NOKIA'S NEW N9 SMARTPHONE OFFERS A COOL MODERN DESIGN, LARGE SCREEN, SLICK MEEGO OS AND A UNIQUE GUI WITH THREE VIEWS

Part homage and part heresy, Nokia’s N9 could conceivably win converts even from a die-hard iOS crowd -- if anyone ever hears about it.

The Nokia N9, unveiled last week, is a beautiful device with an exceedingly difficult job: improve upon the iPhone's UI without totally admitting that it has become a universal standard for touch phones. At its best, the N9 succeeds at diverging from some of the sillier interactions that we take for granted with Apple and Google phones -- proving that even those two companies could learn some things about UI design.

 

The N9 is Nokia's first meaningful response to a global smartphone market that has largely passed it by. Where past devices like the N7 seemed gleefully unaware of the interactions being defined by iOS and Android, the N9 feels like a critical response to Apple in both hardware and software. In many places, those critiques are admirable.

Nokia's SVP of Design Marko Ahtisaari, who is the first design in many years to report directly to Nokia's CEO, tells Co.Design that his team began by narrowing their focus to just two usability priorities, which underpin both the phone's physical and interactive design. He said.

"We knew we wanted full mobility.  And we didn't want the UI to immerse you if you didn't want it to. We wanted it to be glance-able."

A "glance-able" UI

To this end, Nokia has revamped the OS's typeface (called Nokia Pure) to be larger and clearer, and you'll notice that in some places in the UI, such as the browser bookmarks, the size of the typeface actually scales with available space.

A big screen

Ahtisaari says Nokia has made the N9's screen "as big as possible" while still fitting comfortably in one hand: 3.9 inches viewable. Importantly, the slab of custom-formed Gorilla Glass actually extends wider than this, because the bezels of the phone are touch-sensitive and act in navigation. More on that in a moment.

Also aiding in on-the-go usability are those extra-wide screen bezels mentioned above. They effectively frame the entire screen with one large touch target -- swiping over any screen-edge brings the user back to the main view. This is Nokia's version of the lone hard key on every iOS device: call it a “Home” gesture.

Part Homage, Part Heresy

The newest iteration of MeeGo, the OS that underpins the N9, feels like an all-star roster of interactions inspired by other platforms. Nearly every task flow involves motions and controls you've encountered before on your iPhone or Android device, but in many cases they're used differently. In some places, Nokia has improved on these paradigms. (A notable example is unlocking the screen: to get to the Home view, the N9 merely requires a double-tap anywhere on the glass. No “unlock” sliders here.)

The biggest, most obvious innovation are the three Home views in MeeGo, which can be toggled by swiping in from the edges of the phone with the “Home” gesture. These effectively allow you to access content far more directly than you might on Android or iOS -- instead of following each app down a long tunnel, you get three separate screens dedicated to three distinct types of information:

[From left to right, the three main screens of the N9: Feed view, home, and open apps]

1. Grid View

Allows a user to viewing their inventory of apps in traditional Android style, with a flowing list of icons. While Nokia says they plan to push MeeGo phones in developing countries where iOS and Android have less foothold, the company has recently divested itself of commercial app licensing for the platform, apparently to focus on Windows Phone 7 development, leading some people inside and outside of Nokia to wonder if existing MeeGo developers will want to keep building apps for this platform.

2. Feed View

This view of the Home screen might have seemed more innovative before Apple's preview of iOS 5 in early June, but it's still beautifully done. This view merges your upcoming calendar appointments, notifications, Twitter timeline and/or Facebook News Feed into one river of content that refreshes automatically.

3. Open apps

Reminiscent of the "View Windows" button in iOS's Safari browser, or Expose in Mac OS X, this view puts all open app instances into a big grid to let you switch between apps or kill instances you're not using. IOS doesn't allow true concurrent multitasking, so there's no comparison to make here -- but this solution is vastly more elegant than Android's.

You’ll see Android and iOS in other corners of the OS as well. Tapping the top bar reveals a pull-down menu a la Android. As in iOS, there is a five-button nav bar at the bottom of most apps, and each control acts as a tab. Even for the most entrenched of iOS or Android fanboys, the N9 is an incredibly seductive device, in part because it preserves just enough of what we love about iPhones and Droids while presenting an entirely novel physical design.

Ship in a Bottle

On to the body: the shell of the N9 is a seamless polymer body infused with inherent color, so scratches don't show. Ahtisaari says the plastic body improves reception, but what's more significant is the weight savings over metal and glass construction like the iPhone's. It feels great in the hand: not heavy enough to break itself with a fall, but not flimsy or cheap, either.

Then there is the mystery of assembly: how did Nokia sink the guts of this phone into a seamless body? Ahtisaari is reticent to answer ("it's like putting a ship in a bottle,” he says) but the effect is tantalizing: with almost no viewable ports or seams, the N9 feels like a device that truly lives wirelessly.

COMMENTARY:   The Nokia N9 is a beautiful smartphone, but it could be a day late and a dollar short as the Apple iPhone and Android phones now dominate the market for high-end smartphones while relegating Nokia to third place.

Nokia announced the N9 on June 21, 2011 and Nokia fans are craving for the device already. Sadly Nokia did not reveal an exact launch date for the device or a price during the announcement. Now good news for Nokia fans looking to get hold of a N9 towards the end of the year.

Guys from SmashPop have shared the pricing of the device.

• Nokia N9 16GB version – $660 approx – Rs.30K
• Nokia N9 64GB version – $749 approx – Rs.35K

The information was provided by Colin Giles, Nokia’s EVP of Sales. Even the New York Times quoted a similar pricing.  

*Those are steep prices, so let's hope that the price will be lower when the N9 is combined with a cellular service provider service plan. 

The phone has not been tested for performance and gliches.   The Nokia N9 touchscreen smartphone is a great looking smartphone, but where are the apps, and how many of them are there.   This has been a constant problem for both Nokia and BlackBerry, and the HP Touchpad that was recently profiled here in my blog.

Here are the Nokia N9 full product specifications:

[Click Image To Enlarge]

 Courtesy of an article dated June 28, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design

Comments

[Tommy]

Nokia is still No 1 overall in total cellular phones, but has lost its lead in smartphones to Apple and samsung. The N9 is now the Lumia 900. Nokia dumped the Meego OS, its proprietary mobile phone operating system, in favor of Windows 7. Lumia 900 phones are available only through AT&T. Prices start at $99 with plans. It's a very slick smartphone noted for its speed and superior performance. Reviews have been fantastic. You can read about the Lumia 900 here: http://www.nokia.com/us-en/products/phone/lumia900/?intc=na-fw-ilc-na-teaser_lumia_900___att-na-products_lumia-us-en-1028764
Appreciate your comments, and hope you visit my blog regularly. Tommy

[Call Recording]

Nokia was at the top for so long they lagged a little when other smart phones were released its good to see them releasing a good looking phone.

[call recording]

This looks amazing, I hope to get my hands on this unit.

[Robert]

These days smart phones' look and design move toward this trend. Just wondering how Nokia will survive in this fiece mobilephone competitive market dominated by Apple and Android?
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Robert - Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO