[IxDA Discuss] Neonode N2 and gesture-based UI

[Petteri Hiisilä]

> Apart from the initial mindwarp learning curve.  Do you not feel
> there's a security issue in people potentially seeing your contact
> details in public?

I didn't think about it that way, but now that you mention: maybe  
it's an issue. The phone is so tiny, though, that it would be quite  
hard to hold it in your hand such that the hand wouldn't cover the  
phone. And if it's something important, I'd likely talk in a private  
room/corner anyway.

But you're right, they haven't obeyed the unwritten standard to keep  
the speaker on the same side; hopefully they had a darn good reason :)

> That aside, I really like the way the screen is sectioned in to
> three: start/keyboard/sweep.  I'm a fan of noun/verb
> (applications/actions) interfaces.  Its a scalable design.  However,
> do you feel maybe that its a little 'engineering centric'?

Again, I didn't think about it that way. The practice of replacing  
buttons with gestures isn't yet very common to say the least.

This is one of those devices that needs to be experienced to form a  
truely informed opinion. The Forward and Back sweeps (acting as Yes  
and No sweeps) will probably be useful when using the phone without  
looking. You'll also feel a little bump when you touch the screen  
elements with your finger. Those experiences are hard to simulate/ 
imagine without trying.

It's worth noting that Neonode N1 already had many of the gestures  
that the iPhone made famous, and the N1 was released in 2004! For  
example, "This is how you unlock it"-gesture is the "Yes" sweep -  
left to right on the bottom of the screen.

> After all, in the website's marketing blurb they say this: "To make
> it convenient and fast to access all features and content of the
> device, we also designed our own user interface. It has a similar
> structure to a PC, but without deep and complex menus." I love the
> design, it suits me but... I'm a geek.

I'm buying this for myself, and I'm an early adopter and a geek. But  
let's see what non-geeks have to say about it and how natural they  
find its interaction framework and the gestures. If the phone really  
has a similar structure to PC, I might well hate it myself! But from  
the videos it didn't seem computer'ish.

Video: http://mobilementalism.com/2007/03/26/video-of-neonode-n2-tiny- 
touchscreen-phone/
More here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=neonode%20n2

Many of them are using the prototype from last spring.

Petteri

-- 
  Petteri Hiisilä
  Palveluarkkitehti /
  Senior Interaction Designer /
  Plenware Oy / +358505050123 /
  petteri.hiisila at plenware.com

  "Simple is better than complex.
   Complex is better than complicated."
   - Tim Peters