iPhone application shortcuts vs. Nokia N95 and S/E P1i
It seems to me that Steve Litchfield has some mysterious knack of including something in nearly every episode of his Smartphone Show, which triggers a response from me … in the form of a comment or link.
This time round it is Steve's mention of the difference between the application shortcuts on the iPhone and the S60 3rd edition standby screen - I feel I should comment and supplement Steve's remarks with something about the upcoming Sony Ericsson P1i.
Read on - see some nice pictures of the GUI's on the three phones … read what the hell, I am on about and do not forget to let me know, what you think of it…
In the latest installment of the show - #36 - Steve compares the application shortcuts on the recently released iPhone to the S60 3rd edition standby screen. Below left is shown the iPhone's main screen featuring the fixed 12 + 4 application shortcuts. There really is not that much more to the iPhone UI - it is that flat and initial reactions from iPhone owners indicates that it works really well.
In comparison, I have included a screen shot of my Nokia N95's standby screen (Symbian OS S60, 3rd edition), to the right. As you can see (and maybe know), the S60 standby screen takes on the form of a »Today« layout that features only 6 + 2 = 8 application shortcuts. The »+2« shortcuts are the soft keys at the very bottom of the screen - left and right. Unlike the iPhone, the set of application shortcuts featured on the S60 standby screen is just the tip of the iceberg - applicationwise - on a S60 handset. The rest of the 50+ applications are hidden in a hierarchically ordered menu of folders.
So, clearly the S60 UI is much more complex than the iPhone - and so are the more »matured« UI's of other smartphone OS. Steve's point is that 1) these mature UI's have evolved (cluttered) over time and revisions, thus making iPhone UI v1.0 seem like a breath of fresh air; and 2) unlike the iPhone UI, the S60 UI is not fixed, allowing application shortcuts and folders to be moved around between folders.
I should really like the S60 UI to become even more flexible. It is annoying me that I am restricted to those 6 application shortcuts at the top of the screen. I see no reason why it should not be possible to ditch the calendar entries (as an example - I do not use those) and have an additional row of application shortcuts.
I now present a piece of circumstantial evidence that supports my belief of not being the only one to want that. Below is shown a screen shot of the standby screen of the P1i - the latest P-series handset and Sony Ericsson's upcoming flagship model. As is evident from the P1i screen shot, the standby screen has 15 application shortcuts - quite similar to the iPhone. And this is the handset that will be competing head to head with the iPhone and the N95. Hmm, hmm…
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