed type can help lead you to more content.
Motion is what brings the interface to life. Transitions are just as important as graphical design. By developing a consistent set of motions or animations, a system is created that provides context for usability, extra dimension and depth and improves the perceived performance of the whole interface.
Content not Chrome is one of the more unique principles of Metro. By removing all notions of extra chrome in the UI, the content becomes the main focus. This is especially relevant due to the smaller screen size and gesture-based interactions.
Honesty. Design explicitly for the form factor of a hand held device using touch, a high resolution screen and simplified and expedited forms of interaction. In other words, be “authentically digital”.
Unique Components of the Interface
Following the guiding principles of Metro, the Windows Phone design team has come up with more than a few unique interface components. In this section you will see different Windows Phone 7 UI components in action.
What’s covered in this video:
- Fonts, colors and themes
- Interface navigation components
- Application level components
Signature Examples of Motion
At this point, you have seen examples of the signature animations in Metro. In this section, you will see each animation singled out, allowing you to see how the system of interactions is created and how the motions adhere to the guiding principles. Not only will this continue to illustrate the Metro design language but it will also help you design your use of motion in your own applications.
What’s covered in this video:
- Taking a look at interface level animations such as Live Tiles
- Application level animations such as Swivel and Zoom
Conclusion
In this lesson, an overview of the design language of Windows Phone 7 was provided. After a brief background, the guiding principles were explained and examples of the principles in action were given. You were also given a look at the unique interface and application level components and the signature animations that comprise the Windows Phone 7 interface.
Nokia World 2011 Panel Discussion: Designing smarter phones [NokiaConversations, Nov 8, 2011 [upload date]]
Designing Smarter Phones [Steve Litchfield, David Gilson, All About Windows Phone, Nov 2, 2011]
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Marko Ahtisaari …
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He [Marko Ahtisaari] described the design “as a reductionist process, leaving only what was absolutely needed“.
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He went on to explain that just because the design process strips away all unnecessary elements, the result doesn’t have to be “de-humanising”. Things can always be reduced in such a way that they still feel natural, rather than “artificial and impersonal”. This is certainly reflected in the N9/Lumia 800, with its gently curved back and front glass.
Even though the design is stripped down to bare essentials, it isn’t boring to look at. Marko elucidated to the audience how the design looks very different from various angles. From the front or back, it’s a hard rectangle. However, the back has a “complex pillow-like curvature“, whilst the sides are semi-cylindrical. The curved glass screen complements the curvature by blending in smoothly with the body.
Marko went on to describe how the polycarbonate uni-body required “extreme product making”, and that it was not at all easy to manufacture. There was a lot of attention to the craftsmanship involved, and that each process was “extraordinary”. For those who don’t know, the body of each N9 and Lumia 800 is made from a single piece of polycarbonate, which is precisely milled to the required shape. There is a great deal of attention to ensure that no production marks are left on the body. He also commented that the final assembly (which is done by hand) was like “putting a ship in a bottle”.
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Albert Shum…
… started by telling the audience that even though the partnership was only eight months old, “both teams have worked together very well“. He explained how each had introduced itself to the other by summarising its core values. Both groups soon saw that those values “aligned very well“, as shown below.
Common design valuesAlbert discussed the design principles of Windows Phone, citing the line “People First“, as we’d heard several times from Joe Belfiore; and matching with Nokia’s “Connecting People” value. He also explained that Microsoft has conducted lots of case studies, which enabled it to build four archetypal “personas”for which it is designing Windows Phone.
Another common value between the two teams is “craftsmanship“, balancing the needs of science and art. An example of this was working with Nokia to optimise the touch screen drivers for individual handsets.
Albert talked briefly about how important typography was to Windows Phone. It has to be “artistic, yet facilitate finding information quickly“. …
In-depth checking of typography in Windows PhoneAlbert then reflected Marko’s reductionist point of view. He stated that the Windows Phone development studio believes in “Content, not chrome“. Furthermore, a design philosophy that his studio finds useful is, “You’re never done with a design until you’ve removed all you don’t need“. Therefore, a lot of the Windows Phone design process has been removing and simplifying elements. This is reflected in the set of Windows Phone icons, which was shown on the slide below.
The Windows Phone 7 icon setAlbert finished by discussing how Microsoft is trying to improve the Windows Phone ecosystem. One way is to “bring diversity to its services and applications“. Of course, he cited the software and services that are exclusive to Nokia as a way of doing this. The team are also looking ahead to other opportunities for expanding Windows Phone. To illustrate this, he showed a chart with phones, tablets, televisions and other nondescript devices.
Discussion
After both had given their speeches, they sat down for a discussion about their views on user interface (UI) design. Marko opened with his view that UIs should allow people to have their “heads up again“, rather than down in their phones. This is the idea that UIs should give you quick glanceable information, rather than having you tap through applications. He believes that Live Tiles are a good way of achieving this, because information “bubbles up”when you need it.
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Both of the designers agreed that Windows Phones need to be tried before you buy one. Albert made the analogy that you “wouldn’t buy a car without trying it first“.
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They wrapped up the discussion by echoing Joe Belfiore‘s comment, that the Metro UI grid is a consistent way to present information to the user in each “Scene”. The mention of Scenes was the real piece of new information here. It turns out that this is the term given to the section of the UI that is currently on screen. One can think of an application page as a panorama, and we drag horizontally from scene to scene within the panorama.
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Positive impressions: HTC Radar and Nokia Lumia 800 [Tero Lehto from Espoo [but not Nokia related], Nov 20, 2011, ]
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The second Windows Phone 7.5 smartphone I played with is the highly anticipated Nokia Lumia 800. Microsoft held two events, Hello Helsinki for consumers and TechNet for developers and IT pros. There I had the chance to try Lumia 800, but just for about one hour, in two sessions. Even though Lumia 800 does not yet bring anything very special to the Windows Phone platform, I have to say it’s absolutely the best looking and feeling Windows Phone device so far. It’s almost as great piece of art as Nokia N9, and somewhat even better.
Lumia 800 has got very good reviews online. Many have written it’s probably the best smartphone Nokia has ever done. Of course, it’s good to note Americans haven’t got most of Nokia’s smartphones to the United States, and it seems they never got used to Symbian. Nokia N9 (MeeGo) is not shipping there either.
Lumia 800 has the same kind of nice polycarbonate chassis as N9, which means a special quality of plastic. In this case plastic is not a bad thing, because the device feels very robust and sturdy. And the material enables having very vivid colours of cyan, magenta and black. And if you scratch the device, the colour surface should remain the same, because all of the plastic material has been painted. The last argument is from Nokia, I haven’t actually seen that in real life yet.
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Looking at hardware specifications, Nokia Lumia 800 is not the best WP Mango device available. HTC and Samsung have models with front cameras for video calls. HTC Titan also boasts an impressive 4,7 inch screen and faster Qualcomm Snapdragon 1,5 GHz processor.
I was disappointed to note Lumia 800 uses the same, very modest standard camera application of the Windows Phone platform. As mobile cameras are Nokia’s core know-how, I would have expected them to shine in this areawith the same kind of an application we’ve seen on MeeGo and Symbian. I took a few pictures live at the event, but I couldn’t figure the image quality based on that yet. However, in those dim light conditions the result did not look as good as what I’ve used to with N8 and N9 based on what I saw on the screen.
It’s clear Nokia can do a lot better than what Lumia 800 shows, and fortunately they are already working on this. I got to meet Albert Shum from Microsoft at the same event. He is the man responsible for the Metro UI of the Windows Phone platform. Shum told they have very close co-operation with Nokia. He has described his work on this YouTube video.
Even though Shum obviously couldn’t reveal any specific new features of future Nokia device, based on the interview I’m convinced we will see more personalisation and more features specific to Nokia. The camera application and integration to other parts of the OS are important. People centric features will become even more advanced. IM and VoIP will be integratedwith Lync and Skype support. Lync should come already before the end of this year, for Skype the schedule is more uncertain.
You could possibly see where people are, what they’re doing, invite them for a coffee based on your map location, or pictures taken with the camera could be shown on your map location, et cetera.
It’s also interesting to see which features will be specific to Nokia, and which ones will become available for all the vendors. I will blog more about the interview with Albert Shum if I have time later.
Nokia World 2011: Joe Belfiore – Building a different kind of UI [NokiaConversations, Nov 8, 2011 [upload date]]
Building a different kind of UI [Steve Litchfield, David Gilson, All About Windows Phone, Oct 28, 2011]
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Joe started with the assertion that “Windows Phone is about celebrating people”, quoting core values stated by the design team:
- “People first” – your friends and loved ones (and what they’re up to) should be front and centre in the interface. Being ‘people first’ is. Joe contends, fundamentally different to iOS, Blackberry, Symbian and other mobile operating systems, which all force an “application by application” basis.
- “Celebrate me” – Joe contrasted the effortless celebration of ‘you’ to Android’s customisability, where you have to put in quite a lot of effort in terms of homescreen tweaking and configuring. In Windows Phone, an awful lot is done for you.
- “Right here, right now” – instant display of the people, events and information that you need in real time, plus an awareness of searching for things physically close ro you in real life
Metro is, as you will have observed, and as Joe contends, “completely different”. It has evolved from other things that Microsoft have done. E.g., Windows Media Centre and Zune HD, and the name comes from the idea of taking the user on a journey. And, to set that up nicely, the visual style was inspired by metropolitan transportation signs – i.e. they do what they need to do, clearly and simply, “expressing typography, without unnecessary frills”.
The same is true of Metro UI’s textual elements and iconography, with the added aim to be “artistic” – Joe showed some examples of classic and modern art based on typography. Ideas above a mobile OS user interface’s station? Pretentious? Maybe, but we can absolutely see what Joe means and the overall effect is undoubtedly very stylish.
Metro UI certainly offers a different approach to the usual grids of largely static icons, though the cheeky resizing of the phones to give one a psychological edge made us chuckle!
Also important to Metro is “motion“, whether it’s your Xbox live avatar peeking out cheekily in your live tile, the lock screen bouncing when tapped to indicate what to do, the ‘busy’ moving dots or indeed the core kinetic scrolling of all the panes and content. Joe says that “motion makes so much difference, which is why comments based on screenshots don’t represent the whole ‘picture’…” He says that “the motion helps to create an emotional connection.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Metro UI design is “getting better feedback from women and first time users”. The competing Android UI design “is like the web – it can accomodate lots of styles”. Joe defends Windows Phone in a direct comparison saying that Metro isn’t as constrained as some say and that the very consistency and the ‘airyness’ helps users, plus developers can create their own design, incorporating the Metro style without it getting in their way.
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ST-Ericsson NovaThor SoCs for future Windows Phones from Nokia
Updates: STMicroelectronics’ COO Presents at UBS Global Technology and Services Conference – Conference Call Transcript Q&A [Seeking Alpha, Nov 24, 2011]
Gareth Jenkins
Okay. Before we come on to some of the shorter term questions, I was just wondering whether you could give us an update on the 300
millionmillimeter development in Crolles and where we’re at?Didier Lamouche
So we are—to recall, the main manufacturing node at Crolles is 40 nanometer. We are, as you know, engaged deeply with our friends in IBM from here in Fishkill – IBM global foundry, Samsung to developing the next generation node. We will introduce in 2012 28 nanometer. The first chip that we will put on the market will be designed for ST-Ericsson, advanced processor and advanced modem in 28 nanometer, and we are working to get qualified and start to ramp in 20 nanometer end of next year, okay, also on those type of products. On 28 nanometer, we have other of our customer also interested by our technology in the communication infrastructure customers. A big customer from the U.S. west coast interested to our product that we will ramp out of Crolles, but not only out of Crolles – also at our foundry partners. The strategy we have on the advanced DLSI technology manufacturing is basically to manufacture one-third internally out of Crolles and two-thirds at foundry partners, and of course our preferred foundry partners are the ones who are together with us developing the base technology with IBM in Fishkill, so Samsung and Global Foundry. So that’s where we are at the moment.
Second, another key vehicle for the loading and the manufacturing in Crolles is our also imaging technology and products, which is pretty healthy at the moment.
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Unidentified Analyst
Hi there. ST-Ericsson, I often get a lot of questions on this in terms of the underperformance. Is there a time frame in the Board’s mind about sort of when it has to achieve a turnaround within the business before a different strategic view is taken of it?
Didier Lamouche
Okay, thank you for the question. I got the question a hundred times already. No, I mean, you know our strategy and our difficulties in ST-Ericsson. I’m not going to repeat again. This is a company first, the difficulty is that it’s a merger of three companies, you have to remember, that we started in 2008; and I think it was visionary at the time because we needed to create some scale and we needed to go from a model where one company was basically serving one customer to a model where we are serving multiple customers with one platform. And I’m glad to see that many of our competitors are following that path today when you see – not to name them – but Intel acquiring Infineon and Broadcom acquiring modem company—I mean—
Tait Sorensen
LTE.
Didier Lamouche
Yes. So clearly, we have done it before, so we were at that point ahead of the curve, let’s say. And it’s not easy to integrate companies together, I tell you, and essentially to streamline and form a product portfolio, and going from an ASIC to a platform model. It’s not easy. So I’m not saying we are smarter than anybody, but certainly I don’t think it will be easier for anybody else to integrate. So that’s one.
Second, clearly we were expecting to turn around faster. We’ve since now a few months we have taken additional burden in the fact that our main customer, as you know, has really lost ground rapidly in the market share – not to name them, Nokia – we don’t even report their—starting last quarter, they fell obviously below 10% of our revenue because we don’t report their share anymore of our revenue, so that tells a lot. So that has increased our level of pain, and that explains a bit why clearly it is taking much longer than what we planned.
Now going specifically to your questions, we are not ready to accept to lose $200 million a quarter for an additional five, six, seven, eight quarters. We are not. We are not. But at the same time, we have not set a date by which we say, okay, by—I don’t know, such a date we pull the plug or we do anything brutal if things are not—no. We are not in that mindset. We are in the mindset where we have a plan in place and we trigger each action of the plan depending on what is the situation. For example, last June we have decided to put in place an additional restructuring plan that was not even foreseen three months before. Why we did that? Simply because we felt that we were not meeting the roadmap that we had set to ourselves and we need to do something else. Second example is the IP licensing that we advertise in Q3, I mean last month; so we licensed some of our technology to a player on the market. That was not planned three months ago, and we decided to do that simply because we felt we needed to bring more cash in the company. So we have a series of actions – I’m not going to tell you which ones, you will see – potential actions in place that we are going to trigger, but clearly to be a bit more precise in my answer, 2012 will be a crucial year for ST-Ericsson. 2012 is the year where it needs to happen.
STMicroelectronics’ CEO Discusses Q3 2011 Results – Earnings Call Transcript Q&A [Seeking Alpha, Oct 26, 2011]
Jerome Ramel – Exane BNP Paribas
Yeah, yeah. And may be just a follow-up on capacity utilization rates specifically for Crolles 300 millimeter and would have an idea where you are today?
Philippe Lambinet
I don’t think we give Jerome we give information fab-by-fab. Clearly, the utilization is not the best, especially due to the weakness we see with ST-Ericsson and products. But, going forward I’m sure you capture the fact that ST-Ericsson has won a key design win with HTC recently, which is obviously a product which will be manufactured in – is manufactured in Crolles the 300 millimeter.
Second point is also, our Imaging product line if you look to our numbers is doing pretty well and this is the key product which is also manufactured over there. And today, without giving you a specific numbers, this is not the factory where we suffer the most, which is for the future good news because obviously this is the future products and product for future business which are manufacture over there.
European Commission nods support to STMicroelectronics’ R&D [Deb 6, 2009]
After much deliberation, the European Commission decided to allow France to grant financial support of 457 million euros to the Nano2012 R&D program in Crolles, France. Nano2012 aims at developing the next-generation process technology for many semiconductor applications. They have yet to pick a site and break ground, but they have lots of fellow collaborators like CETA-Leti, and the money is beginning to roll.
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“Increased process complexity and variability, lithography limitations, large design sizes and extreme low power add to the IC design challenges at 20 nm,” said Philippe Magarshack, group vice president at STMicroelectronics Technology Research and Development. “Through the ISDA and the DeCADE joint development program, we are working very closely with Mentor Graphics on various aspects of 20 nm design enablement. We are pleased with the Olympus-SoC integrated platform’s ability to deliver a 20 nm place and route solution with high quality of results, which we recently demonstrated on a 20 nm test chip tapeout. We consider this to be a significant milestone toward demonstrating our 20 nm readiness.”
About DeCADE
The joint-development project named DeCADE builds on advanced design solutions for SoC (System-On-Chip) development. DeCADE reinforces the Crolles cooperative R&D cluster, which gathers partners that develop and enable low-power SoCs and value-added application-specific technologies, and is a great example of a project developed within the framework of the Nano2012 program. Nano2012 is a strategic R&D program, led by STMicroelectronics, which gathers research institutes and industrial partners and is supported by French national, regional and local authorities
ST: FD-SOI for Competitive SOCs at 28nm and Beyond [Nov 18, 2011]
STMicroelectronics sees its flavor of planar FD-SOI as an excellent response to the complex needs of mobile multimedia chips.
The multi-functional system-on-chips (SOC) needed at the heart of the next generations of wireless, high-performance, low-power multimedia devices have very different needs than the mono-functional processors of the past. Traditionally, the trade-off for computers and servers has been accepting high operational voltages (Vdd) and high stand-by leakage in return for high-performance. This is obviously not an acceptable trade-off for mobile internet devices.
In a mobile world, high-performance must go hand-in-hand with low-operation Vdd and low stand-by leakage. That requires different technologies. As we approach the 20/22nm node and beyond, traditional planar-bulk technologies cannot meet these requirements. The choice comes down to either a planar fully-depleted (FD) SOI solution or a FinFET solution. At STMicroelectronics, we call our flavor of planar FD-SOI UTBB, for ultra-thin body & box. As such, it leverages SOI wafers with both ultra-thin top silicon and ultra-thin buried oxide (BOX). Where more practical, we use a hybrid SOI/bulk configuration, wherein certain devices are placed in the bulk silicon that has been exposed by etching back the insulating BOX layer.
The results we’ve obtained make UTBB a compelling option.
Designing a good SOC involves using the right blend of low-, standard- and high-threshold-voltage (Vth) devices according to the target application and how it’s being used at any given time. Our FD-SOI technology can handle multiple Vth devices and I/Os through a cost effective approach, solving challenges for low-power operation (LOP), low-standby power (LSTP) and analog and high-performance (HP) needs.
UTBB at 28nm
ST’s UTTB technology may be a good candidate even for the 28nm node, as it would provide a boost in speed before 20nm bulk technology is ready. Therefore, we have explored an industrial solution for its implementation.
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Straightforward Move to 28nm
ST has been working on FD-SOI for over 10 years. We have research programs or partnerships on 3 sites : Crolles, Leti, and IBM Albany NanoTech. We have collaborated with Soitec for wafer supply.
The key technology elements for UTBB have been demonstrated.
The move from R&D to an industrial process of 28nm FD-SOI technology is for us (and for our partners) an efficient and straightforward response to the world-wide competition. The extension of FD-SOI towards the 20nm and 14nm nodes is also in preparation with new boosters to further increase the performance growth rate.
UTBB FD-SOI promises to give STMicroelectronics a significant edge in both the near term and for years to come.
ST-Ericsson board of directors appoints Didier Lamouche as president and CEO [Nov 28, 2011]
Lamouche, chief operating officer of STMicroelectronics [since January 2011], has served on the board of ST-Ericsson since April 2011 and brings more than twenty-five years of IT and semiconductor industry experience to the role.
Lamouche replaces Gilles Delfassy [only 4 years older] after the transformation of the company’s portfolio roadmap from legacy feature phone products to leading smartphone and tablet platforms. The Company now enters a phase with prime focus on proliferating design-wins and scaling up and delivering volume, with the objective of translating its new portfolio into sustainable profitability and growth.
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Both parent companies, STMicroelectronics and Ericsson, are committed to the 50/50 joint venture and will continue to support its strategy towards industry leadership and sustainable financial return. ST-Ericsson plays an important role in Ericsson’s end-to-end strategy in a world with 50 billion connected devices and is part of ST’s vision to be a[n undisputed] leader* in multimedia convergence applications.
*[The other part of vision is to be an undisputed leader in Sense & Power applications.]Gilles Delfassy will support Lamouche, as senior advisor to the CEO, during a transition period. Didier Lamouche, while maintaining his title of ST Chief Operating Officer, will focus full time on leading ST-Ericsson.
ST-Ericsson Board of Directors appoints wireless expert Gilles Delfassy as President and CEO [Sept 2, 2009]
Delfassy, 54, is a highly-respected expert in the wireless industry. During his 28-year career at Texas Instruments, he created and built what would become, during that time, the largest wireless semiconductor business in the world. After his retirement from Texas Instruments in 2007, Delfassy became an advisor to many high-tech companies and has served on several corporate boards.
Lamouche started his career in Philips R&D before joining IBM Microelectronics in 1985, where he supervised the launch of IBM-Siemens Europe’s first DRAM 8-inch semiconductor project in Corbeil-Essonnes, France. Later, after three years as director of operations at Motorola, Lamouche rejoined IBM first in the US, then in France to lead the turnaround and strategic repositioning of the Corbeil site. He subsequently architected the creation and acted as CEO of Altis Semiconductor, a joint venture between IBM and Infineon.
In 2003, Lamouche became vice-president for IBM’s worldwide semiconductor operations, based in New York, managing, among other things, the ramp-up of the company’s first 12-inch facility in Fishkill, NY, and establishing IBM’s first outsourced semiconductor operation in Asia. In 2005-2010, Lamouche served as chairman and CEO of Bull, a French-based IT group with worldwide presence. In this capacity, he succeeded in turning around the company, revamping Bull’s product portfolio towards high performance computing leadership and transforming the group into a profitable and growing IT services-and-solutions supplier.
Lamouche has served as a board member at various private (Cameca ’05 to ’07) and listed companies, Atari (’07 to ’11). From 2006 to 2010, he sat on the Supervisory Board of STMicroelectronics, where he was also a member of the Audit committee. He is currently sitting on the boards of Soitec and ADECCO.
Lamouche was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honor (France) in 2010.
Didier Lamouche was born in Meknès, Morocco, in 1959. He is a graduate of the École Centrale of Lyon, France, and holds a PhD in semiconductor technology.
ST-Ericsson is a joint venture between Ericsson and STMicroelectronics, the latter being a French-Italian state-government controlled company with the following shareholder structure:
Source: Company Presentation [July 31, 2011]
The French side is as follows:
– FSI owns 79.2% of FT1CI, a holding company held together with the French Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA).
– FSI on the other hand is a subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts, and controlled by it, whose accounts will be consolidated with those of Caisse des Dépôts. The FSI is 49% owned by Government of France and 51% Caisse des Depots et Consignations.
– Caisse des Dépôts is a public financial institution, created by the law of 28th April 1816. Its founders gave it a statute and mode of governance which were unique in France, aimed to ensure its autonomy so that it could manage private funds requiring particular protection. Caisse des Dépôts is “under Parliament’s supervision and guarantee”.
STMicroelectronics is a global company with US$10.3B sales and 53,000 employees in 2010. Its president and CEO is Carlo Bozotti while Lamuche as a COO controls the sales&marketing as well the manufacturing and technology R&D parts of the company. He has no role in the product groups responsible for product development and none in corporate staff functions either. Now he has full control over the Wireless business segment of STMicroelectronics while also supporting the other two segments as a COO:
Source: Company Presentation [July 31, 2011]
End of Updates
| ARM DMIPS/MHz | ||||||||
| ARM Cortex A8 | ARM Cortex A9 | Qualcomm Scorpion | Qualcomm Krait | ARM Cortex A15 | ||||
| DMIPS/MHz | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.1 | 3.3 | 4.0* | |||
| * There is no ARM provided official DMIPS/MHz value for A15. Unofficially it is 3.5 while the 4.0 value is for the ST-Ericsson Nova A9600 showing that a tweaked implementation can achieve more. (See the below ST-Ericsson NovaThor announcement). |
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Nokia selects ST-Ericsson as supplier for future Windows Phone devices [Nov 2, 2011]
NovaThor™ platform to enable Nokia to extend Windows Phone devices to new price points and geographies
Nokia has selected ST-Ericsson as a supplier for future devices it plans to introduce based on the Windows Phone mobile platform.
“We are pleased to have been selected by Nokia as a key partner for Windows smartphones, in line with our goal to be present in all segments and major operating systems,” said Gilles Delfassy, president and CEO of ST-Ericsson. “Our NovaThor platforms continue to gain traction as they enable customers to bring great smartphones to the market.”
ST Ericsson will power the future dual core Nokia Windows Phones [Nokia Buff, Nov 2, 2011]
Dual core ARM Cortex A9 CPU with speeds upto 1.85 GHz ( Normally 1 Ghz or 1.2 Ghz ). GPU is ARM Mali 400 MP1 ( With one fragment processor ). Coming to what Nokia will use, there are two models available now, which is the ideal time to start producing/concepting these phones for the next holiday season.
ST-Ericsson NovaThor U9500 (Nova A9500) 45nm 2 x ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.2GHz ARM Mali-400 MP1 1 x 32-bit LPDDR2 Now ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500 45nm 2 x ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.0GHz ARM Mali-400 MP1 1 x 32-bit LPDDR2 Now The U8500 has been available for a while now. Mostly U8500 will be the choice because we have heard the CEO talk about that much earlier, dating back to February. As you can see, it has a dual core A9 1 GHz processor and Mali 400 GPU. Which is great, now. But we are looking at the future, and hence “meh!”. For comparison sake, we can take the hardware flagship smartphone – the Galaxy S2 which has a dual core A9 1.2 GHz processor and Mali 400 – MP4 ( Four fragment processors ). It was launched way back, and still has more GPU horse power than the “yet to be used” U8500. If you think the U8500 is lame, then check out the newer U9500, which still has the same GPU.
Why i am clobbering for more GPU power is simple, Nokia and Windows Phone have the opportunity to make a great XBOX phone, and if the GPU is better than the GPU on xbox 360, the phone will be able to run those games flawlessly. However, the Mali GPU is good enough for the present crop of graphic intensive mobile games, but developers are always hungry for more exploits from the hardware.
Ok, do not lose hope because there is more in the NovaThor pipeline, namely –
ST-Ericsson NovaThor LP9600 (Nova A9600) 28nm 2 x ARM Cortex-A15 @ 2.5GHz IMG PowerVR Series 6 (Rogue) Dual Memory 20132H
2012ST-Ericsson Novathor L9540 (Nova A9540) 32nm 2 x ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.85GHz IMG PowerVR Series 5 2 x 32-bit LPDDR2 2H
1H 2012So, there are better SoCs coming from ST-Ericsson, but the world cannot wait. Other manufacturers will have their own improved versions. Nokia gotta act fast and choose the right SoC, so that our dream of the Nokia xbox phone *or* tablet may one day come true. Fingers crossed.
ST-Ericsson NovaThor (TM) family of integrated smartphone platforms. [Feb 15, 2011]
The Nova A9600, built in 28nm, will deliver groundbreaking multimedia and graphics performance, featuring a dual-core ARM Cortex- A15-based processor running up to up to 2.5 GHz breaking the 20k DMIPS barrier, and a POWERVR Rogue GPU that delivers in excess of 210 GFLOPS. The graphics performance of the A9600 will exceed 350 million ‘real’ polygons per second and more than 5 gigapixels per second visible fill rate (which given POWERVR’s deferred rendering architecture results in more than 13 gigapixels per second effective fill rate). Thanks to Rogue Nova will support all existing APIs such as Microsoft DirectX. The Nova A9600 is sampling in 2011.
The Nova A9540, built in 32nm, uses a dual-core Cortex-A9 running at up to 1.8 GHz and delivers graphics performance up to four times that of the U8500 and is sampling H2 2011.
The Nova A9500, built in 45 nm, uses a dual-core Cortex-A9 running at clock speeds of up to 1.2GHz, with Mali™ 400 improving graphics performance up to 20 percent, supporting full HD camcorder capabilities and up to 20 megapixel cameras. It is sampling and in design with ST-Ericsson customers today.
The Thor M7400 can connect to 2G, 3G, TD-SCDMA, HSPA, HSPA+ dual carrier and LTE FDD/TDD networks. It offers peak download speeds of up to 100Mbps in LTE networks. The Thor M7400 supports voice calls via fallback to circuit-switched networks and via the VoLTE (Voice over LTE) standard, it is sampling Q2 2011.
The Thor M7300 is a multimode HSPA+ modem supporting speeds of up to 84Mbps and is sampling Q2 2011.
The NovaThor U9500 is a complete platform combining Thor M5730 with A9500 and is sampling now.
The NovaThor T5008 platform combines a TD-HSPA+ modem with dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 and Mali 400 graphics. It supports full HD camcorder capabilities and up to 20 megapixel cameras and is sampling Q2 2011.
The NovaThor U5500 platform combines a powerful Cortex-A9 application processor with a HSPA+ modem. It supports DVD-quality camcorder capabilities and
812 megapixel cameras and samples in 1H 2011.
ST-ERICSSON – MAKING MOBILE PHONES SMARTER AND SMARTER [Sept 23, 2011]
HIGH-DEFINITION HANDSETS
At the high-end of the mobile device market, consumers are looking for a highly-engaging and immersive web multimedia experience associated with advanced consumer electronics. The current wave of cutting-edge smartphones and tablet computers have built-in camcorders capable of filming in full high definition (HD) and still cameras capable of taking photos made up of 20 million pixels, as well as support for immersive, high-speed 3D games and a desktop-style web browsing experience. These capabilities are all supported by ST-Ericsson’s powerful NovaThor™ U8500, U9500 and U9540 platforms with integrated application processors, modems and connectivity. These platforms are being selected by leading manufacturers to underpin a new generation of smartphones to be launched commercially in 2011 and early 2012.
Of course, even high performance smartphones still need to have all-day battery life so that people can stay continually connected on the move without having to stop to recharge their handset. One of the most effective ways to achieve a long battery life in a high performance handset is to use low-power silicon technology coupled with smart multi-core processor architecture. ST-Ericsson’s NovaThor™ U8500 platform, for example, uses a very power-efficient dual-core architecture, which enables a handset to play 10 hours of HD video or 100 hours of music on one battery charge, when equipped with a standard 1,000mAH battery.
BRINGING SMARTPHONES TO THE MASSES
Not everyone will be able to afford or will want the most advanced handsets, so manufacturers are increasingly looking to broaden their smartphone portfolios for consumers to choose from a broad selection of models at different prices. ST-Ericsson is enabling its customers to do just this.
ST-Ericsson’s highly-integrated and very power-efficient NovaThor™ U5500 platform, for example, is designed to power affordable smartphones that deliver a no-compromise experience. The NovaThor™ U5500 offers a dual-core processor and a powerful multimedia platform that will enable consumers to enjoy high-speed navigation, web browsing, video streaming, email, WiFi, up to 12 megapixel cameras, a 720p HD camcorder and a touch screen, among other features.
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MULTI-CORE PROCESSORS A STEP CHANGE IN PERFORMANCE
Multi-core processor architectures can increase the performance and power-efficiency of a smartphone or tablet computer, by splitting tasks between different processors, enabling the system to run at lower temperatures and suffer less power leakage. ST-Ericsson’s Nova™ A9600 brings over 200 percent more mobile computing performance compared to the NovaThor™ U8500 platform. It features a dual ARM Cortex-A15 with each core running up to 2.5GHz at very low power consumption thanks to very innovative power saving techniques. ST-Ericsson new Nova™ A9540 and A9500 include dual-core processors capable of running at clock speeds of 1.85GHz and 1.2GHz respectively.
28-nm in volume production, says TSMC [Oct 24, 2011]
While TSMC’s senior vice president Jason Chen noted in a press release that his firm was “first to 28-nm volume production,” Globalfoundries spokesman Jason Gorss told EE Times its high-k metal gate (HKMG) offerings had already been in production “for months.”
“Our 28-nm process is ready,” said Gorss, pointing out that Globalfoundries, unlike TSMC, had also produced wafers on the 32 nm process, with HKMG and that 28-nm was simply a shrink of that previous offering. Products on Globalfoundries’ 28-nm process would emerge sometime in 2012, Gorss noted.
AMD Still Hampered by Foundry Problems, CEO Says [Oct 27, 2011]
“Clearly we were disappointed with the yields with the 32-nm space,” said Rory Read, AMD’s chief executive officer, during a conference call with analysts. “As I mentioned… we are not out of the woods yet.”
…
AMD said the quarter was negatively impact by “32 nanometer yield, ramp and manufacturing issues”. “No doubt we must improve our execution,” Read said.
A spokesman with Globalfoundries said that the company is working “side by side with AMD every day” with AMD to resolve any outstanding issues. “It wouldn’t be appropriate for us to comment on a customer’s financial results, other than to say that we continue to work with AMD to build on the successful launch of Llano and other products based on our 32/28nm HKMG technology,” the spokesman said. HKMG refers to “High-K Metal Gate” technology, which minimizes leakage current in low-power applications.
“But it is important to note that Llano is an incredibly complex product–perhaps the most complex product ever manufactured by a foundry,” the Globalfoundries spokesman said. “Yet despite all of this complexity, we are seeing continued yield improvement and we have managed to bring this HKMG technology to market well ahead of any other foundry. We are expected to ship far more HKMG volume in 2011 than all other foundries combined.”
GLOBALFOUNDRIES Announces Winners of Inaugural “Leading in Innovation” Awards [Aug 30, 2011]
Innovative Mobile Solutions
…
STMicroelectronics, for its technology development used in ST-Ericsson’s leading edge Nova A9600 smartphone application processor, planned for production on GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ 28nm-SLP technology.
…
“We know GLOBALFOUNDRIES well, both as a partner in technology development through ISDA, International Semiconductor Development Alliance, and as one of our own trusted foundry partners,” said Jean-Marc Chery, Chief Technology Officer of STMicroelectronics. “The 28 nm technology portfolio from GLOBALFOUNDRIES is well-suited to manufacture the ST-Ericsson 9600 platform, enabling multi source wafer fabs for ST and ST-Ericsson platforms at the 28nm node. Over several years, ST has built an excellent working relationship with GLOBALFOUNDRIES. ST sources a wide variety of 200mm and 300mm wafer products from GLOBALFOUNDRIES, from 0.5um EEPROM for the automotive industry to leading edge application processors for wireless and we’ve found GLOBALFOUNDRIES to be an innovative, reliable and cost-effective partner, effectively complementing our strong internal manufacturing machine, and we look forward to continuing our successful relationship with them.”
ST Ericsson plants center in Silicon Valley [Sept 13, 2011]
ST Ericsson announced it has opened a small technical office in Silicon Valley as it scrambles to get ahead of the curve in the hyper competitive market for smartphone and tablet chips. It demoed its current HSPA+ products running Android here and talked about plans for LTE chips and support for Windows Phone software in the coming year.
…
At the launch, ST Ericsson demoed its U8500 integrated applications processor and HSPA+ baseband running on a new board geared for software developers. The chip supported stereo 3-D graphics, 1080-progressive video playback, games with motion sensors and a browser supporting augmented reality.
The processor uses a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 with Mali 400 graphics. In demos it supported Symbian and the Gingerbread and Honeycomb versions of Android.
The company does not have demo-ready versions of its next-generation discrete LTE baseband and application processor announced in February and slated for production in mid-2012. The schedule is behind that of rival Qualcomm which is expected to supply the first LTE handsets. However, the ST Ericsson chip will support eight LTE spectrum bands on a single RF transceiver.
ST Ericsson has taped out a dual-core ARM Cortex A-15 set to ship in 2012. It will outgun rivals including the Omap 5 from Texas Instruments because the STE chip uses the Imagination Rogue graphics core, said Gilles Delfassy, chief executive of ST Ericsson and former head of TI’s wireless business unit. Due to use of a new vector-processing architecture, the chip should also have smaller size, cost and power consumption than its rivals, he added.
In software, ST Ericsson is playing catch up with the shift by Nokia, a lead customer, from Symbian to Windows Phone. It does not expect to support Nokia’s first Windows Phone 7 handsets, but it has put a team in place to support Windows Phone 8 on its chips.
…
“We have a road map which is very aggressive, but the key question is will we deliver on it on time,” Delfassy said.
International Data Corp. analyst Mario Morales said smartphone makers want alternatives to integrated chips from Qualcomm, and are waiting on ST Ericsson to execute on its road map.
To that end, Delfassy said he has replaced some engineers in ST Ericsson and brought on two executives with strength in product execution. One is a senior vice president from the former Infineon wireless group who worked closely with Apple; another is a former Sony Ericsson executive who has supervised groups of more than a thousand engineers.
ST Ericsson has also simplified its product portfolio, pruning five modem technologies down to just one. It was the first company to deliver a 21 Mbit/second HSPA+ modem, Delfassy said.
So far ST Ericsson is not planning any quad-core products despite the fact rivals Nvidia and Qualcomm have announced plans for such parts. “We aim to be leaders in apps processors, but there is a big debate whether quad core is a case of diminishing returns,” Delfassy said.
Exclusive : ST-Ericsson To Integrate NFC Features Into its Platforms [March 31, 2011]
ST-Ericsson’s Chief Chip Architect & Principal Fellow, Louis Tannyeres, has told ITProPortal.com in an exclusive interview that the company will integrate NFC (Near Field Communication) capabilities in its platforms alongside other connectivity functions without giving more details about a release window.
… he did mention that the Nova A9600 is the only SoC announced to feature the Imagination Technologies PowerVR Rogue GPU.
According to ST-Ericsson’s own benchmarks, Rogue is up to 20x faster than the Mali 400 GPU, which is used in the Exynos 4210 SoC that powers the Samsung Galaxy S II and which is at least as powerful than the Adreno 205 GPU found inside the Xperia Play.
In addition, Tannyeres said that samples of the Nova A9600 would be shipped to partners in the second half of 2011 with the first products based on the SoC available in the second half of 2012.
Will ST-Ericsson’s New Product Programme Do The Trick? [July 28, 2011]
Currently ST-Ericsson is moving its product line onto 45nm and is sampling three 45nm products – its 8500 platform for smartphones, its 4500 platform which is the lower-end version of the 8500, and its CG2900 Bluetooth/GPS/FM combo modem.
“We shipped the 8500 in pre-production quantities in Q2and it will be ramping up at a number of customers this year,” Gerard Cronin, STE’s head of marketing, told me yesterday, “we have engagements on the 8500 with five out of the top ten handset manufacturers.”
Before the end of this year, ST-Ericsson intends to sample its first 32nm device, the A9540 application processorbased on Cortex A-9 which is the upgrade of the 8500 with 50% higher speed.
Early in 2012 it intends to sample its first 28nm device – the A9600based on the Cortex A-15.
…
Asked from which foundry ST-Ericsson hopes to get 28nm from, Cronin said ST-Ericsson is part of the Globalfoundries alliance.
However, according to Mike Bryant, CTO of Future Horizons, talking at IFS 2011 earlier this month, GloFo’s 28nm process in Dresden is running with almost zero yield.
GlobalFoundries lays out roadmap for 28 nm—and beyond [Aug 31, 2011]
At the GlobalFoundries Technology Conference yesterday, GlobalFoundries executives spoke at length about the company’s roadmap and prospects. There was much rejoicing about shipments of the foundry firm’s first 32-nm, high-k metal gate (HKMG) chips—otherwise known as AMD Fusion A-series processors, or Llano—but the event really centered on manufacturing at 28 nm and smaller geometries.
First things first, GlobalFoundries revealed that its 28-nm HKMG process is “fully enabled and ready to ramp,” with ramping scheduled for 2012 at its fabs in Dresden, Germany and Malta, New York. A “lead 28nm HKMG product” has already taped out (i.e. the chip design is complete and is about to be manufactured), and GlobalFoundries has managed to produce a functional 28-nm HKMG test chip based on an ARM Cortex-A9 core. On that subject, GlobalFoundries said it expects the High Performance Plus version of its 28-nm HKMG process to enable ARM Cortex-A9 processors clocked as high as 3GHz.
… the company says demand for its manufacturing capacity currently outstrips supply—in other words, it has to expand rapidly to satisfy its customers.
That expansion involves GlobalFoundries’ new fab in upstate New York, which is purportedly ahead of schedule. Production is set to begin there next summer. GlobalFoundries also plans to build a fab in Abu Dhabi—somewhere near the airport, we were told—but a precise timeline hasn’t been settled upon yet. (The company says its schedule will depend on ramp planning in Dresden and New York as well as market conditions.) Those fabs will complement the foundry firm’s facilities in Singapore, which it inherited after the acquisition of Chartered Semiconductor.
Low Power High-k Metal Gate 28nm CMOS Solutions for Mobile High Performance Applications [GlobalFoundries, July 8, 2011]
High-k Metal Gate (HKMG) is one of the most significant iunnovations in CMOS fabrication since the inception of silicon VLSI. HKMG enables a revival in transistor scaling that had stalled with poly SiON gate technology, threatening the continuation of Moore’s law. The Joint Development Alliance and Common Platform Alliance are driving the global standard for High-k Metal Gate (HKMG). Several world-leading semiconductor companies including GLOBALFOUNDRIES, IBM, Intel Mobility Communications (ex-Infinion), Renesas, STMicroelctronics, Smasung Electronics and Toshiba have participated in the 28nm CMOS Joint Development Alliance. This HKMG solution is far superior to alternatives currently pursued by the other leading foundries, in both scalability (performance, power, die size, design compatibility) and manufacturability. This solution is a “Gate-First” approach that shares the process flow, design flexibility, design elements and benefits of all previous nodes based upon poly SiON gates.
Cost is a substantial advantage of “Gate-First” implementation; a typical foundry customer will save tens of millions of dollars over the course of their 28nm product portfolio life cycle vs. the “Gate-Last” approach due to the 10-20% smaller die size obtainable by “Gate-First.” This represenets tremendous opportunity for customers and for the industry.
“Gate-First” HKMG has already transitioned from the develeopment phase to high-volume foundry manufacturing. Notably, AMD has announced production of accelerated processing units (APUs) for laptops and desktop PCs, and CPUs for server applications based on the “Gate-First” technology. This AMD “A-Series” APU is the first foundry HKMG product to ship in the industry. Samsung and ST-Ericsson have also announced wireless products based on “Gate-First” HKMG.
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28nm Super Low Power (28nm-SLP) is the low power CMOS offering delivered on a bulk silicon substrate for mobile applications. … The 28nm-SLP is a lower cost technology relative to other 28nm options, being manufactured without the stress elements used to boost carrier mobilities for 28nm poly SiON and for 28nm HKMG HP (high performance) technologies, reducing process complexity and mask count substantially.
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STMicroelectronis, through its wireless JV, ST-Ericsson, is now fullfilling customers’ power and perforamce demands on the Joint Development Alliance advanced HKMG low power processes. As a case in point, ST is now sampling a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor that can run at 1.8GHz through the Nova A9540 product. The A9540 is almost 60% faster than previous 45/40nm technology products. This technology also benefits the next-generation ARM dual-core Cortex-A15 CPU which ST-Ericsson will be producing at 2.5GHz in 28nm-SLP, again for smartphone and tablet products, such as the ST-Ericsson Nova A9600 application processor.
The early 2010 Windows 8 alternative: the Courier tablet
Why Microsoft killed the Courier [Nov 1, 2011]
The inside story of how Microsoft killed its Courier tablet [Nov 1, 2011]
… At one point during that meeting in early 2010 at Gates’ waterfront offices in Kirkland, Wash., Gates asked Allard how users get e-mail. Allard, Microsoft’s executive hipster charged with keeping tabs on computing trends, told Gates his team wasn’t trying to build another e-mail experience. … Courier users could get e-mail from the Web, Allard said, according to sources familiar with the meeting. … The key to Courier, Allard’s team argued, was its focus on content creation. Courier was for the creative set, a gadget on which architects might begin to sketch building plans, or writers might begin to draft documents.
“This is where Bill had an allergic reaction,” said one Courier worker … He conveyed his opinions to Ballmer, who was gathering data from others at the company as well. Within a few weeks, Courier was cancelled because the product didn’t clearly align with the company’s Windows and Office franchises, according to sources.
…
While the internal fight over Courier occurred about 18 months ago, the implications of the decision to kill the incubation project reverberate today. Rather than creating a touch computing device that might well have launched within a few months of Apple’s iPad, which debuted in April 2010, Microsoft management chose a strategy that’s forcing it to come from behind. The company cancelled Courier within a few weeks of the iPad’s launch. Now it plans to rely on Windows 8, the operating system that will likely debut at the end of next year, to run tablets.
… using Windows as the operating system for tablets also implies that Microsoft will update the devices’ operating systems on the Windows time frame, typically every three years. Compare that to Apple, which seems likely to continue to update the iPad annually, a tactic that drives a raft of new sales each time a new generation hits the market. By the time Windows 8 rolls out, Apple will likely have introduced its iPad 3. Moreover, Amazon’s much anticipated Kindle Fire tablet, which goes on sale November 15, will have nearly a year head start on the Windows-powered tablet offerings.
On the other hand, Courier, with its modified version of Windows, could have been updated more frequently than the behemoth operating system itself.
…
Early on, the group opted to use Windows for Courier’s operating system. But it wasn’t a version of Windows that any consumer would recognize. The Courier team tweaked the operating system to make sure it could perform at high levels with touch- and pen-based computing. What’s more, the graphical shell of Windows–the interface that computer users associate with the operating system–was entirely removed. So while it was Windows under the hood, the home screens bore zero resemblance to the familiar PC desktop.
…
Designers working on Courier came up with clever notions for how digital paper should work. One of the ideas was to create “smart ink,” giving text, for example, mathematical properties. So when a user wrote “5+8=” on, say, digital graph paper, the number “13” would fill in the equation automatically. Additionally, if users selected lined digital paper, words would snap to each line as they were jotted down.
The phrase at the core of the Courier mission was “Free Create.” It was meant to describe the notion of eliminating the processes and protocols that productivity software often imposes on workers.
“Free Create is a simple statement that acts as a rallying cry, uniting the consumer’s core need and Courier’s core benefit,” reads a passage in an internal Microsoft book memorializing the Courier effort, reviewed by CNET, that was given to the team after the project was shuttered. “Free Create is a natural way to digitally write, sketch and gather inspiration by blending the familiarity of the pen, the intuition of touch, the simplicity of the book and the advantages of software and services.”
…
When Courier died, there was not a single prototype that contained all of the attributes of the vision: the industrial design, the screen performance, the software experience, the correct weight, and the battery life. Those existed individually, created in parallel to keep the development process moving quickly. Those prototypes wouldn’t have come together into a single unit until very late in the development process, perhaps weeks before manufacturing, which is common for cutting-edge consumer electronics design. But on the team, there was little doubt that they were moving quickly toward that final prototype.
“We were on the cusp of something really big,” said one Courier team member.
In late 2009, before the iPad had launched, the Courier team recognized the market for tablets was ready to explode. It laid out a detailed engineering schedule and made the case to Microsoft’s top brass that Courier could be a revolutionary device that would define a new product category. The team put forward a vision that Microsoft could create a new market rather than chasing down a leader or defending an established product.
“J (was) incubating with his tribe, very much thinking consumer and very much thinking the next few years,” a former Microsoft executive said. “He was trying to disrupt Microsoft, which hasn’t been good at consumer products.”
In fact, one of the mandates of Alchemie was to look only at product ideas and business concepts that were no farther than three years into the future. The Alchemie book includes something of an innovation process road map that lays out four “gates” that ideas needed to pass through to move from incubation to product development. And a source said that Courier had made it through all four gates.
So why did Courier die? The answer lies in an understanding of Microsoft’s history and culture.
Microsoft “Courier” secret tablet [Sept 22, 2009]
Special: Interview with Microsoft NUI/UX Designer Ron George [Nov 25, 2009]
The futuristic videos you see may or may not come from MSFT. It all depends. Sometimes MSFT gives challenges to outside vendors to think up something crazy and those are usually the videos that somehow get, “leaked” online. The true MSFT videos that are created internally, at least in my experience, have never been leaked. These are where the real ‘gold’ is. I saw the ‘courier’ video that was leaked (click here to see it -MSK) and it was very basic with few truly useful interactions. If that was done in house, it would have been much grander and much more detailed. People seem to forget about how large and how the scope of MSFT is beyond what you see today by 3-10 years.
Microsoft confirms Courier tablet, quashes hopes of shipping it [AppleInsider, April 29, 2010]
Microsoft has finally confirmed that it has been working on a tablet concept known as “Courier,” but the company has also announced that it has “no plans to build such a device at this time.”
The evolution of Courier at Microsoft
In 2008, Microsoft floated a mobile collaboration app for Windows Mobile under the name Courier. Nobody seemed to notice, given the overshadowing presence of iPhone 2.0 over the mobile software market.
The following year, Courier tablet concept photos were leaked by Gizmodo. It presented rendered depictions of dual-screen notebook supporting both touch and stylus input. The leak occurred just in time to suggest that Microsoft had big plans in place to rival the iPhone in the mobile arena, much like the introduction of the quickly forgotten Surface in 2007 had served as a temporary distraction from the original iPhone launch.
Shortly after the introduction of Apple’s iPad, new pictures were leaked by Engadget depicting the dual screen Courier as a veritable competitor and near twin of the iPad, although there were no real details about availability or pricing.
Microsoft continued to officially promote the Slate PCs introduced in January by PC makers, but bloggers excitedly spoke of Courier as a real product that would ship at the end of 2010, presumably at a reasonable price and with lots of features missing from Apple’s iPad.
Courier was also expected to run the same software (and Windows CE operating system) as the company’s Zune HD music player and Windows Phone 7 smartphones, creating a counterpoint to Apple’s iPhone OS and its App Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices.
Today, Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s VP of corporate communications, dashed any hopes for Courier in telling Engadget, “At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity. The ‘Courier’ project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.”
Engadget mused that “Courier will always remain in our hearts as one of the finest unicorns that ever unicorned across our screens.”
Speculation About the “Courier” Project [April 29, 2010]
Over the past few months there has been a ton of speculation about the “Courier” project from Microsoft. We’ve not discussed or confirmed the project. There is more speculation today, and below is what we are saying publicly:
“At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity. The ‘Courier’ project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings.”
I am excited about the great set of products and services rolling out from the company in the next few months – Office 2010, Windows Phone KIN, Windows Phone 7, SQL Server 2008 R2, Project Natal from the Xbox team, Windows Live Wave 4, among others. It is going to be a fun next few months!
Posted by Frank Shaw
Corporate Vice President, Corporate Communications.
Microsoft’s New Mobile Strategy: Software for Every Platform [Sept 17].
Microsoft’s Tivanka Ellawala told the WSJ that the company’s done with smartphone hardware (beyond in-house prototypes, presumably): “We are in the software business and that is where our business will be focused,” he said. That means no follow-ups to the Kin social media smartphone, definitely; no resuscitation of the Courier e-reader/tablet project, probably; and a new focus on making apps for other platforms, quite possibly.
J Allard [June 28, 2008]
Chief Experience Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Entertainment and Devices Division
As Chief Experience Officer (CXO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), J Allard is responsible for the technical architecture and user experiences related to products and services of the Entertainment and Devices (E&D) division. Allard works closely with technical leaders across the company to align E&D product teams with Microsoft’s overall services strategy and product architecture, and drives the technical and design agenda to deliver Connected Entertainment experiences for consumers. With a unified approach and his personal passion for the possibilities of digital entertainment, Allard manages the E&D design group and also oversees an incubation team that scouts new opportunities for the division.
A 15-year veteran of Microsoft, Allard previously managed the technical development of the Xbox game console and Zune media player, and launched the Zune portable entertainment devices and services business. Allard helped shape the company’s Internet strategy, has shipped over 30 products at Microsoft and was a founding member of the Xbox, Windows NT and TCP/IP product families.
Allard holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Boston University and was recognized in 2003 as a Distinguished Alumnus, the highest honor the university confers on its alumni. Allard has been named to several leadership and influentials lists, including The Hollywood Reporter’s “Top 35 Entertainment Execs Under 35” and Details’ list of “Most Powerful Men Under 38,” and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader program.
Microsoft still dreaming of Courier, patents dual screen “digital notebook” [Oct 2, 2010]
As far as we know Microsoft’s Courier project is stone dead, but like due to its rather violent demise it spirit clearly still haunts the company, as its ghost appears to pop up every once in a while.
On this occasion we have a patent submitted very recently, on the 30th September, for a device which clearly embodies many of the concepts we first saw in the leaked Courier project.
The patent is summarized as such:
BACKGROUND
Touch sensitive displays are configured to accept inputs in the form of touches, and in some cases approaching or near touches, of objects on a surface of the display. Touch inputs may include touches from a user’s hand (e.g., thumb or fingers), a stylus or other pen-type implement, or other external object. Although touch sensitive displays are increasingly used in a variety of computing systems, the use of touch inputs often requires accepting significant tradeoffs in functionality and the ease of use of the interface.SUMMARY
Accordingly, a touch sensitive computing system is provided, including a touch sensitive display and interface software operatively coupled with the touch sensitive display. The interface software is configured to detect a touch input applied to the touch sensitive display and, in response to such detection, display touch operable user interface at a location on the touch sensitive display that is dependent upon where the touch input is applied to the touch sensitive display.In one further aspect, the touch input is a handtouch input, and the touch operable user interface that is displayed in response is a pentouch operable command or commands. In yet another aspect, the activated user interface is displayed upon elapse of an interval following receipt of the initial touch input, though the display of the activated user interface can be accelerated to occur prior to full lapse of the interval in the event that the approach of a pen-type implement is detected.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.
Nokia Lumia (Windows Phone 7) value proposition
Follow up:
– Nokia World 2011 videos on YouTube NokiaConversations channel [Oct 26 — Nov 20, 2011]
– ST-Ericsson NovaThor SoCs for future Windows Phones from Nokia [Nov 3, 2011]
– Designing smarter phones–Marko Ahtisaari (Nokia) and Albert Shum (Microsoft) [Nov 23, 2011]
Updates:
– 3 Minutes with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop [YouTube, Oct 27, 2011]
Why a sequencing of launches? US operators have nothing to do with that. N9 is for learning a lot. Not answered yet: elements of UX and Qt environment in the future. Nothing clear for “the other ecosystem” [presumably the Android] what is the standard UX. Nokia sees the Windows 8 opportunity, commonality with Windows smartphone for itself as well. Microsoft bet on HTML5 is also important for the forming of the ecosystem. One is clear it is more than just the phones … it is also search, advertising, unified communications (like Skype), business productivity, gaming, music … that’s the experience people are looking for.
[About N9 and Qt:] Elements of N9. The things that really define that product you will see continue on. The reason we continue with N9 is because we believe we could learn a lot about certain things that actually make the N9 unique in the way that it is. … What remains unanswered, and will remain unanswered for today, is when I say ‘elements of the user experience’ or ‘the Qt environment’. What does that mean? That’s still something you’ll see ahead from Nokia.
…
In terms of (Windows Phone) doesn’t allow for the Sense UI or whatever, I would suggest that one of the biggest challenges facing that particular ecosystem is the fact that there is more and more of that going on. And when I go into the store and look at what that brand was supposed to stand for, I’m not quite seeing it — it’s just unclear what the standard is for the user experience.
…
The user experience of Windows 8 is essentially a supercharged version of the Nokia Lumia experience that you saw on stage today. And you see the parallels and opportunity for commonality from a user perspective. You say wow, this is more than just smartphones, there’s a broader opportunity here. And clearly we see that broader opportunity as well, without specifically commenting on what that may mean in the future.
More hints on N9 and Qt are in the Sept-Oct “Updates” parts of Nokia N9 UX [?Swipe?] on MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan [June 24, 2011]
– Nokia’s Elop Plans U.S. Return in ’12 With Multiple Carriers [Bloomberg Business Week, Nov 2, 2011]
“There’s a new tablet opportunity coming,” he said. “We see the opportunity. Unquestionably, that will change the dynamics” of the tablet market.
– Nokia EVP Jo Harlow [Smart Devices] explains why Windows Phone is “Easier, faster, and a hell of a lot more fun” [inc. the 7 min video interview, Oct 27, 2011]
– Nokia Drive gets you where you need to go [inc. the 5 min video interview, Oct 26, 2011]
– Nokia Music makes music personal & portable [inc. the 5 min video interview, Oct 26, 2011]
– First look at Kinectimals for Windows Phone [inc. the 2 min video interview, Oct 26, 2011]
– Xbox 360 on your Nokia Lumia 710 and Nokia Lumia 800 [inc. the 2 min demo video, Oct 26, 2011]
– New music picks for Nokia Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 [Oct 27, 2011]
– Nokia Music on Nokia Lumia 800 – complete video tour [Oct 27, 2011]
– Nokia Maps on Nokia Lumia smartphones [Oct 28, 2011]
– Nokia Drive and Nokia Music, with MirrorLink [Oct 28, 2011]
– 40 hours of hard code: Nokia Hackathon winners [Oct 28, 2011]
End of Updates
Content: Nokia Lumia 800 & 710 – Three Unique Differentiators (Nokia Music and MixRadio, Navigation, ESPN Sports Hub – all free) – A Better Representation of the General WP7 Differentiators – Experience “The Amazing Everyday” Marketing Campaign – Nokia Maps Updates – Other Map-related Applications
NOKIA World 2011 Keynote Handout [Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia Lumia 800 & 710, Windows Phones Announced [Anandtech, Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia Lumia Windows Phone Lineup:
| Lumia 800 | Lumia 710 | |
| SoC | Qualcomm S2 MSM8255 1.4GHz | Qualcomm S2 MSM8255 1.4GHz |
| Display | 3.7-inch AMOLED PenTile RGBG | 3.7-inch TFT-LCD |
| Camera | 8MP LED Flash rear facing camera Carl Zeiss lens |
5MP LED Flash rear facing camera |
| Memory | 512MB, 16GB NAND | 512MB, 8GB NAND (up to 24GB via a 16GB microSD) |
| Dimensions | 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.11 mm, 142g | 119.0 x 62.4 x 12.5 mm, 126g |
| Battery | 5.365Wh | 4.81Wh |
| Network Support | WCDMA, EDGE Class B, GPRS Class B HSUPA 5.76Mbps HSDPA 14.4MbpsWCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 GSM 850/900/1800/1900 |
WCDMA, EDGE Class B, GPRS Class B HSUPA 5.76Mbps HSDPA 14.4MbpsWCDMA 900/1900/2100 GSM 850/900/1800/1900 |
| Connectivity | 802.11n b/g/n (2.4 GHz), BT 2.1+EDR, USB 2.0 | 802.11n b/g/n (2.4 GHz), BT 2.1+EDR, USB 2.0 |
Nokia Lumia 800 Presentation and Hands On [26 minutes long, Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia relying on Mango smartphones to maintain global market share [Oct 26, 2011]
…
Nokia will release new Mango models powered by dual-core CPUs with additional functionalities, including the support of NFC technology, in 2012, the sources added.
Nokia should rely on handset ODMs in Taiwan such as Compal Communications and Foxconn International Holdings (FIH) as back-up units, said the sources, noting that Taiwan-based ODMs have enough expertise in the development of Windows Mobile phones and have long been in cooperation with Nokia.
The launch of Mango phones offer a chance for Nokia to build up a complete supply chain that will also include Taiwan makers of optical lenses, modules, flat panels, chassis and cases so as to compete effectively with other handset vendors using supply chains in China or Korea, the sources commented.
Nokia unveils Mango phones, optimizing Taiwan supply capacity [Oct 27, 2011]
Nokia, with strong support from Taiwan-based handset ODMs and component suppliers, has unveiled two a series of its Windows Phone 7.5-based Mango phones, the Lumia and Asha lineups.
While Qualcomm is supplying the chipset solutions for Nokia’s Mango phones, the majority of other parts and components are coming from partners in Taiwan, according to industry sources.
Nokia Mango phones: List of parts and components suppliers from Taiwan
Item Company
ODM/Assembly Compal Communications, Foxconn International Holdings (FIH)
LCD panel Chimei Innolux (CMI), AU Optronics (AUO)
Touch panel Wintek, Young Fast Optoelectronics, JTouch
Keypad Silitech Technology, Ichia Technologies
Metal chassis Silitech, Chi Cheng Enterprise
Case Catcher Technology, Foxconn Technology, Lite-On Technology, Chi Cheng
PCB Compeq, Unimicron Technology, Ichia
Connector Foxlink
Lens Largan Precision
Headset Merry Electronics
Quartz component TXC
Source: Industry sources, compiled by Digitimes, October 2011
Nokia showcases bold portfolio of new phones, services and accessories at Nokia World [Oct 26, 2011]
…
The first Nokia Lumia [the word ‘Lumia’ is the term coined by 20th Century Artist Thomas Wilfred to refer to art created from light] smartphones
First two smartphones based on Windows Phone introduce a range of new experiences designed to make everyday moments more amazing.
Nokia Lumia 800
The stunningly social Nokia Lumia 800 features head-turning design, vivid colors (cyan, magenta and black) and the best social and Internet performance, with one-touch social network access, easy grouping of contacts, integrated communication threads and Internet Explorer 9. It features a 3.7 inch AMOLED [PenTile RGBG from Samsung] ClearBlack curved display blending seamlessly into the reduced body design, and a 1.4 GHz processor with hardware acceleration and a graphics processor. The Nokia Lumia 800 contains an instant-share camera experience based on leading Carl Zeiss optics, HD video playback, 16GB of internal user memory and 25GB of free SkyDrive storage for storing images and music. The estimated retail price for the Nokia Lumia 800 will be approximately 420 EUR [US$ 585], excluding taxes and subsidies.[Nokia Lumia 800 Data Sheet PDF (351.27 KB) and Detailed specifications]
Nokia Lumia 710
The purposely built, no-nonsense Nokia Lumia 710 can be personalized with exchangeable back covers and thousands of apps to bring the Lumia experience to more people around the world. The Nokia Lumia 710 is designed for instant social & image sharing, and the best browsing experience with IE9. It is available in black and white with black, white, cyan, fuchsia and yellow back covers. With the same 1.4 GHz processor, hardware acceleration and graphics processor as the Nokia Lumia 800, the Nokia Lumia 710 delivers high performance at an affordable price. The estimated retail price for the Nokia Lumia 710 will be approximately 270 EUR [US$ 376], excluding taxes and subsidies.[Nokia Lumia 710 Data Sheet PDF (181.31 KB) and Detailed specifications]
Both smartphones include signature Nokia experiences optimized for Windows Phone, including Nokia Drive, which delivers a full-fledged personal navigation device (PND) with free, turn-by-turn navigation and dedicated in-car-user-interface; and Nokia Music introducing MixRadio, a free, global, mobile music-streaming application that delivers hundreds of channels of locally-relevant music. In an update delivered later this year, Nokia Lumia users will also gain the ability to create personalized channels from a global catalogue of millions of tracks. Also integrated in Nokia Music is Gigfinder, providing the ability to search for live local music for a complete end-to-end music experience, as well as the ability to share discoveries on social networks and buy concert tickets also coming in the Nokia Music software update delivered later this year.
Completing the ultimate mobile audio offering, Nokia also introduced the on-ear Nokia Purity HD Stereo Headset by Monster and the in-ear Nokia Purity Stereo Headset by Monster, co-designed and co-developed by Monster, a recognized leader in high performance audio. Both products provide a fresh listening experience and are the first output of the exclusive long-term partnership between Nokia and Monster, intended to introduce a range of premium audio accessories to reflect the outstanding quality and bold style of the Lumia range.
The new Nokia Lumia 800 is now available in select countries for pre-order on www.nokia.com and is scheduled to roll-out across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK in November, with 31 leading operators and retailers providing unprecedented marketing support in those first six countries. It is scheduled to be available in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan before the end of the year, and in further markets in early 2012.
The Nokia Lumia 710 is scheduled to be available first in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan toward the end of the year alongside the Nokia Lumia 800, before becoming available in further markets in early 2012.
Nokia also announced its plans to introduce a portfolio of products into the US in early 2012 and into mainland China in the first half of 2012. In addition to the existing products, which include coverage for WCDMA and HSPA, Nokia also plans LTE and CDMA products to address specific local market requirements.
Three Unique Differentiators
Free Nokia Music and MixRadio:
Music and Entertainment – Nokia Lumia 800 [Oct 26, 2011]
Music and Entertainment – Nokia Lumia 710
Nokia’s new Windows Phone include MixRadio streaming music [Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia unveiled its first two Windows Phone smartphones this morning at its Nokia World conference in London: the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710.
Both will include an app called Nokia Music which represents the company’s latest digital music initiative.
During the keynote presentation at the event, Nokia SVP Kevin Shields borrowed one of Apple’s famous phrases to trumpet the simplicity of Nokia Music: “No signup. No subscription. No login. No password. No nothing. It just works!”
What is ‘it’ though? Well, the key feature of the Nokia Music app is called MixRadio. It provides a host of streaming music mixes – playlists of tracks – which can also be cached locally on the device. Sorted by genre, the playlists will be updated every week or so by Nokia’s music team with new tracks.
Music Ally got hands on with the app directly after the keynote, and was shown another feature of MixRadio: its Pandora-style ability to create personal mixes for people when they search for a specific artist. These too can be downloaded to the Lumia phones for offline play.
“I think we have finally solved the mobile music problem. I don’t know how to make it any easier,” said Shields during the keynote. But what about licensing? Afterwards, we asked the Nokia staffer who was demonstrating the app where it stands regarding licences.
He said that Nokia will be building on its existing relationships with rightsholders for its a la carte store and other music services, but said the specific deals for MixRadio are still being negotiated and will hopefully be in place for the launch of the new phones in November.
As with Pure Digital’s announcement of its Pure Music service earlier this week, it could be seen as risky to unveil a new app before the licensing deals are sealed.
There is a music panel session later today at Nokia World with representatives from PIAS and Warner Music International, so we’ll aim to sneak in a question about it.
Free Navigation:
Nokia Drive for Lumia [Nokia Conversations, Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia Drive on WP7 demo by Andre Kuhn [Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia Drive has been crafted for the new Nokia Lumia phones using the years of expertise we have accumulated in location-based services. This resulting translation for Windows Phone is an application specifically designed to make navigation effortless.
Driving while referring to your smartphone’s sat-nav is not always easy, especially in busy traffic, when you need it most. That’s why we simplified the user interface of Nokia Drive, so that you can focus on features and information you need most.
A map of your position, the direction to take, your speed and the distance to your destination are essential elements of Nokia Drive. So we’ve made them easy to read from the screen of your Nokia Lumia.
Nokia Drive also has neat features like support for 2D and 3D maps, a night mode and satellite view. And, to make it easier for you to find your next destination, Nokia Drive supports type-ahead suggestions and search history. You can also swipe between search results.
Most importantly, you can save on data costs with Nokia Drive because you can preload country maps. Fast, reliable, nice to look at and available in more than 100 countries, you are going to love our vector maps.
Nokia Drive comes preinstalled on Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 and is available in almost 50 languages.
Of course, Nokia Drive is also available for smartphones with Symbian Anna and Symbian Belle, and for Nokia N9 which also support Nokia Car Mode and MirrorLink. Read more about our location-based apps on the Nokia Maps Blog.
Drive and Maps – Nokia Lumia 800 [Oct 26, 2011]
Drive and Maps — Nokia Lumia 710
Nokia Maps for Lumia [Nokia Conversations, Oct 26, 2011]
You might already be familiar with Nokia Maps on other platforms: it’s currently available for Symbian, MeeGo but also on the web and on your iOS or Android mobile browser.
Whilst Nokia Drive has been specifically designed for your effortless driving experience, Nokia Maps lets you see where you are and discover places nearby in an instant. In other words Nokia Maps is your perfect companion if you want to explore the world around you, no matter whether you are a local or not.
With Nokia Maps you can easily find a place because it supports intuitive auto-complete suggestions and search history.
However, if you are unsure of where to go next, Nokia Maps helps you decide which place to pick by including reviews and photos from over 50 guides & local content providers.
And that’s not all. With just a tap you can now see which other places are close to the one you’ve just selected. So, after a good meal at a restaurant you know where to go for a drink without going to the other side of town.
Getting to the place you have selected is very easy with Nokia Maps because you get smart directions for drive, walk and public transport. It puts you in charge of navigation. You decide where to go and how to get there.
These are only a few of the things that are keeping us busy bringing you the best location-based experience.
Nokia Live View, for instance, which is currently in beta for Nokia Symbian smartphones, is our augmented reality application. Wherever you are, just open the camera of your smartphone to discover more of what’s around you. And if you are into outdoor activities, you will be thrilled to know that we are working on a specific application for you, called Nokia Tracks. With more than 80% of the planet covered by non-urban areas, we know that you have a lot to explore. This is why we want to give you the ability to record where your route has taken you so far, your current direction, your altitude, and how fast you are going. Stay tuned to know more about the development of Nokia Tracks!
The most advanced features of Nokia Maps are also available on Nokia smartphones with Symbian Anna, Symbian Belle, and MeeGo. You can read more on the Nokia Maps Blog. Nokia Maps is going to be available soon in the Marketplace for your Windows Phone. We can’t wait for you to let us know what you think about it.
Free ESPN Sports Hub: shown only as a “sneak peak” of the future service which will come exclusive to Nokia
Nokia showcases bold portfolio of new phones, services and accessories at Nokia World [Oct 26, 2011]:
This unique collaboration between our two companies on the ESPN Hub has been a truly global effort that will see us continue to work closely together in the months ahead. Nokia not only provides a great distribution platform, but they’re also a driver of innovation, which allows us to create an experience that enables ESPN to better serve sports fans around the world.
Russell Wolff, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, ESPN International
Nokia Sports App for Windows Phone 7
Nokia’s third and final innovation for its own branded Windows Phone devices will be in the sports field. Nokia Sports will be integrated with ESPN Sports Huband will highlight Windows Phone 7′s panoramic screens to provide highlights, news, scores, and team information.
Users can pin a league or a team back to the start page on the Metro UI as a live tile. This way, users can have quick access to their sports teams.
A Better Representation of the General WP7 Differentiators
[Social] People and Messaging – Nokia Lumia 800 [Oct 25, 2011]
People and Messaging – Nokia Lumia 710
Office and Mail – Nokia Lumia 800 Smartphone [Oct 26, 2011]
Office and Mail – Nokia Lumia 710
Marketplace and Games – Nokia Lumia 800 [Oct 26, 2011]
Marketplace and Games — Nokia Lumia 710
Browsing and Search – Nokia Lumia 800 [Oct 26, 2011]
Browsing and Search — Nokia Lumia 710
Experience “The Amazing Everyday” Marketing Campaign
An excellent summary of the marketing campaign and sales approach:
– More than just sexy phones: how Nokia will help sell Windows Phone 7 [Oct 29, 2011]
Introducing Nokia Lumia – The Amazing Everyday [Oct 26, 2011]
10:18 JJ: Steven Overman – marketing – wants to drive lust for Lumia. Marketing communication target age is 25 years old.
10:20 JJ: The Amazing Everyday campaign. “Everyday can be amazing. You can do everyday things in amazing ways. We are going to fill the world with tiles. It’s about time someone offers an alternative smartphone UI.”
The tagline is meant to emphasize optimism and new experiences. Overman said in every channel where Nokia is selling its Windows Phone devices, Nokia will launch a kind of viral marketing campaign – think people dressed as Windows Phone tiles, DJ booths at bus stations – to drive interest in Windows Phone. The design of stores where the devices will be sold will reflect the mutli-colored tiles that mark Windows Phone’s user interface.
10:23 JJ: “We’re going to invade cities. A journey which is leading people to a store. We’re making marketing that is contagious. That people will take photos of.”
The Amazing Everyday TVC – Nokia Lumia 800 Smartphone [Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia Lumia 800 – Eggs and Bacon Guy [Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia Lumia 800 – Wind Skating [Oct 25, 2011]
Nokia Lumia 800 Smartphone – Gangster Ironing [Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia Lumia 800. The designer’s story. [Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia Maps Updates
Nokia Maps for Web update [Oct 25, 2011]
Our maps.nokia.com has been recently updated with yet more features that we are sure you are going to love.
Nokia Maps 3D: Making Of [Oct 24, 2011]
With Nokia Maps 3D (http://nokia.ly/snhwAs) it’s almost like being there. You might be wondering how we manged to get such a high level of detail. It certainly isn’t easy, but it’s easy to explain.First of all, a nice surprise for the location fans among you: the wonderful Nokia Maps 3D is going to be 100% 3D and 0% plugin. If you want to give it a try, it’s been available for a while. All you need to do is point your browser (only Chrome at the moment, other browsers are being tested) to http://maps.nokia.com/webgl
New additions to Nokia Maps – Plugin-free 3D maps- Heat maps in 56 countries – Public Transport guides- Explore Places Since we first launched Nokia Maps 3D, many of you were eager to know exactly how we are able to provide such a photorealistic experience. With you in mind, we prepared the video at the top of the page that helps to explain all.
But of course maps.nokia.com is not only about 3D where you can feel like you were at any part of the world. Which is why we are introducing editorial pages for more than 50 cities around the world. Now you can discover all the cool places in, for instance, London, New York City, Buenos Aires, Melbourne, get the latest weather forecasts and Lonely Planet suggestions in one place.
And to make you feel more like a local anywhere, we increased the coverage of heat mapsto 56 cities. However, that’s not all. We have one more feature we would like to highlight: public transport.
Now, in more than 420 cities you can plan your journey from A to B also with underground, light rail and similar options. In more than 30 of those cities you also get timetable information to know exactly when you have to leave home.
Give maps.nokia.com a try today to find your perfect destination and have Nokia Maps guide you there, effortlessly.
Nokia Maps set the 3D world on fire, with heat maps [Oct 25, 2011]
GLOBAL – Ever since the new-look Nokia Maps was unveiled last Tuesday, we’ve been playing around with the new features. If we’re not taking a 3D look at the new cities, we’re zooming into different places to see where the local hotspots are by using the heat maps. Want to know more about how these features work? Then read on.
Nokia Maps 3D
Nokia Maps has been a great service offered by Nokia for a couple of years now. We’ve seen it grow from an on-device service to one that now works on the Web. As good as Nokia Maps is, it’s the new feature that’s blowing people’s minds. Nokia Maps 3Dshows you the world in a full 360º perspective – or at least certain cities of the world, for now.
In order to capture the images of a city, specialised camera equipment takes an image a second of the same object, up to 100 times, each at a different angle. It’s at this point the images are automatically joined together to form the 3D object by clever image processing software and those images in turn are joined to the previous image resulting in a seamless tapestry of 3D mapping-goodness.
There are currently 23 cities that have been turned into 3D models with a plan to create 3D representations of everywhere in the world. The practicalities of this can prove difficult, though, particularly with local laws which might prevent our cameras from flying overhead.
Here’s two images of a 3D Buckingham Palace in London with a north view and a south view – Select the images for a close-up.
Heat Maps
Heat maps on Nokia Maps works for one reason, and that’s down to the Points of Interest (POI) that are stored on the Ovi Places directory. Let’s say you want to go out in London for the night, but you’re not sure where the buzzis, or where’s popular. The heat map is an overlay that shows you a darker red colour for more popular – or POI dense – places, with the orange and yellow colours representing the less dense places. Somewhere still exciting, but maybe more intimate and secluded.
In order to achieve this visualisation and not have every single POI on the map, Nokia selected some of the premium POIs. This is due to the fact that people can add their own public place to the map which saves to the directory, and we wouldn’t want to spend the day visiting other people’s houses or offices, would we? The premium POIs are provided from services, such as Lonely Planet, WCities and Michelin to name a few, and these bring reviews and some great photos, too. So you know what to expect before you set off out on your travel to the hotspot.
As the POIs are constantly being updated to add more great restaurants, bars, sight-seeing spots or shopping outlets, this heat map will evolve over time, too. So we’ll expect to see this feature to continually grow and evolve and maybe even see the hotspots shift, slightly.
Here’s what the London Explore local sights heat map looks like with one of the photos selected – Click the image to zoom in and for more details.
You can see there’s the option to expand the window so you can see more details of that place, along with the address and some other options, too, such as share, directions and even a star rating.
What’s your favourite feature of the new and improved Nokia Maps? Have you used the heat maps yet for ideas of where to go? Let us know, below.
Yahoo! Maps: Now powered by Nokia [Oct 25, 2011]
Last year Nokia and Yahoo! joined forcesto create an alliance that leverages each others’ strengths in email, instant messaging, maps and navigation services. The purpose of the alliance is to provide consumers with access to world-class experiences on both PC and mobile devices.
Following on the successful transition of Yahoo! powering Nokia’s email service, Yahoo! is now making the switch to using the Nokia Maps platform. With a gradual rollout which is starting today in the United States and Canada, Yahoo! Maps is now amongst others benefitting from new features provided by Nokia Maps: latest maps with up-to-date location data/addresses, new routing options allowing users to avoid tolls and freeway, updated road networks and points of interest.
The Nokia Maps engine has been then customized by Yahoo! to offer a new, simplified layout and visual design with a maximized viewable area, enhanced business listings support, leveraging the improvements made to the Yahoo! local listings database, and a consistent interface across the Yahoo! network with the universal location widget, allowing users to search and select locations.
This platform switch is further proof of the world class platform expertise and scalable global infrastructure that Nokia has been building over the last couple of years in the location platform space. Other companies have also recognized Nokia’s leadership in that area. All over the world we are supporting partners like Foursquare, Yelp, VKontakte and Sina, to mention a few, in the development of innovative location services – for web as well as for native mobile apps.
In doing so, our partners benefit from our modularly usable platform. What does that mean? It’s quite simple: Every partner can use exactly those pieces of the platform that he needs. At the same time our global platform infrastructure is designed to scale – allowing us to partner with some of the largest companies in the world. You want a proof for that? Just check out Yahoo! Maps – now powered by Nokia.
You can give it a spin now at maps.yahoo.com (US, English); espanol.maps.yahoo.com (US, Spanish); ca.maps.yahoo.com (Canada, English); and qc.maps.yahoo.com (Canada, French).
Other Map-related Applications
Nokia showcases bold portfolio of new phones, services and accessories at Nokia World [Oct 26, 2011]
In addition to its world-class, free walk-and-drive navigation for more than 100 countries worldwide, the Nokia Public Transport application tracks public transportation directly on a mobile device in more than 430 cities worldwide, including up-to-the-minute updates on bus and train routes for 45 cities. Nokia also introduced Nokia Pulse, which allows location-tagged updates and photos to be sent privately, adding location to conversations with the people that matter most. Nokia also showcased Nokia Live View, which turns the phone’s camera view finder into a reality augmenting tool. With Nokia Live View, a phone can be pointed to a building or street and the names of the places become superimposed over them, offering one click access to detailed information about businesses, restaurant or attractions. All the applications announced today are available at Nokia’s Beta Labs (betalabs.nokia.com).
Nokia also announced:
…
An agreement with the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority to develop a NFC-based smartphone ticketing solution to pilot on New York regional commuter trains starting before the end of 2011
Nokia Pulse Beta (likely to graduate to a commercial product) [Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia Pulse. The New Way to Check in [Oct 25, 2011]
Adding an inspired twist on social location, Nokia Pulse lets you instantly send location-tagged updates and photos to private groups of family and close friends. So syncing up in town and staying up to date is even simpler than sending a text message, but still just as private.Nokia Pulsebrings your everyday conversations to life by automatically tagging photos and updates with your location.
Every conversation, from pickups and drop-offs to meet-ups, is as instant, private, and simple as sending a text, but far more useful and engaging. Nokia Pulse is integrated with Maps, so finding people nearby, discovering new places, and getting directions is a snap.
Group Conversations:
Keep it Private. Keep it Personal. Keep it Real.
- Private check in – All your conversations stay private and safe
- Photo check in – Automatically tag your location to all your photo updates
- Private by Default – No complicated privacy settings needed
Live Places:
One tap and they know where you are. Two taps to get you there.
- Bring your favorite places to life – Post a favorite place to a conversation
- Discover what.s nearby – Make and view recommendations of nearby places of interest
- Getting there is a snap – Get directions directly from the recommended place
Your People:
Your Family. Your People. You Decide.
- Instant: Receive instant on-device notifications of all new updates
- Open: Everyone with an email address can participate
- Easy: Sending and receiving messages with Nokia Pulse is as easy as SMS
- Powered by the cloud: Your conversations are saved in the cloud for as long as you need them
- Accessible from anywhere: Nokia Pulse is available on multiple touch-points – desktop web, mobile web, Windows Phone and Symbian devices
Nokia Maps Suite Beta (likely to graduate to a commercial product) [Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia Maps Suite brings you the future of location-based services. Places helps you discover where to go and Public Transport shows the best way to get there with buses, trams and trains with worldwide coverage. Nokia Live View, the augmented-reality browser, turns your phone.s camera viewfinder into a new way to spot nearby attractions, shops, restaurants and places of interest. With Pulse, you can check in with the people you care about most—your family and close friends.
Wherever you are, you have access to everything you need to explore your surroundings, share special moments, and plan your next adventure.
Nokia Maps Suite includes:
Live View
A new way to easily find information and services on the go.
Learn more | Discussion | Suggestions | Bug reportsPlaces
Discover places around you.
Learn more | Discussion | Suggestions | Bug reportsPublic Transport
Plan your journey from here to there easily.
Learn more | Discussion | Suggestions | Bug reportsPulse
Privately share and discuss your location, photos, and more.
Learn more | Discussion | Suggestions | Bug reportsTry one, get four.
Even if you only use one of these stand-alone apps, we’d like you to install the Nokia Maps Suite and see how things work. Please read the installation and set up instructions on the Try It page. And note that there are some Known issues.
Make a difference. Give feedback!
Please share your thoughts, questions, bugs, and suggestions in the feedback forum (after checking the Known issues). When submitting feedback, select the most appropriate sub-category to make sure the right developers see it.
Discover your world and share it with people who matter the most [Oct 26, 2011]
It’s nice to feel like a local no matter where you are. Maybe you’re in London for Nokia World and have taken some time to see the sites, Places helps you find out where you are. Then you feel like having a coffee and use Live View to get information and reviews about the cafes closest to you. Enjoying your double cappuccino, you check in with Pulse and see that friends are in London for Nokia World too. Finally, you use Public Transport to find the quickest way to meet up with them. But how do you know all of the apps are up-to-date and that you have the latest and greatest from Nokia’s Location team?
We present to you the new Nokia Maps Suite for Symbian. It brings you all of the latest location applications in one easily downloadable package. The Nokia Maps Suite installer checks for the latest each app has to offer and automatically updates, optimizing performance. Today, Nokia Maps Suite is introducing a whole new range of apps: Places, Live view, Pulse and Public Transport, all of which can be installed together on your phone’s home screen. Be one of the first to try it!
Places
With one tap from your home screen, see where you are and instantly discover places around you listed in handy categories.
Live view
Explore your surroundings in a new way. The Live View augmented-reality browser uses your phone’s camera viewfinder to spot nearby places and instantly shows what’s around you: landmarks, restaurants, bars, shops, public transport stations and more.
Pulse
An exciting new way to check in with the people you care about the most—your family and close friends. By default, it’s private and you don’t need to be part of a social network, simply add your email address and post. You can automatically add location to every update and receive instant notifications for new updates. Pulse is integrated with maps so you can easily discover nearby places, get directions and recommendations from trusted family and friends.
Public Transport
All of your commuter information and trip planning at your fingertips! You can choose from multiple route suggestions and follow the slick list of directions for buses, trams, underground or trains. Check the next departure times for the nearest station and any one you have in mind, and easily save your regular commutes to favourites.
This first release of Nokia Maps Suite for Symbian lays the groundwork of things to come. We’d love for you to try it out and let us know which apps you like to use and when. Give it a try and tell us what you think in Nokia Beta Labs!
Best,
Rebekah, Community Feedback Manager
More Information on Nokia Maps Suite: Places [Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia Places helps you discover where to go faster. Simply open the app and instantly see what’s around. With just a tap or two you can turn places on the map on or off. Tap on the markers to see what the places are and how they are rated. Go to the details to read reviews, make reservations, and find your way there.
Live View: Augmenting Reality Everywhere Experimental Beta (prototype that may change or disappear after the trial period) [updated: Oct 26, 2011, released: July 12, 2011]
A new way to easily find information and services on the go
Have you ever wished you could spot the closest restaurant or ATM? Nokia Live View is a fun and easy way to discover what is around you. Simply launch the app on your phone and Live View will display the points of interests in the camera viewfinder view/ List view / Maps view.Nokia Live View connects you to what you.re looking for . and more . exactly when and where you want it. With Live View you can:
- Select your interests in many different categories . Live View will filter the points of interests and present your choices
- Know your options . get details, read reviews of restaurants and hotels
- Enjoy the place . with one tap you can make a reservation, or navigate to the location via turn by turn walking map
What is different in this version?
Based on your feedback the product has been refined and has the following new features:
- Live View is now available in several views – Camera viewfinder view, List view, Maps view. Accessible via screen navigation circles on the menu bar
- Settings to configure the distance in Miles vs. Kilometers
- Search and My Stuff . Search for a place and access previously searched items from My Stuff
- Places grouping . when many places are located at the same location they are grouped and can be accessed by expanding the group
- Browse through the Famous Places around the world
- Scrollable List view sorted by distance with places details and orientation
- A single click access to Call, View Ratings, Walk, Drive or Share the place
- Layout, UI and performance improvements
Nokia Live View augmented reality browser (experimental beta at Nokia Beta Labs) [July 11, 2011]
http://betalabs.nokia.com/apps/nokia-live-view Nokia LiveView is a fun and easy way to discover what is around you. Simply launch the app on your phone and LiveView will display the points of interests in the camera viewfinder.We are looking forward to your feedback!
We would love to hear from you with feedback on the productand any enhancements that you could think of to make this a better product.
Please make sure to rate our service by answering the NPS question in the client. If you want to leave more detailed feedback you can use the forum here on Beta Labs. Our team will be monitoring the feedback and we respond to you in the forum.
Nokia Live View updated. Augmenting reality everywhere. [Oct 26, 2011]
Are you hooked on Nokia Live Viewyet? If not, we’re pretty sure you will be—because Live View changes the way you see the world around you. It doesn’t matter what you’re looking for, like a café, ATM, or train station. Just look through your phone’s camera viewfinder, and the Live View augmented reality browser actually shows you whatever you’re looking for.
Say you’re taking a taxi to meet friends at that new hot spot downtown. But when the driver drops you at the curb, you don’t recognize a thing. You know it must be close by, but where exactly? No worries. Just pull out your Nokia N8, launch Live View, and see exactly where the place is. It sounds like a gadget 007 might carry. But it’s already in your pocket. Just tap to call or navigate with turn-by-turn instructions. With Live View, you’ll probably beat your friends there. So share your location with them via email or SMS.
Live View can even help you spot new places of interest. Always looking for the best Korean BBQ on the block? Save your customized searches so you can explore even easier next time. And once you discover someplace new, you can read reviews, descriptions and destination information.
So what do you think? Has Live View saved you from wandering aimlessly? Helped you find something new and different? Share your stories!
Try Nokia Live View for yourself. This new beta releasehas the following new features:
- Live View is now available in several views – Camera viewfinder view, List view, Maps view. Accessible via screen navigation circles on the menu bar
- Settings to configure the distance in Miles vs. Kilometers
- Search and My Stuff – Search for a place and access previously searched items from My Stuff
- Places grouping – when many places are located at the same location they are grouped and can be accessed by expanding the group
- Browse through the Famous Places around the world
- Scrollable List view sorted by distance with places details and orientation
- A single click access to Call, View Ratings, Walk, Drive or Share the place
- Layout, UI and performance improvements
– Ashok, Nokia Live View team
More Information on Nokia Maps Suite: Public Transport [Oct 26, 2011]
Nokia Public Transport helps you navigate cities by public transportation. You can:
- Choose from multiple routes and follow the list of directions for buses, trams, underground or trains.
- Smart navigation for walking helps you reach your destination door-to-door.
- Check the next departure times for any stop in your city and easily save your regular commutes to favourites.
You can enjoy of all these features with time-based information in these areas:
Berlin & Brandenburg, London, New York City, Toronto, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Bay Area, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Boston, Turin, Flanders, Denmark, Auckland
We also offer worldwide Simple routing information. Simple routing uses the map data to calculate a heuristic route, based on the likely frequency of lines.
Check out the list of citieswhere coverage is available.What’s different from the last version?
We have increased our time-based coverage (before we only supported Berlin & Brandenburg) and added Simple routing for many cities all over the world. There’s also a new Stations nearby page (formally known as Departures) with all the stations and departure times around a selected spot. And the Journey details page visuals has been improved.
Nokia City Scene Experimental Beta (prototype that may change or disappear after the trial period) [Oct 25, 2011]
Nokia City Scene (Nokia Beta Labs) [Oct 21, 2011]
Explore cities in 3D with Nokia City Scene from Nokia Research Center. http://nokia.ly/q78Qhw Click on buildings to browse their stores and services, or use search to jump to what you are looking for. Connect to your social networks to find friends’ check-ins or share locations. Now featuring about a dozen US cities with coverage expanding both in the US and to Europe.
Explore cities in 3D with Nokia City Scene from Nokia Research Center. Click on buildings to browse their stores and services, or use search to jump to what you are looking for. Connect to your social networks to find friends’ check-ins or share locations. Now featuring about a dozen US cities with coverage expanding both in the US and to Europe.
The application combines NAVTEQ street imagery, building models and terrain data to create interactive panoramic street scenes. It uses building models to make buildings clickable, and to present information right on the building facade, so you can discover information just by browsing along a street.
You can use City Scene’s location aware search to jump directly to a panoramic view of the place you’re looking for, so you’ll recognize it when you go there. The application lists your friends’ Foursquare and Facebook check-ins so you can jump to where they’ve been. You can also share “postcards” of locations complete with street address (maybe suggesting a place to meet for coffee later). The Featured Cities list will grow automatically as NAVTEQ completes more drives.
We’d be really happy to hear your feedback about Nokia City Scene. If you’ve any comments or suggestions please visit our forum. Please check also the Frequently Asked Questions.
Microsoft and jQuery Mobile, PhoneGap
Updates: PhoneGap, Cordova, and what’s in a name? [March 19, 2012]
– PhoneGap for Windows Phone Dissected [Dec 19, 2011]
– Tombstoning with PhoneGap for Windows Phone 7 (and KnockoutJS) [Oct 24, 2011]
A few weeks back I wrote a blog post about how the recent announcement of PhoneGap support for Windows Phone 7 (WP7) which makes it possible to develop HTML5-based applications. In my previous blog post I showed the development of a simple HTML5 / JavaScript application which PhoneGap wraps up within a Silverlight application ‘shell’ allowing it to be deployed to your phone and potentially submitted to the Marketplace.
However, in order to pass the various Marketplace requirements and gain certification, your application must correctly handle the application lifecycle. With the recent Mango release, the lifecycle has become a little more complicated (although better! in that it adds multi-tasking / fast-app switching). I have also covered the lifecycle in a previous blog post and demonstrated how you can handle the various lifecycle events within an MVVM application.
The most tricky part of the application lifecycle that as a developer you need to handle is the tombstoned state, where your application is terminated (i.e. stopped and removed from memory). It is your responsibility to save enough state in order that when your tombstoned application is restarted, it looks to the user as if your application never stopped running, i.e. you restore your application UI to its original state.
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My Take on jQuery Mobile [Oct 25, 2011]
When I first saw the demo of jQuery mobile I was super impressed. Every buttons and gesture feels like a native app. Elements such as the header and footer gives it a strong sense of iOS feel. One couldn’t tell the difference if they didn’t see the address bar. However, after coding HTML 5 mobile apps for assignment 2 and final assignment, the flaws of jQuery mobile starts to surface.1. Bad documentation …2. Page transition …3. Persistent footer …4. Platforms …HTML 5 mobile app is the future but not now.
jQuery Mobile 1.0RC2 Released! [Oct 19, 2011]
… We plan on this being the last RC before moving to the final 1.0 release within the next few weeks. This plan may change if we run into any major issues that will require broader testing and another RC. …
Platform support in 1.0 RC2
We’re excited to announce that as of 1.0 RC2, we’ve covered all our target platforms for the project. At this stage, we have broad support for the vast majority of all modern desktop, smartphone, tablet, and e-reader platforms. In addition, feature phones and older browsers are supported because of our progressive enhancement approach. We’re very proud of our commitment to universal accessibility through our broad support for all popular platforms.
Our graded support matrix was created over a year ago based on our goals as a project and since that time, we’ve been refining our grading system based on real-world device testing and the quickly evolving mobile landscape. To provide a quick summary of our browser support in Beta 1, we’ve created a simple A (full), B (full minus Ajax), C (basic) grade system with notes of the actual devices and versions we’ve been testing on in our lab.
The visual fidelity of the experience is highly dependent on CSS rendering capabilities of the device and platform so not all A grade experience will be pixel-perfect but that’s the nature of the web.
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End of Updates
Satya Nadella, Jason Zander, Scott Guthrie, and Steve Ballmer: BUILD Keynote – Day 2 [Sept 14, 2011]
Scott Guthrie:
…
… when you create a new MVC 4 project, you’ll notice that there’s actually now a mobile application project template that you can use, so that if you want to build a standalone app specifically for mobile devices, it’s really easy to get started and do that.
What we’re also doing though is making it possible so that you can start with a project like I have here, which is built for desktop browsers, and easily mobile-extend it. So, I’m going to actually take advantage of that technique.
So, to that I’m just going to import a NuGet package called jQuery.Mobile.MVC. This is going to import a couple files into my project here, and let’s take a look at those.
So, the first one that it imported is a couple new JavaScript files, which is jQuery.mobile. And so we’ve been huge fans of the jQuery project for several years now, and really excited to announce this week that we’re going to be shipping jQuery Mobile as part of ASP.NET and Visual Studio going forward. (Applause.)
Even better though is some of the server support that we’re adding to ASP.NET to allow you to easily take advantage of that.
And so one of the things that we’ve done here if you look inside our project again is you’ll notice that there’s a new file that’s also been added by that NuGet package called layout.mobile. And what we’re doing is we’re — in the model view controller world, you can have clean separation between your controllers, your models, and your views. With MVC 4 we’re making it possible so that you can easily override any of the views inside your project to have device-specific optimizations within it.
So, for example, this layout.mobilewill basically override when a phone hits the site, and actually has a layout that’s kind of optimized for a smaller screen real estate. And the cool thing is you can do that on any individual view, partial, or layout.
So, if I wanted to, I could, for example, override the index.CSS HTML to have a mobile-specific view, but I don’t need to do that. So, I can choose which files I want to. In this case I’m just going to use the standard HTML app here, but I am going to go ahead and annotate it with a few jQuery Mobile annotations. So, I’m going to basically say I want this thing to be a list view style rendering, I want to enable filtering on it, and I want to inset it slightly so it looks a little better on a really small screen real estate.
And then I’m going to rerun this application. On my desktop browser it’s going to look exactly the same because I’m using the standard desktop layout, and those annotations are just going to be ignored, and they’re perfectly valid HTML5 annotations.
But if we switch gears here and hit it with a phone, and so I’m going to show here an iPhone emulator. We’re going to hit that exact same app, and one of the things you’ll notice now is we’re taking advantage of that new mobile layout, and we’re taking advantage of those data annotations to have a much smoother look and feel across that experience that’s optimized for a small form factor.
I could go ahead and do filtering. This is all client side. So, I can filter to see just the JAs or the SCs. Again you’ll notice full logon registration capabilities built into the template, and again I can click on say the about link and go back and forward within my site. And with only a few lines of code it’s super easy for me now to mobile optimize my site, and have it work across any phone, whether it’s a Windows Phone, an iPhone, Android, or any other type of device. (Applause.)
…
BUILD Day #2 in Review According to MVPs [Sept 15, 2011]
… Windows Phone team is creating CSS skins for jQuery Mobile that look WinPhone native. #bldwin …
ASP.NET MVC 4 Release Notes [Sept 14, 2011]
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New Features in ASP.NET MVC 4 Developer Preview
This section describes features that have been introduced in the ASP.NET MVC 4 Developer Preview release.
Enhancements to Default Project Templates
The template that is used to create new ASP.NET MVC 4 projects has been updated to create a more modern-looking website:
In addition to cosmetic improvements, there’s improved functionality in the new template. The template employs a technique called adaptive renderingto look good in both desktop browsers and mobile browsers without any customization.
To see adaptive rendering in action, you can use a mobile emulator or just try resizing the desktop browser window to be smaller. When the browser window gets small enough, the layout of the page will change.
Another enhancement to the default project template is the use of JavaScript to provide a richer UI. The Login and Register links that are used in the template are examples of how to use the jQuery UI Dialog to present a rich login screen:
Mobile Project Template
If you’re starting a new project and want to create a site specifically for mobile and tablet browsers, you can use the new Mobile Application project template. This is based on jQuery Mobile, an open-source library for building touch-optimized UI:
This template contains the same application structure as the Internet Application template (and the controller code is virtually identical), but it’s styled using jQuery Mobile to look good and behave well on touch-based mobile devices. To learn more about how to structure and style mobile UI, see the jQuery Mobile project website.
If you already have a desktop-oriented site that you want to add mobile-optimized views to, or if you want to create a single site that serves differently styled views to desktop and mobile browsers, you can use the new Display Modes feature. (See the next section.)
Display Modes
The new Display Modes feature lets an application select views depending on the browser that’s making the request. For example, if a desktop browser requests the Home page, the application might use the Views\Home\Index.cshtml template. If a mobile browser requests the Home page, the application might return the Views\Home\Index.mobile.cshtml template.
Layouts and partials can also be overridden for particular browser types. For example:
- If your Views\Shared folder contains both the _Layout.cshtml and _Layout.mobile.cshtml templates, by default the application will use _Layout.mobile.cshtml during requests from mobile browsers and _Layout.cshtml during other requests.
- If a folder contains both _MyPartial.cshtml and _MyPartial.mobile.cshtml, the instruction @Html.Partial(“_MyPartial”) will render _MyPartial.mobile.cshtml during requests from mobile browsers, and _MyPartial.cshtml during other requests.If you want to create more specific views, layouts, or partial views for other devices, you can register a new DefaultDisplayMode instance to specify which name to search for when a request satisfies particular conditions. For example, you could add the following code to the Application_Startmethod in the Global.asax file to register the string “iPhone” as a display mode that applies when the Apple iPhone browser makes a request:
DisplayModes.Modes.Insert(0, new DefaultDisplayMode("iPhone"){ ContextCondition = (context => context.Request.UserAgent.IndexOf ("iPhone", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) >= 0) });After this code runs, when an Apple iPhone browser makes a request, your application will use the Views\Shared\_Layout.iPhone.cshtml layout (if it exists).
jQuery Mobile, the View Switcher, and Browser Overriding
jQuery Mobile is an open source library for building touch-optimized web UI. If you want to use jQuery Mobile with an ASP.NET MVC 4 application, you can download and install a NuGet package that helps you get started. To install it from the Visual Studio Package Manager Console, type the following command:
Install-Package jQuery.Mobile.MVCThis installs jQuery Mobile and some helper files, including the following:
- Views/Shared/_Layout.Mobile.cshtml, which is a jQuery Mobile-based layout.
- A view-switcher component, which consists of the Views/Shared/_ViewSwitcher.cshtml partial view and the ViewSwitcherController.cs controller.After you install the package, run your application using a mobile browser (or equivalent, like the Firefox User Agent Switcher add-on). You’ll see that your pages look quite different, because jQuery Mobile handles layout and styling. To take advantage of this, you can do the following:
- Create mobile-specific view overrides as described under Display Modesearlier (for example, create Views\Home\Index.mobile.cshtml to override Views\Home\Index.cshtml for mobile browsers).
- Read the jQuery Mobile documentationto learn more about how to add touch-optimized UI elements in mobile views.A convention for mobile-optimized web pages is to add a link whose text is something like Desktop view or Full site mode that lets users switch to a desktop version of the page. The jQuery.Mobile.MVC package includes a sample view-switcher component for this purpose. It’s used in the default Views\Shared\_Layout.Mobile.cshtml view, and it looks like this when the page is rendered:
If visitors click the link, they’re switched to the desktop version of the same page.Because your desktop layout will not include a view switcher by default, visitors won’t have a way to get to mobile mode. To enable this, add the following reference to _ViewSwitcher to your desktop layout, just inside the <body>element:
<body> @Html.Partial("_ViewSwitcher") ...The view switcher uses a new feature called Browser Overriding. This feature lets your application treat requests as if they were coming from a different browser (user agent) than the one they’re actually from. The following table lists the methods that Browser Overriding provides.
HttpContext.SetOverriddenBrowser(userAgentString)Overrides the request’s actual user agent value using the specified user agent.
HttpContext.GetOverriddenUserAgent()Returns the request’s user agent override value, or the actual user agent string if no override has been specified.
HttpContext.GetOverriddenBrowser()Returns an HttpBrowserCapabilitiesBase instance that corresponds to the user agent currently set for the request (actual or overridden). You can use this value to get properties such as IsMobileDevice.
HttpContext.ClearOverriddenBrowser()Removes any overridden user agent for the current request.
Browser Overriding is a core feature of ASP.NET MVC 4 and is available even if you don’t install the jQuery.Mobile.MVC package. However, it affects only view, layout, and partial-view selection — it does not affect any other ASP.NET feature that depends on the Request.Browser object.
By default, the user-agent override is stored using a cookie. If you want to store the override elsewhere (for example, in a database), you can replace the default provider (BrowserOverrideStores.Current). Documentation for this provider will be available to accompany a later release of ASP.NET MVC.
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Azure SDK
ASP.NET MVC 4 Developer Preview supports the September 2011 1.5 release of the Windows Azure SDK.
Progressively enable the mobile web with ASP.NET MVC 4, HTML5, and jQuery Mobile [BUILD2011 session TOOL-803T, video record on Channel 9, by Phil Haack, Sept 15, 2011]
There are over a billion mobile devices with rich Web capabilities, yet many Websites look terrible on such devices, or worse, fail to work at all. As mobile devices become the primary way that most people access the Web, having a site that fails to deliver a rich experience on the Web using HTML5, JavaScript and jQuery Mobile is missing out on a huge opportunity. In this session, learn how ASP.NET MVC 4 leverages these next generation technologies enabling developers to build a single solution that targets multiple platforms and form factors such as mobile, tablet and desktop devices.
51Degrees.mobi and MVC4 [Sept 23, 2011]
The annual Build conference announced and showcased many exciting innovations from Microsoft, but what interests us the most is the latest version of MVC.
Many of the changes to MVC4 are trying to make it more mobile friendly. As can be seen from Phil Haack’s presentation at Build, MVC now has jQuery Mobile in the box and allows multiple views for each controller depending on the device the server detected; and as Phil said at his talk, “Device detection is not trivial…[51Degrees]… adds a ton of device info to the browser files”.
So exactly how would you integrate 51Degrees with MVC4? The Nuget repository along with the manner in which Views can be configured makes the whole process a breeze. This guide describes how to install 51Degrees from Nuget and then how to setup a view for a mobile device.
ASP.NET MVC 4 Mobile Features [Tutorial with the same content as the Phil Haack’s session above, Sept 14, 2011]
… For this tutorial, you’ll add mobile features to the simple conference-listing application that’s provided in the starter project. …
…
Skills You’ll Learn
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- How the ASP.NET MVC 4 templates use the HTML5
viewportattribute and adaptive renderingto improve display on mobile devices.- How to create mobile-specific views.
- How to create a view switcher that lets users toggle between a mobile view and a desktop view of the application.
…
CSS Media Queries
CSS media queries are an extension to CSS for media types. They allow you to create rules that override the default CSS rules for specific browsers (user agents). A common rule for CSS that targets mobile browsers is defining the maximum screen size. …
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The Viewport Meta Tag
Most mobile browsers define a virtual browser window width (the viewport) that’s much larger than the actual width of the mobile device. This allows mobile browsers to fit the entire web page inside the virtual display. Users can then zoom in on interesting content. However, if you set the viewport width to the actual device width, no zooming is required, because the content fits in the mobile browser.
The viewport
<meta>tag in the ASP.NET MVC 4 layout file sets the viewport to the device width. …Examining the Effect of CSS Media Queries and the Viewport Meta Tag
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The viewport
<meta>tag and the CSS media query are not specific to ASP.NET MVC 4, and you can take advantage of these features in any web application. But they are now built into the files that are generated when you create a new ASP.NET MVC 4 project.For more information about the viewport
<meta>tag, see A tale of two viewports — part two.In the next section you’ll see how to provide mobile-browser specific views.
Overriding Views, Layouts, and Partial Views
A significant new feature in ASP.NET MVC 4 is a simple mechanism that lets you override any view (including layouts and partial views) for mobile browsers in general, for an individual mobile browser, or for any specific browser. To provide a mobile-specific view, you can copy a view file and add .Mobile to the file name. For example, to create a mobile Index view, copy Views\Home\Index.cshtml to Views\Home\Index.Mobile.cshtml.
In this section, you’ll create a mobile-specific layout file.
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Browser-Specific Views
In addition to mobile-specific and desktop-specific views, you can create views for an individual browser. For example, you can create views that are specifically for the iPhone browser. In this section, you’ll create a layout for the iPhone browser and an iPhone version of the AllTags view.
…
In this section we’ve seen how to create mobile layouts and views and how to create layouts and views for specific devices such as the iPhone. In the next section you’ll see how to leverage jQuery Mobile for more compelling mobile views.
Using jQuery Mobile
The jQuery Mobile library provides a user interface framework that works on all the major mobile browsers. jQuery Mobile applies progressive enhancement to mobile browsers that support CSS and JavaScript. Progressive enhancement allows all browsers to display the basic content of a web page, while allowing more powerful browsers and devices to have a richer display. The JavaScript and CSS files that are included with jQuery Mobile style many elements to fit mobile browsers without making any markup changes.
In this section you’ll install the jQuery.Mobile.MVC NuGet package, which installs jQuery Mobile and a view-switcher widget.
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Improving the Speakers List
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Creating a Mobile Speakers View
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Improving the Tags List
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Improving the Dates List
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Improving the SessionsTable View
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Improving the SessionByCode View
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Wrapup and Review
This tutorial has introduced the new mobile features of ASP.NET MVC 4 Developer Preview. The mobile features include:
- The ability to override layout, views, and partial views, both globally and for an individual view.
- Control over layout and partial override enforcement using the
RequireConsistentDisplayModeproperty.- A view-switcher widget for mobile views than can also be displayed in desktop views.
- Support for supporting specific browsers, such as the iPhone browser.
See Also
- jQuery Mobilesite.
- jQuery Mobile Overview
- W3C Recommendation Mobile Web Application Best Practices [Dec 14, 2010]
- W3C Candidate Recommendation for media queries [July 27, 2010]
Other information:
Anatomy of a Page [jQuery Mobile site]
Building Cross-Platform Apps Using jQuery Mobile [MSDN ScriptJunkie article by Nick Riggs, April 20, 2011]
ASP.NET MVC 4 Article Series by Nandip Makwana:
- Getting Started With ASP.NET MVC 4(Sep 15th)
- First look at ASP.NET MVC 4 Templates(Sep 16th)
- ASP.NET MVC 4 Mobile Project Template(Sep 18th)
- Display Mode in ASP.NET MVC 4 (Sep 21st)
- Under the Hood of Display Mode in MVC 4 (Sep 27th)
PhoneGap
Announcing PhoneGap for Windows Phone Mango [Jesse MacFadyen, Senior SE, Nitobi, Sept 8, 2011]
Over the last month and a bit, Nitobi has been working closely with Microsoft to bring PhoneGap to WP7 devices. I am happy to say that it’s now here, and ready for beta exposure.
Our starting point was the excellent work of Matt Lacey, who created the initial project and did the initial exploration of device functionality. The upcoming Windows Phone Mango update to devices brings a rich set of HTML5 features and IE9 to the device.
Thanks to Microsoft sponsorship, Sergei Grebnov has been making contributions to the code and has implemented the MediaCapture and Camera APIs. This is Sergei’s first foray into PhoneGap, but he has proven to be a valuable asset to the project and was up to speed quickly.
Nitobi has dedicated two developers to the project, myself and Herm Wong. We’ve been busy dusting off our Sliverlight+C# skills and implementing the other APIs. ( the infamous Shazron has also jumped in just this week )
What You’ll Need to Get Started
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Where Are We ? What APIs Are Done?
Here’s an overview of where we’re at:
- Accelerometer
- Camera
- Compass (unit testing is waiting on us having a device that supports compass)
- Contacts
- Events (partial, still underway)
- GeoLocation
- MediaCapture
- Connection
- Notification
These have all been implemented per the spec, and function as expected with some quirks being added to the documentation as you read this.
The ‘deviceready’ event is fired on startup, and like other device platforms, is the signal that you can begin making PhoneGap API calls.
The GeoLocation API did not require any work, as IE9 implements the spec as defined by W3C.
Still to come :
- File
- Storage
How Does it Work? A peek under the hood.
…
Gotchas + Known Issues
…
Reporting issues, tracking progress and keeping up to date.
…
Will PhoneGap for WP7 support plugins?
This was a key focus, as keeping the architecture plug-able is a primary concern, and in my view, where the real power lies.
PhoneGap-WP7 maintains the plugability of other platforms via a command pattern, to allow developers to add functionality with minimal fuss, simply define your C# class in the WP7GapClassLib.PhoneGap.Commands namespace and derive your class from BaseCommand.
PhoneGap exec works in exactly the same way as other platforms :
PhoneGap.exec(callbackSuccessFunction,callbackErrorFunction, PLUGINNAME, PLUGINMETHODNAME, paramObj);
What is Left to Do? How can You Contribute?
Sergei has begun working on the File API, so you can expect full file access to create, modify, delete files as well as upload/download to/from a server.
I am busily trying to wrap up some of the life-cycle events (Events API) so your application can be notified when the app is pushed to the background. I will be looking into exposing mouse events to JavaScript shortly after that.
…
roadmap-planning [Brian LeRoux, Senior Architect, Nitobi, Sept 30, 2011]
Sept 30 – 1.1.0
- plugins (discussion on Planning: Plugin Packaging)
- security: child browser investigation / oauth support
- Android (Simon)
- performance: first benchmark(s) / resource profiling hooks / capacity tests (maybe identify flagship devices!)
- cmd line scripts for: build, debug, emulate, release, create, log, test
- bundle phonegap/wp7 in the download ( FileAPI, MouseEvents, Storage, Template + BuildScripts )
More information:
- PhoneGap mobile HTML5 framework adding support for Windows Phone Mango [Jean-Christophe Cimetiere, Sr. Technical Evangelist – Interoperability, Microsoft, Sept 8, 2011], the Microsoft announcement
- Developing Windows Phone 7 HTML5 apps with PhoneGap [Colin Eberhardt, Senior Technical Architect, ScottLogic, Sept 29, 2011], extensive report on the usage
- “Acupressure: Treat Yourself” for Windows Phone 7 is released in Windows Marketplace! [Oct 2, 2011], as the first paid PhoneGap-based application in the Windows Phone Marketplace (it appeared first as an iPhone/iPad, Android, and Blackberry version on April 9, and the Android version became #1 among medical paid application on August 5)
Qualcomm is very close to getting the HTML5 web apps performance and feature set to rival that of native OS apps
OnQ: Delivering Better Web Experiences for Snapdragon S3 Mobile Processors [Sy Choudhury, Director of Product Management, Web Technologies, Oct 10, 2011]
Sy Choudhury, Director of Product Management for Qualcomm, demonstrates how our web optimizations can enhance the overall web browsing and web apps experience on Android for Snapdragon S3 mobile processor-based devices.
Heavy Lifting on the Mobile Web – Put It Where It Belongs [Sy Choudhury, Director of Product Management, Web Technologies, July 7, 2011]
I encourage you to take a close look at the Snapdragon™ mobile processor– its architecture, documentation and tools – as you consider developing mobile Web apps for Android. The image above maps the Snapdragon processor to the heavy lifting you face in delivering a good mobile Web experience to your customers.
Let’s go through them individually:
Transport– DNS lookup, page loads, page reloads, image downloads…the browser never lets the modem have any peace. But the browser – not to mention the user –is more forgiving on the desktop than on a mobile device. The Web transport functions need to work intelligently on mobile devices or the user experience will drown in latency and needless reloads from the network.
Layout – Images are almost 2/3 of the payload of the average Web page. Do you want graphics-rich sites like photo galleries and social networks hogging the CPU to decode images? The browser needs to take one look at them and offload them to dedicated hardware for decoding.
Scripting– JavaScript is a big part of the Web that is only going to get bigger on the mobile Web. Device APIs associated with HTML5, for example, give Web-based applications access to mobile-specific hardware components like compass, sensors, GPS, camera, audio and more. Last year’s JavaScript engine won’t suffice to handle these efficiently.
Rendering – Whether you need to compose pages in a frame or stream mobile video smoothly, there are better places to do it than the CPU. The work of drawing page objects on separate layers and merging them efficiently belongs on a graphics processing unit (GPU), and the coming onslaught of mobile videofavors chipsets with a dedicated multimedia engine.
In short, your mobile Web apps are going to rely on the browser and the JavaScript engine to perform a lot of heavy lifting. Dumping all that work on the CPU is not a good, long-term development strategy, which is why the Snapdragon processor is designed to carve it up and hand it off to function-specific engines.
That’s one big advantage to pulling all of this functionality into a single chip. Another advantage is that it makes things easier for everybody. We produce the components more efficiently, manufacturers sacrifice less real estate inside the device, and you keep your eye on just one set of rules for writing to hardware.
Also, as part of Qualcomm’s Web Technologiesinitiative, we’ve been developing and implementing optimizations for all of this functionality. Qualcomm has made them available as updates to Adobe® Flash® Player and Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc., our wholly owned subsidiary that focuses on mobile open source contributions, has made them available to the community. You can take advantage of them by developing for the Snapdragon processor, because we also include them as part of the software bundle we ship.
Want to know more? We’ve written a series of papers on what it’s going to take – in the browser, in the JavaScript engine, in the mobile processor – to make users as productive on the mobile Web as they’re accustomed to being on the desktop. Have a look at the papers and …
Vellamo Mobile Web Browser Comparison for Android [Sy Choudhury, Director of Product Management, Web Technologies, July 14, 2011]
The Vellamo web browser comparison benchmark evaluates browser performance on Android devices. The tool provides comparative analysis of browser performance and stability, including networking, JavaScript, rendering, and user experience. Incorporating industry standards and custom benchmarks, Vellamo is sure to impress mobile users!
Web Technologies [Initiative] [QDevNet, Aug 24, 2011]
Give your end users mobile web applications that are designed to run like native applications.
Get ready for a few realities about developing for the mobile Web:
- Your users want the kind of rich multimedia content and far-reaching applications that rely on the browser and JavaScript.
- Rich content and complex Web applications also rely on hardware resources deep inside the mobile device.
- You need to give your Web users desktop-quality performance on mobile devices before your competitors do.
To make this easier for you, the Web Technologies initiative from Qualcomm Incorporated and Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc.(QuIC) enables a series of software features and hardware-tuned performance optimizations that give the Web application environment deep reach into the mobile device. The end result–a level of performance from your Web app that users typically expect from native applications and even desktop applications.
We’ve optimized the WebKit browser, the V8 JavaScript engine and Adobe® Flash® Player 10 for best-in-class support of the Web on smart mobile devices:faster page downloads and reloads
- better interactivity with Web apps and pages
- snappier, smoother response to user commands
- the highest quality and resolution multimedia streams
- lower overall power consumption
- Web application functionality and performance on par with native mobile apps
Developer Resources
Web Technologies Tools and Resources
Using our runtime software packages, you can begin developing mobile Web apps that perform more like native apps.Videos
Uplinq 2011 Super Session: Is HTML5 the Future of Smartphone Apps?: A Conversation About Web Technologies
Is HTML5 the future of mobile apps? Can web apps ever perform on par with native apps? What do the advances in browser-based experiences bode for mobile operating systems? How can hardware matter in such an abstracted environment? Join Ben Wood, director of research for leading industry analyst firm CCS Insight, as he engages Rob Chandhok, who leads Qualcomm’s software strategy efforts, on these and other questions central to the intersection of web technologies and mobile.Uplinq 2011 Session: Session: Developing Rich Web Apps for Smartphones
Most mobile app developers today choose the native app route for performance and feature reasons. However with most apps, taking advantage of a connection to the internet, using the language of web, HTML, JavaScript and XML for future applications makes more sense than ever before. This session will provide an overview of the work to enhance the performance of the browser to enable web apps to equal the snappiness of their native counterparts. We will then cover new device-side functionality that web page and web app developers can expect to access in the near future to build everything from standalone graphically rich web apps through to connected and dynamic use cases.
Snapdragon HD 720p Video Performance [Sy Choudhury, April 29, 2011]
Sy Choudhury, Director of Product Management for Qualcomm, demonstrates Snapdragon’s the in-page web video capability, HD video at 720p in HTML5 and Flash, and full HD video at 1080p for mobile devices
DASH – Toward a Better Mobile Video User Experience [Sy Choudhury, Director of Product Management, Web Technologies, Aug 16, 2011]
Do you like jittery, staccato playback and long buffer times when you watch video on your phone or tablet? Neither do I. Neither does Qualcomm.
Let’s face it, though: the mobile video genie is out of the bottle, and it’s not going back in. Video streaming continues to dominate mobile bandwidth consumption, accounting for 39 percent of data usage in the first half of 2011, according to the H1 2011 Allot MobileTrends Report. Elsewhere, Frost & Sullivan notes that CTIA has called for an additional 800 MHz of bandwidth to cope with the onslaught of mobile video; the U.S. government is trying to provide 500 MHz of that request.
There’s no simple solution that will ensure a good mobile video experience. We’ve identified areas that are ripe for improvement and are working diligently to address them. DASH – Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP – is an important one. We see DASH as the industry’s best approach to streaming mobile video, while preserving the kind of video experience consumers expect.
What is DASH?
DASH is an open standard that addresses what we think are many of the biggest problems in delivering streaming video:
1. File size– In the old days, Web video was easy. You downloaded a 2- or 4- or 10 MB file to your device and then played it. That wasn’t really streaming, and it wasn’t scalable – imagine streaming high-definition movies that way. So DASH is a standard for chopping video streams into smaller segments.
2. Changing network conditions– To keep a stream of video flowing smoothly, servers need to send these smaller segments when the device can accommodate them. With DASH, the video lives on the server in several different bit-rates – for example, 250 kbit/s low quality, 500 kbit/s medium quality and 1000 kbit/s high quality. And here is the key; the device determines and then commands the server to send the best quality given the current network conditions (see diagram).
3. Proprietary formats– Most Web video is encoded in common codec formats like H.264 but stored in various streaming formats, depending on the media player on the device. Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and many of the other names you associate with video delivery have their own streaming format and their own approach to streaming. DASH defines openly published profiles and the device’s native player can therefore easily support these various streaming profiles.
4. Digital rights management (DRM)– For premium video like movies and sporting events, content owners want their rights protected. DASH is focused only on the core streaming technology and hence works seamlessly with various DRM solutions.
If you want to know more of the technical details, Thomas Stockhammer, on our team has published a paper on the design principles and standards we’re putting into DASH.
What’s Qualcomm doing?
Qualcomm and Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. (QuIC) have participated as the work-item lead and helped promote DASH with 3GPP, and were the main authors of the DASH specification in MPEG. In collaboration with companies such as Ericsson, Apple, Netflix and Microsoft, Qualcomm has worked on the standard. Although MPEG-DASH content has yet to be published, we’re working with content owners to help bring this open standard to market.
As a result, we’re building a lot of expertise and we’ve chosen to make it widely available. As a matter of fact, to encourage adoption of the DASH standard, Qualcomm will not seek royalties or license fees for use of its DASH Essential Patents as defined in our DASH Licensing Commitment.
You’re going to see similar announcements from other technology companies who realize that it’s time for an open standard for adaptive, Internet streaming video – one which is also easy to implement and bring to market.
Keep an eye on DASH as the standard evolves, and let me know in the comments what your company is doing about the user experience in mobile video.
Snapdragon Processor Enables Flash Player on Windows 8 – A Qualcomm, Microsoft & Adobe [Rick Lau, Sept 15, 2011]
Through its collaboration with Microsoft, Qualcomm is proud to show the Windows 8 Developer Preview running on the latest dual-core Snapdragon processor. Shown running on the desktop, Internet Explorer in the Windows 8 Developer Preview features support for the latest web standards as well as the Adobe Flash Player, giving consumers a rich browser experience and developers support for whatever tools that best suit their needs. Flash is an important part of the web browsing experience – and Qualcomm supports the Flash Player today on our dual core Snapdragon processor running Windows 8.
The Next App OS is the Web Browser [Liat Ben-Zur on QDevNet, Oct 7, 2011]
By optimizing the browser to really take advantage of dedicated hardware blocks in our Snapdragon mobile processors, we’re seeing comparable levels of video performance across both web apps and native apps – 30 frames per second. Not only can we play 1080p video files, we can playback 1080p video in Flash and HTML5. In fact, in HTML5 we’re able to get multiple video streams running live on a page at the same time.
We’re also closing the gap on advanced graphics with the help of HTML5 Canvas for 2D graphics and WebGL for the 3D equivalent. We’re seeing sample 3D WebGL content benchmarked at 25fps in a Web App, vs. 50fps in a native, OpenGL-ES equivalent app on the same device. Though the native app offers twice as many fps, anything over 25fps is not very noticeable to the human eye. Though we see this gap steadily closing over time.
While HTML5 is truly catching up in terms of performance, it still lags behind native apps when it comes to accessing hardware features. Whether it’s full Bluetooth access, advanced camera features, accelerometers or gyros, native apps still have the edge. This is why we are now focusing on this area, so expect to see a lot more device features exposed via Javascript bindings in the future. Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. (QuIC) is also working with open standards organizations, such as W3C and Khronos, as well as collaborating with others to ensure an open web.
…
I think we will see web apps first in tablets followed by Smart TVs. Once more and more TVs have full HTML5 browsers in them, it’s going to break open a whole new set of exciting user experiences. For example, you will no longer be tied to a limited set of Samsung TV Apps, LG TV Apps or Roku Apps. The whole Web will be at your beck and call via your TV Remote. That’s quite a game changer — one that Google TV has attempted to bring us.
If web apps become mainstream on tablets and TVs, they will have to become mainstream on allmobile devices. Speaking of which, we cannot discount the growth of the hybrid apps that are currently available on smartphones, which leverage a lot of HTML5. These are already mainstream.
Web apps are destined to take off for another simple reason: there are a lot more web developers (familiar with HTML5) out there than native app developers. And there are even fewer developers building tablet apps and TV apps. So the momentum is behind web apps — it’s just a matter of time.
…
The technology in our Snapdragon chips is always evolving, and we are constantly adding more intelligence and features into the chipset via hardware and software. The more features we add, the more we want to expose to web apps.
For example, we’re pushing the envelope in terms of what the camera can do with things like facial recognition, multi-shot with zero shutter lag, smile detection, blink detection, gaze analyzer, etc. So now, it’s no longer just about exposing a camera API to web apps, its about exposing all these advanced post processing features to web apps, too. Similarly we’re doing some very cool things around proximity-based peer to peer (P2P). Imagine the possibilities when your web app can reach out, discover and connect with other web apps nearby you.
Also, as I touched on earlier, we’re working to bring our Snapdragon processors to TVs, too. We suspect that more people will want to buy connected TVs that have all these cool HTML5 web app capabilities, as opposed to spending thousands of dollars and being locked into just Samsung, LG or Roku TV apps.
…
… with the Snapdragon chip, your browser doesn’t have to be just another piece of software. It can be optimized to take full advantage of all of Snapdragon’s subsystems. Here are a few examples of how a web browser’s performance can be turbocharged when tuned for the Snapdragon chip:
Transport
(Optimizations for the Snapdragon integrated modem and intelligent connectivity engine.)
- Designed to achieve up to 50% faster page and web app downloads1
Layout
(Leveraging smarter caching.)
- Improved multi-core utilization
Scripting
(Optimizing JavaScript for Snapdragon’s CPU microarchitecture.)
- 7x faster JavaScript performance in 18 months2
Rendering
(Leveraging Snapdragon’s GPU and multimedia hardware engines.)
- HTLM5 video performing at full native rate
- Faster and smoother scrolling, zooming and panning
- GPU accelerated HTML5 <canvas>, <video>, WebGL and CSS3D animations
1 Source: Tests performed by Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. Tested with 30 sites on Wi-Fi and consistent environment on Android 2.3 using HTC Sensation and production OEM device with Dual-CPU A9.
2 Source: Tests performed by Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. Tested using Android 2.1 through 2.3 on HTC Nexus One).
Windows 8 Metro style Apps + initial dev reactions
With this style of apps there is a clear platform diagram:
but there is no similar kind of diagram for the structure of the applications themselves, although that structure is absolutely different from the ones we are familiar with in the existing Windows applications of different kind.
First I will present the current confusion in that regard and then SOME answers to that from current MSDN documentation. Some because an equally important part, the contract mechanism is not described in the “answer excerpts” that will follow after the “introductory confusion part”. For the contract mechanism I will include here just this simple paragraph from the Fact Sheet:
Apps are part of a web of apps, not a silo of unrelated apps. Apps can communicate with one another in Windows 8. Rather than switching apps to share information, you stay immersed in your app and share the information to another app right in that context, never losing your place. So if you want to share a photo from a social network app, you just swipe the share charm and share to the app. No burdensome and baroque cut and paste.
Other missing information in brief from the published short guide:
Adding Metro style to your apps
Your apps get a predictable, Metro style UI that’s tailored to the device by using Windows 8 controls. The controls are designed for both touch devices and for mouse and keyboard. By default, your apps convey the Windows personality, which is a familiar user experience that customers understand. Here are the three kinds of controls that you can use.Standard controls: these include everything you need to display, enter, and manipulate data and content. Control families include view, text, pattern, overlay, media (audio and video), content, collection, and basic.
Collection controls: These help designers to create rich content experiences in consistent, touch-friendly ways. They include built-in support for drag-and-drop operations, and they let you customize display modes by using styling and templates. Examples are the simple list, grid view, grouped grid view, flip view, and semantic zoom.
Intrinsic controls: These are available in the Windows Library for JavaScript (WinJS), and they go beyond the limitations of CSS3 box-type controls, if you need more flexibility in your interface design or you want to integrate your own brand into your customers’ experience.
Creating immersive user interfaces with adaptive layout
Windows 8 gives you creative options for adapting an app experience dynamically to the size of the screen area, changes in orientation, and different display capabilities using CSS3. These features enable you to give your customers a fluid, natural-feeling experience in your Metro style apps. Here are some examples.
Animation: Create smooth, animated experiences and elements with HTML5 and CSS3 that embody the Metro style. Take advantage of a comprehensive set of pre-defined animations that are lively and unique, yet familiar to users.
3-D transformations: Add smooth, fluid visual experiences, such as perspective transforms and flipping elements on and off the screen. In the past, you’d have to create these effects using native code, but now you can create them with HTML5 and CSS3.
Flexible box layout: Create flexible containers that expand proportionally to fill any remaining space in an HTML5 layout. This is great for designers to use to create key components of apps, such as toolbars or navigational elements.
Grid layout: Position and size content elements into cells on a grid structure that you define with fixed, fractional, or automatic units.
Multi-column layout: Mimic newspaper and magazine layouts by creating a single column of HTML5 content in multiple parallel columns with equal width and height.
A typical confusion about Windows 8 Metro style apps:
Re: Windows 8 apps going html5, wtf – part 2 [Sept 15, 2011]
I just watched this BUILD speech by Jensen Harris: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011/BPS-1004 [although it is the most detailed video “answer”, [1:33:05] long, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BTW]
I must admit that all those concepts regarding the metro touch UI appear to be really thought through. They actually looked at how people hold und use tablets, and the optimization to the “two hands, use thumbs”-method seems quite sensible (the split up touch keyboard was a little odd though … c’mon! … typing with your thumbs?).
Next I browsed the Windows Runtime Reference, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/br211377(v=VS.85).aspx(thx to jackbond for the link), and I was relieved to find lots of familiar stuff in there like XAML of course, Dependency Properties, Control Templates etc.
So I’d be willing to change my former “do not want!” attitude to a more excited “Lots of work coming up, but it’ll pay off” one if … well, if all of this was covered by “BUILD – the conference solely for handheld device developers”. As I said before: I might be too stubborn to grasp all this visionary stuff (I guess there’s a reason it’s not me working at the top of win dev ;-), but I simply cannot seeANYof this apply to the desktop environment.
I absolutly disagree for example with Harris’ statement that in the near future we will all unbelievingly remember that there once were screens without touch. I still don’t see me working (yes, Mr Harris, I actuallyWORKwith my Computer rather than spend my whole time looking at beautiful RSS-Feeds, weather forecasts, tweet@rama and stuff like that) here at my desk by pawing my monitor.
And when he showed how to operate Metro UI with a mouse I ultimately thought “Hey, you cannot be serious about that”. So instead of having a context specific pop up menu at the very position of my mouse pointer when I righclick I now get the ususal app bars at the top and bottom of the screen which forces me to move my mouse pointer a much greater distance to achieve the wanted result. This is not “fast and fluid”, but its sheer opposite.
So I’ll try a new evaluation of where this leaves me as a developer. We now have a new UI that (in my opinion) is awesome for handhelds, but doesn’t make any sense on the desktop. We finally(!) have a true replacement for the WIN32-API (“YES!!”) that unfortunatly only works with Metro UI (“D’oh!”). We still have the traditional desktop, but it is clearly labeled as “NOT modern, NOT immersive, NO WinRT” (I still don’t understand why). We have Silverlight that doesn’t run in the Metro UI Browser because its own creator(!) thinks that this plugin only disturbs the indeedily-doodily HTML5 experience.
I stand here scratching my head in disbelief, and I cannot resist the impression that this whole show is about “Heeeyyyy, we developed an AWESOME solution! Wait, it gets better: for a problem that didn’t even exist!”. I think it’s hilarious to read posts like this http://dougseven.com/2011/09/14/i-know-what-youre-thinking-and-youre-wrong/ (thx to jrboddie for the link). So while Mr Sinofsky is still on stage at BUILD trying to sell Metro to the crowd as the next big thing, developers are wiping the sweat off their foreheads in relief to hear people like Doug Seven say “My advice…keep doing what you are doing [with WPF and Silverlight], and invest 20% of your time in learning about Windows 8 and the Metro style app models“. There’s something going very wrong here, and I wonder if anyone at the top of Microsoft does take notice.
Short Answers:
Windows 8 Previewed Today at BUILD [Sept 13, 2011]
Build: More Details On Building Windows 8 Metro Apps [Sept 14, 2011]
Jensen Harris Walks Us Through the Windows 8 UI [only 10 minutes long Channel 9 video, Sept 14, 2011]
A great example: Metro style browsing: one engine, two experiences, no compromises[Sept 14, 2011]
A great number of Metro style app samples
Answers from Metro style app development:
[Roadmap for creating Metro style apps using C#, C++, or Visual Basic]
Touch is an important part of many Metro style app [they are touch first!] using C++, C#, or Visual Basic apps. But the mouse remains a primary means of interacting with these apps on some devices. Learn how to make your apps work with both means of input.
>> Quickstart: Touch input
[Primer for current Windows developers]
With the Windows desktop, the shell is static. Icons can be colorful and pretty, sure, but they really just sit there. A running app is also often surrounded by visual noise that has little to do with the app itself—noise that comes from other apps and from Windows itself. Even an app’s own menus, ribbons, and other command structures often consume a noticeable portion of screen space and can distract the user.
In contrast, Windows Developer Preview is designed to help Metro style apps engage and re-engage the user much more deeply:
- Apps typically run full-screen and the Start screen disappears after an app is launched. System UI also appears only as needed in response to specific user interactions. As a result, users are completely immersed in the foreground app by default, and you don’t need to implement a special full-screen mode.
- The exception to this is that two apps (and only two) can run side-by-side. One occupies the majority of the screen and the other, a smaller portion to the side. This keeps multi-tasking focused on the user’s most important apps.
- For all but its most essential UI, apps can use the app bar and flyouts to reveal secondary operations when needed, in response to specific interactions.
- Live tileshelp apps dynamically display their most important content on the Start page, providing users with essential info at a glance. This way, users don’t have to open the full app to engage with it.
- Users can create content tiles [secondary tiles] that link directly into specific parts of an app. This makes the interaction with an app both highly efficient and meaningful, in contrast to the user wasting their time simply navigating the app structure.
- Apps can use notifications to surface events to the Start page in a way that feels natural to Windows. Such consistency increases the likelihood that a user will take notice of the event and re-engage with the app.
In addition to having two side-by-side apps, Windows Developer Preview introduces a new means of multitasking— apps can now work together to perform common tasks such as searching, sharing, and managing contacts:
- Instead of having the user switch between apps, as in the classic Windows shell, portions of other apps that help fulfill a task, like sharing, appear directly in the foreground app.
- In the classic shell users often must switch between apps because the data they want is accessible only within a particular app. In Windows Developer Preview, such apps can act as sources for searchable data, sharing services, contacts, and files. This means that selecting and sharing a picture that’s managed in an online service like Flickr is as easy as picking a file that’s on the local hard drive.
With all this aliveness and active integration, it is also important to optimize battery life and maximize the responsiveness of the foreground app. Here is what’s new:
- Windows Developer Preview automatically suspends background apps once those apps have an opportunity to save their state and finish long-running tasks.
- Suspended apps remain in memory and can be quickly resumed if the user switches back to them, they’re needed to fulfill a task (like providing search results or a sharing service), or they’ve asked to be awakened in response certain events like a timer or network activity.
- If the system needs to free memory, it can unload suspended apps, knowing that the app can reload its saved state when it starts up again to bring the user right back to where they left off.
- Selective app features, such as music, voice-over-IP, and data transfer, can continue running in background mode (subject to user approval).
Finally, because many users spend the majority of their computing time in a web browser, with Windows Developer Preview an app can specify itself as the primary handler for certain internet domains. This means that navigating to those domains takes the user to a typically richer app experience rather than a generic browser experience. Developers can also use header markup in web pages to identify a handler app, which improves app discovery both through the browser and through Bing search.
[What are Metro style apps?]
Your Metro style apps engage users with the info they are interested in and the people they care about. Live tilesupdate users at a glance and draw them into your app.
The Start screen is about showing off what apps are great at. App tiles are alive with status and activity updates, encouraging your users to dive into your app. When designing your tile, you need to:
- Highlight your brand. Your app tileis a chance to visually define your brand for your users. It should be attractive and distinct.
- Showcase the info and activities your users are most interested in. You want your users to keep returning to your tile, looking for updates, checking in. You want those updates to pull your users back into the app itself. The more thoughtful you are about the kinds of info and activities you showcase, the more likely users are to engage.
For more info on designing and creating an app tile, see Guidelines and checklist for tiles and Guidelines and checklist for notifications.
[Creating and managing tiles, toast, and Windows push notifications]
In the new Windows Developer Preview Start screen, tiles are the primary representation of an app. Users launch their apps through those tiles and tiles can display new, relevant, and tailored content to the user through [tile] notifications. This makes the Start screen feel vibrant and allows the user to see at a glance what’s new in their world.
An app can also communicate time-critical events to the user through toast notificationswhether the user is in another app, in the Start screen, or on the desktop. The methodology to design and deliver toast closely parallels that of tiles, lowering the learning curve.
Tile notifications, toast notifications, and badge updates [or notification badge] can all originate either from a local API call or from the cloud.
Tiles and tile notifications
Tiles represent your app in the Start screen. They are the primary method for the user to launch your app, but can also surface information and notifications directly through tile itself, making it a dynamic representation of your app even when your app is not running. This contributes to making Windows feel alive and connected. An interesting and useful tile can give a user incentive to launch your app and this aspect of your app development should not be slighted.
Tiles are available in two sizes. Which of the two sizes is displayed is entirely controlled by the user.
- Square: This tile size can contain application branding—either an application icon or name—as well as potential notification badges. Because a square tile contains only basic information, only one template is available to create them.
- Wide: This tile size can contain any of the content of a square tile plus richer, more detailed, and more visually compelling content as well. A broad choice of layout templates is available at this size to allow the additional content. Any app that uses a wide tile must also provide a corresponding square tile because the user can choose to shrink the tile at any time as they personalize their Start screen.
The content of a tile is defined in XML, based on a set of templates provided by Windows. To define a tile’s contents, the developer simply retrieves one of the templates and provides their own text and images.
A tile can contain text and images, depending on the template selected, and can also display a badge and either a logo or short name. The badge is displayed in the lower right cornerand the logo or short name in the lower left. The choice of whether to show the logo or the short name is declared in the app manifest.
Cycling
Up to five update notifications can cycle repeatedly through the tile if the developer declares the tile to have the cycling capability. Notifications can be given a tag to use as a replacement ID. Windows examines the tag on a new notification and replaces any saved notification with the same tag. Notifications cycle until they expire, are pushed out of the queue by newer updates, or are replaced in the queue with an updated version of themselves.
Default tiles
When your app is first installed, it is represented by a default tile. This is a simple, static tile defined in your app manifest; generally just a representation of your logo or brand. This tile is replaced only when you send your first tile notification. It’s a significant concept to grasp that the only time you technically “create” a tile is when you define it in your app manifest. All further changes are tile notifications.
Your tile can revert to the default when there are no notifications to be displayed on the tile; for example, when the user is offline or all tile notifications have expired.
As with any tile, if you supply a wide tile, you must also supply a square tile.
Default tiles are rendered on top of the app color, so if there is any transparency in the default tile image, the app background shows through.
…
Secondary tiles
Secondary tiles provide the ability to create tiles pinned to the Start screen that launch directly to a specific location or subexperience in a parent app. The app decides which content to offer as a pin option, but the user has the final say in whether the secondary tile will be created or deleted. This allows users to personalize their Start screen with the experiences they use the most.
This tile is independent of the main app tile and can receive tile notifications independently. When the secondary tile is activated, an activation context is presented to the parent app so that it can launch in the context of the secondary tile.
…
Toast notifications
A toast notification is a transient message to the user that contains relevant, time-sensitive information and provides quick access the subject of that content in an app. It can appear whether you are in another app, the Start screen, or on the desktop. Toasts are an optional part of the app experience and are intended to be used only when your app is not the active foreground app.
For your app to be able to receive a toast notification, you must declare that it can do so in your app’s manifest file.
A toast notification can contain text and images but secondary actions such as buttons are not supported. Think of toast as similar to a Windows balloon notification arising from the taskbar’s notification area. Like those notifications, a toast appears in the lower-right corner of the screen. When a user taps or clicks on the toast, the associated app is launched in a view related to the notification. It is the only mechanism by which one app can interrupt a user in another app. Toasts can be activated, dismissed, or ignored by the user. The user can also choose to disable all toasts for an app.
A toast notification should only be used for information considered of high interest to the user, typically involving some form of user opt-in, therefore it is a good choice for incoming e-mail alerts, IM chat requests, and breaking news. However, it is extremely important that when you consider using a toast notification, you realize that, due to its transient nature, the user might never see it.
Raising a toast notification is very similar to sending a tile notifications: a developer creates an XML payload based on a provided template and passes that payload to a manager object to display. Toast is visually distinct from a tile but the markup structure is nearly identical.
There are two types of toast notification:
- Standard toast: Most developers will use the standard toast. This toast remains on the screen for 7 seconds, playing a brief sound to alert the user when it appears. This toast is best for notifications such as a new e-mail, an IM contact sign-in, or a new social media update.
- Long-duration toast: This toast looks the same as a standard toast but stays on the screen for 30 seconds and can play longer, looping audio. This is used in situations where developers want to grab the user’s attention because there is a human waiting on the other end of the connection. This type of toast is appropriate for person-to-person communication like instant messages and VOIP calls.
Scheduled and recurring toast
A toast notification can also be scheduled to appear at a specific time. Use this feature for alarms, calendar reminders and notifications that depend on precise timing. These notifications do not depend on the app’s state or the computer’s network connection.
A scheduled toast notification can also display multiple times within a short period to increase the user’s chance of seeing it. For instance, you might want to show important meeting reminders three times, five minutes apart.
Scheduled toast notifications specify the date and time when Windows should raise that toast notification. In the case of a recurring scheduled toast it is the first time that the OS will display the notification.
…
Badges
A tile can display a notification badgewhich conveys summary or status information concerning and specific to the app. Badges can be displayed on either the square or wide tile. They can be numeric (0-99) or one of a set of Windows-provided glyphs. Examples of information best conveyed through a badge include network connectivity in an online game, user status in a messaging app, number of unread mails in a mail app, or number of new posts in a social media app.
The system provides a set of glyphs for use with a badge. These glyph values are available:
- none
- activity
- alert
- available
- away
- busy
- newMessage
- paused
- playing
- unavailable
- error
…
[Guidelines and checklist for notifications]
- Use what you know about the user to send personalized, tailored notifications to them through the tile. Tile notifications should be relevant to the user. The available information about a user on which this relevance is based is largely internal to the individual appand may be limited by a user’s privacy choices.For example, a television streaming service can show the user updates about their most-watched show or a traffic condition app can use the user’s current location to show the most relevant map.
- Send updates to the tile frequently so the user feels that the app is connected and receiving fresh, live content. The cadence of tile notifications will depend on the specific app scenario. For instance, a busy social media app could update every 15 minutes, weather every two hours, news a few times a day, daily offers once a day, and a magazine app monthly. If your app would update less than once a week, consider simply using a square tile with a badge.
- Provide fun and engaging tile notifications to help users make an informed decision about when to launch your app. For instance, if you provide a shopping app, tell the user when a sale is going on.
- If your app is not connected to cloud updates, use the tile to display local content or recent activity, updated each time the user launches or exits the app. For instance, a photo viewer tile could display photos from a recently added album. A video streaming service could show a static image to represent a video the user recently watched but didn’t finish.
- Don’t use relative time stamps or dates (for instance, “two hours ago”) on tile notifications because those can become out of date. Use an absolute date and time (for instance, “11:00 A.M.”).
…
[How to Create the Best User Experience for Your Application [April, 2006]]
Figure 10. Custom toast window with graphics and multiple controls
“Toast” windows (see Figure 10), made famous by instant messaging clients like MSN Messenger, are a great solution for informing the user of something without annoying or disrupting his or her work flow. There is a great article by Bill Wagner on creating Toast windows. It is good policy (and manners) to not disturb any other application’s toasts. Obstruction of such windows can be annoying and unproductive. One solution is to use the ToastSemaphore Mutex provided by the OS to avoid toast collision.
Sometimes you may need to show multiple items by the toast. Popping up 3 or more toasts would not really be advisable. Instead, cycling through each by popping/fading one toast after the other would be better. Microsoft Outlook implements a similar solution when notifying the user of incoming e-mails.
[Guidelines and checklist for notifications]
Toast notifications
- Consider that the user might not see the toast. If the information is important, you may want to retain related information on your tile or within your app views.
- Notify the user of something personally relevant and time sensitive. Examples include:
- new e-mails in a mail app
- an incoming VOIP call
- a new instant message
- a new text message
- a calendar appointment or other reminder
- notifications that the user has explicitly opted-in for
- A running app can hide a toast notification if it is no longer valid, such as an incoming call where the other party has hung up or the user has already answered on another device.
- Do not include text telling the user to “click here to…” It is assumed that all toasts have a click/tap action with a result made clear in the context of the notification.
- Combine multiple related updates that occur within a short period of time into a single toast. For instance, if you have 3 new e-mails that arrive at the same time, the app or app server should raise a coalesced notification.
- Don’tuse toast to notify the user of something that must be seen, such as a critical alert. To ensure the user has seen your message, notify them in the context of your app with a flyout, dialog, app bar or other inline element.
- Don’t use toast to notify the user of transient failures or network events, such as a dropped connection.
- Don’t notify the user of something they didn’t ask to be notified about. For instance, don’t assume that all users want to be notified each time one of their contacts appears online.
- Don’t use toast for anything with a high volume of notifications, such as stock price information.
- Don’t notify the user of something that is not user-initiated, peer-to-peer, or explicitly enabled by the user.
- Don’t use toast notifications for non-real time information, such as a picture of the day.
- Don’t use toast to notify the user of routine maintenance happenings, such as the completion of an anti-virus scan.
- Don’t raise a toast when your application is in the foreground. Use PushNotificationReceivedEventHandler to intercept push notifications when your application is running.
[Working with templates]
…
A badge is used to provide status on a tile, such as the number of new e-mails received or the status of a network connection. There are two variations: a number and a glyph. Badges are also defined as an XML document and its elements are defined in the badge schema.
[Guidelines and checklist for tiles]
- Tile designers should attempt to create an appealing tile for their app that presents new, tailored, and engaging content that the user will want to check in the Start screen and that invites them to launch the app.
- For a suite of apps, create one tile for each unique app in the suite.
- Don’t create multiple tiles that open subexperiences in the same app. There should only be one tile for each unique app. Instead, consider whether secondary tiles [content tiles] would be a better option for those scenarios.
- Don’t clutter the user’s Start screen with tiles for extras or accessories along with the app’s main tile. Only create multiple tiles when the product is truly a suite and each tile represents a separate core app in that suite.
- Don’t create a tile for a configuration or troubleshooting experience within the app. That functionality should be provided to the user through the app’s Setting charm.
…
- Don’t use tiles for advertisements.
- Avoid the overuse of loud colors in tiles; simple, clean, elegantly designed tiles will be more successful than those that scream for attention.
- Don’t use images with text on them; use a template with text fields for any text content needs.
- Don’t rely on tiles to send urgent real-time information to the user. For instance, a tile is not the right medium for a news app to communicate an immediate earthquake evacuation message. Toast is a better medium for messages of an urgent nature.
- Avoid image content that looks like a hyperlink, button, or other control. Tiles do not support those elements and the entire tile is a single click target.
[Creating and managing secondary tiles]
Secondary tiles [content tiles] enable users to promote interesting content and deep links—a reference to a specific location inside of the pinning app—from Metro style apps onto the Start screen. Secondary tiles enable users to personalize their Start screen experience with playlists, photo albums, friends, and other items important to them.
The option to create a secondary tile is seen most often in UI as the Pin to startoption. To pin content is to create a secondary tile for it. This option is often presented as a glyph on the app bar.
Selecting the secondary tile through a touch or a click launches into the parent app to reveal a focused experience centered on the pinned content or contact.
Only users can create a secondary tile; apps cannot create secondary tiles programmatically.Users also have explicit control over secondary tile removal, either through the Start screen or through the parent app.
Secondary tilesare associated with a single parent app. They are pinned to the Start screen to provide a user with a consistent and efficient way to launch directly into a frequently used area of the parent app. This can be either a general subsection of the parent app that contains frequently updated content or a deep link to a specific area in the app.
Examples of secondary tile scenarios include:
- Weather updates for a specific city in a weather app
- A summary of upcoming events in a calendar app
- Status and updates from an important contact in a social app
- Specific feeds in an RSS reader
Any frequently changing content that a user wants to monitor is a good candidate for a secondary tile. Once the secondary tile is pinned, users can receive at-a-glance updates through the tile and use it to launch directly into the parent app to reveal a focused experience centered on the pinned content or contact.
…
[Adding a splash screen]
A splash screen is requiredfor all Metro style apps.
.
Your default splash screen displays when users launch your app, providing immediate feedback to users while your app initialized its resources. When your app’s first view is ready for interaction, the splash screen is dismissed. Good use of a splash screen can improve how the user perceives the performance of your application.
You can customize your application’s loading display by specifying the splash screen image and background color, and by using the Splash Screen API to display your splash screen for longer, and/or to notify your app when your splash screen is dismissed.
Extending the length of time that your splash screen is displayed enables your application to complete additional startup tasks and display additional loading information. For example, your app might need to load resources from the network. You would extend your splash screen by retrieving the coordinates of the splash image in order to construct your own splash screen (which is the first view in your app) that mimics the default splash screen, but can also provide the user with additional loading information. Mimicking the default splash screen in this way ensures that your app is in full control of its loading process while also maintaining a clean, consistent, loading experience for users.
If you have entrance animations, detecting when the splash screen is dismissed lets you know when to begin your app’s entrance animations.
[Choosing the right UI surfaces]
You have a number of surfaces you can use in your Metro style app, like the app window, pop-ups, dialogs, and bars. Choosing the right surface at the right time can mean the difference between an app that is a breeze to use or a burden.
The app window, or canvas
The app window, sometimes called the canvas, is the base of your UI. The canvas holds all of your content and controls. Whenever possible, you should integrate your UI elements into this base surface. For example, instead of using a pop-up to display an error, you can smoothly show, hide, or shift the error message on the window with the built-in animations. Presenting your UI inline lets users fully immerse themselves in your app and stay in context.
The app bar
Outside of the app window, the app bar is the primary command interface for your app. Use the app bar to present navigation, commands, and tools to users. The app bar is hidden by default and appears when users swipe a finger from the top or bottom edge of the screen. It covers the content of the app and can be dismissed by the user with an edge swipe, or by interacting with the app.
The charms bar
The charms bar presents a specific and consistent set of buttons to users in every app: search, share, connect, settings, and start. We believe these are core scenarios that every user wants to do in almost every app they use.
- SearchUsers can search for content located your app or in another app, and they can search your app’s content from another app.
- ShareUsers can share content from your app with people or services.
- ConnectUsers can connect to devices and send content, stream media, and print.
- SettingsUsers can configure your app to their preferences.
- Start Users can go directly to the Start screen.
Context menus
The context menu, sometimes called a popup menu, shows actions that users can perform on text or UI elements in an app. You can use up to five commands on each content menu, like cut, copy, or open with. This limit keeps the context menu uncluttered, easy-to-read, and directly relevant to the text or object that the commands act on.
Don’t use context menus as the primary command interface for an app. That’s what the app bar is for.
Message dialogs
Message dialogs are dialogs that require explicit user interaction. They dim the app window and demand a user response before continuing. Use message dialogs only when you intend to stop the user and to demand response.
In the example above, the app window is dimmed, and the user must tap one of the two buttons to dismiss the dialog. That is, the message in the dialog cannot be ignored.
Flyouts
Flyouts show temporary, dismissable UI related to what the user is currently doing. For example, you can use flyouts to ask the user to confirm an action, to show a drop-down menu from a button the app bar, or to show more details about an item. Flyouts are different from message dialogs in that you should show a flyout only in response to a user tap or click, and you should always dismiss the flyout when the user taps outside of it; you should show a message dialog only when you need to interrupt the user and demand some kind of interaction.
In the example above, the app stays active, and the user can tap the button or tap outside the flyout to dismiss it. That is, the message in the flyout can be ignored.
Toasts
Toasts are notifications that you show to users when your app is in the background. Toasts are great at updating users with information they want to know in real-time, but it’s ok if they miss. Users tap on the toast to switch to your app and learn more.
Errors
Errors within an app can be communicated to the user through three main surfaces. The right surface for an error is chosen by the app developer based on the content and consequences of the error. See also Guidelines and checklist for error messaging.
To show: Use this surface: A non-critical error specific to an element in the app. Your app cannot fix the problem, but users can.User interaction: Users can continue to interact with the app, system components, and other apps without dismissing the error. Example: The user enters an invalid string in a text box and then retypes it.
Text inline on the canvas· Text only · Dismissed by app
· Appears inline near the source of the error
A non-critical error that applies to the whole app. Your app cannot fix the problem, but users can.User interaction: Users can continue to interact with the app, system components, and other apps without dismissing the error. Example: Mail cannot sync at the moment.
Text at the top of the page· Text only · Dismissed by app
· Appears at the top of the page
A significant but non-critical error that applies to the whole app and your app can suggest a solution.User interaction: Users can respond to your prompt or continue to interact with the app, system components, and other apps without dismissing the error. Error and warning bar· Text, two buttons · Dismissed by user
· Appears near the top of the page
A critical error that applies to the whole app and prevents the user from using the app.User interaction: Users cannot continue interacting with the app unless they dismiss the error. Users can still interact with system components and use other apps. Message dialog· Text, 1 to 3 buttons, title (optional) · Dismissed by user
· Appears centered across the app
Do not use flyouts, toasts, or custom UI surfacesto display errors.
Errors: Inline text
In general, the inline error is the first choice of surface. An inline text error delivers messages in the context of the user’s current actions or the current app page itself. An inline error does not require an explicit user action to dismiss the message. The message goes away automatically when it no longer applies.
Do
Align the message with the control or element that the message relates to.Lay out the message with ample surround space to increase its focal strength.
The following example shows an inline error message associated with a specific text box.
Don’t
Include actions or commands in the message.In the following example, an Error and Warning bar would be a better choice.
Errors: Error or warning bar
Use a Error or Warning bar to notify users of important errors and warnings and to encourage the user to take action. Error messages inform users that a problem occurred, explain why it happened, and provide a solution so users can fix the problem. Warning messages alert a user of a condition that might cause a problem in the future.
Do
Position the bar at the top of the screen, encouraging the user to notice and take action.Color the bar with a color from the app’s palette.
Use the same color and layout for all your error and warning bars.
Don’t
Display bars with different colors or glyphs (such as a shield or exclamation point) based on perceived severity.Use an ‘X’ glyph to close the bar; instead, use a labeled Close button.
Use an error and warning bar for information-only message.
The message in the example below is purely informational and no action is required. In this case, an inline message at the top of the screen should have been used.
Errors: Message dialogs
Use a message dialog only if a modal message is required, blocking the user from interacting with the app.
Do
Use a message dialog if the user must take action before using the app any further.The following example is an appropriate use of an error message dialog because users cannot use the app unless they have an active account.
Don’t
Use a dialog if the user can ignore the message.In the following example, there is nothing about the error that would require you to block users until they address it. An error or warning bar would have been a better choice.
Windows 8: the first 12 hours headlines and reports
After A too early assesment of the emerging ‘Windows 8’ dev & UX functionality [June 24, 2011] we came to an as full disclosure as possible by the keynote of the BUILD conference. Here are the very first (12 hours) reactions to that:
Windows 8 debuts at Microsoft Build (live blog) [cnet, with keynote liveblog replay embedded]
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Powering Windows 8 Prototype PCs [PCMag.com]
At the Build conference, in Anaheim, Microsoft demonstrated a number of prototype PCs running its Windows 8 development platform. And if you expected Intel or AMD guts in most of them, you’d be wrong.
Qualcomm Powers Next Generation of Windows 8-Based Prototype PCs Previewed at Microsoft BUILD [Qualcomm press release]
The next generation of Snapdragon processors is a family of all-in-one chipsets with the option for integrated multimode 3G/4G, differing numbers of CPU cores and the ability to support a range of device types.
Shown for the first time, Qualcomm’s Gobi solution provided the 3G/4G LTE connectivity of a Windows 8-based prototype PC. Qualcomm’s Gobi mobile Internet connectivity solution is a pre-certified multi-mode 3G/4G LTE module that makes it easy for OEMs to certify the connectivity of any Windows 8-based PC. By integrating a Gobi-based module into Windows 8-based PCs, Qualcomm will provide a fast, easy-to-use global connectivity solution for an untethered, productive user experience.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon family of mobile processors also delivers dual-band Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth and FM radio connectivity through Qualcomm Atheros’ WCN3660 combo chip. The WCN3660 is an integrated solution optimized to work with a broad range of mobile operating systems and will be the first in a series of 802.11n wireless LAN solutions to fully support Windows 8.
[see also:
– Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs with a new way of easy identification [Aug 4, 2011]
– Next-gen Snapdragon S4 class SoCs — exploiting TSMC’s 28nm process first — coming in December [Aug 9, 2011]
– Mobile Internet (Aug’11) containing a lot of information about Qualcomm’s truly leading edge capabilities in that space]
Hands-on with Windows 8: A PC operating system for the tablet age [ars technica, pre-written with full knowledge already, but published just as the keynote began]
It’s not finished yet, and Microsoft still has plenty of work ahead of it, but one thing is clear: Windows 8 is a genuine, uncompromised tablet operating system.
Liveblog: Microsoft previews Windows Server 8 at BUILD [ars technica, with keynote liveblog replay embedded]
Hands-on with Windows 8: it’s good stuff on the PC, too [ars technica, published (?written?) after the keynote quite probably because the keynote was mostly Metro/tablet oriented]
[summarized opinion in the end of the article:]
Windows 8 is a usable touch-screen tablet operating system, and it certainly has some compelling features when used on that kind of machine. The look of the software is different from what traditional Windows users are used to, but the operating system remains true to its PC roots: you can use it on a tablet, but you won’t need to.
//Build/–Windows 8 Thoughts [the below summarized opininion of a blogger already got 49 votes “for” vs. 1 vote “against” on DZone]
Game on. After going through the Day 1 keynote for the Build event, I should say I’m pretty much convinced that Microsoft has got the equation correct. They corrected the Tablet part of the equation, and got the entire Cloud <-> Tablet stack in place, with proper platforms and a nice set of developer tools. And with out doubt, Windows 8 devices are going to be a definite competitor for iPad/iOS, and Microsoft has officially entered the post PC era.
Windows 8 can run on an Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM [engadget]
We highly doubt it’s enjoyable, but at least you (probably) won’t be forced into an upgrade if you don’t want to be.
Microsoft launches Windows 8 developer preview, downloads are live! [engadget]
… everything from “10-inch tablets to laptops to all-in-ones with 27-inch HD screens” will be able to ingest Win8 with ease. That’s a markedly different take than the folks in Cupertino have expressed, with an (admittedly limiting) mobile OS being chosen to run the tablet side of things. Only time will tell which mantra proves more viable, but we’re guessing the both of ’em will find varying levels of success.
Windows 8 for tablets hands-on preview (video) [engadget]
Wrap-up
With the introduction of OS X Lion, Apple gave us a glimpse at what a post-PC operating system might look like, and now Microsoft’s gone and pushed that idea to the limit. If Cupertino’s latest was a tease, than Windows 8 is full frontal. And we have to admit, we like what we see. Sure this may not be the final build, or anywhere near it, but for whatever flaws it may have, the UI being offered in this developer preview is really something special. Time will tell if the “one ecosystem to rule them all” approach will catch on, but for now it’s time to give props where props are due — at least until we can get our hands on a final build.
Windows 8 Store to sell both Metro-style apps and conventional Win32 programs [engadget]
Oh, sure — you’ve already started digging into the upcoming Windows Store (or, at least what it’ll deliver), but Microsoft just revealed a cute little nugget about its future functionality here at Build 2011. In keeping with its mantra of making Windows 8 a one-size-fits-all affair, the Store will be home to both Metro-style apps (useful for tablets and desktops alike) as well as traditional Win32 programs.
…
Microsoft demos NFC-based tap-to-share for Windows 8 devices (updated) [engadget]
There’s not a ton of details on this just yet, but Microsoft confirmed during its Build keynote today that Windows 8 devices equipped with an NFC chip will be able to use a tap-to-share feature to either send content from one device to another, or simply receive content from something like an NFC-equipped card.
Update: NXP Semiconductors has now confirmed that it “worked closely” with Microsoft to develop an NFC driver for Windows 8, and that it’s also supplied the NFC solution used in the Windows 8 tablets given out at Build. According to the company, the NFC support in Windows 8 includes things like device pairing (simply tapping to pair a Bluetooth headset, for example), data sharing, and the ability to transfer control from one device to another (such as during a video call). And that’s all to say nothing of the usual fare like interacting with an NFC-enhanced advertisement, not to mention other applications that will surely follow once it’s actually put into practice. The company’s press release is after the break.
[NXP’s NFC Solution Supports Windows 8]
Microsoft shows Windows 8 on existing Ultrabooks, acts like it’s never seen a thin laptop before [engadget]
Microsoft gives Samsung Windows 8 developer PCs to Build attendees, AT&T throws in 3G service [engadget]
… that PC comes complete with a second-gen Intel Core i5 processor, an 11.6-inch 1,366 x 768 Samsung Super PLS display, a 64GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, and a dock with a USB, HDMI and Ethernet ports.
[Super PLS (Plane Line Switching): see A Beautiful Display [Anandtech, June 13, 2011] from which the below photo is copied here to explain the improvement of Super PLS over previous S-IPS and I-IPS:
]
NVIDIA opens Windows 8 developer program with support for Kal-El tablets [engadget]
… it’ll embrace not just x86-based PCs, but Tegra-powered tablets as well. Specifically, that means support for its forthcoming quad-core Tegra platform, codenamed Kal-El, along with PCs packing GeForce, Quadro and Tesla cards.
[NVIDIA [press release] Helps Transform the PC With Windows 8 Developer Program]
Windows 8 details: new features, UI enhancements and everything in between [engadget]
Staying true to its roots, the new OS implements the familiar keyboard commands users have become accustomed to over the years — you know, like CMD and Ctrl+F. And as for its update to Internet Explorer, MS has imbued its tenth iteration with the ability to switch between the much-hyped Metro-style UI and plain old desktop view — all according to your whimsy. Of course, Redmond’s instituted other sweeping changes across the platform, and you can check some of the highlights after the break.
- All Windows 7 applications will run natively on Windows 8
- Security update notifications have been minimized to the lower right of the log-in screen
- Refreshed Windows Task Manager suspends apps when they’re not running on-screen
- New “Reset and Refresh PC” functions enable simplified system wipe and restore
- HyperV virtualization software comes pre-loaded on Windows 8
- Multi-monitor support now enables a single background across screens, as well as monitor-specific task bars
- Multi-touch support enabled for Internet Explorer 10
- Magnifier function enhanced for desktop manipulation
- Optional thumb-by-thumb input mode
- SkyDrive storage support integrated into all cloud-based apps
- Metro-style refresh for Mail, Photos, Calendar and People apps with Windows Live ID
- Settings roam allows for preferences to sync across a user’s Windows 8 devices
- Continued update support for Windows 8 Developer Preview Beta
- Even a Lenovo S10(first-gen Atom + 1GB of RAM) can “run” Windows 8
- There’s “no overlays” with Windows 8; Metro-style goodness is baked into the core
- Both Metro-style and conventional Win32 apps will be soldin the Windows Store
- Windows 8 devices equipped with an NFC chip will be able to use a tap-to-sharefeature to either send content from one device to another, or simply receive content from something like an NFC-equipped card.
- Logins will use a photo-based system
- Apps will be able to natively connect and understand one another (if written as such)
- Built-in antivirus software will ship in Windows 8
- There will notbe a different edition of Windows 8 for tablets, and presumably, not for Media Centers either
- It’s unclear how many “editions” (Home, Professional, Ultimate, etc.) of Windows 8 there will be
- ARM devices will be supported, but not in the developer preview
Windows 8 developer preview: when and where to download (update: right now, here!) [engadget]
… you’ll be able to download a copy of the Windows Developer Preview to your 32- or 64-bit x86 machine (no activation required) from dev.windows.com. Sorry, ARM hopefuls!
Microsoft launches Windows 8 preview [Computerworld, ]
Microsoft will post the first developer preview beta of Windows 8 late on Tuesday, the company announced as it showed off the new OS running on a Samsung tablet.
5,000 Microsoft developers get Samsung preview tablets [Computerworld, ]
Microsoft on Tuesday gave the 5,000 developers attending its BUILD conference preview units of a Samsung tablet running a version of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system.
Windows 8 on ARM to open up for developer scrutiny [Computerworld, ]
Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 OS running on ARM prototype tablets and other devices will be open for developer scrutiny at the software giant’s Build conference this week.
Microsoft opens Windows 8 preview to all [Computerworld, ]
Taking a different tack than it did three years ago, Microsoft has made a preview of Windows 8 available to anyone who takes the time to download it.
Microsoft leaves Windows 8 questions unanswered [Computerworld, the headline on the homepage of the Computerworld after the day earlier demonstration for journalists and analysts, while the article headline is a more natural one: “Windows 8 steps beyond the desktop”]
On the Windows computer of the future, live tiles will replace icons, touch-based gestures will replace mouse clicks and semantic zooming will replace the arduous traversal through nested menus and folders.
Microsoft leaves Windows 8 questions unanswered, say experts [Computerworld, the same thing reiterated now with quoting analysts to support the Computerworld headline]
Today’s long-awaited look at Windows 8 left analysts almost as perplexed as they were before Microsoft’s top Windows executive walked onto a California stage.
But if Microsoft was hoping to generate excitement about the upgrade, it succeeded, if only because of the fast-paced presentation by Steven Sinofsky, the president of the Windows group.
“It all looks great,” said Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland-Wash. research firm that specializes in tracking Microsoft’s moves. “If the goal was to get everyone excited, they did that. I was impressed by what they showed, by what they’ve done, but it’s too much to digest. I think I’ll have to watch the keynote [webcast] two or three more times to get it all.”
During the keynote, Sinofsky and other Microsoft executives spent most of their time showing off what they called the “Metro experience,” a tile-style, full-screen interface borrowed from Windows Phone 7 that’s intended to address the company’s lack of a true touch-based operating system.
“This is interesting for consumers,” added Michael Silver, a Gartner analyst who attended the keynote. “Certainly, Microsoft has to catch up on tablets [with Apple and Google] and get consumers excited about Windows again. I think this was a good effort at trying to do that.”
But for Cherry and Silver, who spend most of their time scrutinizing Windows for corporate clients, not consumers, there were tons of unanswered questions.
“We still don’t know when this will be shipped,” noted Cherry. “And we don’t know how stable Windows 8 is. Remember, these were all demos, and demos are carefully rehearsed.”
Silver echoed Cherry.
“They haven’t made the case yet that enterprises will want this,” said Silver. “I expect that they will have [enterprise-specific features] to show later, but at this point there are still lots of questions that haven’t been answered.”
Tops on his list: Can Microsoft successfully pitch Windows 8 as an upgrade for businessesthat have just recently migrated to its predecessor, Windows 7?
“Microsoft has implied that [Windows 8] would not drive an upgrade cycle,” said Silver, talking about corporations purchasing new computers to replace outdated machines and operating systems. “After all the work on Windows 7 deployment, organizations will think twice before deploying this everywhere,” said Silver. “They’re looking for a little respite, and planning to take a break because of migration fatigue.”
But Cherry was taken with the apparently smooth integration of the two interfaces: Metro and the traditional desktopfamiliar to users for decades.
“It appears that they will coexist well,” said Cherry. “I don’t envision a lot of problems for businesses there, although we’ll have to see how they handle group policies.”
Even so, he was hesitant to applaud Windows 8 until he knows more.
“The story they’re trying to tell — that they’ve re-imagined Windows — is a good story, but when I hear that they’re making major changes, I remember that changes lead to instability.”
Later today, Microsoft will distribute Samsung tabletswith a developer preview of Windows 8 to attendees at the BUILD Windows conference, which Sinofsky kicked off with the two-and-a-half hour presentation.
Microsoft has not said anything about when it will release a Windows 8 beta that will be available to the general public.
Windows 8 BUILD conference – The best reviews
Microsoft is currently previewing Windows 8 at the BUILD conferenceand the web goes crazy. It appears the interest in Windows 8 is even bigger than it was for Window 7. Of course, this is due to the fact that Windows 8 is the biggest overhaul since Windows 95.
I compiled a collection of the best Windows 8 reviews that have been published today. I divided the link list into two sections. The first part covers general reviews, and the second part specific Windows 8 features.
The first blog post is from Steven Sinofsky (President of the Windows Division). Most interesting is that everyone will be able to download the developer’s prelease of Windows 8 later today.
General Windows 8 reviews
- Welcome to Windows 8 – The Developer Preview
- Microsoft reinvents flagship software — Windows 8 — for PCs and tablets
- Windows 8 developer preview UX in pictures
- Windows 8 really does change everything, it’s mind-blowing
- Windows 8: A Reimagined PC, But What About Businesses?
- Hands on: Windows 8 review
- Microsoft blows up Windows with Windows 8
- Download Windows 8 ISOs Right Now
Windows 8 feature reviews
- Windows 8: What’s new on the desktop experience
- Windows 8 app store approval policy outlined
- Windows 8: Introducing Windows 8′s tablet interface, Metro
- Windows 8: classic desktop features
- Windows 8 Metro apps and Windows Store
- Hands on: Windows 8 input options and pen computing
- Windows 8 tablets: How Microsoft can win this time
- Hands on: Windows 8 File History backup
- Windows 8: A look at Internet Explorer 10
- Windows 8 Developer Preview: Samsung 700T Photo Gallery
- Windows 8 requires less power than Windows 7
- Microsoft unveils Samsung Windows 8 tablet for developers
- Windows Live SkyDrive Integration in Windows 8
On the spot responses
Windows 8 Shines at Build Keynote
Microsoft Build: Windows 8 will scale from tablets to PCs to servers
Top 10 Features of Windows 8: Will Microsoft Outshine Apple?
Build 2011: What Is WinRT, and Is Silverlight Dead?
Microsoft BUILD Event: Three Top Priorities for Windows 8
Windows 8 and Office 365: Microsoft’s Killer Cloud Combo?
Windows 8 boots ‘faster than monitor’
Microsoft Touts Windows 8, “Reimagines” Computing
Microsoft blows up Windows with Windows 8
Microsoft’s BUILD Conference Windows 8 Blowout
Sinofsky Spotlights ‘Fast and Fluid’ Windows 8 in Build Keynote
Microsoft Gives BUILD Attendees Copies Of Windows 8
Build 2011: First Glimpse of the Windows 8 App Store
Microsoft shows off new Windows 8 tablets, notebooks and more
Microsoft Demoes Windows 8 Features At BUILD Conference [SCREENSHOTS]
Developers receive Windows 8 tablets; Windows 8 DP build coming
Microsoft BUILD: Windows 8 developer preview now available
BUILD 2011: Windows 8 keynote highlights
Microsoft Build conference 2011: Windows 8 round up
Microsoft launches Windows 8 and details new features at Build 2011
Microsoft Demoes Windows 8 Features At BUILD Conference [SCREENSHOTS]
Microsoft showcases Windows 8 at BUILD
Microsoft’s Build Windows 2011 [Windows 8 info]
The Build Windows Conference has initiated, I would quickly give you a foreword : The Windows 8 OS Showcase seems outstanding in terms of interface. It seems as if your big computer screen is going to have a interface as competitive as Android or iOS.
Windows 8 Build Windows 2011 [Update 2]
Windows 8 Build Windows 2011 [Update 3]
Samsung Windows 8 tablet revealed at Build 2011
Microsoft Previews Windows 8 at BUILD Conference
Windows 8 Details Emerge at Build Conference Demo
Microsoft unveils Windows 8 – New features and screenshots
Tuesday Keynote @ Build Windows 8 [quite good notes]
Keynote started with a video of developers, designers etc. working on Windows 8 giving their favorite features in Win8.
- ~450 million copies of Win7 sold (1500 non-security product changes seamlessly delivered)
- Consumer usage higher than XP
- 542 million Windows Live sign-ins every month
Lots of change in Windows
- Form factors/UI models create new opportunities (touch)
- “People who say touch is only for small or lightweight devices are wrong. As soon as you use touch on a tablet, you’re going to want to touch on your desktop & laptop.”
- Mobility creates new usage models – e.g. use while reclining on a couch
- Apps can’t be silos – “customers want a web of applications”
- Apps to interact easily
- Services are intrinsic
What is Win8?
- Makes Windows 7 even better – everything that runs on Win7 will run on Win8
- Reimagines Windows from the chipset (ARM work) through the UI experience
- All demos shown today are equally at home on ARM and x86
Performance / Fundamentals
Kernel Memory Usage
Win 7 RTM
540 MB
34 processesWin 7 SP 1
404 MB
32 processesWin 8 Dev Preview
281 MB
29 processesDemos
User Experience (Julie)
- Fast and fluid – everything’s animated
- Apps are immersive and full screen
- Touch first – keyboard/mouse are first-class citizens (“you’re going to want all three”)
- Web of apps that work together – “when you get additional apps, the system just gets richer and richer”
- Experience this across devices and architectures
- Notes from Julie’s demo
- Picture password – poke at different places on an image (3 strokes) to login
- Tiles on the home screen – each is an app – easily rearranged. Pinch to zoom in/out
- On screen keyboard pops up
- Swipe from right side to bring up Start screen – swipe up from bottom to get app menus (“app bar”) – relevant system settings (e.g. sound volume/mute) also appear
- Select text in a browser – drag from right side to see “charms” – these are exposed by apps. One is “Share” – shows all apps that support the “Share contract”.
- Think of sharing as a very semantically rich clipboard.
- Target app can implement its own panel for information (e.g. login, tags, etc.) for sharing when it’s the target.
- Search
- Can search applications, files – apps can also expose a search contract to make it easy for search to find app-specific data.
- Inserting a picture
- Shows pix on computer
- Social networking sites can add content right into picture file picker
- Showed settings syncing from one machine to another machine she is logged in on that is an ARM machine.
Metro-style Platform/Tools (Antoine)
- Current platform a mixed bag – silo of HTML/Javascript on top of IE, C#/VB on top of .NET & Silverlight, and
- Metro apps can be built in any language
- Reimagined the Windows APIs – “Windows Runtime” (Windows RT).
- 1800 objects natively built into Windows – not a layer.
- Reflect those in C#/VB.Net/C++/C/JavaScript
- Build your UI in XAML or HTML/CSS
- Launch Visual Studio 11 Express – new app to build Metro apps.
- Pick the language you want – pick the app template you want.
- Enable millions of web developers to build these apps for Windows.
- Code you write can run either locally or in a browser from a web server – just JavaScript and HTML 5.
- New format – App Package – that encapsulates
- Use mouse or touch seamlessly – no special code.
- Modify button to bring up file picker dialog…
- Also allows connecting to Facebook if the app that connects FB photos to the local pictures is there – every app now gets access to FB photos.
- Adding support for the “Share” contract is 4 lines of JS
- Use Expression Blend to edit not just XAML but HTML/CSS.
- Add an App Bar – just a <div> on the HTML page.
- Drag button into there to get Metro style where commands are in the app bar
- Uses new HTML 5 CSS layout as Grid. Allows for rotation, scaling, etc. Center canvass within the grid.
- Expression lets you look at snapped view, docked view, portrait, landscape.
- 58 lines of code total
- Post app to the Windows Store
- In VS Store / Upload Package…
- Licensing model built into app package format. Allows trials.
- Submit to Certification
- Part of the promise of the store to Windows users is the apps are safe and high quality.
- Processes can be a bit bureaucratic.
- Does compliance, security testing, content compliance.
- Will give Developers all the technical compliance tools to run themselves.
- The Store is a Windows app. Built using HTML/JavaScript
- Win32 Apps
- Not going to require people to rewrite those to be in the store.
- Don’t have to use Win8 licensing model.
- Give the Win32 apps a free listing service.
- XAML / Silverlight
- Using ScottGu sample SilverLight 2 app.
- Not a Metro app – input stack doesn’t give touch access.
- How to make it a Metro app?
- Runtime environments between SL and Win8 are different.
- Had to change some using statements, networkin layer.
- Reused all the XAML and data binding code – it just came across.
- Declare it supports “Search” and add a couple of lines of code.
- Also can use same code on the Windows Phone.
- “All of your knowledge around Silverlight, XAML just carries across.”
- If you write your app in HTML5/CSS/XAML, it will run on x86/x64/ARM. If you want to write native code, we’ll help make it cross-compile to these platforms.
- IE 10 is the same rendering engine as for the Metro apps.
- Can roam all settings across your Win8 machines – including you app settings if you want.
Hardware Platform (MikeAng)
- 8 second boot time – win7 pc.
- UEFI
- New power state called “Connected Standby”
- Windows coalesces all the timer and network requests, turns the radio on periodically to satisfy them, then goes back to very low power consumption.
- But because app requests are getting satisfied they are up to date as soon as you press “ON”
- USB 3 ~4x faster at copying a 1 GB file than USB 2
- Can boot Win8 from up to 256 TB drive.
- Direct Compute API – can offload compute loads to GPU
- Every Metro app has hardware acceleration UI baked in.
- Doing work with OEMs on testing sensitivity of touch hardware
- Windows reserves only one pixel on each side for the Windows UI, so sensitivity important.
- Down to 1024 x 768 for Metro apps. If 1366 x 768, get full Windows UI (side-by-side snap in). Any form factor – about resolution.
- Have a sensor fusion API – accelerameter, touch.
- NFC – near field communication – business card can have a little antenna built in to send data to Win8.
- Integrating device settings (web cam, HP printer, etc.) into Metro UI rather than as a third-party app.
- Ultra Books
- Full core powered processor in a super-thin and light package.
- Some are thinner than legacy connectors – RJ45 and VGA – they are bumps.
- These things are mostly battery.
- Samsung PC giveaway – to all BUILD attendees
- 64 GB SSD
- 4 GB RAM (Steven: “so you can run Visual Studio”)
- AT&T 3G included for one year (2GB/mo)
- Windows tablet + development platform.
- 2nd generation core i5
- 1366×768 display from Samsung – amazing
- Refresh your PC without affecting your files
- Files and personalization don’t change.
- PC settings are restored to default
- All Metro apps are kept – others are removed.
- Command-line tool to establish base image for this for pros.
- Hyper-V in the Windows 8 client
- ISOs get mounted as DVD drives.
- Multi Mon –
- Screen background extends
- Task bar customizes to multi-mon – can have identical across two mons or have per-monitor task bar (show only apps running on that monitor)
- Ctrl/PgDn to switch Metro start screen between the two monitors – develop on one, test on another.
- Keyboard works the same – type “cmd” from Metro Start screen and are in search for CMD.
Cloud Services (ChrisJo)
- Windows Live mail Metro client connects both Exchange and Hotmail.
- Full power delivered by ActiveSync.
- Windows Live Metro calendar app.
- Bring together all the Friends through Linked In, Facebook, Windows Live.
- Photos
- Connected to Facebook, Flickr, local photos.
- Written as a Metro app.
- SkyDrive – 100 million people.
- Every Win8 user, every Win Phone has a SkyDrive.
- Also accessible to developers – access the same way as you would use local store.
Wrap
- Used college interns to develop sample apps included in dev preview build.
- 17 teams (2-3 devs per team).
- 10 weeks.
Developer Preview (not Beta).
Learn more:
MSFT will let everyone download the Developer preview starting tonight.
- X86 (32- and 64-bit)
- With Tools + Apps or just Apps
- No activation, self-support.
Pre-written with full knowledge already:
Microsoft BUILD: Windows 8, A Pre-Beta Preview [AnandTech single multi-part article]
ZDNet’s whole series (mostly pre-written with full knowledge already):
Windows 8 unveiled
This morning, Microsoft officially took the wraps off of Windows 8, unveiling its radically revised new operating system in front af an audience of software developers. I had a chance to get my hands on the new system (literally) last night. Here’s what you can look forward to.
September 13, 2011 | 9:05am PDT
Microsoft to developers: Metro is your future
Silverlight and .Net are not dead (yet). But Metro is really the future for Windows 8, Microsoft is telling developers on the opening day of Build.
September 13, 2011 | 9:13am PDT
Windows 8 will ship with built-in antivirus protection
In a move that is likely to anger the antivirus industry, Microsoft is adding security features from its Security Essentials program to Windows 8.
September 13, 2011 | 2:36 PM PDT
Nvidia launches Windows 8 developer program
Under Nvidia’s Windows 8 developer program, its quad-core Tegra processor, GeForce GPUs, Quadro and Tesla processors will be included.
September 13, 2011 | 12:00 PM PDT
Windows 8 will run on old Atom CPUs and 1GB RAM
Seems like Microsoft’s taken those bloatware claims to heart and has actually been working hard to minimize the system requirements footprint of the OS.
September 13, 2011 | 10:58 AM PDT
Get the Windows 8 Developer Preview – Today!
Want to check out Windows 8? You’ll be able to tonight!
September 13, 2011 | 10:32 AM PDT
Microsoft’s Windows 8: Here’s what we now know (and don’t)
Microsoft’s Windows 8 developer conference kicks off on September 13. Here’s a cheat sheet of what we now know and don’t going into the four-day confab.
September 13, 2011 | 9:05 AM PDT
Microsoft’s big task: Juggle PC, post-PC eras
Windows 8 is one mammoth hedge on the possibility that PCs won’t be able to evolve well in a land of Android and Apple smartphones and tablets.
September 13, 2011 | 2:35 AM PDT
Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 ‘Apollo’ OS convergence, Tango1 and Tango2, and more
Is Windows and Windows Phone OS going to converge to form one all-encompassing OS? With Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, code name “Apollo,” it may just happen.
September 12, 2011 | 2:21 PM PDT
Five unanswered Windows 8 questions
By the end of the day tomorrow, we’ll know much more about Windows 8. But some questions will remain unanswered, even after a thorough demo. Here are the top five on my list.
September 12, 2011 | 10:00 AM PDT
winrumors whole series (some pre-written with some knowledge already):
[the indicated hours are relative to September 13, 2011 | 12:00pm PDT]
Windows 8 really does change everything, it’s mind-blowing
Microsoft is welcoming around 5,000 developers to its BUILD conference today to unveil the most significant change in the PC space since Windows 95. “It’s a launch,” explains Windows chief Steven Sinofsky. 15 hours ago
Hands on with Windows 8′s new Metro experience
Microsoft unveils Windows 8 to the world today, a reimagined Windows for the next-generation of devices and hardware. The new Start Screen and immersive Metro experience are designed to make experiences in Windows 8 “totally … 15 hours ago
Windows 8 Metro apps and Windows Store
Microsoft’s new application model for Windows 8 comes coupled with a Windows Store for developers and end users. The Windows Store will play a big role in Windows 8 applications going forward. 15 hours ago
Windows 8: classic desktop features
Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system sees a fresh start for the interface as a whole, but what about classic desktop? Don’t fear if you’re a die hard Windows power user. Microsoft has kept the fundamentals … 14 hours ago
Hands on: Windows 8 input options and pen computing
Microsoft has nurtured pen based computing inside Windows for a number of years, but what’s it like in Windows 8? The Windows 8 developer preview build includes the ability to use pen based devices. Microsoft … 14 hours ago
Hands on: Windows 8 File History backup
Microsoft’s backup options are changing in Windows 8. The developer preview of Windows 8 includes a File History feature that was previously known as “History Vault” during the early Milestone builds of Windows 8. File … 14 hours ago
Microsoft to release Windows 8 developer preview ISO bits later today
Microsoft is planning to release an early developer preview copy of Windows 8 today. The Windows 8 Developer Preview will be made available alongside guides, tools, samples, forums, docs and other resources to build on Windows. … 12 hours ago
How fast does Windows 8 really boot? Really fast
Microsoft unveiled its incredible fast boot feature of Windows 8 earlier this month, but how fast does Windows 8 really boot? The answer is super fast. The Samsung Windows 8 developer preview tablet restarts in … 12 hours ago
Microsoft to outline Xbox LIVE Windows 8 support at BUILD
Microsoft’s BUILD session is now live and it reveals an interesting look at Xbox LIVE integration in Windows 8. The software giant currently ships Games for Windows LIVE for Windows 7 PCs which offers a … 11 hours ago
Windows 8 beta and RC on the horizon, updates to developer build
Microsoft’s Windows 8 develop schedule will include one beta and one RC before the RTM and general availability points. Windows chief Steven Sinofsky revealed the schedule in a keynote address on Tuesday. 10 hours ago
Windows To Go: Run Windows 8 from a USB device
Microsoft’s Portable Workspace feature has been renamed to Windows To Go inside Windows 8. The feature allows Windows 8 to boot from a USB device. First discovered in leaked builds, Microsoft looks set to detail … 9 hours ago
Windows 8 Xbox LIVE UI is identical to the new Xbox dashboard [pic]
Microsoft’s new Xbox LIVE integration in Windows 8 is identical to the company’s Xbox dashboard. Larry Hryb (Major Nelson) revealed the interface in a blog post on Tuesday. Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE support in Windows 8 … 8 hours ago
Microsoft captured users fingerprints for Windows 8 touch work
Microsoft’s early research work with Windows 8 saw the company capture a number of consumers fingerprints. The software giant captured fingerprints and handprints to figure out the best interface to suit people’s varied hand size. 7 hours ago
Windows 8 Developer Preview now available to download Microsoft’s Windows 8 Developer Preview is now available to download. The Windows developer center is now live and Windows 8 available to download in the following flavours: Windows Developer Preview English, 64-bit (x64) DOWNLOAD (3.6 GB) … 6 hours ago
WinBeta whole series
Download the Windows 8 Developer Preview
The moment we have all been waiting for has come to fruition. Microsoft has just uploaded the Developer Preview build of Windows 8. Check out the download links at the bottom of this post to grab the 32bit or 64bit versions.
Microsoft to be streaming the BUILD conference live
There has been speculation on whether Microsoft will be streaming the BUILD conference live. Fortunately, Microsoft have confirmed the legitimacy of a LIVE stream starting from September 13th at 9AM PDT time.
Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Screenshots
Windows 8 Developer Preview has only been out for a few hours now but we have some screenshots for you that will give you an idea of what to expect, in case you are not planning on trying it out for yourself or your download is taking ages. Either way, we got you covered with some lovely screenshot action!
Microsoft’s Highlights Windows 8’s New Features
During the Build Developer’s Conference today in California, Microsoft showcased Windows 8 and detailed its new features. “We re-imagined Windows. From the chipset to the user experience, Windows 8 brings a new range of capabilities without compromise,” explains Steven Sinofsky. So what are the new features?
Windows 8 Screenshots: Start Screen, Keyboard, and more
We’ve got a few new Windows 8 screenshots for you, directly from the Windows 8 demonstration at the Build developer’s conference. In these screenshots, we get to see the new start screen, the classic desktop, the new onscreen keyboard, and the new Metro-styled applications (mail, calendar, and photo).
Microsoft Reveals the Path to Windows 8 RTM
Microsoft revealed its plans for Windows 8’s release during the Build developer’s conference. We learned that Windows 8 will have only a few more milestones before going final. First we will have a beta, a release candidate, release to manufacturing, and finally, general availability.
Windows 8: Reset PC and Sync Settings
Microsoft is revealing a ton of new information regarding Windows 8. This time, we learn about a feature that will allow you to reset your PC settings and another feature that allows you to sync your settings across all PCs that run Windows 8.
Windows 8: Screenshots of new Task Manager
During the Build Developer’s conference, Microsoft showcased the new task manager in Windows 8. At the demonstration, Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky stated that this new task manager was years in the making.
Silverlight and .Net are not dead, but Metro is the future
During the Build Developer Conference in California, Microsoft revealed that both Silverlight and .Net are not dead. Instead, those two platforms will be utilized to write classic and desktop apps for Windows 8, rather than the new Metro styled apps, which is Windows 8’s primary focus.
Windows 8 Developer Preview available tonight at 8PM PDT
BUILD is live and Microsoft are talking about their new operating system, Windows 8. They have announced many new features and the best bit yet, it will be available today!
Microsoft Reveals the Path to Windows 8 RTM
Microsoft revealed its plans for Windows 8’s release during the Build developer’s conference. We learned that Windows 8 will have only a few more milestones before going final. First we will have a beta, a release candidate, release to manufacturing, and finally, general availability.
The high-end Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) marketing
HTC Unveils HTC TITAN And HTC Radar Smartphones [HTC press release, Sept 1, 2011]
HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, today hosted a series of consumer meet-ups in London, Paris, Madrid and Berlin to unveil its new HTC TITAN™ and HTC Radar™ with Windows® Phone smartphones. The HTC TITAN brings your favorite content and multimedia experiences closer than ever with a large 4.7 inch display, HTC’s largest phone screen ever wrapped in an ultra-thin 9.9mm aluminum case. The HTC Radar is designed to keep you close to the people, news and entertainment that matters to you most. Consumers enjoyed exclusive hands-on demos of the new devices and got to try out Microsoft’s next release of Windows Phone, code-named Mango.
“The new HTC TITAN and HTC Radar smartphones raise the bar with new advanced photography, multimedia and social capabilities that enable you to take full advantage of the latest Windows Phone innovations,” said Jason Mackenzie, President of Global Sales and Marketing, HTC Corporation. “With its large, cinematic display, the HTC TITANpacks an amazing amount of power and innovation into a device that is unlike anything you’ve ever held before and the HTC Radar’s aluminum uni-body, compact size and finish will capture people’s attention.”
Picture Perfect
Both HTC TITAN and HTC Radar include a dedicated hardware camera button which enables you to capture vivid images without unlocking the phone while the f/2.2 aperture lens and back-illuminated sensor provide improved low-light performance – making sure you never miss that perfect shot. With 28mm wide-angle lenses you can capture more of the scene in front of you while the new panoramic feature lets you create dramatic pictures of skylines and landscapes. Both devices can shoot bright and vibrant HD (720p) videos, making them perfect companions for family functions or a night out with friends. And with the HTC Photo Enhancer, you can quickly touch up pictures and upload them to Facebook, tagging your friends as you go using automatic face detection built in to Windows Phones.“Phones were originally designed for communication, but they haven’t kept up with the way consumers are actually communicating today. That’s why we built Windows Phone to put people first, building in all the key types of communication people are already using right out of the box,” said Andy Lees, President of Windows Phone Division. “Both HTC TITAN and HTC Radar bring a sleek, modern design that perfectly complements this people first experience, making sure it’s easy to connect & share with the people you care about most so the message always gets through.”
HTC TITAN
With its large and bright 4.7 inch super LCD screen, an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera and 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for live video calling, HTC TITAN combines high performance innovation with a super-slim 9.9mm curved bodymade from a brushed aluminium shell that fits comfortably in your hand and exudes style and quality.HTC TITAN is also the perfect portable office that enables efficient multitasking like viewing a presentation while you’re on a conference call or listening to music while compiling an email. With its expansive screen with built in Microsoft® Office Mobile, this super smartphone enables you to create, edit and collaborate quickly and easily. Advanced email features like Linked inboxes makes it easy to manage multiple email accounts, synchronize your to-do list and calendars in one place, group contacts to make communication simpler and faster, and even store your latest ideas and notes in the cloud with Microsoft® OneNote®. Typing on the HTC TITAN is quick and easy with the huge virtual keyboardon the responsive 4.7 inch screen.
HTC Radar
[According to non-HTC data it also has super LCD screen] Elegantly crafted with an aluminium unibody, HTC Radar brings you closer to the important things in life, with the new People Hub from Windows Phone. The People Hub keeps you up to date with your friends’ latest news showing all of your communication history with each person, as well as their recent social network updates and photos. You can also stay in touch using SMS, Facebook chat and Windows Live®Messenger in one conversation, without having to switch applications or disrupt the conversation flow. Alternatively, speak “face-to-face” with new video calling that lets you see your friends’ faces on the bright and sharp 3.8 inch screen.Entertainment on the move
With HTC TITAN and HTC Radar, mobile multimedia is greatly improved. Both phones include HTC Watch™ – an application and service that puts an entire library of the latest, premium movies and TV shows right at your fingertips, letting people discover the latest video content in an easy and visually engaging way. Utilizing Virtual 5.1 surround sound for a rich audio experience, these phones are perfect for enjoying the Zune® music service. Internet browsing is fast and smooth with HTML5 support. You also get an amazing mobile gaming with Xbox LIVE®, giving you access to a great selection of games for Windows Phone, which include features like Leaderboards and Achievement that connect you with your friends and the Xbox LIVE community around the world.Availability
HTC TITAN and HTC Radar will be broadly available from October 2011 globally, beginning in Europe and Asia.About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile industry. By putting people at the centre of everything it does, HTC creates innovative smartphones and tablets that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.
Super LCD, Explained [DISPLAYBLOG, Nov 24, 2010]
Super LCD is manufactured by Sony Mobile Display (SMD).
…
Samsung has chosen to closely guard the Super AMOLED displays being manufactured by Samsung Mobile Display (SMD) and use nearly all of them for its own branded smartphones. The result has been a shortage for other manufacturers like HTC, who has replaced some of its smartphones with Super LCD instead.
Super LCD can be considered a close second to IPS. Although viewing angles are stated as 160/160 Sony is using a more strict rule that requires the contrast ratio at angles to be at least 100:1. Most LCD viewing angle specs are stated with a minimum contrast ratio of 10:1, so the Super LCD most likely has viewing angles that are just as wide as IPS. On the other hand, the threshold pixel format of 800×480 is lower than what is used in the iPhone 4: 960×640, so IPS is already ahead in its ability to pack more pixels into the same amount of space. The 800:1 contrast is equal to the stated contrast of the iPhone 4′s Retina Display, but tests have resulted in contrast of 1000:1 or more.
Infosync:
- When it comes to the actual viewing experience, the Super LCD technology should produce an experience worthy of a high-end smartphone. It can’t match Samsung’s new Super AMOLED technology on an isolated technological level, but that’s also the case with the iPhone 4′s IPS LCD screen.
There has been a lot of debate as to which is the best display. Super LCD, IPS, Super AMOLED all have pros and cons but when it comes to color fidelity or accuracy on smartphones using these displays IPS and Super LCD come out ahead. Sunlight readability? LCD technology comes out ahead of OLED, even the super variety. The one area that OLED technology spanks any LCD, including IPS and Super LCD, is in black levels: OLED displays are as black as black can be.
HTC Radar: Reveal[Aug 30, 2011]
The HTC Radar is designed to keep you close to the people, news and entertainment that matter to you most. Loaded with the new People Hub from Windows Phone, the HTC Radar helps keep you up to date with your friends’ latest news- showing all of your communication history with each person, and all recent social network updates and photos. Or just stay in touch using text messaging, Facebook chat and Windows Live® Messenger in one conversation, all without having to switch applications or stop the conversation.
HTC TITAN: Reveal[Aug 30, 2011]
The HTC TITAN is packing the largest screen on an HTC phone—ever. With a large and bright 4.7 inch super LCD screen, an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera and 1.3 megapixel front facing camera (for those live video calls), the HTC TITAN combines high performance innovation with a super-slim 9.9mm curved body made from a brushed aluminum shell that fits comfortably in your hand, bringing your favorite content and multimedia experiences closer than ever.
HTC Radar & HTC TITAN: Learn More[Aug 30, 2011]
The HTC TITAN brings your favorite content and multimedia experiences closer than ever with a large 4.7 inch display, HTC’s largest phone screen ever wrapped in an ultra-thin 9.9mm aluminum case. The HTC Radar is designed to keep you close to the people, news and entertainment that matters to you most, thanks to the brand new People Hub from Windows Phone.
HTC Radar – First Look[Sept 1, 2011]
Introducing HTC Radar, featuring a premium unibody aluminum design, advanced F2.2 camera lens and BSI sensor, People Hub for easier connection with your social network, advanced entertainment capabilities with Xbox Live built in, HTC Watch and Zune, and better web browsing experience with IE9, giving you a phone designed so you never miss a thing in life.
HTC Radar – A design that makes you look good 
[Sept 1, 2011]
The HTC Radar offers a premium design. Crafted from a single piece of polished metal, the phone just feels great in your hands and is built to last. The HTC Radar is that friend who will always be there for you. It’ll make the right impression on you and everyone around you.
HTC Radar – Perfect photos in any condition [Sept 4, 2011]
The HTC Radar offers a 5 megapixel camera with an F2.2 lens and BSI sensor and gives you an experience beyond what you’d expect from a phone. You’re always active so no matter the circumstance, you’ll always get a high-quality photo to share real-time with your social network.
HTC Radar – One-for-all sharing for active lifestyles[Sept 1, 2011]
The HTC Radar fits seamlessly with your life and keeps you in touch with your social network. With Windows Phone “Threads” you can easily switch between Facebook chat, text, and Windows Live Messenger and never miss a beat with your world. And the “Me” tile keeps you one-step close to Facebook check-ins and your friends’ updates on your wall. Also, People Hub pulls together your contacts and social networks into one place, so you can easily follow them and stay connected.
HTC Radar – Unmissable entertainment[Sept 4, 2011]
The intuitive HTC Radar knows you will be bored at times, too. The phone has amazing entertainment features that ensure your journeys will fly by. With HTC Watch you can enjoy Hollywood blockbusters at your fingertips. The HTC Radar gives you instant access to millions of tunes at your fingertips with Zune. And you’ll always be in the game with Xbox LIVE built in right on your phone!
HTC TITAN – First Look[Sept 4, 2011]
Introducing HTC TITAN, the phone that makes amazing things happen, featuring a huge 4.7 inch screen with an ultra-slim 9.9mm contoured unibody design, superior web browsing, emailing and multitasking, Microsoft® Office built in, 8MP camera, advanced F2.2 camera lens and BSI sensor, People Hub for easier connection with your social network and advanced entertainment capabilities with Xbox Live built in, HTC Watch and Zune.
HTC TITAN – Unlike anything you’ve ever held before[Sept 4, 2011]
No more squinting at small screens for you. With a massive 4.7″ screen and an ultra-slim 9.9mm unibody contoured design, the HTC TITAN feels great in your hand. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever held before.
HTC TITAN – Entertainment that really comes to life[Sept 4, 2011]
Enjoy entertainment that really comes to life on the big screen whenever, wherever. With HTC Watch you can enjoy Hollywood blockbusters at your fingertips. The HTC TITAN gives you instant access to millions of tunes at your fingertips with Zune. And you’ll always be in the game with Xbox LIVE built in right on your phone!
HTC TITAN – No more point and shoot camera for you[Sept 1, 2011]
It takes a lot to capture your special moments. Rather than dragging your point and shoot camera around, the HTC TITAN offers an 8 megapixel camera with F2.2. lens and BSI sensor that gives you a high-resolution photo under any condition. With such pixel-packed photos, you really can feel comfortable leaving your point and shoot at home.
HTC TITAN – A multitasking machine[Sept 1, 2011]
The HTC TITAN is the perfect phone for multitasking and enhancing your efficiency. It simplifies your email by bringing all your accounts and conversation history by each person together in a linked inbox. And the HTC TITAN lets you easily jump between work mode and play mode. Listen to music while working on a document, or check important emails in the middle of a game without restarting the game.
Notes:
– The Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 Mobile Processor used in both models is the current high-end only for Windows Phone 7.5 (see: Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs with a new way of easy identification [Aug 4, 2011])
– Things highlighted in red in the specifications below are either additions to TITAN or differences between TITAN and Radar
HTC TITAN at a glance
- Size:131.5mm x 70.7mm x 9.9mm
5.18″ x 2.78″ x 0.39″ - Weight:160 grams (5.6 ounces) with battery
- Display:4.7-inch touch screen with 480 x 800 resolution
- Screen size: 119 mm (4.7″)
| CPU Processing Speed 1.5 GHz [new Scorpion CPU with Adreno 205 GPU, 3G HSPA+ and 1024×768/720 – all integrated in the Qualcomm MSM8255 SoC: Snapdragon S2 Mobile Processor]Storage Total storage: 16 GB Available storage: up to 12.63 GB RAM: 512 MBConnectors – 3.5 mm stereo audio jack – micro-USB 2.0 (5-pin) portSensors – Gyro Sensor – G-Sensor – Digital compass – Proximity sensor – Ambient light sensorMultimedia – See photos from your camera, Facebook and Windows Live™ accounts in the Pictures hub – Music and Videos Hub powered by Zune lets you listen to radio, download music, and more – SRS enhancement – 5.1 surround sound for videoAudio supported formats: – Playback: .m4a, .m4b, .mp3, .wma (Windows Media Audio 9) Video supported formats: Power & Battery Capacity: 1600 mAh Talk time: Standby time: |
Network HSPA/WCDMA: – Europe/Asia: 850/900/2100 MHzQuad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: – 850/900/1800/1900 MHzPlatform Windows® Phone OS 7.5Camera 8 megapixel camera with F2.2 lens, dual LED flash, and BSI sensor (for better low-light captures)Front camera: – 1.3 megapixelfront cameraHD video recording: – 720p HD video recording Internet GPRS: EDGE: Wi-Fi®: Bluetooth® Social Networking Location Tethering Recommended Windows System Requirements |
HTC Radar at a glance
- Size: 120.5mm x 61.5mm x 10.9mm
4.74″ x 2.42″ x 0.43″ - Weight: 137 grams (4.83 ounces) with battery
- Display: 3.8-inch touch screen with 480 x 800 resolution
- Screen size: 96.5 mm (3.8″)
| CPU Processing Speed 1 GHz [new Scorpion CPU with Adreno 205 GPU, 3G HSPA+ and 1024×768/720 – all integrated in the Qualcomm MSM8255 SoC: Snapdragon S2 Mobile Processor]Storage Total storage: 8 GB Available storage: up to 6.54 GB RAM: 512 MBConnectors – 3.5 mm stereo audio jack – micro-USB 2.0 (5-pin) portSensors – G-Sensor – Proximity sensor – Ambient light sensorMultimedia – See photos from your camera, Facebook and Windows Live™ accounts in the Pictures hub – Music and Videos Hub powered by Zune lets you listen to radio, download music, and more – SRS enhancement – 5.1 surround sound for videoAudio supported formats: – Playback: .m4a, .m4b, .mp3, .wma (Windows Media Audio 9) Video supported formats: Power & Battery Capacity: 1520 mAh Talk time: Standby time: |
Network HSPA/WCDMA: – Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHzQuad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: – 850/900/1800/1900 MHzPlatform Windows® Phone OS 7.5Camera 5 megapixel camera with F2.2 lens, LED flash, and BSI sensor (for better low-light captures)Front camera: – VGAfront cameraHD video recording: – 720p HD video recording Internet GPRS: EDGE: Wi-Fi®: Bluetooth® Social Networking Location Tethering Recommended Windows System Requirements |
HTC unveils their new global lineup of Windows Phones [Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President, Windows Phone Program Management, Microsoft, Sept 1, 2011]
HTC just unveiled two new Windows Phones that will be landing in stores around the world later this year, running our latest version of Windows Phone. A lot of people ask me via Twitter “what phone are you using now”. I’m delighted to say in rotating through various phones and helping our partners finish them with high quality, I’ve spent quite a bit of time carrying one of the prototypes of these HTC phones and it’s terrific. For those of you who haven’t read the press details—here’s a quick recap. HTC introduced the phones in a series of meet up style events in London, Paris, Berlin and Madrid, and they’ll be broadly available from October 2011 globally, beginning in Europe and Asia, with pricing info to come later. In the meantime, let’s dig into what makes these phones awesome.
First up, the HTC TITAN features a big 4.7-inch screen with a slim 9.9mm brushed aluminum shell, and a front facing camera, is a great device for working or for playing. Movies, music and your favorite apps will really come to life on this big screen. Sometimes I hear feedback from some users that “fonts are a little small” on WP7—absolutely not the case on the TITAN! As designers, we love seeing the wide variation of phone sizes so that our customers can find one that’s the perfect fit for them.
The second phone announced today was the HTC Radar. The first thing you notice with this phone is the unique design, crafted with an aluminum unibody shell. The Radar also includes a front facing camera so you can video chat with your favorite people. I am really excited to see phones like the Radar, because it’s a great marriage of beautiful software and great hardware design.
A lot of you have asked us whether Mango will support front facing cameras—and now that these HTC phones have been formally announced, I can confirm officially that Mango does support these. We’ve included support for “switching to FFC” for photo/video shooting into the native camera experience and we’ve added API support to the application platform so ISVs can build all kinds of interesting apps using the FFC. We’ll have more announcements on some of the specific apps that will take advantage of this capability a little later on.
The announcement of these new HTC phones is a big milestone in our march to Mango, with many more exciting things still to come!
Microsoft Says Windows Phone May Exceed Researcher’s Market Share Forecast [Bloomberg, Sept 1, 2011]
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)said its Windows Phone operating system may capture more than 20 percent of the smartphone market over the next two to three years with the help of hardware manufacturers and increased marketing efforts.
Forecasts by researchers Gartner and IDC, which expects a market share of about 20 percent in 2015, are conservative, said Achim Berg, head of Windows Phone marketing, in Berlin today.
Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, is betting that Windows Phone will retake market share lost to Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone and handsets running Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android software. The company will start offering the enhanced “Mango” version of its operating system, with functions including better social-media offerings, for the first time in Europe on two HTC Corp. phones, set to go on sale by Oct. 1.
HTC and other partners will run advertisement campaigns for the Titan and Radar phones, and the company has joined Microsoft in training “hundreds” of salesmen worldwide to better demonstrate the product, Berg said at the IFA consumer electronics fair. Microsoft plans to build on Windows Phone’s initial success with female consumers as well as with young and first-time usersto win market share, he said.
“We’re seeing an extremely positive response” to the Windows Mobile system, HTC’s President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Florian Seiche, said in an interview. “We’re now thinking that this year is a great time to get that momentum accelerated, to reach out to a broader group of customers.”
The Titan, which has an 8-megapixel camera with dual-led flash and a wide-angle lens, will sell for 599 euros ($855), while the Radar costs 399 euros [$570]. HTC is in talks with retailers and operators, Seiche said, adding that the phones will be broadly available in Europe.
…
“This is a completely new platform, it takes time,” said Berg. “It took time with Android, it took time with Apple. We have to show that we’re very capable and that we have the fastest and easiest phone.”
In April, Gartner forecast that the Android operating system will have the largest smartphone market share during the next four years, rising from 23 percent in 2010 to 49 percent in 2015. Apple’s iOS is predicted to grow from 16 percent to 17 percent, while Microsoft’s share will go from 4.2 percent in 2010 to 19.5 percent in 2015. IDC in June predicted that Microsoft may hold a 20.3 percent market share in 2015.
Notes:
– HTC’s most popular Desire S (announced Feb 15 as a follower to award winner 2010 Desire) is ~$US400 (Amazon) with rather similar specifications as Radar
– 3.7″ Super LCD as well as 1GHz Snapdragon™ MSM8255 processor, dual front and back cameras etc.
– So Radar could cost $US100-150 more even at the best retail shop
Gartner Says Android to Command Nearly Half of Worldwide Smartphone Operating System Market by Year-End 2012 [April 7, 2011]
Worldwide smartphone sales will reach 468 million units in 2011, a 57.7 percent increase from 2010, according to Gartner Inc. By the end of 2011, Android will move to become the most popular operating system (OS) worldwide and will build on its strength to account for 49 percent of the smartphone market by 2012 (see Table 1).
Sales of open OS* devices will account for 26 percent of all mobile handset device sales in 2011, and are expected to surpass the 1 billion mark by 2015, when they will account for 47 percent of the total mobile device market.
“By 2015, 67 percent of all open OS devices will have an average selling price of $300 or below, proving that smartphones have been finally truly democratized,” said Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner.
“As vendors delivering Android-based devices continue to fight for market share, price will decrease to further benefit consumers”, Ms. Cozza said. “Android’s position at the high end of the market will remain strong, but its greatest volume opportunity in the longer term will be in the mid- to low-cost smartphones, above all in emerging markets.”
Table 1
Worldwide Mobile Communications Device Open OS Sales to End Users by OS (Thousands of Units)
OS 2010 2011 2012 2015 Symbian 111,577 89,930 32,666 661 Market Share (%) 37.6 19.2 5.2 0.1 Android 67,225 179,873 310,088 539,318 Market Share (%) 22.7 38.5 49.2 48.8 Research In Motion 47,452 62,600 79,335 122,864 Market Share (%) 16 13.4 12.6 11.1 iOS 46,598 90,560 118,848 189,924 Market Share (%) 15.7 19.4 18.9 17.2 Microsoft 12,378 26,346 68,156 215,998 Market Share (%) 4.2 5.6 10.8 19.5 Other Operating Systems 11,417.40 18,392.30 21,383.70 36,133.90 Market Share (%) 3.8 3.9 3.4 3.3 Total Market 296,647 467,701 630,476 1,104,898 Source: Gartner (April 2011)
Gartner predicts that Apple’s iOS will remain the second biggest platform worldwide through 2014 despite its share deceasing slightly after 2011. This reflects Gartner’s underlying assumption that Apple will be interested in maintaining margins rather than pursuing market share by changing its pricing strategy. This will continue to limit adoption in emerging regions. iOS share will peak in 2011, with volume growth well above the market average. This is driven by increased channel reach in key mature markets like the U.S. and Western Europe.
Research In Motion’s share over the forecast period will decline, reflecting the stronger competitive environment in the consumer market, as well as increased competition in the business sector. Gartner has factored in RIM’s migration from BlackBerry OS to QNX which is expected in 2012. Analysts said this transition makes sense because RIM can create a consistent experience going from smartphones to tablets with a single developer community and — given that QNX as a platform brings more advanced features than the classic BlackBerry OS — it can enable more competitive smartphone products.
Gartner predicts that Nokia will push Windows Phone well into the mid-tier of its portfolio by the end of 2012, driving the platform to be the third largest in the worldwide ranking by 2013. Gartner has revised its forecast of Windows Phone’s market share upward, solely by virtue of Microsoft’s alliance with Nokia. Although this is an honorable performance it is considerably less than what Symbian had achieve in the past underlying the upward battle that Nokia has to face.
Gartner analysts said new device types will widen ecosystems. “The growth in sales of media tablets expected in 2011 and future years will widen the ecosystems that open OS communications devices have created. This will, by and large, function more as a driver than an inhibitor for sales of open OS devices,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.
“Consumers who already own an open OS communications device will be drawn to media tablets and more often than not, to media tablets that share the same OS as their smartphone,” Ms. Milanesi said. “This allows consumers to be able to share the same experience across devices as well as apps, settings or game scores. At the same time, tablet users who don’t own a smartphone could be prompted to adopt one to be able to share the experience they have on their tablets.”
Note *: An open OS makes a software developer kit (SDK) available to developers, who can use native application programming interfaces (APIs) to write applications. The OS can be supported by a sole vendor or multiple vendors. It can be, but does not have to be, open source. Examples are BlackBerry OS, iOS, Symbian, Android, Windows Phone, Linux, Limo Foundation, WebOS and bada.
Gartner’s detailed forecast is available in the report “Forecast: Mobile Communications Devices by Open Operating System, Worldwide, 2008-2015.” The report is available on Gartner’s website at http://www.gartner.com/resId=1619615.
IDC Forecasts Worldwide Smartphone Market to Grow by Nearly 50% in 2011 [March 29, 2011]
The worldwide smartphone market is expected to grow 49.2% in 2011 as more consumers and enterprise users turn in their feature phones for smartphones with more advanced features. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone vendors will ship more than 450 million smartphones in 2011 compared to the 303.4 million units shipped in 2010. Moreover, the smartphone market will grow more than four times faster than the overall mobile phone market.
“Overall market growth in 2010 was exceptional,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. “Last year’s high market growth was due in part to pent-up demand from a challenging 2009, when many buyers held off on mobile phone purchases. The expected market growth for 2011, while still notable, will taper off somewhat from what we saw in 2010.”
To capture the strong consumer demand for smartphones, manufacturers have unleashed a steady stream of new models and features over the past two years. The battle for mind and market share has also resulted in stiff competition among the smartphone operating systems.
“Android is poised to take over as the leading smartphone operating system in 2011 after racing into the number 2 position in 2010,” said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trendsteam. “For the vendors who made Android the cornerstone of their smartphone strategies, 2010 was the coming-out party. This year will see a coronation party as these same vendors broaden and deepen their portfolios to reach more customers, particularly first-time smartphone users.”
Nokia’s recent announcement to shift from Symbian to Windows Phone will have significant implications for the smartphone market going forward. “Up until the launch of Windows Phone 7 last year, Microsoft has steadily lost market share while other operating systems have brought forth new and appealing experiences,” added Llamas. “The new alliance brings together Nokia’s hardware capabilities and Windows Phone’s differentiated platform. We expect the first devices to launch in 2012. By 2015, IDC expects Windows Phone to be number 2 operating system worldwide behind Android.”
Worldwide Smartphone Operating System 2011 and 2015 Market Share and 2011-2015 CAGR (listed alphabetically)
Operating System 2011 Market Share 2015 Market Share 2011-2015 CAGR Android 39.5% 45.4% 23.8% BlackBerry 14.9% 13.7% 17.1% iOS 15.7% 15.3% 18.8% Symbian 20.9% 0.2% -65.0% Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile 5.5% 20.9% 67.1% Others 3.5% 4.6% 28.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% 19.6% Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, March 29, 2011
CEO of Microsoft Germany to become Microsoft Vice President of Mobile Communications [April 14, 2010]
In an interesting move Achim Berg (46), previously CEO of Microsoft Germany, is moving to Redmond to become Corporate Vice President of Mobile Communications Business & Marketing, a newly created position. He will be responsible for all marketing and business development activities for Windows phones worldwideand report to Andy Lees, senior vice President of Mobile Communications.
“Achim Berg will be excellent addition, and brings his excellent management style and his practical sales and marketing experience in the Mobile Communications Business Team (MCB) . His experience at Deutsche Telekom, Fujitsu / Siemens and Dellgives a comprehensive view of our business. Achim will be a major asset to the Leadership Team and will contribute to the Mobility business and MCB to help the team succeed with the important Launch of our Windows 7 Phone, “said Andy Lees.
“The wireless market is essential for Microsoft. Already more smartphones are sold worldwide than PCs. Mobile Internet access has become the standard and is more important than the simple network with other devices. I see a huge opportunity for Microsoft in this innovative market, “said Berg.
Germany has been one of the stronger markets for Windows Mobile, with the Microsoft OS holding a 19.9% market share there, only after Symbian and iPhone and well ahead of RIM’s 5.4%, according to recent Comscore numbers.
Achim Berg, Corporate Vice President, Windows Phone Marketing [Feb 22, 2011]
Achim Berg is corporate vice president of Windows Phone Marketing, responsible for business performance and marketing for Windows Phone software and services.
Berg joined Microsoft in February 2007 as general manager of Microsoft Germany and area vice president Microsoft International. In his capacity as chairman of the Managing Board he was responsible for the operations of Microsoft Corporation in its third-largest subsidiary.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Berg served as a member on the board of directors of Deutsche Telekom T-Com, Europe’s largest telecommunications company, where he was responsible for marketing and sales of the company’s fixed line business since 2002. In addition he was appointed to the supervisory board of T-Mobile and Matav (the largest telecommunication company in Hungary). From 1999 to 2001, Berg held the position of managing director of Fujitsu Siemens Computers GmbH. Between 1995 and 1999, he performed executive sales roles for the computer manufacturer Dell Deutschland GmbH, most recently as director for midmarket customers. Berg made his first career steps from 1989 to 1994, when he worked in various sales positions for Bull AG in Cologne, Germany.
In Cologne, Berg completed his studies in computer science in 1989. He attended the European Potential Management Program at the European Economic School (EAP). Berg spends his free time with his family and participates in sports such as marathon running, skiing and golfing.
Nokia feature phones (S40) are losing market more than Nokia smartphones (S60, Symbian)
and look what entry level Android smartphones are destroying Nokia’s w/w market:
– Huawei’s IDEOS U8150 smartphone for US$86 in Kenya: 350,000 units sold in 8 months [Aug 17, 2011]
Gartner Says Sales of Mobile Devices in Second Quarter of 2011 Grew 16.5 Percent Year-on-Year; Smartphone Sales Grew 74 Percent [Aug 11, 2011]
Table 1
Worldwide Mobile Device Sales to End Users by Vendor in 2Q11 (Thousands of Units)
Vendor 2Q11 Units 2Q11 Market Share (%) 2Q10 Units 2Q10 Market Share (%) Nokia 97,869.30 22.8 111,473.70 30.3 Samsung 69,827.60 16.3 65,328.20 17.8 LG 24,420.80 5.7 29,366.70 8 Apple 19,628.80 4.6 8,743.00 2.4 ZTE 13,070.20 3 6,730.60 1.8 RIM 12,652.30 3 11,628.80 3.2 HTC 11,016.10 2.6 5,908.80 1.6 Motorola 10,221.40 2.4 9,109.40 2.5 Huawei 9,026.10 2.1 5,276.40 1.4 Sony Ericsson 7,266.50 1.7 11,008.50 3 Others 153,662.10 35.8 103,412.60 28.1 Total 428,661.20 100 367,986.70 100 “Smartphone sales continued to rise at the expense of feature phones,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Consumers in mature markets are choosing entry-level and midrange Android smartphones over feature phones, partly due to carriers’ and manufacturers’ promotions.” However, replacement sales in Western Europe showed signs of fatigue as smartphone sales declined quarter-on-quarter.
In smartphones, Nokia’s sales into the channel in the second quarter of 2011 were low. This was partly due to a very competitive market that deflated demand for Symbian [S60], but also to inventory management issues in Europe and China in particular. The channel bought less and worked hard to reduce stock levels, partly by cutting prices on older products. These factors reduced Nokia’s average selling price for smartphones, compared to the first quarter of 2011. “The sales efforts of the channel, combined with Nokia’s greater concentration in retail and distributors’ sales, saw Nokia destock more than 9 million units overall and 5 million smartphones, helping it hold on to its position as the leading smartphone manufacturer by volume,” said Ms. Cozza. “However, we will not see a repeat of this performance in the third quarter of 2011, as Nokia’s channel is pretty lean.”
Before continuing the Gartner press release let’s see a recalculated diagramm based on Gartner data but showing more precisely the change in the market from Nokia point of view (Nokia S60 = Symbian = Nokia smartphones, Nokia S40 = Nokia feature phones):
| Operating System | 2Q11 K Units | 2Q11 Market Share (%) | 2Q10 K Units | 2Q10 Market Share (%) | Y/Y (unitwise) |
| Nokia S60 | 23853.20 | 5.56% | 25386.80 | 6.90% | -6.04% |
| Nokia S40 | 74016.10 | 17.27% | 86086.90 | 23.39% | -14.02% |
| Apple | 19628.80 | 4.58% | 8743.00 | 2.38% | 124.51% |
| RIM | 12652.30 | 2.95% | 11628.80 | 3.16% | 8.80% |
| Android | 46775.90 | 10.91% | 10652.70 | 2.89% | 339.10% |
| Total: | 176926.30 | 41.27% | 142498.20 | 38.72% | 24.16% |
| Others | 251734.90 | 58.73% | 225488.50 | 61.28% | 11.64% |
| Grand total: | 428661.20 | 100.00% | 367986.70 | 100.00% | 16.49% |
Samsung achieved strong growth in sales of mobile devices. For example, the Galaxy S II sold well, and this model went on to chalk up 5 million sales by the end of July. A strong performance in the smartphone market helped Samsung increase its market share, to become the third-largest smartphone vendor. However, its overall share dropped year-on-year, and grew only marginally quarter-on-quarter, mainly due to Samsung’s weaker presence in more price-sensitive market segments.
Apple continued to exceed expectations, even though the iPhone 4 will soon be replaced by a new model. Part of its growth came from the 42 new carriers and 15 new countries that it entered in the second quarter of 2011, which brought its total coverage to 100 countries. This expansion caused its inventory to grow a little by the end of the second quarter of 2011, when sales to end users stood at 19.6 million units. In mainland China, Apple is the seventh-largest mobile phone vendor and the third-largest smartphone vendor.
Research In Motion’s (RIM’s) share of the smartphone market declined to 12 percent in the second quarter of 2011, from 19 percent a year ago. Also, the company lost its No. 5 position in the worldwide ranking of mobile device vendors to ZTE. Demand for RIM’s devices in the second quarter was impaired by an ageing portfolio and delays in shipping products. In the coming quarters RIM will have to deal with increased competition to its messaging offering and manage a platform migration from BlackBerry 7 to QNX.
Google and Apple are the obvious winners in the smartphone ecosystem. The combined share of iOS and Android in the smartphone operating system (OS) market doubled to nearly 62 percent in the second quarter of 2011, up from just over 31 percent in the corresponding period of 2010 (see Table 2). Gartner analysts observed that these two OSs have the usability that consumers enjoy, the apps that consumers feel they need, and increasingly a portfolio of services delivered by the platform owner as well.
Table 2
Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 2Q11 (Thousands of Units)
Operating System 2Q11 K Units 2Q11 Market Share (%) 2Q10 K Units 2Q10 Market Share (%) Android 46775.90 43.4 10652.70 17.2 Symbian 23853.20 22.1 25386.80 40.9 iOS 19628.80 18.2 8743.00 14.1 RIM 12652.30 11.7 11628.80 18.7 Bada 2055.80 1.9 577.00 0.9 Microsoft 1723.80 1.6 3058.80 4.9 Others 1050.60 1 2010.90 3.2 Total 107740.40 100 62058.10 100
Nokia’s own report is first shown in a diagramm form:
Nokia Q2 2011 net sales EUR 9.3 billion, non-IFRS EPS EUR 0.06 (reported EPS EUR -0.10) [July 27, 2011]
Devices & Services5
| EUR million | Q2/2011 | Q2/2010 | YoY Change | Q1/2011 | QoQ Change |
| Net sales | 5 467 | 6 799 | -20% | 7 087 | -23% |
| Smart Devices net sales | 2 368 | 3 503 | -32% | 3 528 | -33% |
| Mobile Phones net sales | 2 551 | 3 190 | -20% | 3 407 | -25% |
| Mobile device volume (million units) | 88.5 | 111 | -20% | 108.5 | -18% |
| Smart Devices volume (million units) | 16.7 | 25.2 | -34% | 24.2 | -31% |
| Mobile Phones volume (million units) | 71.8 | 85.8 | -16% | 84.3 | -15% |
| Mobile device ASP6 | 62 | 61 | 2% | 65 | -5% |
| Smart Devices ASP6 | 142 | 139 | 2% | 146 | -3% |
| Mobile Phones ASP6 | 36 | 37 | -3% | 40 | -10% |
Note 5 relating to Devices & Services reporting structure: Effective from April 1, 2011, our Devices & Services business includes two new operating and reportable segments – Smart Devices, which focuses on smartphones, and Mobile Phones, which focuses on mass market mobile devices – as well as Devices & Services Other. Prior period results for each quarter and the full year 2010 and Q1 2011 have been regrouped (on an unaudited basis) for comparability purposes according to the new reporting format. The regrouped financial information can be accessed at: http://www.nokia.com/investors
Note 6 relating to average selling prices (ASP): Mobile device ASP represents total Devices & Services net sales (Smart Devices net sales, Mobile Phones net sales, and Devices & Services Other net sales) divided by total Devices & Services volumes. Devices & Services Other net sales includes net sales of Nokia’s luxury phone business Vertu and spare parts, as well as intellectual property royalty income. Smart Devices ASP represents Smart Devices net sales divided by Smart Devices volumes. Mobile Phones ASP represents Mobile Phones net sales divided by Mobile Phones volumes.
…
– In Smart Devices, those who already have viewed our early Windows Phone work are very optimistic about the devices Nokia will bring to market and about the long-term opportunities. Step by step, beginning this year, we plan to have a sequence of concentrated product launches in specific countries, systematically increasing the number of countries and launch partners.
– In Mobile Phones, early results of the Dual SIM product launches are very encouraging, and we are on track to deliver more products this year.
…
At the end of the first quarter 2011, our sales channel inventories were slightly above normal levels given then anticipated volumes. During the second quarter 2011, distributors and operators purchased fewer of our devices across our portfolio as they reduced their inventories of Nokia devices. The second quarter 2011 ended with our sales channel inventories near the midpoint of our normal range of 4-6 weeks.
…
Nokia Crashing in China, Distributors Refusing Nokia Products [Aug 15, 2011]
Nokia faces challenge in China market [China.org.cn, Aug 15, 2011]
Nokia has a crisis on its hands as vendors in China, its biggest market, are facing a huge pile-up of inventory and have refused to place new orders, Caixin Century reported Monday.
“Our (sales) channels collapsed in the second quarter because of the inventory overhang,” said a mid-level sales manager with Nokia China. Nothing like this has ever happened before, said the manager, who refused to be identified.
Nokia shareholders clamour for answers on Microsoft cooperation [HELSINGIN SANOMAT, May 4, 2011]
The Annual General Meeting of Nokia saw a record turnout on Tuesday.
More than 3,000 shareholders appeared at the Helsinki Fair Centre to listen to President and CEO Stephen Elop address the shareholders for the first time, in what many of them said was an inspiring speech.
The meeting chose a number of new members for the company’s Board of Directors, including paper manufacturer Stora Enso CEO Jouko Karvinen, Finance Company Sampo CEO Kari Stadigh, oil company Statoil CEO Helge Lund, as well as Stephen Elop himself. Chairman Jorma Ollila said that the search is already on for his successor. Ollila has said that he will leave the post at next year’s AGM.: Nokia’s Windows phones are very important. How does Nokia plan to press the gas pedal and change engines at the same time?
“Our cooperation has gone well. We are very enthusiastic about our family of products, which we will publish soon. With the help of our cooperation with Accenture we will see to it that we will have the Symbian operating system available after the change. We are increasing investments into the operating system of cheap phones, and in technologies of the future”, says Nokia CEO Stephen ElopAnalyst Ben Wood says that Nokia has been wandering aimlessly for years as in a dream, and done only what it has done before. Why is this?
“First of all, Nokia’s management has not wandered in a dream. Nokia’s strategy has been quite clear, because we saw this change, and we have the steps for how to move ahead. As far as Symbian is concerned, we saw the forthcoming change on the basis of the demands of our customers, but we are not able to influence it as quickly as we should have”, says Chairman of the Board Jorma Ollila.Did you consider using the Meego operating system along with other manufacturers?
“We discussed Meego with HTC, RIM, Samsung, LG, and Motorola. One manufacturer was fairly interested in Meego and the others have their own plans, and they were not particularly interested in Meego. They were afraid that Nokia had too much power in Meego”, Elop says.There have been extensive reports in the media about the security breach affecting the Sony PlayStation. Microsoft Windows has been very vulnerable in data security. How will Nokia protect its telephones and its services with many credit card transactions?
“Data security and privacy are very important for us, and we need to take care of it in all of our business activities. We have comprehensive means for securing the privacy and data security of our consumers. Our phones have a completely different operating system than the Windows that is in a computer.”Nokia pays Microsoft for the use of Windows, and gets payments in return. Can you say how many billions in profit are involved, and what is the schedule for payment?
“We do not give any details on compensations and fees. If we would tell them now, our competitors would get information which would cause problems for all of us. The payments [software licences] that we pay to Microsoft are very competitive, because we aim to sell a significant number of Windows phones.”Will the Meego product that comes on sale at the end of the year be a touch-screen computer?
“No, it is not a tablet computer. There are 200 touch-screen computers on the market, and the only one that is a financial success is the Apple iPad. There is no point in us imitating it, like all of the others are doing without success. We need to make different kinds of products.”Competition in China is intense, and they copy almost anything there. How can Nokia secure its competitiveness in China?
“Our industrial rights are our most important asset right after our personnel. It has long been predicted that officials in China would start taking a more serious attitude toward industrial rights, now that their own industry is starting to produce patented inventions. We are approaching this moment, and we are starting to defend industrial rights in China.”When Nokia announced its new strategy, investors were not immediately excited. The share price fell sharply. Is this because Nokia has failed in assuring investors or is this cooperation simply bad news?
“Big investors understand and support our strategy. The first reason for the uncertainly was that in February we had no binding contract. In addition, we could not initially report on savings in costs, and we have still not revealled precisely when the first Windows phone will be available. The message from investors was clear to us: Nokia needs to show that changes will be implemented, and that they will bring results.”
