Updated Q Series Concept

I just realised that I have yet to post my updated concept here. Removed the BlackBerry logo to give the front a cleaner look. I think the keyboard itself is iconic enough to be instantly recognised as a BlackBerry. The AMOLED screen when off will blend in with the glass, giving it a sense that the display is larger than it really is. The rest of it would pretty much follow what I posted before.

Nokia Lumia 520: The Most Important Windows Phone?

This might be a little weird to some, but I think that the Lumia 520 is still one of the phones that I am most impressed with in the market today. One that I think is going to play an important role for Windows Phone as a whole. Now bear with me here.


The problem for Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS, is that it was late to the game. It arrived in the market at a time where Google’s Android, and Apple’s iOS devices dominated the smartphone market. It doesn’t help that the OS in its first incarnation Windows Phone 7 is nothing more than a pretty vase. Beautiful to look at, but empty on the inside. It also doesn’t help that the manufacturers back then had pretty uninspiring hardware design.

Then Nokia came along.

The Lumia 800 was the first Windows Phone that really caught my attention. It has a hardware design (brought forward from the N9) that I consider beautiful even till this day. But it was not just hardware. It was the beautiful blend of the hardware design, and software. Windows Phone 7.5 feels like it was made to run on this phone. As a lover of mobile technology, and design, the Lumia 800 felt like a union of both.  I loved the design so much that I had it in Cyan, Black, and White.

Unfortunately, that’s where I drew the line. As beautiful as it looks, the utilitarian aspects of it (or lack thereof) drove me away from it. The lack of a centralised notification centre, the lack of a file manager, the lack of individual sound profile, the lack of… The lists goes on for quite a while, so I’ll spare you guys. Not to say it isn’t any good, but the OS doesn’t fulfil my specific needs and wants from a mobile device. But it just might suit yours. Anyway, this isn’t a review of Windows Phone, so It doesn’t really matter.

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Then came the arrival of the Nokia Lumia 520, Nokia’s entry level Windows Phone device. A device I would say made possible partly due to how frugal Windows Phone is on the hardware specifications.

After my not so great experience with Windows Phone 7.8, I wanted to give Windows Phone 8 a try. But really did not want to spend Lumia 920 money just to “give it a try”. When the Lumia 520 arrived, and pricing announced, I knew that this was the one. Brand new at around SGD200 off-contract, it was dirt cheap. I decided to get one to play around with.

Operating System aside, I was amazed at what Nokia did with the device. The phone is nicely build, and the OS runs really smoothly too despite having only 512mb of RAM. The design of it is simple, nice, and eye-catching. In my opinion it doesn’t feel like a SGD200 phone at all. It definitely punches above its weight.

Of course this is no Lumia 1020, but for a phone that costs no more than SGD200, the phone exceeded my every expectations. Not to mention with a 2 year contract on the lowest tier price plan, the phone is free. NO brand new Android phone at this price point can compete with the experience that the Lumia 520 provides.

As to why I think the Lumia 520 plays an important role for Windows Phone, just take myself for example, why I bought this device.

The biggest barrier I would say when it comes to introducing a brand new platform into an already saturated market, is getting people to give it a try. It doesn’t matter if the OS provides a better experience than iOS or Android if no one is willing to even give it a shot. To try it out. A new platform needs at least a period of adjustment especially coming from iOS or Android, so just playing with it for 10 minutes at a carrier store isn’t going to do the phone any justice at all.

The Lumia 520 is a way to make it cheaper, and easier for consumers to give it a try. If they did not like it, they could just keep it as a back up phone. BUT, if they do like it, they just might upgrade to a flagship Lumia device. Win-win situation for Nokia. At that price point, it makes complete sense to get it over feature phones. My Mom for example, has been a feature phone user all her life. I gave the Lumia 520 to her, and she is now a smartphone owner despite never using anything other than text, calls, and the occasional game.

Does this matter to Nokia or Microsoft? No. All that matter is that she is using a Windows Phone device and it adds her to the amount of Windows Phone users out there. Having a bigger user base is extremely useful when trying to attract developers to make apps for the platform (as we know, the ecosystem is extremely important too).

Not to mention that as a phone, it does a pretty great job at catering to the budget conscious, first time smartphone buyers, and even people who just wants a feature phone.

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In my opinion, the Lumia 520 is as important as the new Lumia 1020. Each part of a bigger piece of the puzzle. The puzzle to build Windows Phone as the 3rd ecosystem, as well as reestablished Nokia as a major player in the mobile industry once again.

OPINION: What Nokia is doing right

For anyone who follows mobile tech closely, it is no secret that both Nokia and BlackBerry are struggling to reinvent themselves. Both were dominant players way back when, Nokia with their feature phones, and BlackBerry with their smartphones. Both were late into the era brought forth by the original iPhone, and both paid a great price.


Introducing a brand new platform into the market these days is incredibly hard, especially in a time where iOS and Android absolutely dominates the market. Just ask Nokia and BlackBerry. But while BlackBerry’s marketshare has been steadily in decline, Nokia’s Lumia devices seems to be growing steadily. Slowly but surely.

1. Brand Perception

Nokia while struggling, seems to be able to keep their nose clean. They managed to avoid bad press as much as possible. This helps with brand perception to your regular consumer. Perhaps a little bit of psychology is at play here.

I would go out on a limb here and say that a lot of users my age probably had a Nokia as their first mobile phone. It was a glimpse of freedom, a way to stay in contact with friends. In other words, it’s a good memory.

When they see a new Nokia phone, at least they would be willing to at least give it a shot.

Not just that, if news regarding the company is constantly negative, how many developer would be willing to spend the effort to build apps for the platform when they constantly hear that the company is going out of business? Not a great business proposition for developers if you ask me.

2. Garner Interest

Nokia builds great hardware, and more. Take the Lumia 1020 for example. 41 MP, ZEISS lens, Backside-Illuminated, Optical Image stabilisation, 6 element lens and the icing on the cake, an additional Xenon flash. I have not seen one tech reviewer that doesn’t like the camera. Even if they might not like Windows Phone 8, they still talk about the phone’s camera hardware. This also gets your regular consumer talking, and discussing about the product. Basically, free publicity.

But still, it is a flagship priced phone. Not many are willing to sign a 2 year contract, or pay the off-contract price for a platform they are not sure about. I know I wouldn’t. That’s where the Lumia 520 comes in, a super cheap Windows Phone 8 device. At less than $200 off contract, it’s cheap enough to buy it just to give it a try. (Even I bought one myself just to play around with it) This will at least make it easier to get people to try platform, and give it a shot.

If not, the phone is $0 on a 2 year contract at the cheapest price plan. Great for those who are just transitioning from feature phones to smartphones. It’s cheap enough that there is no reason not to get it. Even if they might never use it for anything more than text and calls, it does not matter. All that matters is the number of users on their platform that they can tout to developers to encourage them to build apps for the platform.

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Slowly but surely, Nokia is slowly shipping more Lumia devices every quarter, gaining more major apps. On their last quarter, they shipped more Lumia devices than BlackBerry did BBOS and BB10 devices combined.

Could BlackBerry use the same strategy? I have no idea, I will let smarter people have a go at that. But I do know this. I want BlackBerry to survive and keep making hardware and software. Even after using phones from all 4 platforms regularly, I like BlackBerry 10 the best. It is efficient, and it is productive. There is loads of potential I see in the platform if they can continue to work on it. I have said time and time again, the Q10 is a few features (make more use out of the God damn keyboard) away from being the perfect device for me.

So Dear BlackBerry,

Moto X: Things I find interesting about it

The Moto X is probably one of the most hyped and talked about Android device this better half of the year, and it is not hard to see why. The Moto X will be the first Googorola phone, the first born of the now married Google and Motorola. Well, when I say married…


Anyway, even though the device itself might not ever reach the sunny shores of Singapore, there are lots I like and find interesting about the device (both software, & hardware). If this is indicative of the direction that Motorola will be taking going forward, I have to say I am hopeful for their future. (Disclaimer: Obviously I do not have a device that I can play with, so just keep that in mind when reading through my post. These are things that I find interesting in the device at this point, but I will reserve my final judgement till I actually have one to play around with in real life.)

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Hardware:

I love its hardware design, there’s no other way of putting it. Every since I first saw the photos of Eric Schmidt holding one, I thought it was great looking. The curves around the back, the small footprint of the device, the omission of any branding on the front of the phone, the almost edge to edge bezel, and of course the customisability.

Personally I am a black phone kinda guy, so this doesn’t appeal to me. Not that it matters since it’s exclusive at the moment to AT&T only, and not to mention the device will not be sold in Singapore.

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Specs:

I actually do not mind the specs of the device at all. I actually like the direction Motorola took. The specs that I really care about, is battery life. If Motorola’s claim of a day of use is accurate, I will be a happy man. I do not mind a slightly slower CPU as long as it runs the things I need it to run well. I do not mind a 720p display as long as it still looks good.

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Active Display:

I love the idea that I don’t have to do anything to the device, and it will show me my new notifications. Kinda like the notification LED on a BlackBerry does. While I think that the idea can definitely be improved upon. I also like how they used the sensors on the device to detect when the phone is being taken out of the pocket, so it immediately shows you any new notifications you might have.



Something similar to BlackBerry 10.2’s lock screen notifications preview, as well as interactive notifications. But the limitation on the Moto X is that it is only able to display the most recent notification. I would love to be able to scroll through my notifications on Active Display.

If only the 2 company can combined both ideas into a single implementation, I think that would be a dream come true for me.

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Touchless:

"Okay, Google Now" is all you have to say to activate Google Now. I like the idea very much. Google Now is leaps ahead of Apple’s SIRI in my opinion, and the ability to use Google Now without touching the phone is great. This might not be something that I will be using out in the open, but it’s something I could find a lot of use for at home, or while driving.



The video above is the perfect use case scenario. Another is the fact that I work from home, and my phone is always on the desk in front of me. The ability to use the phone without touching it could be extremely useful. Which brings me to my next point.

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Motorola Connect:

Motorola Connect, something that is not often talked about, is something I think shows the motivation behind the software enhancements on the Moto X. Motorola Connect allows the user to connect their Moto X (along with the recently announced Droid devices) to connect to a Chrome extension that will allow you to reply to messages, see who’s calling, missed calls, etc. Imagine being able to still send text messages while still on the computer without ever the need to reach for your phone. Imagine being able to see who’s calling on you computer without the need to even glance or pick up your phone.

As someone who is almost constantly in front of a computer while working, I could see huge benefits to this.

See the trend? Motorola seems to be going for a device that you don’t have to have in your hand to be able to use it. With touchless controls, as well as Motorola Connect, I could see me reducing my need of picking up the device, thus saving time. Little amount of time, but it adds up, and I’m all for efficiency.

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Motorola Assist:

I am a huge fan of Motorola’s previous Smart Actions on their Android devices. It’s kinda like an automator, when certain elements are fulfilled, it triggers a predetermined set of tasks. Really cool stuff, and Assist is like a simplified version of that. You can basically set up triggers, like when the phone detects you’re going faster than 55mph, it will read out messages you received to you. Like when you’re sleeping, you can turn off the active display, notifications, etc. All done automatically. And because there is a separate core for contextual computing, it doesn’t need to activate the main CPU, which means less power required.

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Trusted Bluetooth Devices, Motorola Skip:

Something interesting that was brought to my attention on Android Central Podcast, and that was the “Trusted Bluetooth Devices”. This allow your phone to bypass security lockscreen when connected to a trusted bluetooth device, like a headset, a smartwatch, your computer, or anything at all. BRILLIANT FUCKING IDEA. I’ll be honest here, I almost never have a security lock on any of my phones. With the amount of times I check my phone a day, the process of entering even a simple 4 digit password can be irritating, and the time it takes adds up over the duration of a day. If let’s say I have a bluetooth smartwatch like the pebble with me, as long as it is in range and paired, I can bypass the lock screen. Only when disconnected it requires a password again.

This gives me the convenience of having a lock screen and making use of active display, as well as some sort of security to prevent someone from accessing my data that easily. Is it foolproof? No. But does it at least help a little? YES.

Just yesterday Motorola announced this little device, presumably NFC enabled, to allow you to unlock your phone by just tapping on it. But really, that’s not what interest me. They have this “Skip Dots” accessory as well which Motorola says will create a “Trusted Zone” for your Moto X, allowing it to stay unlocked while it’s within range. Place these in your house, and you never have to waste time unlocking your device while you’re at home.


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The points mentioned above, are why I am excited both about the phone and the company. The phone runs nearly Vanilla Android with software enhancement from Motorola that I actually found useful. (Unlike other Android manufacturers) They are willing to take the heat from people complaining about specs, in order to achieve a good battery life from a form factor that isn’t humongous.

They went with a 4.7” display in a smaller body which is still usable comfortably with one hand, compared to other manufacturer like LG and their G2.

This feels like a company that focuses on user experience, and I really like that.

I normally would prefer Vanilla Android over TouchWiz, Sense 5, etc. Thus I have always taken a liking to Nexus devices. But now, I would definitely take the enhancements that Motorola did to Android over any Nexus device. Touchless controls for one enhances the Google Now experience dramatically, and I won’t be surprised if the next Nexus device has that too.

So am I looking forward to future products of Motorola? Hell yeah. Hopefully they’ll bring out a Moto X like devices for the rest of us not in the U.S? Soon I hope.

Mobile Computing

The recent leaks of the BB10 outside of the phone is definitely an interesting prospect. One that I am excited about.

If you haven’t seen what I’m talking about, this is it.

Still not much is known really what the hell that is, but still that opens up the discussion of what BlackBerry’s vision of Mobile computing is.

I for one love the idea of something like the Ubuntu Edge. A phone in which you can dock, and it will run a sort of desktop OS. In Ubuntu’s case, that’s their desktop OS. That is probably pretty close to my own idea of a mobile computing platform. Something you can carry around in your pocket, and when connected to a larger display, becomes a computing platform that you could use for work.

 The leaked video gave me a glimpse of hope I have to say, about the future of BlackBerry’s mobile computing platform. What I hope, is that the video isn’t a desktop or tablet OS. What I hope it would be, is the BlackBerry 10 that currently runs on the phone I’m typing this on.

As it stands now,when I plug my BlackBerry 10 device into a larger display, it just mirrors it. And on a larger display, the current UI just doesn’t make sense at all. The buttons are huge, the URL bar in the browser is huge. For games perhaps doesn’t matter as much, but it will still be nice to be able to hide the controls on the larger display and just use the device as a controller.

What I hope the video is showing, is what BlackBerry 10 will transform into when I plug it into a larger display, a keyboard, and mouse. That makes so much more sense to me. It’s an UI that has been optimised for larger displays, and I think it looks really nice, and with bezel gestures similar to Windows 8 tablets, it should work pretty darn well too on touch screen displays

The way I see it, most people use laptops mostly for consumption, with the occasional creation of documents, powerpoints, excel, etc. And a device like this would certainly satisfy their needs or maybe even replace their laptops. For me, I still need to use programs like Photoshop, illustrator, and indesign for work, so my laptop likely isn’t going away anything soon. But still, I think something like this could at least reduce my need of a desktop/laptop when I just need it to accomplish simple tasks.

BUT.

While it’s nice to dream about the future, i think more importantly BlackBerry has continue to improve their BB10 platform for phones first and for most. Even with 10.1MR/10.2 leak, it still leaves much to be desired, particularly with their device with physical keyboard.

I imagine a future where I could connect a Q10 wirelessly to a monitor, and it changes the UI to adapt to the larger display. The Q10 then becomes a trackpad and a keyboard that I can use to control what’s on screen. (Think BlackBerry Bridge on BBOS and PlayBook)

Well, it’s always nice to dream.

BlackBerry S30 Concept

Personally, I am not convince that the market has a place for sliders. But I know there are a ton of people who are a fan of the portrait slider form factor. Since my dream concept series all uses a similar design style, It’s not that difficult to come up with a slider. It’s just a pick and mix of my Z30 and Q30 concept, plus a bit of sizing. I took a short break from work to come up with these.

The device I did features a 4.5” display, at around 15mm thick. (Yeah, it’s pretty thick for a modern smartphone, but I genuinely see no way to make a thin slider device. The sliding mechanism needs space.) When close, the device is smaller than the Z10. When opened, it is quite a bit taller than the Torch 9810 since the screen has to be 16:9. To make sure the device doesn’t feel too top heavy, I tried to not slide the screen up too far up. Also, the thinner the screen the better. The thicker portion of the sculpted back should help with balance and grip a little too.

The device is almost similar in size to the Dell Venue Pro, just that it is shorter, both opened and closed.

The keyboard area will be slightly sunken in. So from side view, you can see the keys. Also, this will allow the keyboard to be a little less flat, and allow a bit more click to it. (Something which I didn’t enjoy on my Torch 9810 was the flat and rather stiff keys that doesn’t have much travel when you click it.)

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The elephant in the room. I see no way to fit a front facing camera into a thin sliding screen. The Torch and Dell Venue Pro didn’t have a front camera, which allowed it to be really thin.

To be frank it’s not exactly my dream slider, since it’s not my form factor of choice. Also I kinda feel like the slider should look different from the Z30 when the keyboard is hidden, even though I want a similar design language throughout the same generation of devices. But I really don’t have any ideas as to how at this point. So this is the best I could come up with at this point.

BlackBerry Q30 Dream Concept

As a continuation of yesterday’s dream concept for the Z30, I present the Q30 dream concept.


I am a physical keyboard type of guy, but with the Q10, the device left me frustrated. It gave me a glimpse of how much potential a BlackBerry 10 device with physical keyboard could have. How it could enhances productivity and efficiency. Software wise as it is, it left me disappointed. BlackBerry could have had a real workhorse here, but dropped the ball. I am not just talking about speed dial on home screen and basic shortcuts, like ‘A’ to lock the phone, ‘Q’ to switch to vibrate mode. I am talking about the ability to program any key to do anything with a long press on the home screen.

• Launching apps


• Toggle settings like Wifi, bluetooth, etc


• Create new note, calendar entry, tasks, etc


• Link to contact


• Browser bookmark


• Basically anything at all if possible, perhaps even open the api so developers can make use of it.

Hopefully BlackBerry is still thinking about this, or in the process of implementing this. Hopefully BlackBerry will not do a “BB10 for PlayBook” again, saying it just wasn’t feasible to continue making keyboard devices, and optimising BB10 for keyboard devices. Sigh.

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With my rant over, I shall dive straight in.

The design is pretty much using the same language as the Z30 concept for more consistency across range (something I wished BlackBerry did with the Z10 and Q10 but didn’t).

Front:

The top part of the device will be using the same curved glass around the sides to make it easier to use gestures, while allowing the display to be closer to the edge of the device (or at least, looks to be closer to the edge).

The screen is a 3.5” AMOLED display.

The keyboard has the same iconic BlackBerry design, with frets separating the keyboard and the glass screen. The frets will nicely round off to the side with the same curve as the glass screen. The chin will be matte plastic, like most Bold series device previously. The side will have the same curve as the glass screen as well.

Back:

The back will feature the same sculpted design as the previous Z30. Yes, a flat back might look simpler, but it certainly doesn’t feel as nice to hold. Some manufacturers in the pursuit of thinness make the device feel extremely uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time.

The thicker top and bottom back, is actually inspired partly by the sculpted design of the Moto X, and partly the Torch 9860. The 9860 was a joy to hold in the hand, also it was particularly nice to hold in landscape mode. Something I had hoped to achieve with my previous Z30 concept too.

Size:

Personally, I don’t mind big screens, but I am not a huge fan of huge phones. I like phones I can feel comfortable using with one hand, and to be able to type one handed on a physical keyboard device, the device can’t be too wide. Since the Q10 has a 1:1 aspect ratio, it is impossible to make a bigger screen without increasing the width too much.

My concept is a millimetre or so wider and taller than the Q10, almost imperceptible perhaps. This allows for a display size of 3.5”. Obviously since it is shorter than the Z30, there needs to be somewhere to squeeze in all the components, thus the device will naturally be thicker than the Z30. Oh, and it will be the same width as the Z30 concept.

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In terms of specs, I guess the rumoured Z30 would be perfectly fine by me, BUT, I do want a bigger battery, Since the Z30 is rumoured to have around 2800mah, I want at least 3000mah on the Q30. I don’t mind it being non removable. Find a way to squeeze that in and I’ll be happy.

And… I guess that’s about it.

This being my dream concept and all, I still won’t buy it unless BlackBerry put in more work into BB10 for physical keyboard devices. I see a huge potential in devices like these to be hugely productive and efficient.

BlackBerry Z30 Dream Concept

There is no way to gently put this. I do not like how the rumoured Z30 looks. I think that the bottom chin looks kinda out of place. But of course this is based on photos, and I have been wrong before with the Q10. (I thought it didn’t look as nice as the Z10, but now my opinion have been reversed.)


Nonetheless, I decided to take a shot at what I hope the Z30 (or in fact my dream BB10 phone) could look like. If you noticed the title, I used “Dream”. Reason being, I don’t think this will be an easy design to accomplish engineering wise.

Here goes.

Front:

The overall shape of the device is the same as the Z30, main exception being I removed the bottom chin. I went for an all glass front with a 5” display. Much like the Moto X, I tried to use as little bezel as possible without being too impossible. The glass around the sides are curved into the sides. Since there is little bezel at both sides of the screen, the curved edge will help to make bezel gestures easier to use with less bezel (theoretically at least).

Back:

For the back, it will be using the glass-weave material found on the Q10. I moved the camera to the middle of the device for better balance if anything. The back is slightly sculpted as well to make it more comfortable to hold and use. Thicker at both ends and thinner in the middle. Thicker areas obviously will serve as a mean to fit in internal components. One of the concerns for me was how the device will sit when on flat surfaces. I didn’t want the device to wobble at all since that is something that is extremely annoying to me.

The back is more like a waved shape so the thicker side on both ends will be touching the surface. The con-caved part in the middle will not be touch the surface. Maybe that’ll mean better airflow so heat don’t build up? lol.

Also, the thicker part at the top will be slightly thicker than the one at the bottom, so that the phone will be ever so slightly slanted towards you.

Here’s a side profile.

Size:

Here’s the exciting part about having smaller bezels and no bottom chin. Size.

With the exact same 5” screen size, the device is only a few mm taller and wider than the Z10, which has a 4.2” display. (In case you were wondering, I got them to scale for accurate size comparison by measuring the screen size using a ruler on my desktop screen, then measuring the height and width of the Z10 to ensure it correspond with specs sheet.)

Reason for the obsession with smaller size? I personally am not a fan of huge phones, and these concepts are really what I want from it.

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I’m not sure if having such small bezels is doable at this point in time, but I certainly hope so. Moto X was a huge step in the right direction in my opinion, a smaller physical dimension with a larger screen.

I’m not really concerned about the specs of the device, but I just want it to have a huge ass battery. I want a full day of heavy use out of the device, something my Q10 barely manages to do. I don’t mind the device being thicker at all, if anything I find slightly thicker devices nicer to hold on to. I don’t mind the processor not being top of the line, or the screen not being 1080p. I just want great battery life.

The way I see it, do you want a specs that are obscenely overpowered, and a unnecessarily high resolution display, but is dead before the end of the day. Leaving you with a paperweight.

OR,

Do you want a device that has sufficient power to do everything you want to, a display with lower pixel density, but is still high resolution enough that you can’t make out individual pixel on the screen, but is able to last you a full day (from waking up to sleeping) and maybe more. Never letting you be caught short without a phone.

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What do you guys think about this? Love it or hate it? Is this your dream BB10 device too?