In late 2005 Nokia released the N770 Internet Tablet, the first device in a new line of portable internet devices. From then on the line would be carried on by the N800 (2007), N810 (2007) and N810 WiMax(2008) successors. All of these are internet-centric devices, to which Nokia would give no cellular radios, meaning they they are not capable of regular cellphone functions and must rely on actual cellphones to establish their connections when a WiFi signal isn’t readily available.
Today, access to the “real” internet has become the main objective for the latest crop of mobile devices. After the iPhone showed everyone that a faithful and reliable internet experience was possible on a cellphone everyone else has been trying to step up. The HTC Touch HD and Max 4G, the Nokia N97, and now the Palm Preall hold certain similarities in their approach to this situation, an expected evolution from the previous generation and mostly from the iPhone. All of these devices offer screens larger than 3 inches, and resolutions over QVGA, which has proven to be a minimum for an acceptable experience. Eventually, enjoyable-internet cellphones will converge with all of the ultraportable netbooks, internet tablets and WiFi-enabled portable media players out there. The resulting form factor is very likely to be an optimization of the current pick of devices, namely as large as possible a screen while remaining pocketable, with some form of sliding keyboard underneath (at least until someone gets haptic feedback right on on-screen keyboards).
Both the Nokia N97 and Palm Pre follow this configuration, and the as-of-yet-unannounced-but-inevitable HTC Touch HD Proshould follow the same formula. It comes out as sort of amusing then that it was Nokia who were the first to come up with an enjoyable internet experience on such a form factor with their Maemo-basedInternet Tablets. Which begs to make the following question: How far ahead in the cellphone game would Nokia currently be if they had included a cellphone radio within their Internet Tablets?
This week I finished a course from NYU SCPS’ Professional Certificate in Product Design given by Steven Bellofatto, Principal Design Director at ION, a product design and developement firm based in New Jersey.
Having taken all available courses in this certificate, I can safely say that this was the most valuable and essential course in the program as it presented a complete view of product design as it is carried out today … and an excellent condensation of product development and the design process.
The image you see above is part of the final assigment in this course, a project on the development of new products for the oral hygiene market. Read on for an explanation on what each of these concepts was about.
Filed under: Events
I had the opportunity to attend three adjacent technology conventions in New York City: Web 2.0 Expo, Interop and Mobile Business Expo.
This was a huge event, lasting almost a whole week between workshops, keynotes, parties and the actual Expo. I finally got to play with some hard to find devices, such as the Microsoft Surface, the Celio Redfly and the Blackberry Bold; and got a taste of the direction web 2.0 is taking from both startups and industry leaders.
Overall it was a great 4 days full of energy and promise. It was reassuring to see that despite the current situation of the economy this is one sector with a lot of life to it.
What if the Archos 604 personal media player had been symmetrical? I know that’s the first thing I wished it had been when it was launched. Technical considerations aside – Would it had been more appealing?
When looking every year at each new wave of consumer electronics products I can’t help but wonder about the design process and the decisions behind each device, about the road it must have undertaken, from concept to final product. Is the final product I am looking at stylish? Does it follow the latest design trends, is it jumping to set a trend of its own, or is it dated? Is it desirable? Will it move people to buy it?
I chose the two examples pictured above to illustrate a particular trend I believe was born with the iPod and has since been a leading trend in some portable consumer electronics categories. This trend has since become a good starting point for well-received aesthetics in portable devices, and a good indicator as to the possible success as an appealing consumer electronics device. I am talking about symmetry.
My current job as a technology consultant has given me access to a great deal of gadgets and electronic devices. I couldn’t help myself and took a bunch of pictures of several of them, the original idea being to showcase those design features which I felt were worthy of praise. I guess not everyone is really interested in appreciating the work that has gone into each and every one of these devices, the amount of research and design that goes into even the lower-end ones.
The pictures I took intend to make apparent my appreciation for the design that goes into them. There are pictures of details, of reflections, of light playing over textures. Of everything that makes them attractive or desirable.
I have selected a few and uploaded them to a Flickr account, which I am linking here. I cropped the pictures to a 16:10 aspect ratio, originally intending them to be used as wallpaper. Flickr however has resized them to a maximum resolution of 1024 x 640, which defeats that original purpose.
Check out the album here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thenegret/
Filed under: Events
On March 29 I attended Webprendedor 08 (which can be translated as “Webentrepreneur”), a conference on the latest innovations, trends and business endeavours in the web. The conference covered the financial, legal, commercial and community driven aspects of web 2.0 projects, presentations on the latest local initiatives (which included Zimio.com, Tugar.cl and Needish.com), and the basics of entrepreneurship in the web. All in all, a very enlightening and inspiring event I’m looking forward to attending next year.
Filed under: Graphic
This is a quick piece I came up with for Puma’s “Puma Fridge” marketing campaign which is currently going on in South America. The idea was to create a refrigerator sticker. Two winners will be chosen from each participating country, these will be made into actual magnets and offered at Puma stores around the continent.
Since winners will be chosen by country and nationality seems to play a big part in this, I went for a design combining the following three concepts: Chile, Puma, and shield/emblem. I wanted something that would stand out and shout at you from the refrigerator door, so I went for the motorcycle emblem look, all bold and heavy. A shield-like chilean flag, a puma, wings and cheerful colors round out the design.
Filed under: Concepts, Consumer Electronics, Industrial, Products, Redesigns
For well over a year now I have been paying close attention to the Head Mounted Display market and what it offers to both consumers and industry. Back in 2006 I spent a year working on Augmented Reality, which required me to look closely unto this type of device. What I saw then, and the developments since, have been quite interesting.
Today, we have a growing niche within the HMD industry for products aimed as accesories to today’s portable media players. Before this, HMDs were reserved for virtual reality. Seeing this opportunity, several companies have jumped to fill this new niche. And yet, there isn’t one among them that can claim a resounding success.
Several generations of these mass-market HMDs have already come and gone, and each has made their contribution to the genre. However, even after years of evolution, all currently available HMDs seen to be missing the point entirely. I have yet to see an HMD that can be called stylish. I have yet to see one that can be called desirable. These seemingly simple concepts seem to escape HMD designers and as a result we keep getting products we do not want. Even the latest devices presented at CES 08′ at the beginning of the year fail to deliver in this regard, and while making their own advances and collaborations still leave us wanting.
Have you ever seen an HMD resembling the one rendered above? Regrettably, there are none, nor does it look like there will be any time soon.
Read on for an outlook on a market that doesn’t seem to grasp the wants and needs of its target audience…
Ha!
On Wednesday, Canadian tablet PC manufacturer Electrovaya issued a press release presenting their new tablet, the Scribbler 4000, which… looks just like the Mac tablet concept I created a while ago!
Of course I’d rather its sides and bottom were in aluminium instead of white plastic, and I would love the keyboard/screen cover I added… but anyway, it feels great to know you’re on the right track and to have one’s ideas and concepts corroborated.
Curiously AMtek, a Taiwanese tablet pc developer, announced on the same week a new tablet of their own, which looks suspiciously like the Scribbler. The only official page on it I could find can be found here.
