This one's a bit of a mystery, but it's certainly a tantalizing one: Haykuro of xdadevelopers fame has posted video of what purports to be the Android build off of
HTC's upcoming Hero device. What's special about it is a reworked interface, which shows a lot of polish from icons to built-in apps to general interface elements... and maybe just a bit of TouchFLO flair. There are also new features like a login / logout menu for "social networks" in the settings menu. While the device lists the firmware as 1.5, there's a small possibility that some of this new look and feel could be headed for
Android 2.0 "Donut," or perhaps HTC just feels like it needs to diverge from the pack a bit now that other manufacturers are starting to drop their own Android handsets. Check out the incredibly epic video after the break.
[Via
Android Central]
posted May 18th 2009 9:46AM
I contributed to this! YAY!
But I love this new UI...this makes 1.5 look like a joke! LMAO
I need this expeditiously!
When is this coming to Verizon?
Eh...who knows?
Wasn't the Hero slated for Sprint on the roadmap though?
when they are scrolling through the music, and it goes beyond the list and springs back... isn't that a feature that Apple has patented (as shown in the apple Vs. palm patent article written here a while back)? I'm personally not all that partial to apple or palm (I own an ipod touch, and plan on getting a pre.. here in canada I got sick of waiting for the iphone so I bought another phone), but even though android is trying to remain open... this could maybe be an issue?? Then again, just about every phone seems to infringe on a couple palm patents
Apple might as well let that one slide to be honest. I've seen that feature on sooo many phones already, from the Pre to the HTC Touch Diamond. If they were gonna do anything about it, they should have done it as soon as the Pre showed up. Right now I just think its too late to start making a hoopla over it.
all calendars look pretty much the same, there's not much you can do with a square. however i differ on the design elements some of it bears striking resemblance to the openmoko's older reworked interface. here is openmoko's current interface wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Image:LaunchTasks.png
I have that feature on some stuff in TF2D on my Kaiser...
The calendar icon looks very Apple-ish.
Yes Apple invented how calendar icons look obviously.
That's tantamount to calling me an Apple fanboy. If I was, I would have no shame in admitting it, however, as I am not, I present to you evidence to back up my claim:
http://images.google.com/images?q=ical+icon
http://images.google.com/images?q=iphone+home+screen
Long live Pre!!!..eyh...wait, am i at the right place?
The overall design of the UI is very Pré'ish, with the rounded corners all over. But nice. Verrrryyy nice.
Sorry for being dumb but does HTC Hero == G1 becasue that looks pretty much like my G1 (except for the silver back).
The build is Hero, the device is G1
thats not the hero in the video it's the g1 with a rumored htc hero android os suspected to be designed by htc or an early form of android 2.0 donut.
Thanks.
The calender is WAY better than current!
HTC flat-out knows how to designs a phone UI. I'm on my third HTC phone (3125, 8525, now the "Fuze" Touch Pro), and it's been fun watching them progress over the years. Huge supporter of their efforts.
Abso-lutely.......
Yeah, they just need to get away from Resistive touchscreens and WinMo. Ithink the Touch Pro2 is great but look at that stubid Zoom bar. Ech. But there android devices are pretty decent.
TF3D is a big reason I'm willing to actually buy a windows mobile device (TP2). HTC is my favorite mobile company right now. Blackberry should hire HTC to handle the Storm and Apple should hire them to build an enterprise-class iPhone--they can do it all.
There is another version of this video with the person doing the demo describing what they are doing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OMrSTEBeyI
Correction. It may be the voice of someone else describing what the person in the demo is doing.
Correction, it may be a video of someone doing what the voice is describing in the demo
lol
I was just going to ask "Does anyone know the name of the song playing in the video?" Then I remembered that I had Shazam on my G1.
i dont have a g1 anymore, but to me it sounds like mice parade.
The song is Green Grass of Tunnel by Mum.
I was about to do the exact same thing, and then I was like "oh wait I DO have a G1 that can tell me" :)
I was about to say that this was in another post...... This is a bit sweeter. I want to see this build on a netbook tablet and see how it fares.....
I bet Apple has something to say about that icon...
The app list (or the "blade") is still horrible.
So is your face.
its somewhat slow... hope the retail version would be snappier.
If it's donut, it's practically in alpha stage, so speed improvements haven't happened yet.
Gotta love the way HTC customize's an OS UI.... just perfect... Google shud let HTC release custom update so that all G1's could look HTC amazing... and this makes me think of how great the HTC dumphone is goin' 2 be and how out of this world the HTC Superstar will be....hoping for US releases.
Themed Android = Epic Win
Seriously though if HTC can make WinMo almost desirable with themes just think what they can do with android.
it's not just themes, it's the MASSIVE amount of changes that go into TF3D
The new "look and feel" isn't from Donut, it's custom made by HTC. Also, if anyone is wondering why it's so stripped down, it's cause the Hero's system directory device is significantly larger than that of the G1 so it took some trimming to get it down to the right size. It feels pretty neat to have been in on this for a while.
Neato.
What song is that?
"Green Grass Of Tunnel" by Múm, from the utterly fantastic 2002 record "Finally We Are No One". Buy it, you won't regret it ;)
if this is true, then its about time Google hired some good designers. You get these foreigners who run these companies and they think they can do what ever they want..
just stay in your country please!
The UI changes you're seeing are from HTC. your post=fail.
btw, HTC has their own design center in SF - One & Co.
The design center still has an opening for a designer and an intern last time I checked...
Show me a 3.5 jack and I'm sold...
Hard to believe that the kid is only 17 that did the build...
That is a very nice UI improvement. Now, if only they would give us all our cupcake today and donut tomorrow...seriously, how long do we have to wait to at least get cupcake?
a good start. they need to fix the first page with all the icons though. still not impressed. liked the calender. the ugly UI has been a major detterent for me. That and the crap battery life, my hate for the color pea green which seems to dominate androide, and the lack of a 3.5 jack, oh and the lack of a decent flash camera. Still leaning toward a pre or an iphone.
Isn't the point of Android that it is open, anyone can alter it and they don't even have to share it with the community, It would be nice to see all the manufacturers using Android give it a unique look.
I agree. Lenovo's OPhone, while a bit iPhone-ish, is another example of a vendor that has leveraged Android's open source nature, to create their own user experience. As long as their implementations maintain app compatibility, they should go for it.