|
Newsletters
|
|
|
|
|
The WDN Symbian DevZone... A quick look at Series 60 and the Nokia 7650
by Richard Bloor, September 18, 2002
Nokia's Series 60 interface is being widely adopted by phone manufactures and is
likely to be common on future Smartphones. This week Richard takes a look at
the interface based on practical use on the 7650. - Printer Friendly Version
Delivering powerful, complex and sophisticated communications and personal
management applications on a device little bigger than an audio cassette tape
with a screen which would barely occupy 3% of a 15" monitor is a singular
challenge. Nokia believe that they have met this challenge in their Series 60
Platform that is used in the Nokia 7650 and the forthcoming Nokia 3650.
Nokia developed the Series 60 User Interface to delivery ease of use to their future
generation of Smartphones. The challenge was to develop a User Interface and
physical navigation mechanism that was capable of being used single handed,
was simple to use when accessing sophisticated messaging and multimedia and
encouraged users to use it. The result is both an interface paradigm and a
collection of applications which sits over V6.1 of Symbian OS.
While I have been able to exercise the Series 60 User Interface for sometime using
the SDK it was with some interest that I approached the Nokia 7650 to see how it
worked on a device. In many respects I found that the emulator is a poor
substitute for the hands-on experience of using Series 60.
The User Interface
Basic navigation on the Series 60 takes place through one of 4 controls, three
press buttons and a 5 way rocker switch, giving left, right, up, down and, on
pressing, a select or activate action. These buttons can be supplemented by
device specific controls, which on the Nokia 7650 includes a "voice" button and
the on/off switch, which can also be used to access the phone profiles, keyboard
and device locks.
Nokia 7650 navigation buttons
The graphical interface consists of a window with three zones or panes that can
be overlaid by temporary messages and menus. The three screen zones are the
Status, Main and Control panes as illustrated below.
The status pane contains 5 sub elements, the Title, Context, Navi, Signal and a
Battery/Universal indicator.
While the status pane is usually visible it may be hidden in certain applications.
The Main pane displays the application specific interface and usually consists of
a list, a grid or a find (in association with a list). These can be replaced with
status and soft indicators when the phone is in idle mode.
The Control pane indicates the actions that are achieved with each of the two soft
keys at the bottom of the display. It also includes an indicator to show if a list
has items above or below the currently displayed portion.
Overlaid over these elements are pop up, windows that display temporary
information such as error messages or soft key menu options.
There is also a separate interface standard for games designed to maximize the
space available for the game playing area.
The Applications
Series 60 provides a rich set of standard applications for:
- Personal Information Management, Phonebook, Calendar, Notepad, Photo
Album, Pinboard (favorites), Clock, Calculator, To-Do, Composer, Unit
Converter and Voice Recorder
- Synchronization, SyncML to the 1.0.1 specification for over the air
synchronization of phonebook and calendar details
- GSM Telephony Applications, Advanced Phone features, Call Logs and
Message Indications, User Profiles, Speed dialling plus a framework for
support of Voice dialling and Voice tags, and
- Application Installation and Management, to allow applications to be loaded
over the air or from a connected PC, the Java implementation is Symbians
standard MIDP Java implementation.
- WAP browser using the 1.2.1 specification
- Messaging support for MMS, SMS, Nokia Smart Messaging based on
specification 3.0.0 and POP3 or IMAP4 email
In addition to these standard application each phone is likely to have a unique
set of vendors and phone specific application, the Nokia 7650 for example has an
application to control the Camera and two games.
In Use
Nokia have suggested that the Series 60 is not only easy to use but encourages
users to explore the functionality that the phone delivers. One interesting
experience of the Nokia 7650 regards a person who has always had access to
email and a digital camera, but has been an infrequent emailer. The process of
turning on the PC, downloading the pictures and writing an email has always
seemed more effort than getting a set of photos developed, scribbing a short note
and posting them, because these services have always been accessible as part of
the daily routine. Since she has had the opportunity to use the Nokia 7650 she
has probably sent more emails in a couple of weeks than she would have done
over the previous year. The immediacy is probably the key factor, see it, snap it,
write it, post it all in a matter of minutes.
I found myself strangely compelled by the interface (which contributed to this
article being posted a day late!). Despite initial reservations, largely based on the
fact that I expected to find Series 60 disappointing when compared to the Series
80 interface on my 9210 I found this not to be the case. True the functionality is
not as rich as the 9200’s, the absence of a notification alarm on To Do list items
for example. However Series 60 should more than meet the requirements of both
corporate and private users, people who want a phone that does more but don't
want the size or cost of a 9200 series communicator or PDA and phone.
Conclusion
The Series 60 interface is in many ways all that Nokia suggest it is. It's simple to
get to grips with yet powerful enough to deliver functionality that should more
than satisfy the target owners.
The additional features of Series 60 phones, such as the Nokia 7650's camera
and the Nokia 3650s ability to record and playback video also add to the appeal
of these devices.
Given that competing platforms are not able to deliver the same ease of use,
performance and features it is difficult to see Series 60 not being hugely
successful. Device numbers are likely to be significant and the opportunities for
developers tangible. Perhaps the greatest opportunity with Series 60 is that it will
bring powerful computing to new ranges of consumers who are largely untapped
as purchaser’s of add-on software.
If you want to find out more about Series 60 then Forum Nokia
(www.forum.nokia.com) provides comprehensive support including the SDK, a
range of whitepapers, a knowledgebase and public forums. It is also likely that as
Series 60 licensees start releasing devices that their developer web sites will
provide additional Series 60 support.
About the WDN Symbian Editor, Richard Bloor:
Richard Bloor has 16 years experience in the IT industry. His earlier
work was largely in design and development of commercial and
manufacturing systems but more recently has focused on
development and test management of government systems.
Richard Bloor is the Mobile Applications champion at System
Architecture consultancy Equinox of Wellington, New Zealand.
Richard can be reached at rbloor@wirelessdevnet.com.
Symbian DevZone Home
|
|
|
