Hasta La Gadget!

Are wearables like Google Glass the inevitable future for smartphones? Not if you ask Nokia, where simply floating a display in your line of sight doesn’t quite satisfy the self-imposed “head up” challenge its designers and engineers are facing. The evolution of Lumia isn’t just bigger displays or faster chips, it’s a new way of interacting with the digital world. SlashGear sat down with Jo Harlow, EVP of Smart Devices, Marco Ahtisaari, EVP of Design, and Stefan Pannenbecker, VP of Industrial Design at Mobile World Congress this week to talk “people versus robots”, rolling back the clock on convergence, and how the Finns want to pry our eyes away from smartphone screens, even if we’re looking at a Lumia.

Spend any time talking future tech to Nokia’s executives, and you realize there are two themes running through their predictions. First, and perhaps most familiar to most industry watchers, there’s the relentless advance of sensors and the complexity of devices, with capabilities always evolving. Nokia differs in some respects in how its management see the form-factor of those devices: rather than a single, increasingly powerful phone in your pocket, all three VPs talked about a resurgence in dedicated devices; products that, as Marco Ahtisaari described it, “do a few things really well.”

Secondly, and arguably a more contrarian stance than others in the segment, is a desire to actually reduce the attention that’s paid to smartphones and mobile devices. Ahtisaari coined the phrase “heads up” internally to describe it, though it’s become an ethos for the long-term shared by others in the design team, like Stefan Pannenbecker.

“How can we get the “heads up”?”

“We see sometimes couples, out in a restaurant, romantically texting each other, or broadcasting… so that type of phenomena is interesting, and in a way bugs us a little bit, because the question is how can we get the “heads up”?” the Industrial Design chief explained to us. “So we do a lot of work on all kinds of levels in order to think that scenario through: what does that mean? So we’re interested in that type of topic, how do we get people’s heads up again.”

Nokia isn’t expecting to address that question in the next few months, or even the next couple of years. As Marco Ahtisaari told us, it’s an example of the company’s longer-term planning, though as an internal culture of design it has an impact on the Lumia devices we’ll see over the coming years. “The one thing I would say is that I talk about the “heads-up” principle in the studio, it’s like a 20-year principle. Creating computing technology that’s with us that doesn’t require more attention” he said.

“And part of this pinning-to-Start [in the Windows Phone homescreen] is one example of that; things we’ve done with the glanceable, low-power mode on our devices in the past is an example of that; the NFC work we’re doing is an example of that,” Ahtisaari counted off. “You just touch the environment: the world becomes your interface, rather than having to go through twelve swipe-swipe-swipe. So that’s another component of that future, I think, and very important as we go to more distributed objects that do only a few things.”

Having got to a point where a person’s smartphone is often also their camera, their music player, their fitness tracker, and more, it might seem counter-intuitive to be considering breaking apart those components and turning again to individual gadgets. However, there’s a strong feeling within Nokia that specificity has its own advantages.

“There’s room again for devices that do a few things really well”

“I think there’ll be room for more and more dedicated devices that do a few things really well again” Ahtisaari predicts. “And that is slightly a contrarian view, but I think what we’ll see is increasing complexity and ability… you can either shortcut through the environment, but this means also space for dedicated devices that do a few things really well. Yes, a phone, but other functionalities too.”

Right now, all three executives are coy on what, exactly, Nokia’s portfolio of answers to these questions might look like. However, they’re more vocal on what they probably won’t be, and the approach seems less “in your face” than Glass, and more cautious than the “confident” search and prediction of Google Now.

“I’m not going to speculate [about Glass] because time will tell with regards what is the right execution with regards to this idea of “heads-up”, so I think we’ve a lot of work to do, frankly, so I’m not going to speculate about that” Pannenbecker said. “But I think, as I said, this is for me an area that we want to engage in, I mean, this topic of heads-up not this particular solution for example. As I said, there’s a whole bandwidth of opportunities, and I think we as a company need to look very deeply into these opportunities, and then commit.”

For Harlow, the question is of need: or, more accurately, the balance of plain geek appeal – as perhaps Google Glass embodies – against relevance to mass-market consumers. “I think that it’s just as true in any of these new areas that you have to solve the fundamental consumer problems, and you can’t… you innovate for the sake of innovation” the smartphones boss argued. “Usually there’s a small number of people who find them really cool, and the vast majority don’t see a reason why. That the use case is so on-the-point that they don’t see it.”

In fact, there’s a sense among all three that the Glass strategy – that is, taking what components might usually be associated with a smartphone, and making them something you can wear – is too easy a way out. Yes, there are battery challenges, and persistent wireless demands, and the need to craft an interface and interaction paradigm that suits a more hands-off usage style, but a wearable computer doesn’t necessarily address either user-need nor go far enough in liberating users from the tyranny of persistent, connected distraction.

“Either they solve latent needs, or unknown problems”

“I think that’s why you see fitness all over the place, because clearly if people stick with it then it can help solve a problem” Harlow explains, “but that’s where I think the energy will really come from, either that they solve latent needs that consumers can’t necessarily articulate, or solve unknown problems that they have and that sensors would solve.”

While the most attention has been paid to Nokia’s evolving Windows Phone handset range, the company has also been working on matching accessories, pushing ideas like wireless charging and NFC pairing. That focus on a well-designed, integrated ecosystem looks likely to spawn a family of shared technologies, each delivering its own component part of the overall usability.

“That’s something which we’re working on, and I’m not in a position… I will not talk about specific solutions to that, but absolutely that is a challenge for us” Pannenbecker agreed. “For us as designers. Because ultimately again it comes to better problems. This is more what we think a smartphone is supposed to be [holds up phone], but I think obviously there’s other ways of doing that.”

Nokia hasn’t been afraid of riffing on those possibilities in the past with concept designs, however. Its 2009 “Mixed Reality” headset predated Google Glass, and was envisaged with its own suite of accessories and sensors: a motion-tracking wristband for navigating a wearable display, for instance, along with wireless audio. Meanwhile, the idea of paring back information in a more context-driven way has also been explored, such as the Nokia-prompted “Frame” concept device that rethought the smartphone into a window that blurred the physical and digital worlds. Arguably it’s an idea that has expressed itself in Nokia City Lens, the augmented reality app now publicly available for Windows Phone.

Just as Google Now relies on its context engine, so has Nokia Research been pushing its own predictive technologies to better focus the user-experience. We mentioned the 2009 “Linked Internet UI Concept” from Nokia Research to Marco Ahtisaari, a project which learned from social networking attention and prioritized updates and geo-location of those people it calculated the user was most interested in, and asked him where the company’s roadmap was on integrating such ideas into its software.

“Partly that’s a question of focus” he said, pointing out that Nokia needed first of all to prove itself with a successfully selling Lumia range of phones. “Like I said, the most important thing we can do now is show momentum. These are things we definitely work on.”

However, he also argued that there is risk in making mobile devices too intelligent – or portraying them as having intelligence – because you run the risk of leaving the user feeling at odds with their device, not enabled by it. “If this makes sense there’s robots and people. People versus robots” Ahtisaari said, somewhat cryptically. “We’re on the side of people, in general. What I mean by that is certain personalization you can do, goes a long way. And the other example, if you took that, would be “hello, we just reconfigured your phone, it’s got all the people here, and we set it up for you”.”

“We’ve got the auto-magic today, it’s just making it not feel creepy”

In fact, Nokia could already integrate that sort of contextual technology into its phones today; the reservation is one of how the mainstream user – not the Glass aficionado – might react to that. “We’ve all of that auto-magic today, it’s just doing it in a way that doesn’t feel creepy, or has violated what you do” he argued. “It’s striking that balance. But definitely, the two things you’ve mentioned – contextually and prediction – are important.”

It’s early days for Nokia to look too far beyond smartphones; the Lumia line-up has only just reached five Windows Phone 8 handsets, the platform itself still holds an extreme minority share, and there’s no sign of a tablet on the horizon, at least not publicly. Nonetheless, it seems we can expect something other than a set of Windows Phone goggles.

“I’m not going to speculate [about Glass] because time will tell with regards what is the right execution with regards to this idea of “heads-up”, so I think we’ve a lot of work to do, frankly, so I’m not going to speculate about that” Pannenbecker demurred. “But I think, as I said, this is for me an area that we want to engage in, I mean, this topic of heads-up not this particular solution for example. As I said, there’s a whole bandwidth of opportunities, and I think we as a company need to look very deeply into these opportunities, and then commit.”

Though the strategies may be very different, there’s one thing Nokia and Google do agree on: the name of the game is elevating users from the voracious attention-soak of the touchscreen, not finding more ways of putting it in front of them. “If they require as much attention as a smartphone, then no more human contact” Ahitsaari concluded. “That’s the perspective we have, we’re still in the people-connecting business.”

Nokia “Head Up”: How Lumia’s future is sharper than Glass is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google’s brand new Chromebook Pixel wasn’t entirely unexpected, but last week they blasted onto the high end laptop scene with the all-new device. With all previous models being aimed primarily at the low end, this Google-made Chromebook looks to change everything. With a stunning 2560 x 1700 HD ‘Pixel’ display, a powerful Intel Core i5 processor, and a beautiful design is it worth $1,299? Read on for our first impressions.

Google’s Chromebook Pixel was certainly needed, with all their previous devices being extremely budget-oriented laptops, but is Google and their OS ready? We’ll have to spend more time with it and let you know in our full review. Chrome OS aside, this device is stunning on all sides. From the display, design, build quality, and even the integrated speakers. Lets dig in!

The Chromebook Pixel is finally a Chromebook with specs to match some of the competition, which also surpasses them on many levels. The Pixel features a 12.85-inch ‘Pixel’ display with a 2560 x 1700 resolution at 239 PPI and 4.3 million pixels – and it absolutely looks amazing. It’s rocking a Gorilla Glass 2 protected multi-touch panel and offers excellent viewing angles, but out of the gate we’ll let you know the screen glare is pretty awful. Under the hood you’ll be working with a 1.8 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 32GB SSD for storage. As well as a 64GB 4G LTE option coming later. That isn’t all either. With your purchase users get 1TB (1000GB) of free Google Drive cloud storage. Essentially putting anything and everything on the cloud. Then you’ll get two USB 2.0 ports, Displayport, and a full SD slot among other things.

It’s pretty safe to say our initial impressions on the screen are good. It is certainly on the same level as a MacBook Retina. The colors are amazing, but the viewing angles weren’t quite as good as we expected, and Apple has a leg up here. Using the touchscreen for our limited time with it we don’t have too many thoughts. The video below you’ll see how smooth the touchscreen operation is, but we’re not sure how useful real world usage will be. The actual device is blazing fast and the most smooth and fluid Chrome OS we’ve seen or used to date. That’s all thanks to the Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM of course. For now we’ll just let you enjoy the video:

Everything about this Chromebook screams “premium high end product.” The all aluminum design is solid and extremely sturdy, the Gorilla Glass protected display is sturdy and creak free, and the keyboard is a joy to use. Typing on this thing has been a wonderful experience so far. The backlit LED keyboard is nice, and the speakers are safely integrated under the keyboard to keep things sleek. We do want to make one thing clear, the speakers are exceptional for a laptop. It’s loud, clear, and extremely crisp. I was blown away at the first video I watched.

For those that missed the announcement the all new Chromebook Pixel is up now on the Google Play Store for $1,299 which gets you the 32GB model, and $1,449 coming soon with 64GB and 4G LTE from Verizon. Yeah.. it’s certainly not cheap. Not one bit. Google needed a premium device, but this is really premium.

We’ll obviously need a few days to enjoy the Chromebook Pixel. Find some of its strong points, and the quirks, and we’ll report back shortly with a full review. Can this premium laptop be your daily device, or is Chrome OS too much in its infancy? Does Google tempt the daring with the Pixel – we’re not sure. Stay tuned for our full review to see if this is a Ferrari with a 4-cylinder, or if it can be the real deal.

Chromebook Pixel hands-on: does Google tempt the daring? is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

You’ve seen the Glass concept videos, you’ve read the breathless hands-on reports, but how exactly is Google’s augmented reality system going to work? The search giant’s Google X Lab team has been coy on specifics so far, with little in the way of technical insight as to the systems responsible for keeping the headset running. Thanks to a source close to the Glass project, though, we’re excited to give you some insight into what magic actually happens inside that wearable eyepiece, what that UI looks like, and how the innovative functionality will work, both locally and in the cloud.

Google knows smartphones, and that’s familiar territory for the Android team, and so unsurprisingly Glass builds on top of that technology. So, inside the colorful casing there’s Android 4.0 running on what’s believed to be a dual-core OMAP processor. This isn’t quite a smartphone – there’s WiFi and Bluetooth, along with GPS, but no cellular radio – but the familiar sensors are present, including a gyroscope and an accelerometer to keep track of where the wearer is facing and what angle their head is at.

The eyepiece itself runs at 640 x 360 resolution and, when Glass is positioned on your face properly, floats discretely just above your line of vision; on the inner edge of the L-shaped housing there’s an infrared eye-tracking camera, while a bone conduction speaker is further back along. Glass is designed to get online either with its own WiFi connection, or to use Bluetooth and tether to your smartphone. That given, it’s pretty much platform agnostic for whatever device is used to get online: it doesn’t matter if you have a Galaxy S III in your pocket, or an iPhone, or a BlackBerry Z10, as long as they can be used as a modem.

Where Glass departs significantly from the typical Android phone is in how applications and services run. In fact, right now no third party applications run on Glass itself: the actual local software footprint is minimal. Instead, Glass is fully dependent on access to the cloud and the Mirror API the Glass team discussed briefly back in January.

In a sense, Glass has most in common with Google Now. Like that service on Android phones, Glass can pull in content from all manner of places, formatted into individual cards. Content from third-party developers will be small chunks of HTML, for instance, with Google’s servers supporting the various services that Glass users can take advantage of.

“Glass has most in common with Google Now”

When you activate Glass – by tilting your head up, to trigger the (customisable) motion sensor, or tapping the side, and then saying “OK, Glass” – you see the first of those cards, with the current time front and center. Navigation from that point on is either by swiping a finger across the touchpad on the outer surface of the headset or by issuing spoken commands, such as “Google …”, “take a picture”, “get directions to…”, or “hang out with…” A regular swipe moves left or right through the UI, whereas a more determined movement “flings” you through several items at a time, like whizzing a mouse’s scroll wheel. Tap to select is supported, and a downward swipe moves back up through the menu tree and, eventually, turns the screen off altogether. A two-finger swipe quickly switches between services.

Some of the cards refer to local services or hardware, and a dog-ear folded corner indicates there are sub-cards you can navigate through. The most obvious use of this is in the Settings menu, which starts off with an indication of battery status and connectivity type, then allows you to dig down into menus to pair with, and forget, WiFi networks, toggle Bluetooth on or off, see battery percentage and charge status, view free storage capacity and firmware status (as well as reset the headset to factory settings), and mange the angle-controlled wake-up system.

In effect, each card is an application. So, if you ask Glass to perform a Google search – using the same server-based voice recognition service as offered on Android phones – you get a side-scrolling gallery of results cards which can be navigated by side swiping on the touchpad. It’s also possible to send one of those results to your phone, for navigating on a larger display.

For third-party developers, integrating with Glass is all about integrating with the Mirror API Google’s servers rely upon. So, if you’re Twitter, you’d use the API to push a card – say, to compose a new tweet, using voice recognition – to the Glass headset via the user’s Google+ account, coded in HTML, with a limited set of functions available on each card to keep things straightforward (say, dictate and tweet). Twitter pushes to Google’s servers, and Google pushes to Glass.

“You could push a card to Glass from anything: a website, an iOS app”

As a system, it’s both highly flexible and strictly controlled. You could feasibly push a card to Glass from anything – a website, an iOS app, your DVR – and services like Facebook and Twitter could add Glass support without the user even realizing it. Glass owners will log in with their Google account – your Google+ is used for sharing photos and videos, triggering Hangouts, and for pulling in contacts – and then by pairing a Twitter account to that Google profile, cards could start showing up on the headset. All service management will be done in a regular browser, not on Glass itself.

On the flip-side, since Google is the conduit through which services talk to Glass, and vice-versa, it’s an all-controlling gatekeeper to functionality. One example of that is the sharing services – the cloud right services that Glass hooks into – which will be vetted by Google. Since right now there’s no other way of getting anything off Glass aside from using the share system – you can’t initiate an action on a service in any other way – that’s a pretty significant gateway. However, Google has no say in the content of regular cards themselves. The control also extends to battery life; while Google isn’t talking runtime estimates for Glass yet, the fact that the heavy lifting is all done server-side means there’s minimal toll on the wearable’s own processor.

Google’s outreach work with developers is predominantly focused on getting them up to speed with the Mirror API and the sharing system, we’re told. And those developers should have ADB access, too, just as with any other Android device. Beyond that, it’s not entirely clear how Google will manage the portfolio of sharing services: whether, for instance, there’ll be an “app store” of sorts for them, or a more manual way of adding them to the roster of supported features.

What is clear is that Google isn’t going into Glass half-hearted. We’ve already heard that the plan is to get the consumer version on the market by the end of the year, a more ambitious timescale than the originally suggested “within twelve months” of the Explorer Edition shipping. When developer units will begin arriving hasn’t been confirmed, though the new Glass website and the fresh round of preorders under the #ifihadglass campaign suggests it’s close at hand.

Glass still faces the expected challenges of breaking past self-conscious users, the inevitable questions when sporting the wearable in public, and probably the limitations of battery life as well. There’s also the legwork of bringing developers on board and getting them comfortable with the cloud-based system: essential if Glass is to be more than a mobile camera and Google terminal. All of those factors seem somehow ephemeral, however, in contrast to the potential the headset has for tying us more closely, more intuitively, to the online world and the resources it offers. Bring it on, Google: our faces are ready.

Google Glass in focus: UI, Apps & More is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The fan-favorite science fiction novel Ender’s Game is getting it’s own movie this November, and in the weeks and months leading up to that point, more than a few teaser images from on-set and in-film will be shared. Today’s shot is taken straight from the film and shows the mess hall from the battle school that a large chunk of the movie will take place in. It’s got two quite easily identifiable main characters up front, a few in back, and a lovely handful of non-human items throughout to tease us all wildly.

As it was with the Army logos shared earlier this week, so too has this image been shared exclusively with the likes of fan sites like Ender’s Ansible. What the Ansible has done is to go through pre-release and pick out the goodies involved in the image which we’ll also be speaking about here – in addition to our own insights as well, of course. The first thing you’ll notice is Ender (played by Asa Butterfield) on the right speaking with Petra Arkanian (played by Hailee Steinfeld) on the left.

These two characters are central to the storyline, with Ender appearing from start to finish and Petra playing a big part in Ender’s journey through the battle school. Behind them in the mess hall you’ll notice a big digital screen with a couple of army logos on it (Rat and Asp). This board appears throughout the story in relation to the Battle Room games the students play in the battle school. There’s a ranking for each student both inside their army and in relation to the rest of the school, and each battle is shown with army vs army scores on the big board immediately following a match.

The scoreboard also shows that one of two things is possible. Either there aren’t nearly as many people in a battle in the book as there are in the book, or they’re simply showing 8 team members at a time instead of all at once. It may make more sense to have fewer students battling at once rather than the 40+ on each team the book speaks of simply because so many characters are easily lost on the big screen.

You can also see statistics of the battles taking place on either side, with variables being shown regarding full body freezes, partial outs, and all that good stuff – not up close and clear yet, but there’s really nothing else all that junk on the right and left could be. To the immediate left or right of the army logos up on the screen you’ll also see some health bars (or point bars) being shown for a battle currently in-progress. It may be that the center circle is showing the battle virtually as its taking place as well – the red and blue lines represent the army’s gates.

Some of the other characters you’ll see in this still are:
• Commander Pol Slattery of Leopard Army (played by Cameron Gaskins) in the far upper-right.
• Dink Meeker of Salamander Army (played by Khylin Rhambo) by Ender’s right arm.
• Bonzo Madrid of Salamander Army (played by Moises Arias) two spaces to the left of Petra.

NOTE: It is pointedly odd that these two commanders would be in the mess hall at this point in the story as there’s a Commander’s mess hall separate from the rest of the army members. It may be that this separation is done away with in the movie altogether.

The person in the yellow suit on the left is likely in the employ of the battle school. You’ll see a similar suit in the first photo shown to the public (seen below) with Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff. It could also be that the yellow suit is a Flash Suit, or the first layer of one. A Flash Suit is a special outfit a student wears when they enter the Battle Room, there freezing any part of their body that’s hit by one of the flash guns used in the game.

And that’s it! There are a few more teeny-tiny color marks in the background on people’s shoulders that might reveal other team logos, but we can’t be too sure. Teal and red are what we’re seeing, though Rat is also red – perhaps a member of Rat that’s out with a broken leg.

For those of you wishing to see the full-sized version of this image, just have a click in the smaller gallery below – it’s massive! Stay tuned to SlashGear for more Ender’s Game movie madness all the way to November – hit up our Entertainment tag portal for more information and posts galore!

Ender’s Game movie still analysis: the Mess Hall is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Is this the One? That’s pretty much the question we put to HTC’s Peter Chou, whose company has had a tough time battling other mobile giants with its original One series. The CEO was kind enough to have a little chat with us after the One launch — although his responses were often vague. We covered topics from what went wrong last year, how the new flagship device will bring the company back in the game, and where does HTC see itself from the perspective of consumers. Read on for the highlights as well as the full video clip after the break.

Looking back at the good old days since the original One series launch, Chou once again acknowledged the fact that his company didn’t do so well with marketing. “We had a few great devices, a lot of innovation, but we just need to let people know all of these HTC innovations. So today we are introducing the HTC One and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” said Chou. The CEO is also confident that his new flagship device has what it takes to deter consumers from the competition. “HTC will be offering consumers a great phone with great experience, these qualities are non-compromised. We are very confident that consumers will appreciate these innovations, experience and quality.”

“We just need to let people know all of these HTC innovations.”

In the face of the likes of Samsung and many Chinese manufacturers, Chou believes that HTC’s ability to work very closely with partners is a key to success — something that the company’s been very proud of since its OEM days. On the same subject, Chou also hinted at the changes that happened inside HTC not so long ago to help it stay in the game. “We are driving changes inside the company, pushing the innovation and pushing the execution.”

As any executive would do at a launch event, Chou went on to pimp the highlights of the One: BlinkFeed (live feed of ambient information), BoomSound (dual front-facing loudspeaker) and Zoe (multimedia gallery and editor on steroids). Again, the exec emphasized the importance of great experience, especially with Zoe where the user doesn’t need to do much, and yet they still get this “awesome emotion and personality” with the movies they share with people. “We think that this is a great way of providing new experience to smartphone users,” Chou added.

“The megapixel myth is the wrong way to go.”

We went on to ask how HTC will handle the tricky task of convincing consumers into the low-res (4-megapixel) but more sensitive and efficient UltraPixel camera, to which we were given a familiar response. “The megapixel myth is the wrong way to go, so what really matters is to give you much better image quality with great innovative, exciting experience. So that’s where we’re focusing on.”

Interestingly, the One doesn’t come with a microSD slot (as featured on the Japanese and Asian Butterfly variants) and Qi wireless charging (as featured on the Verizon versions of some HTC flagships), but Chou wasn’t too keen on addressing these drawbacks, and neither was he up for talking about the seemingly smaller battery size when compared to some of the competition. “Our differentiation is very, very clear,” Chou said. Of course, we shall see about that when we eventually get to review the One.

Sharif Sakr and Mat Smith contributed to this interview.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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