Europe France : Mobile user interface software specialist Digital Airways has partnered with product designer Alloy to make Alloy’s ‘Polygon’, an innovative 3G multimedia handset concept, a reality. Digital Airways and Alloy have worked together to implement Polygon using Digital Airways’ Kaleido mobile user interface solution.

Studies show that the user interface (UI) has a crucial impact on the uptake of new mobile services. One particular study conducted by Alloy shows that users are frustrated by current complex menu structures and find it difficult to navigate to the video function. This inevitably affects usage.

Implementation of the UI is both an art and a science. Overcoming the technical aspects in UI implementation is one of the issues. The other is creative. The Digital Airways partnership with Alloy bridges the gap between the technical and design issues currently hindering handset manufacturers and wireless operators in implementing new user experience concepts onto real phones. Says Philippe Silberzahn, CEO of Digital Airways: “With Digital Airways’ technical expertise in the UI field combined with Alloy’s award-winning product design work, we are able to respond to handset manufacturers’ user experience demands quickly and creatively.”

Two years ago, Digital Airways introduced the Kaleido mobile user interface solution to combine the programmer and design aspects of UI into one environment. Kaleido is a fully integrated development solution enabling the creation and implementation of sophisticated user interfaces with increased productivity and shorter time-to-market. Kaleido is used by designers, and programmers alike and as such, provides continuity to the UI creation process from design to implementation. Thanks to this approach, innovative handsets have already been designed and introduced in record time.

Alloy’s vision of a more usable multimedia 3G handset is the Polygon design concept. Polygon has a conventional 'phone' size and form-factor, but with an internal double screen configuration. The double screens combine to provide a unique and flexible user interface that changes according to the context of use and allows the device to be viewed in a variety of orientations depending on the application. Alloy’s innovative architecture demonstrates how you can successfully combine a number of devices without compromising the total user experience.

Mark Burk, Research Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, comments: “Future High-end phones will face the challenge of combining several multimedia functionalities – Mobile TV, Camera and MP3 Player – and will require more versatile display space. The combination of innovative hardware design and a user interface that enables the user to access features quickly and easily is the key to producing desirable phones that are useful tools for consumers. Complex functions and options need to be available, but grouped and structured into personalisable menus according to how important they are to users. The Digital Airways/Alloy phone is taking a fresh and innovative approach to the challenge converged devices with several functions pose. The design makes use of new input technology to deliver a promising concept that could be turned into an exciting new product.”

During the project realization, the visual output of Alloy’s designers continually feeds the Kaleido project, allowing the creation of the UI in real time. In parallel, more complex objects such as plug-ins are created by software engineers and added to the project. Because most of the work is done on a virtual phone on PC, the UI can be tested in real time.

“Alloy realizes that creating innovative concept phones was not enough if those concepts remain on paper.” Says Gus Desbarats, Chairman of Alloy. “Working with Digital Airways allows us to go one step further and actually realize the UI concept in record time”.

The partnership highlights the tangible benefits of the integrated process approach:
? It allows a “Design for Implementation” approach, similar to the “Design for Manufacturing” that has revolutionized the motor industry. When implementation specifications are integrated in the design process, the final product realization is facilitated.
? By driving the design and implementation concurrently, it provides flexibility and ability to make changes until late in the process
? It allows for easy and cost effective prototyping, enabling designers to present new UI concepts to clients not as mock-ups, but as a valid implementation.
? It reduces the cost and accelerates the time to market for a new design.

Adds Silberzahn: “Alloy and Digital Airways’ partnership demonstrates how an innovative 3G multimedia user experiences concept can be successfully implemented, despite its apparent complexity.”
The Digital Airways-Alloy partnership aims to continue its collaborative efforts to offer new innovative UI concepts to the international 3G handset market.

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