RSSThe new face of Android: No face
By Tim Conneally | Published November 3, 2009, 12:03 PM
Early this morning, Sony Ericsson took the wraps off of its first Android-based handset, the 1 GHz Snapdragon-powered Xperia X10. With a huge 4" touchscreen, an 8.1 megapixel camera and the elegant custom user interface named "Rachael," Sony Ericsson moves the Android platform a step further by giving it almost no mention in announcements and commercials.
Sony Ericsson mentions the Android Market, and notes in the spec sheet that the operating system is Android Donut 1.6, but otherwise it does not ride the point, and strives to make the device stand out as a distinct product.
This is where Android is headed, and it's a good thing.
As anyone with a zealous interest in technology is sure to tell you, most people don't give a damn what version of which operating system their phone is running. They only care if it works and their signals are strong. So rather than try to start an "I'm an Android / I'm an iPhone" battle like Verizon did with its Motorola Droid "iDon't" advertising campaign, Sony Ericsson avoids even mentioning Android and the X10 in the same breath.
Instead, it gives its custom Android build its own name (UX Platform "built on top of the Open OS") and talks about the uniquely Sony Ericsson experience it can provide with it.
It's owning the Android experience, and in doing so, it's giving the user less to think about and more to drool over.
Like Motorola did with MotoBLUR, Sony Ericsson has developed a new face for its Android devices which attempts to closely integrate the user's mobile device with his various social networks and media sharing sites. Sony Ericsson calls the two applications Timescape and Mediascape, and we first had a glimpse of them back in January when a video runthrough of Rachael leaked. Timescape takes all communications with another person -- be they through SMS, voice calls, e-mails, IMs, or social network wall postings -- and ties them with that person's contact information in your phone. If you hit the "infinite" button, you can pull up a chronological view of a contact's online activity, something like an in-phone Friendfeed.
Mediascape is a highly visual media manager which integrates content stored on the phone with content on media Web sites. If you are listening to music, for example, pressing the "Infinite" button here would pull up relevant and related online content such as artist information, videos, downloads, and so forth.
As Sony Ericsson's Head of Application Planning, Erika Kato Marcus, said in the joint venture's new blog, "It's about quick access to your music, videos and photos in one application...What we try to do...is to blur the boundaries between what is online and local."
One of the few areas where the X10 is similar to other Android devices is in application acquisition, as its primary app store is the Android Market. However, Sony Ericsson has put its stamp here as well, and includes PlayNow Arena into the mix for additional games, applications, themes, wallpaper, ringtones, and music.
Like the company's whole Xperia line, the X10 is a luxurious device. It has a 4" (480 x 854) scratch resistant capacitive touchscreen, a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon (QSD8250) processor, 1 GB of onboard memory with 8 GB microSD included, quad-band GSM, UMTS, and HSPA 900/1700/2100, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi, and A-GPS. The camera is 8.1 megapixel with 16x digital zoom, geotagging and face recognition of up to five faces simultaneously.
Though the public's attention has been captured by the Motorola Droid and its aggressive advertising campaign, it's a move like this which makes big strides toward Android ubiquity.
I don't understand the argument.....should we then stop developing apps because the old ones are sufficient. I don't understand that Mr. CEO thinks innovation is a bad idea, or is it just that the it doesn't come from Apple for a change??
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|I'm just amazed that it allows microSD expansion, and not "microMS Pro". =)
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|????
What?
Please to esplain....
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|Sony products... historically replete with built-in support for Sony's own proprietary formats, with little or no support for anything else.
"microMS PRO" (Memory Stick PRO) is, of course, a made-up type of flash memory... I thought it was clever.
It was a funny (or so I thought). =)
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|Ah... Sony Ericsson....Sony...I get it now...
I'm laughing. Really. It was a funny. Trust me....
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|Mr. Durst makes some very incisive points here (and in the process saved me the trouble of typing them, heh heh). Do we *really* want every phone to look different? Some will say that since you are the primary - or more likely only - user of your phone, and you're likely to have it for around two years, you'll get used to the interface - so why not have it be distinct? To that I would say, that's what wallpapers and themes are for. I get very tired of seeing the UI reinvented for the sake of manufacturers having something new to sell. However, if their adding functionality, making things more intuitive and easy to access, then bring on the change!
I'm hearing a lot about Android being highly customizable..not so much by users, but by the carriers. This worries me greatly. The last thing we need is another Symbian mess.
BTW...what the heck is the "infinite" button? That one on the left that looks like four squares? Or the ripoff of the iPhone "home" button in the middle?
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|Humbly speaking, interfaces don't change... they evolve. Each company pushes their vision of what is better. That will mean a lot of changes between versions and differences between different OSs, and it is even more understandable considering that with a historical vision, interfaces are still in diapers, just as computing is.
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|Android is highly customizable by the end user. As much as WinMo is (if not more). Even though the carrier can wrap their own interface over the Android default interface, it is pretty easily removed (provided that you have root access to the device).
The rumor is that this might change in future versions of Android as Google dictates. One current rumor is that Google is going to start mandating that the manufacturer's/carrier's interface be required to offer an "on/off" toggle to allow users to switch back and forth between the standard Android interface and the one that came with the device. Of course, this is all still pretty much moot when it comes to custom roms. The very nature of Android allows pretty much any developer to create a customized rom the same way the carriers do. Today, it requires root access to the device and a customized loader, but with Android 2.x and above, that might change.
The "infinite" button is akin to the "menu" button on the G1/G2 models. It's almost required hardware for an Android device.
The rip off of the iPhone home button... well, yeah... lol
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|Maybe a good idea. Maybe not.
To the extent that device manufacturers embrace Android as a non-GUI enabling architecture it should certainly help their bottom line by lowering development costs and also help Googles's bottom line by continuing to drive search traffic through their service.
You have to worry about the user, though. To the extent that each device manufactuer feels compelled to 'innovate' on top of Android by creating their own 'gee whiz' interface with their own conventions this could prove a minus wr2 providing a predictable and consistent user experience (remember all of those highly idiosyncratic mobile phone interfaces?). Also, to the extent that the conventions used on a given phone do not jibe with the conventions of Android applications downloaded from the Android app store this could result in a GUI crazy quilt.
What apple continues to have on its side are superb design and high consistency. As head of an iPhone development shop I can attest to the rigors of Apple's GUI police. Sometimes its just best to embrace discipline.
Rob Durst
CEO
Silver Bay Software LLC
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|I absolutely agree with your comment Rob, what users want is interface consistency so just in case they want to switch headset brands, they won't have deal with having to learn it all over again---apple has the right idea here--iPhone upgrades are nearly flawless with little user input needed. So far, Android proves otherwise.
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|How are Android upgrades flawed? From 1.0, to 1.5, to 1.6, the upgrade path and execution has been pretty flawless. T-Mobile just rolled out it's 1.6 update to millions of user OTA without hardly any hiccups what-so-ever.
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|"without hardly any hiccups"
...that was incredibly hard for me to parse for some reason. I think I need more coffee.
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|Prolly... on my 3rd required cup today...
But, it's true... updates on Android have been virtually flawless... A quick search on google reveals that most problems with updating the core OS is related to some 3rd party app or rooting issues (which isn't support and shouldn't be for good reason).
I personally have never had an issue with updating from 1.5 to 1.6 on the stock T-Mobile image or on any of the ROMS that I run... then again, I would like to think I know what I am doing... ;-)
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|I think he's speaking in no uncertain terms that "too many cooks spoil the broth". Lots of phones, and apps that have to be written for the different iterations of the platform. Some phones are released with 1.5, some with 1.6, some with 2.0....meaning that apps are going to start to drift between the different versions. Some will be written for 2.0 and not be able to work on 1.6 - as we can see this is true, some work on 1.6 but not on 1.5. IF all of them were able to say, get to 2.0 - fine, but some will be stuck at 1.6, and some at 1.5 as of now.
The second 'issue' is the gui being consistent, but I don't think the majority of people consider difference or a change in interface disruptive or inconsistent - I could be wrong. Normally only really old people and very young children dislike or can't tolerate change on such a deep level.
Android upgrades are flawed in the aspect that if you go from say, 1.6 to 2.0 then you bet your butt some, if not all your installed apps may break.
All of this vs. the Iphone where everything is consistent - 1 phone, very minor changes in hardware between revisions and so pretty much one OS to run on them all.
The problem with this mentality is that it's totally "Apple" thinking. You're locking the user into one phone to experience that. Apple will never make 2 or 3 'flavors' of technically the same Iphone, and ofcourse there's no reason to - it's one company. The Iphone to Iphone 3G was considered an upgrade, as 3G to 3GS, and when they add an SD card slot and physical keyboard, it will be and upgrade from 3GS to 3GSDKB, lol....jk =)
This may not be a bad thing for some, but it is for others. HTC on the other hand, makes several versions of their phones running technically the same hardware and for the most part, software. People who hate X because of this reason can get Y...people who hate Y for this, can get Z. I love the Iphone....for one simple reason, it's fast! No lagging. But guess what? I'll never get one as it is because I HATE using virtual keyboards.
It all boils down to freedom. Freedom comes with a price....sounds corny, but it's true! The freedom of being able to flick through different hardware and mobile software means you're going to have some problems. That's not to say the Iphone doesn't have some pretty deep software issues as well...but you'll probably never have to worry about an app that wont work on all of them.
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|"Android upgrades are flawed in the aspect that if you go from say, 1.6 to 2.0 then you bet your butt some, if not all your installed apps may break."
You're absolutely correct there... I saw it going from 1.0 to 1.5 and 1.5 to 1.6. A lot of apps broke and devs took way too long to correct them.
But, what's the solution. I understand what you are saying about the iPhone and it's monopolistic interface, but in order for there to be a mobile operating system that is truly up to the user to create and/or modify, then that type of approach just doesn't work. You are 100% spot on about freedom coming with a price (and the iPhone's deep rooted issues... ;-) )
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