Imho the system with pen- and hand-based applications is the most useful one. I own a TomTom 5xx-Series, I used TomTom on my Nokia 7710 (only-touchscreen-phone) and I know that it is easy to use without a stylus. TomTom has a good interface, but the sort of software (navigation) needs relatively less input, so a stylus is not needed. But it's something else with office software, terminal-emulation, and what else you might use the Neo or other OpenMoko-phones in future. This sort of software cannot be used without a stylus effective. Also graphics software which needs very exact input also needs a stylus (well, call me crazy, but I used the graphics software, which is similar to windows' paint, on my 7710 for making outlines and other drawings). There will be sooo much software in future and there will be so less software which can be used by only having the fingers.
2007/6/28, Fabien <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
On 6/28/07, Cailan Halliday <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Does the multi-touch screen make this easier somehow? It might help a bit in corner cases, but what really makes or breaks it is a proper, global thinking of the user experience (which is generally not the same, and even sometimes directly opposed to GFX effects). It requires a lot of experiments, an ability to empathize with non-developers... many abilities considered non-technicals and boring by most hackers, unfortunately. This is *the* skill on which Apple built most of its successes, and something open source software tends to have a hard time getting right. However, user experience is especially important for a phone, so maybe openmoko will experience some great improvements over other OSS projects? IMO, the best thing technical people can do for openmoko is making it easy to script/extend/modify by moderately tech-savvy people: since hardcore hackers suck at building usable UIs, the best they can do is offering to new, different talents the opportunity to get it right. Or at least better. I'd bet on Lua (www.lua.org), because it's tiny, powerful, easy to embed, designed for easy interfacing with C and C++, and has a very gentle learning curve if you don't use advanced features. Let's provide bindings for UI bricks, phone features, and you're set. Look at http://www.lua.org/wshop05/Hamburg.pdf for integration with a multitask, non-trivial C/C++ libraries set (that's the debriefing of the of adobe photoshop lightroom's implementation, in lua), or http://lua-users.org/lists/lua-l/2004-04/msg00164.html about non-developers easily getting hands-down with Lua (here, XBox level designers). I work for a wireless embedded devices builder, and you can't even imagine the kind of productivity boost Lua provides. Attempts with Python or Smalltalk never brought that kind of power (and Scheme scares everybody). Don't forget that easily upgradeable firmwares are not so common on phones, and phone builders don't want to modify the UI of shipped products. That means they don't have the best user feedbacks possible, whereas that's something openmoko will get. Up to us to exploit it efficiently, instead of focusing on skins and other mostly useless glitter. _______________________________________________ OpenMoko community mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
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