
HTC 1 - ecaron
http://designfabulous.blogspot.com/2010/07/htc-1.html
======
dantheman
Lacks the standard android buttons for a more iphone like single button
interface. On android you need to have the home, menu & back button or else
most apps won't work. The search button is also needed but the lack of one
would probably not break most applications.

Designs like this are great, but often the achieve their elegance by ignoring
physics or some other constraint that makes them completely unworkable.

~~~
mey
Things that came to mind

the "kick stand" would be hard to engineer due to speaker location.

the UV light while charging thing is a bit off

If you want to design a phone for the ages, it needs to be somewhat
expandable, a sd card slot and/or a changeable main board might do the trick

~~~
axod
I think the last one is a very good point. Why not go the whole hog though and
make the mainboard upgradable?

The phone could just be a really nicely designed and well built 'shell' to
hold the main board + display etc. Then every 2 years, instead of buying a
whole new phone, you just get an upgrade to the internals.

It seems a little silly to pay _too_ much attention to the external design of
phones since most people only have them for a year then change.

I'd sort of like a _beautifully_ designed custom phone shell into which I slot
the latest internals with the new chips etc. Having the same phone shell for
10+ years, but seeing the internals upgrade would be nice.

~~~
jonknee
> I'd sort of like a beautifully designed custom phone shell into which I slot
> the latest internals with the new chips etc. Having the same phone shell for
> 10+ years, but seeing the internals upgrade would be nice.

Maybe we treat our phones differently, but unless it was made of diamond it
would be beat to hell well before 10 years passed. Not to mention that mobile
changes so quickly that internals will be hardly recognizable in 10+ years (at
least 5G and god knows what else).

~~~
axod
I think most people keep the same wallet/card case/key rings etc for 5-10
years at least. So I don't see why a mobile can't survive either.

I'd actually quite like a metal/leather one. And no, a case/protector just
isn't the same.

Do people here remember the Nokias where you could buy different facias,
backs, etc - They kinda separated the case in that way which I thought was a
step forward. And if the facia gets scratched you just bought a new one and
slotted it in.

------
jrockway
Please, HTC, no more ad-libbing your own user interfaces They suck and are
hard to remove. We all call it nonSense for a reason. Stick to making
hardware, and let Google handle the software. It's cheaper and your users will
be happier. (Just once I would like to buy a phone that I don't have to
reflash as soon as I bring it home. Should have gotten an N1, I guess.)

Hardware-wise, this concept is not too compelling. Needs physical buttons.
Needs the trackball. I don't want to pay for stereo sound or the ability to
turn into an alarm clock. Give me battery life and a higher-res screen
instead. I don't want gimmicks, I want a solid phone that always works and
doesn't get in my way.

I agree that they should make their "premium" phones out of metal, though. I
think Apple is leading the way here (with a metal case and a very high-res
screen), and that HTC is just going to copy. But that's fine, an Android-based
iPhone 4 clone with WiMax will be phenomenal.

~~~
nailer
> Please, HTC, no more ad-libbing your own user interfaces They suck and are
> hard to remove. We all call it nonSense for a reason.

No, people on XDA developers (phone nerds) use the tern 'NonSense'. HTC sticks
to common UI principles, ie:

* Identifiable icons (eg, using a globe, rather than a blue and white sphere, for a web browser)

* Known color schemes, eg, black, green, and white, versus Googles white, blue, orange and green.

* A home screen which can host animations. Google's can't, which is why the widget selection is poor and those that exist don't do as much.

* Always visible phone function, something Google themselves did in 2.2

* Widgets that don't waste space, compared to the default 2 x 4 widgets for Twitter and Facebook with the massive stip between.

I could go on. HTC have UI designers. Android clearly don't - it's not a
matter of personal preference, it's a matter of basic design principles.

Edit: Fixed 'Apple' rather than 'Android'.

~~~
masklinn
> HTC have UI designers. Apple clearly don't

Wait, what?

~~~
cgomez
Pretty sure he meant Google, which wouldn't be true either...

~~~
nailer
Well per the post, there's more evidence of Google either not adopting or
ignoring well known UI design principles throughout Android, in terms of
making common functions widely available, consistency in UI, not using a color
scheme with two colors directly sitting across from each other on the wheel.

~~~
joubert
They famously eschew design ideas from design "dictators", favoring data-
driven design (e.g. choosing a blue that yields more ad clicks); I wonder if
they do this in the Android development cycle or once it is in users' hands.

------
jonah
I'm not at all impressed with this design concept. It's sophomoric design
school work, the functionality is not fully thought-out and the UI is HORRIBLE
- except for the 1/2 diamond arrows which are trite. It also reminds me that
industrial design and interface design are two separate specialties.

That being said, I dig the design language and the inspiration found in fine
old cameras and watches.

What I really want is the industrial design and hardware of Apple running the
Android OS with the user experience and UI design of Palm WebOS. That's my
sweetspot.

~~~
dbz
> What I really want is the industrial design and hardware of Apple running
> the Android OS with the user experience and UI design of Palm WebOS.

Well, let's not be too kind to Apple. The new phone is already behind the
greatest and latest. Apple just has a brand name.

 _HOWEVER!_ Lucky for you the lead OS designer for Palm WebOS just switched to
Android. Expect greatness from the next OS update (assuming you already have
2.2).

~~~
jonah
>> What I really want is the industrial design and hardware of Apple

> Well, let's not be too kind to Apple. The new phone is already behind the
> greatest and latest.

I agree. I was talking about case/glass/build quality/materials
"innovation"/etc. rather than the chip specs. Didn't make that clear.

Expandable memory is awesome and the Snapdragon et. al. seem good like it's
pretty good albeit maybe power hungry.

------
woodpanel
honestly, it's a big amount of work that is also presented in a very nice way
(nice graphics, really), but the main-ingredient of this whole project, the
designed appearance of the phone, lacks proper proportions, is undynamic and
caused either by unawareness of what makes great design, or it is caused by
fear of revealing the authors unawareness.

Just criticizing the appearance though.

As far as the usability goes: \- is it a good idea to have a curved touch
screen? \- will constant uv-raying create super germs? \- i like the idea of
the built in stand, at least on those graphics it looks interesting, but i
simply wont buy a mobile where u could flip, twist or slide party away, around
or off - because those parts decrease the life-expectancy of the object
dramatically and are the first things that wore off and take away all this
fancy feeling, that a high priced designy object gives you in the beginning.

~~~
woodpanel
still, if he were my design student - i think this is what this project is all
about - i would give him an a+

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Sure, give it a design award. Lots of awful devices are explained by "it must
have won an award"

------
Tichy
Steve Jobs said the iPhone 4 evokes the feeling of an old Leica camera,
designer makes a study of a phone supposed to evoke the feeling of a Leica
camera. Where is the originality in that? It's way not to beat Apple.

Instead of thinking "how can I make a phone look like an iPhone", better think
"how do I want my phone to look". If all you can come up with is an iPhone,
change your job (and get an iPhone).

~~~
confuzatron
True - Apple have claimed Leica. Evoke the feeling of some other camera - not
that big of a deal.

~~~
borism
what would you propose? Hasselblad?

~~~
goatforce5
Well Braun's not out of the question:

[http://gizmodo.com/343641/1960s-braun-products-hold-the-
secr...](http://gizmodo.com/343641/1960s-braun-products-hold-the-secrets-to-
apples-future)

------
axod
"One of the big flaws with Android is the music player"

Huh? Why? What's wrong with it? Seems great to me :/

------
CitizenKane
There are some beautiful design concepts in this. I think the number one thing
lacking in software design is the gap between the software and the device it's
running on. It's something that often breaks that metaphor that the software
is supposed to provide. It would be really interesting to see more software
that takes the broader context of the environment the sotware is running in
into account.

~~~
jrockway
Can you elaborate?

Right now, you press the calendar button and you see your calendar. You press
the phone button, dial, and you make a phone call to the number you dialed. I
am not sure what's missing here.

~~~
CitizenKane
Not all Android phones have a phone button. The G1 does, the Nexus One (which
I have) doesn't. Mostly, there isn't really a standard for what an Android
phone should look and operate like. I don't really expect this between
manufacturers, but even within manufacturers there can be pretty significant
differences between devices.

Also, because Android doesn't have a particularly strong stance on how UIs
should work and should be laid out, there also hasn't been a very strong
stance on how buttons on the phone should be laid out and what the device
should look like. For instance, the back button can change functionality quite
a bit between apps. Or also, the G1 has a camera button but the nexus one
(foolishly) doesn't. Most devices have a UI completely unrelated to the phone
hardware.

I wouldn't just pick on Android but I think it's a problem that Windows and
Linux have had as well. The experience just isn't that cohesive and it makes
them more difficult to use. I'm not really a fan of Apple, but it's definitely
one place where they've put in a lot more work than others.

~~~
wvenable
Shouldn't there be significant differences between devices? What's the point
in a single manufacturer making multiple devices if they're all exact clones
of each other.

Apple isn't necessarily more cohesive, they make a single model of phone. By
definition, everything they do is 100% cohesive.

~~~
astrange
> Apple isn't necessarily more cohesive, they make a single model of phone. By
> definition, everything they do is 100% cohesive.

There are five iOS devices (iPhone 3GS/4, iPod Touch 2nd/3rd generation,
iPad). Two of those are phones and the rest aren't, but only because they
can't make calls. Who wants to do that, anyway?

~~~
Raphael
There are 3 devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. All three have the same
buttons in pretty much the same spots, as I recall.

------
spamizbad
Very striking design. For me, it brought back a flood of memories of my
grandfather and his piezoelectric cigarette lighter, of which looked quite
similar to this phone.

I am so disappointed this phone isn't real, but simply a concept. Still, I
appreciate Andrew Kim's talents.

------
pkulak
Once I got to the last slide I realized it was a joke.

~~~
Kev
Yes, that reminded me of <http://pomegranatephone.com/> \- which is old but
brilliant.

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moomba
Looks like the iphone version of an Android phone. Doesn't seem like a really
good phone. Although the UI seems less cluttered. That is my one big complaint
about Android. None of the phone manufacturers have wrapped Android UI in nice
way either.

------
justinph
A pretty nice design. The built-in tilting mechanism is genius: First reaction
was "why would I want that?" but after thinking about it for a while, I could
see using it a lot.

My only gripe with these mockups is the typography on the world clock. Why is
there a period after the place:

    
    
      new york.
      9:00pm
      seattle.
      6:00pm
    

Very confusing image. But overall, good.

~~~
Groxx
I thought about that a little, thought "yeah, that's kinda weird...", and then
looked again. I actually think I like the periods: they break up the lines. An
important difference between the mock-up and your example is that they're
_right_ justified; the period makes the locations stand out.

    
    
      new york.
         9:00pm
       seattle.
         6:00pm
        london.
         2:00am
         tokyo.
        10:00am
    

vs

    
    
       new york
         9:00pm
        seattle
         6:00pm
         london
         2:00am
          tokyo
        10:00am
    

note the wall-o'-text effect in the second, and the organization implied in
the first.

~~~
fragmede
I think it's more weird that no one's objected to the four clocks. Even as a
member of the jet-set elite, I'd think that local time is still most important
in the general sense. Feature that. Have the global times underneath; gotta
know when the markets open after all.

------
acgourley
Looks great. I feel like there must be a dozen real world reasons why it's
infeasible. Antenna performance, cost, size, weight, etc. At least I want to
believe that, that explains the reality we live in where objects like this
generally don't exist. The only other explanation is inept companies who don't
hire or listen to good designers.

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budu3
The UV light is interesting. I like the idea bit it looks like it'll only kill
bacteria on the front part of the phone.

~~~
DTrejo
The bacteria would never harm you, so it is pointless either way. I suppose it
might make some people feel better regardless.

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budu3
I love it. I would buy it in a heartbeat.

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andybak
Stereo sound isn't going to be much use when the speakers are only 4 inches
apart.

~~~
jacquesm
That depends highly on how directional the speakers are.

~~~
ecaron
Or how small your head is.

------
damovisa
The screens are a bit hit and miss for me. The alarm clock, music player, and
bottom half of the home screen (messages) are beautiful. The top half of the
home screen (weather and time) is horrible. The others - meh.

------
wmwong
I personally like the design of this. Actually, when I saw the first picture,
I thought, "I want one...". Plus I love the idea of the stand. Use cases were
already flowing through my head when I saw this!

~~~
ChRoss
I like the stand idea also. But, does it mean I need to remove the case/bumper
if I want to stand it?

------
whatwhatwhat
make it WATERPROOF already

------
zecg
Looks like a sexy gadget prototype, underthought and overdesigned. Lack of
buttons, alarm clock stand bullshit introducing moveable parts for no
particular reasons, curved screen, etc.

------
speek
If HTC can pull this off, I (a huge apple fanboy) might consider switching. I
love developing for the android platform, but the phones that have come out so
far just irritate me.

------
sri
Would love to see a screen at the back also -- dual screens, if you will. That
way I can have one app running on the "front" screen and another on the "back"
screen.

~~~
fragmede
If I'm holding the phone in landscape with thumbs on front and fingers on the
back, what I'd really like is buttons on the back so I'm not limited to just
my thumbs. Shift, spacebar and an 'alternate layout' button (switches the
onscreen keyboard to symbols/accents) come to mind. Maybe navigation buttons
so you don't need to constantly shift your hand to reach the hardware buttons.

That said, many flip phones do actually have dual screens. Never seen them
used simultaneously though. (Woz's solution for multitasking also comes to
mind - just have two phones.)

------
joubert
There's almost no side margin next to touch screen. I wonder how difficult it
is to grip without accidentally setting off touch events.

------
novum
The iPhone 4 featured next to the caption "Humans have two ears" is wrong: the
volume buttons and silence toggle are on the wrong side.

------
sans-serif
Who else also got to the "the mobile phone is home to many microorganisms"
part, stopped, took out his own phone to wipe it clean?

------
ElbertF
Is there anything Helvetica can't fix?

~~~
Perceval
[http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/july/the-
helvet...](http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/july/the-helvetica-
killer)

------
wfjackson3
The UV light is completely hilarious. It would be far more effective in a UV
container.

------
Maven911
I just got an xperia x10 and I don't care for no htc phone no more

------
gmosx
great designs. and your blog is truly awesome!

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drivebyacct2
I don't understand this "the software and hardware have to work in harmony".
This argument makes no sense with any other OS/hardware in existence. The OS
should look good. The hardware should look good. Does the wallpaper match the
casing? The user is going to change it anyway. I simply don't understand this
logic.

This concept encourages further vendor UI overlays, custom icons, and the 4x4
app icon grid. It's clear that it was inspired by the iPhone and it simply
removes the innovation of the Android homescreen paradigm in order to look
more like the iphone.

That having been said, why a manufacturer hasn't stepped forward and created a
piece of hardware to rival the iPhone is beyond me. Until the hardware is
compelling, all Android phones will be interchangable. For example, how many
Android users would jump at iPhone-like hardware running Froyo/Gingerbread?

~~~
acgourley
You don't understand how it's a good idea to match the aesthetic of the
software to the hardware framing it? Do you believe that any good looking
shirt looks good with any good looking pair of pants?

~~~
drivebyacct2
No, I think that the "software matches the hardware" means literally nothing.
What does it mean in this context? Almost all phones are virtually the same
shape. Gray or dark gray, what part of the OS do you change to tailor it to
the hardware.

No one ever explains what it means, they just reference it as if the iPhone
possesses it as another of its magical abilities. Your analogy does not
translate to hardware and software. How does Windows 7 match up with your
monitor, or unibody desktop computer? What, specifically, makes OS X
beautifully tailored for the unibody MBP. Nothing. It's just a way of saying
"I think the iPhone has a prettier interface than Android" which is a tired
argument so it's dressed up under a new guise.

~~~
acgourley
Addressing this line: No, I think that the "software matches the hardware"
means literally nothing.

It means aesthetically the texture, color, or lines fit together. In this case
the lines are the most important part. Maybe it's not important to you, but
it's not a hollow statement.

~~~
drivebyacct2
"The lines fit together"? I'm sorry but I still don't hear anything concrete
about what is unique to a 4x4 grid of icons and the same rectangular profile
of a phone.

Throughout this thread, I keep hearing "its magical beautiful design" and
nothing concrete. Please give me some examples.

~~~
jonah
Please don't take this HTC 1 as a good example of the interface fitting with
the hardware. Look to some of the other examples cited elsewhere in this
thread.

Like it was mentioned above, it seems that Kim's desire was to match the
simple lines of the phone with a flat, simple interface. I think his proposed
interface is poor at best. If you gave a really great UI designer this
hardware to design against, you'd quickly understand the cohesion.

------
shareme
machined brass, oh come on now.

Android CTS demands that hardware design have standard minimum UI buttons.

