Finally a phone with the UI to match iphone

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
I mentioned this phone in another thread but it was unvelied today by SE. Aside from a 12.1mp camera it has a 3.5 inch touch screen and is based on the new Symbian Foundation OS.



Up until now Apple have been able to hide behind their nice touch screen interface but it seems the rest (or at least SE for now) have caught up. Apple better have something good in the works as it's only a matter of time before Samsung and Nokia bring out similar devices.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20f7b24jdfA
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 39
    Some more videos of the UI in action. Suddenly the iphone doesn't look that groundbreaking.



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGkHkr7P2vM



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWfwcW7ijIM
  • Reply 2 of 39
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    I watched the videos.



    What's so groundbreaking? Looks ok from the small clips but I wouldn't be loosing sleep if I worked on the iPhone team at Apple.



    Also this comes from Sony. The people that known for user friendly right? Have you seen this (which is hilarious if a bit over the top)?
  • Reply 3 of 39
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member
    I fail to see how an interface which is obviously based on the influence the introduction of the iPhone has had on a range of manufacturers could be described as "groundbreaking".



    This looks like an excellent phone.



    Does anyone know if 640x360 is a restriction of Symbian as the Winmo based Xperia has an 800x480 screen resolution.
  • Reply 4 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bavlondon2 View Post


    Suddenly the iphone doesn't look that groundbreaking.



    "Groundbreaking" is typically used to refer to products that are innovative at the time of their introduction, 2007 in the case of the iPhone. A product that has been introduced two years later cannot remove the iPhone's "groundbreaking" status.





    As for the videos, the interface is not that exciting.
  • Reply 5 of 39
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    It looks like you can swipe from picture to picture, with a little extra animation thrown in.



    Not seeing how that makes the UI particularly special.



    Why in the name of God would I want a 12MP in my phone? The average consumer couldn't make good use of that in a full sized camera, and in a phone, with its tiny sensor and constrained lensing, it makes no technical sense whatsoever. Mindless spec whoring is exactly what's wrong with the entire consumer electronics industry.
  • Reply 6 of 39
    Despite your opinion I would imagine that would seem appealing to most rather than a basic 2mp camera which no options at all.



    But the point is Apple cannot sit on their laurels any more as this is now the 2nd device to offer a UI which is as good as iphones bar multitouch.
  • Reply 7 of 39
    The entire ad on Sony Ericsson's website is about the camera and the JQuery slideshow interface.



    Nothing about the Operating System, the Application platform, the actual Tech Specs [other than the camera], the developer platform, the third parties involved in writing applications, so on and so forth.



    It's pretty much a glorified camera phone.
  • Reply 8 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    The entire ad on Sony Ericsson's website is about the camera and the JQuery slideshow interface.



    Nothing about the Operating System, the Application platform, the actual Tech Specs [other than the camera], the developer platform, the third parties involved in writing applications, so on and so forth.



    It's pretty much a glorified camera phone.



    Thats becasue it hasnt been announced properly yet. But its running on OMAP 3rd gen. Also the OS is the new symbian foundation so its S60.



    Also remember at time of release there was no app store for iphone so at the time it was just a glorified ipod.
  • Reply 9 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bavlondon2 View Post


    Thats becasue it hasnt been announced properly yet. But its running on OMAP 3rd gen. Also the OS is the new symbian foundation so its S60.



    Also remember at time of release there was no app store for iphone so at the time it was just a glorified ipod.



    You know frankly I wasn't all that impressed with the iPhone when I first saw it. I mean a pretty UI is nice but a great UI is heavy on functionality and if it looks great that's the cream on top. What makes the iPhone groundbreaking is how it allows people to use more features of their phone.



    You don't know how well a phone is going to work until you're making calls on it...conferencing, web browsing and more and get to see how it switches contexts.



    Every week we have a new thread about the newest phone that's supposedly an iPhone killer based on demoware.



    The Pre

    The Toshiba

    Now the Sony.



    They may all be great phones but the proof will in how they integrate all the auxiliary features with the basics...making phone calls.



    It should be a fun year.
  • Reply 10 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    You know frankly I wasn't all that impressed with the iPhone when I first saw it. I mean a pretty UI is nice but a great UI is heavy on functionality and if it looks great that's the cream on top. What makes the iPhone groundbreaking is how it allows people to use more features of their phone.



    You don't know how well a phone is going to work until you're making calls on it...conferencing, web browsing and more and get to see how it switches contexts.



    Every week we have a new thread about the newest phone that's supposedly an iPhone killer based on demoware.



    The Pre

    The Toshiba

    Now the Sony.



    They may all be great phones but the proof will in how they integrate all the auxiliary features with the basics...making phone calls.



    It should be a fun year.



    Agreed. 2009 is going to be a massive year for phones. Just saw a demo of the new Samsung Omnia HD today. AMOLED screen! Drool
  • Reply 11 of 39
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bavlondon2 View Post


    Agreed. 2009 is going to be a massive year for phones. Just saw a demo of the new Samsung Omnia HD today. AMOLED screen! Drool



    Me Drool toooooo.



    I'm an AMOLED whore. I mean when you can take a photograph of two phones, one with AMOLED and the other without and you can clearly see the contrast improvement in AMOLED it's about that time. Maybe we get lucky and the iPhone delivers AMOLED this year.



    Also I was thinking about these micro flash HD recorders from

    Kodak, Sanyo, Flip Mino and more.



    Now seeing as how iMovie has anti-shake technology it means that video with less than a steady hand can be salvaged which means Apple doesn't have to worry about image stabilzation as much. They can focus on an iPhone with good optics and sane megapixel amounts. Let us capture 720p 5mbps that can be sent right to an AppleTV or Mac/PC.



    It only takes 4GB of storage for an hour of 720p video. I'd bump up to the larger size if Apple gives me HD video capability.



    You're right though..this industry will NOT let you rest on your laurels. Apple is going to have to deliver some much improved functionality. Imagine



    Turn by Turn GPS

    HD video recording

    Digital Output (maybe too early..we'll see)

    More fluid OS w/push notification

    Some sort of "I didn't see that coming" feature out of left field.
  • Reply 12 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bavlondon2 View Post


    Thats becasue it hasnt been announced properly yet. But its running on OMAP 3rd gen. Also the OS is the new symbian foundation so its S60.



    Also remember at time of release there was no app store for iphone so at the time it was just a glorified ipod.



    The Symbian Foundation is bleeding like a fire hydrant it's developer base--most of which are now on the iPhone.



    The iPhone SDK and obvious marketshare explosion makes is a requirement that they produce more information about their developer toolkits and strategy before they release the phone.



    All these ducks were in a row, by Apple, who then staggered their release via marketing. When Apple takes over the majority smartphone with just 3 phones manufactured it's clear that those dozens and dozens of phones based on the SymbianOS or Nokia or Windows Mobile were too confident in their analysis on delivering a complete vertical solution.



    More to the point, they didn't expect AT&T to comply with Apple and thus keep their foothold for them.



    Kudos to AT&T for their smart exclusivity and taking such a gamble.
  • Reply 13 of 39
    sennensennen Posts: 1,472member
    why the heck would you want HD video recording on a phone with a tiny lens and tiny sensor?!
  • Reply 14 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sennen View Post


    why the heck would you want HD video recording on a phone with a tiny lens and tiny sensor?!



    Because it would still be better than SD.
  • Reply 15 of 39
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sennen View Post


    why the heck would you want HD video recording on a phone with a tiny lens and tiny sensor?!



    To go with the HDMI out, off course!



    The Samsung has the same processor as the Palm Pre and is capable of handling a 3Mb/s video stream.



    The touchscreen is 640x480 and is capacitive, it will be powered by a 1500 mAh battery and will come in 8 and 16Gb models with a further 16Gb microSD support.
  • Reply 16 of 39
    Too bad though it is running on S60 5th edition which is boring ala 5800. I would have preferred it to be running on something slicker like SF what that SE Idou appears to be running on as overall UI is better. Still that AMOLED looks so sexy and it's 3.7 inches too not to mention div x too. So just download and drop....did I say that out loud?
  • Reply 17 of 39
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bavlondon2 View Post


    Too bad though it is running on S60 5th edition which is boring ala 5800. I would have preferred it to be running on something slicker like SF what that SE Idou appears to be running on as overall UI is better. Still that AMOLED looks so sexy and it's 3.7 inches too not to mention div x too. So just download and drop....did I say that out loud?



    The Idou is a concept phone whereas the i8910 is ready for production and is set for a Q2 release.



    I don't think Samsung is trying to compete with Apple, they are after number one which is Nokia.
  • Reply 18 of 39
    tenobelltenobell Posts: 7,014member
    Not necessarily. Just like anything its not that simple. Just because you have more pixels does not automatically mean you have a better picture.



    Their are a lot of visual tricks to make an image appear as though it contains more visual information than it does. Interpolation, edge sharpening, and added contrast fool the eye into seeing a sharper image than what is actually there, its just smoke and mirrors.



    The true measurement of how much information an imaging system can record is called modulated transfer function. Its a test where you start with 2 rows of 2 squares: black white, white black, as if you had 4 pixels on the screen. You double the squares to 8 pixels, 16 pixels and so on. Once you've multiplied the number of squares until they equal the number of pixels that the imager claims to record, you should still be able to clearly see defined black and white squares.



    Most of the time when this type of test is done, the squares become a mass of grey long before they equal the resolution that's claimed for the imaging system. What this means is that the imaging system is not really recording an image with the number of pixels it claims. Artificial tricks are being used to make the image appear sharper. In the end is you have a larger file that is devoid of actual visual information.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    why the heck would you want HD video recording on a phone with a tiny lens and tiny sensor?!



    Because it would still be better than SD.



  • Reply 19 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


    The Idou is a concept phone whereas the i8910 is ready for production and is set for a Q2 release.



    I don't think Samsung is trying to compete with Apple, they are after number one which is Nokia.



    Idou is not just a concept. The SE reps had units in their hands and there are plenty of hands on videos on youtube.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TenoBell View Post


    Not necessarily. Just like anything its not that simple. Just because you have more pixels does not automatically mean you have a better picture.



    Their are a lot of visual tricks to make an image appear as though it contains more visual information than it does. Interpolation, edge sharpening, and added contrast fool the eye into seeing a sharper image than what is actually there, its just smoke and mirrors.



    The true measurement of how much information an imaging system can record is called modulated transfer function. Its a test where you start with 2 rows of 2 squares: black white, white black, as if you had 4 pixels on the screen. You double the squares to 8 pixels, 16 pixels and so on. Once you've multiplied the number of squares until they equal the number of pixels that the imager claims to record, you should still be able to clearly see defined black and white squares.



    Most of the time when this type of test is done, the squares become a mass of grey long before they equal the resolution that's claimed for the imaging system. What this means is that the imaging system is not really recording an image with the number of pixels it claims. Artificial tricks are being used to make the image appear sharper. In the end is you have a larger file that is devoid of actual visual information.



    On the subject of pixels check out the new N86 (8MP).This is the first device with variable aperture ranging from F2.4/3.2/F4.8. That means the device does better in low light situations thanks to the wider aperture of F2.4 and takes sharper shots in bright daylight thanks to the F4.8 aperture value.



    It's got the first 28mm wide angle lens on a mobile phone.
  • Reply 20 of 39
    tenobelltenobell Posts: 7,014member
    For all of the reasons I mentioned in my earlier post, that Nokia 8MP camera is rubbish to this 8MP camera.



    If you put both cameras through the test I mentioned, the difference would be stark and clear.







    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bavlondon2 View Post


    On the subject of pixels check out the new N86 (8MP).This is the first device with variable aperture ranging from F2.4/3.2/F4.8. That means the device does better in low light situations thanks to the wider aperture of F2.4 and takes sharper shots in bright daylight thanks to the F4.8 aperture value.



    It's got the first 28mm wide angle lens on a mobile phone.



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