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Windows Phone 7 Interface: Microsoft Has Out-Appled Apple
I'm sorry, Cupertino, but Microsoft has nailed it. Windows Phone 7 feels like an iPhone from the future. The UI has the simplicity and elegance of Apple's industrial design, while the iPhone's UI still feels like a colorized Palm Pilot.
That doesn't mean that the Windows Phone 7's user experience would be better than Apple's. The two user interface concepts—data-centric vs function-centric—are very different, and the former is quite a radical departure from what people are used to.
With the iPhone, Apple put together an extremely simple modal interface that works, one that people of all ages and backgrounds understand right away: "This is a device that adopts different functions and gives me access to different kinds of information depending on the icon I click on."
It's pretty simple idea, which made it a raging success. In fact, that success is the reason why this model is Apple's bet not only for mobile phones, but for the future of computing. It is also the reason why the Androids, Palms, and Blackberries of this world are following them.
Clean slate
Microsoft's approach is completely different. Instead of becoming another me-too cellphone, like Android and the rest, the Windows Phone 7 team came up their own vision of what the cellphone should be. In the process, they have created a beautiful user interface in which the data is at the center of user interaction. Not the apps—specific functions—but the information itself. At some points, in fact, it feels like the information is the interface itself.
Out of the box, this information is organized into areas called hubs, which follow the user's areas of interest. Accessible through live tiles in the home screen, the Me (the user), people, pictures and video, music, and games—plus the omnipresent search—hubs give views into several data sources, connecting and presenting them into an interweaved panoramic stream. These hubs dig heavily into many databases, both locally and into the cloud.
Rather than accessing an app to get contact information and make a call to a person, open another app to get her Twitter updates, and then another app to get her Facebook updates, and another for her latest mails to you, and yet another one to watch her photos, the Windows Phone's people hub offers a seamless view into all of it, presented in a very simple and logical way. On a function-centric model like the iPhone, when the user thinks "I want to make a call", he puts the device in "calling mode" by clicking on an app, selects a contact, and calls. When the user thinks "What's up with John Smith?" he puts the device in Facebook or Twitter or Mail mode, and so on.
Microsoft has organized the hubs into panoramas, by stitching groups of information as columns of a single landscape screen—bigger than the phone's display—that can be scrolled with your finger. The solution—tied together with minimalist interface aesthetics and animations that are inviting, elegant, and never superfluous—works great.
What about other applications?
Instinctively, I like Microsoft's approach to organizing the core of our digital lives—people social multimedia communication all merged into the hubs. I like it better than the "it's a phone, it's a mail program, it's a browser, it's an iPod" Apple approach. It's less rigid than the iPhone or Android's model, offering a richer experience, inviting to explore, and offering data from many points of view in a quick, clearly organized way. It also seems more human, and that's certainly something Apple—or their followers—have to worry about.
Does that mean that function-centric models are worse? Like I said before, not necessarily. Especially because the information-centric panoramas don't fit every single task people expect their iPhones to perform now. And when I say every single task, I really mean the two gazillion apps populating the Apple store. Microsoft could dress the hub experience in any way they want, but if their devices don't offer a rich application market, they will fail the same way the current competition is failing against Apple.
Fortunately for Microsoft, the Windows Phone model is not only information-centric, but also function-centric. According to Joe Belfiore, gran jefe of the Microsoft's Windows Phone Program, applications are not required to plug into the hub metaphor or the panorama user interface. When the development toolkit comes out in a month, they would encouraging applications just like the ones you have in the iPhone today. In other words, Microsoft understands that one approach is as important as the other.
They are just hoping that their hubs would be a better, funner, more intuitive way to access and cultivate our digital lives, which is mainly what most consumers want to do nowadays. Looking at what they have shown today, I think they are definitely in the right track. But like the Zune HD, it just may be too late.
Send an email to Jesus Diaz, the author of this post, at jesus@gizmodo.com.
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I think the conclusion people had came to was: if Microsoft could bring a Zune HD-esque experience to a phone, it would be enjoyable and excellent. Why not? The Zune HD is actually one of Microsoft's greater hardware and software creations. As it comes across, it seems like they've done exactly that.To be frank, a lot of the "gasping" going on is from astonishment that Microsoft has created a compelling product after beating what is now, really, a dead horse.
I wouldn't ride side-by-side with Diaz on this one, but I do agree it is a compelling product, and I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't excited about its announcement considering the quality of the Zune and 360 infrastructure and Microsoft's powerful developer and industry connections. Reply
Okay my soap box my two cents worth. I have tried the Zune HD UI without any manuals, or help of any kind and I found it to be difficult to get around in. Now this phone has a similar design set to it so I am going to figure that it will follow similarly. Partially cut off text as menu headers while creative visually is not clear functionally. How is scrolling down page after page better then screen after screen on say the iPhone? To this same end if your data is bigger then the screen maybe that is okay but it would frustrate me that I have only this slice like a small window on a larger world. I want to see it all and then drill down to the details.
How is this UI much different then the other Android UI with there flippy bits and 3D shifting, which was so the WOW when they first came out? How is this phones pseudo running multi app capabilities any different then the iPhone? It certainly isn't the cards like the Palm which is much truer multi app functionality. The reviewer mention a more data centric model with live data being fed to the screen squares in real time, doesn't the android OS have this? One other issue I have watched the videos, where is the system tools/Prefs. They certainly not obvious which says something about the interface.What I really want to see is this phone next to an equivalent android next to an equivalent iPhone and get a really good point for point of why this or that makes this or that phone the tech to own. Reply
Edited by Die Fledermaus at 02/15/10 4:32 PMthe is only one way to do a real test, to give both phones to a 3 year old and see wich is more easy to use ! ReplyJesus Diaz promoted this commentTo be honest, Microsoft [to me] has never done anything very out of the box or innovative. It is their ability to sit back, watch the market, figure out what the consumer wants, and come in and knock all of the above out of the park that makes them so successful. Don't get me wrong, innovation is still in their playbook, but why take huge risks? Natal is a perfect example. Is it innovative? Yes. Is the concept of motion control new? No. They play off of and add to what succeeds, and in return, they succeed. Replytande04 promoted this comment"Rather than accessing an app to get contact information and make a call to a person, open another app to get her Twitter updates, and then another app to get her Facebook updates, and another for her latest mails to you, and yet another one to watch her photos..."We aren't talking about WP7 anymore, are we Reply
I feel that I am the only true skeptic of these devices. NO ONE IS GOING TO BUY THESE THINGS. People need windows on their computers, but not on their phones too. People don't want to use windows media player, or other music and video sources. If microsoft had introduced this a year or two ago, hell, they would own the smartphone market right now, but they are two late. If I were buying a smartphone right now I would get a droid, nexus one, or wait for iphone 4. Replyjon.athan promoted this comment@sonac36: "People don't want to use windows media player, or other music and video sources."Perfect, because this runs Zune software, which works very similarly to iPod, except cooler looking wireless syncing and a 15$ "all the must you want" subscription option.
You say people don't want it and never say why. It's fine to hate what you see, but this is a fun, cool, and fresh OS. People will want this the same way people want Android. People like different things, and people like good things. Reply
I just finished watching the video for the WP7 UI, and some here are saying that compared to the iPhone the UI looks bland. But, if I'm not mistaken, all of that is customizable by the user to be as "colorful" or as "basic" as they'd like. I think a peripheral target of this UI is user a customizable experience, and that to me is always exciting.This is product is really really interesting. Reply
Edited by DustyButt at 02/15/10 4:18 PMWell, if it is more stable than my iPhone, I'll take one in December. The only problem is the crap load of iPod/iPhone accessories I have. Mind you, I own other iPods, and plan on buying one more. ReplySo far, there's only one thing I don't like about the new interface. The alphabetical, single column view of apps not on the start screen. ReplyOr perhaps, like the xbox, they were late for a reason and stand to turn this OS into a great success story like the xbox/360/XBL.The Zune HD was too late because it was an MP3 player. The market had moved on and all of the Zune's core functions were standard features on smartphones.
Let's also not forget the total of active XBL users out there...MS has a chance to make smartphones actual gaming platforms like their console counterparts. Much like the rest of the iPhone experience, every iPhone game is separate, stand alone, and only has the value of the game itself. XBL on a phone changes everything. Reply
beercheck promoted this commentEdited by jurrasix at 02/15/10 4:11 PM"Windows Phone 7 Interface: Microsoft Has Out-Appled Apple"Jesus, are you sure you want to say this on Gizmodo. 90% of your readers will never forgive you. Reply
@PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:: but the other 10% will praise you ReplyPurpleMonkeyDishwasher: promoted this comment@University of Pi: I agree, it's great. I mean, Apple really knows what they are doing, but they do get a lot of attention here. It's nice that Microsoft's hard work has been recognized this time. Reply@PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:: No he is safe. He said his 'it might be too late' qualifier at the end. ReplyPurpleMonkeyDishwasher: promoted this commentI'm not grasping the hub panorama scroll function. I'm sure I will once I see it in action. It sounds interesting. ReplyMicrosoft's new mobile operating system really feels like what we expected the iPad to be. We were hoping the iPad would be a device that was not just a large iPod Touch / iPhone, but instead an extension of our digital lives. Microsoft, almost anticipating what they expected Apple would do next, created what we all hoped the good folks in Cupertino were about to release. Now we have a complete roll reversal where it is Microsoft that has innovated into a new level of human-computer interaction. This new operating system appears to be (yes, I am typing about something I have only read about) not only a brilliant design for phones, but a brilliant design for tablets, a brilliant design for a Netbook - heck, it could be the future of computing. Yes, that is an exaggeration of something so basic that Redmond has done, but it was something simple that Apple had done when it released the Macintosh, too - and look what has happened.What is perhaps even more interesting than this amazing new product is how Microsoft has instantly made so many people change their mind that the Borg was "too late" in the phone game. In fact, they may be arriving at the perfect moment. How many people will now hold on to their old device just a bit longer until this "phone" is on the shelf at their carrier of choice? For all the bitching I, and others, have done over the years about Microsoft just stealing other people's work - they appear to have truly innovated far beyond the competition this time.
Way to go, Microsoft. Now don't screw it up, okay? Reply
Jesus supporting Microsoft, weather is fucked up, and a black man is president (nothing wrong with that, I helped vote him in). Yup the world is about to end. ReplyPurpleMonkeyDishwasher: promoted this commentAhhhh. After all these arguments with fanboys, I finally figured out what it was that makes them go ga-ga for Apple design. It has nothing to do with how good something looks or how well it functions. It has everything to do with how completely batshit insane it is.No offense Jesus, but you're saying Microsoft has out-Apple'd Apple because their interface is so completely different from what we're used to. And it doesn't appear to be in a good way. I reserve judgment until I've held the thing in my hand, but from all the pictures and videos I've seen so far, it is not readily apparent how certain functions work. And the ever-important App Store, you openly acknowledge needs to be affixed to this design after the fact.
It's a lot easier to integrate an information-centric design into an overall function-centric UI than the reverse. Taking Android 2.0 and the Palm Pre as examples. For most tasks, there are individual applications which is what allows the device to literally become anything (could you imagine if the App Store had been an after thought instead of the forefront?), but the contact lists can contain information streams for individual people. This is the most logical way to present that information. Rather than having a steady stream on your home page for individual people.
Frankly, I was a little indignant at first that you claimed everyone else was copying Apple (seriously, that's getting old), but if the argument is information- versus function-centric, fine. Most platforms decided to go with function-centric (which is an idea that Apple also did, prior to Android and the Palm Pre). However, I refuse to accept that simply being ridiculously different is the heart of innovation and interface design. In fact, interface design is supposed to be simple to understand. Not difficult. I could probably poke around this WinMo 7 interface and figure stuff out, but I'd likely be going to the manual a lot more than I would with other phones.
I'm excited to see what WinMo 7 does. It looks like an interesting platform, and I'm sure between now and the launch there will be significant improvements. Not only that, but the integration with all of Microsoft's other products is coming together nicely, so there's that, too. However, if the claim is that Microsoft out-Apple'd Apple because their interface is a ballsy risk with a different model, rather than a more usable model....sorry, but I think Apple's better than simply doing crazy stuff because it's crazy.
Usually their crazy stuff actually works. Reply
@OCEntertainment: I think the benefit to becoming information-centric as opposed to app-centric is that the way we use the services from them will be much more unified - providing a welcome standard in an increasingly fragmented mobile internet. ReplyEdited by Prostate of Grace at 02/15/10 4:32 PM@OCEntertainment: Streamlining information is the equivalent of freebasing heroin. At a certain point it just needs to be done; the old way isn’t good enough anymore. The way we consume information needs to be changed. This in-app-out-app shuffle is wasting valuable time. It all needs to be there. ReplyAn interesting switch-a-roo. I know nothing about phones of any kind but the underlying change of themes are interesting. Years ago, when trying to help people understand the difference between PCs and Macs, I would mention that with a Mac you choose something (object) and then do something to it (function), with PCs it was the opposite, you chose to do something (function) and then select the object. The PC seemed odd.What’s interesting here is it seems Apple has slipped into the function/object mode while Microsoft, of all companies, has seen the light with the Mac and is now going to use the information(object)/function mode. It’s a flip flop, how odd. Reply
Out Apple'd Apple?
I think not. The interface looks tedious. Many presses to get to a function that takes an iPhone just one.
Look deeper than the shininess. Replytande04 promoted this comment@MacAttack7388: What? To get that same information you'd need to open 5 different "apps."Its one of the biggest problems facing apple right now in my opinion. Reply
@MacAttack7388: With a name like MacAttack, no one is ever going to believe your comment is not biased. Reply@tande04: "What? To get that same information you'd need to open 5 different "apps"."Even if there was ONE app, searching that in 5 iPhone home screens filled with 100 look-a-like icons takes way longer than I'd like to admit.
Grouping is always a better but let's see how intelligently they group non-social non-multimedia apps. Posted via web from T.J. Walia's posterous
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