Nokia's community blog has opened up the
crowdsourcing floodgates, at least in theory. For "Design by Community," users will be able to vote on smartphone features via a series of sliders, although within an arbitrary point allotment system. A new poll opens next week for size and shape, followed by materials, operating system (Symbian or
MeeGo being the only choices, unsurprisingly), and so on in the weeks that follow, with the last poll starting April 26th. After that, a concept sketch will be voted on and later rendered -- but no plans to ever have it made into an actual retail product (boo). We can't exactly say we understand all the selections here: why is a touchscreen keyboard less ambitious than T9 text entry? Does saying capacitive is more ambitious than resistive serve as a
subtle hint of trends to come? What in the world is the difference between hot key and one touch? It's interesting to see how
X6,
N900,
N97 all come out as a Perfect Mixes, while last year's E75 and the more recent
C5 all straddle the "less than ambitious" line. Oh, and just so we're clear... a 5-inch, 21:9 ratio display without touchscreen but
with a touchscreen keyboard is a perfect mix. Go figure.
[Thanks, Pratik V]
posted March 18th 2010 7:49PM
@chosenone1
Software? Nokia has patents on the /hardware/ you need to make a GSM... hence why they're suing the crap out of apple.
Nokia is enormous (outside the US) and trust me, they have a hell of a lot more patents.
Too bad they didn't add a slider for mobile OS; Android, WP7S, etc ;)
@Johnny Rockets
There's going to be a vote on OS later on, and only MeeGo and Symbian are the options. I don't see Nokia going outside of MeeGo or Symbian (such as going to Android or WM7)
@ALBGunner04
I know. Mostly just joking ;)
4.5
Capacitive
Touchscreen Keyboard
On/Off Button
16:9
I think those were all the choices...
It's nice to dream....
@TheRogueFFAngel I chose all of those but a qwerty keyboard instead of touchscreen.
@Edobe
Yea, this was my vote
I think this is a case of "stupid algorithm is stupid".
Where's the "No Symbian" button.
@Tres
MeeGo
It's nice that they are interested in what some customers and potential customers might say as well as make it interesting to participate. Maybe they will make a device similar to what is picked...but of course they won't ever promise that.
3.5"
Resistive
QWERTY
hotkey + touch
16:9
Might've selected something different if you could pick resolution; if XGA (1024x768) was an option, I'd go with 4:3 over 16:9.
I love Nokia! They made the first smart phone I ever owned, but this is becoming too typical of Nokia as of late: great idea, poor execution.
Maybe they should use some of there old patents there were never used which picture devices those are some of the best Nokia devices I've ever seen.
4" resistive (preferably Stantum's w/ multitouch, tho I couldn't care less for multitouch)
QWERTY
Hotkey + touch
16:9
Throw in some dual-core ARM Cortex, or even Atom if they could lower its consumption, a solid GPU, 1GB of RAM and Maemo/MeeGo and... well, that's what it would take to make me sell my N900 and move to your new device.
Sigh @ nokia... they still think there are options other than capacative touchscreens....
Believe it or not, some of us do actually still prefer resistive. I get much better precision with a stylus or finger nail, and they can be used with your gloves on in the winter.
When you design things by committee, you end up with the platypus.
How about one button:
( Copy Apple )
@Wesscoast How about no buttons: N900
There's a reason that award-winning designs are nearly all driven by one designer's passion. Hm.
You want crowd-sourced design? Take a look at the US government...it's a model of smooth modern efficiency, right?
Now imagine that as a handheld device. How can it lose?
@therealmusashi Yes maybe you should copy the cuban government. A well run dictatorship.
@Edobe Hm, maybe I should. But then, we're talking about Nokia here. Cheers pal.
Good designs are from one person... blablabla... whatever.
These people should just take the time to read.
"And no, the plan isn't to actually make the product - this is about creating a concept (we can't aim to better the might of the Nokia design team - their knowledge runs far, far deeper than ours)".
It's really just a survey of what main characteristics people want for a smartphone. It's not really "design" per se, for gawd sakes.
@WickedEast
We understand this is basically a glorified survey, but what good will the results be when you govern it by some strange algorithm that rejects perfectly good answers as too extreme to even consider. Even as a survey, this makes no sense.
@WickedEast Right, because designs and concepts are even related for gawd sakes, right?
As a designer myself I just have to say, design by community is never a good idea.
It seems sensible on the face of it, but you have to remember that majority of any large group, will always make bad choices.
Just take a look at pop music to see what I mean.
this is an ABSOLUTE load of tosh.
so arbitrary and bull shit, what a fucking joke.