Windows 7 Mobile Series impressions: Interface

I watched a demo video by some blokes at Microsoft [mp4] showing off the new Windows Mobile platform. I’ve compiled a list of my first impressions and what I think is wrong with what they have done…

Zune, Zune, Zune, Zune, Zune, Zune…

The new interface is all Zune. Strangely enough the UI team had worked on the Zune Interface, the guy on the left is one of them. It’s all big text and very typographical. Stuff slides from left to right and all that fancy animation Jazz.

But is it the right style of interface? No. Why? Well it’s simply a Zune interface on a device other than a Zune. It worked for the Zune very well but for a mobile phone it looks like it hinders productivity. It is almost like Apple giving the iPhone a scroll wheel and Table interface just like the iPod, it doesn’t work!

When I want a smart phone I expect some order and simplicity to the interface that doesn’t get in the way when real work needs to be done. The iPhone has killed this, navigating to Apps is a piece of cake. The ‘tile’ interface on the demo show’s too much noise and animation going on, every app fighting to get your attention and love.

The in-app interface shown in the demos is also very heavily Zune influenced. Navigating between different modes/views of content is through a top navigation filled with text that’s waaaay to big. This text at the top doesn’t show any kind of hit area so do I click on the text, requiring precision, or just anywhere in the area? It’s taking up valuable screen real estate for something that doesnt need it.

In comparison the iPhone uses the UITabBar, bottom black bar in some apps, which uses far less vertical space and is more defined, less noisy and lets the content be king. Mail.app on the iPhone uses a UITable interface for navigating with the <[Back] icon at the top. The ‘metro’ interface here just has way too much emphasis on the navigation and it overshadows the content.

Seriously?! Maroon red on a dark grey background. Microsoft engineers must have the best eyes in the world. Think about one of your parents, probably has to wear glasses to see, trying to use this out on a sunny day… not going to happen.

Find me, if you can

Lots of hidden UI features. The bar at the bottom flicks up to reveal some items that you would never have known existed until you accidentally flicked it. In other apps they have horizontal panels that you have to flick across to get to, again not alot of UI notification you can do that.

Content IS King. Period.

A good example showing the issue around screen real estate and what you want to focus on. In the demo the presenter is looking at photos of his kids, yep the people at Microsoft “do that”… hard to believe, I know. He is showing photos from Facebook.

In the screenshot above it is showing a photo although you wouldn’t think so. When I want to view a photo… I want to view a photo. Full screen and no chrome. Apparently Microsoft are “thinking differently” and want the comments of people on Facebook to be more important than your child. The picture above us showing >50% of the view is dedicated to stuff apart from the photo. In another video it shows that the images actually don’t centre on the screen at all. They stick to the top, almost like the developer couldn’t be stuffed to find the centre point.

When the Microsoft presenter talks about the OS at the start he talk about making it more personal and social from their previous phone OS’s. But how can it be personal and about the user when you don’t give priority and space to the content they want to see?

Speed

On the iPhone, if you want to get somewhere fast you can. If you want to fire off an email it would take you less than a second to get one going. With the demo here, most of your time will be spent waiting for animations and sliding everywhere. It’s not optimised much for your power user.

Final opinions

Being an iPhone developer I know what the iPhone Dev cycle is like and how much customisation you can do when making apps. When I see the apps demoed, not 3rd party apps, I get the feeling that you are stuck with the UI that they have. If you don’t want that UI then you’d make your own but then you would have apps that have all different UI’s? Where Apple kills this is with a set of flexible UI elements that can be used for a large variety of uses. I cant see this Windows 7 Mobile interface giving people the flexibility they need.

I don’t want to come off as a Windows hater, and an Apple Fanboy, but this is very typical Microsoft. Lots of flash and whiz-bang but no core or purpose. Every thing on the iPhone and everything in the UI has a purpose and its free from UI noise and focusses on the content. But with this Windows Mobile OS its just doesn’t have these qualities. In the end an object that has meaning and a solid core will last longer and perform better than one that doesn’t.

Brass tacks

My opinion is that the interfaces shown in the apps here are just pure rubbish. So many issues and situations would frustrate end users. It’s just a mobile phone that has a Zune skin, thats all. The only “boastable” feature is possibly the social interaction but its not that great. Execution on some UI features is buggy but it would probably be ironed out for release.

More reviews and opinions on this new mobile OS to come.