MobiWire Surface UX, Android, Surface UX, open Android platform
MobiWire today launched Surface UXTM, a surface user interface for Android smartphones that simplifies usage and encourages exploration and conversion. Surface UX builds on the full potential of the open Android platform to create a rich and intuitive user experience that combines personalization with a deeply branded and connected experience. MobiWireintegrates user interface software connected to cloud-based content with its award winning device design to take global brands mobile.
Surface UX enhances the standard Android user interface (UI) to create a consumer-
ready and engaging user experience by aggregating content and presenting it in a
contextualized and easily navigable and surfaced UI. MobiWire has made both
general usability improvements to the basic Android UI and developed a series of
patented Surface Apps which act as ‘super widgets’, aggregating relevant content
into a series of UI panes that can be defined and branded by the service provider.
By providing a direct connection into a back-end infrastructure, MobiWire’s Surface
UX helps drive users’ discovery, consumption and engagement with a brand’s
digital assets, leading to service and mCommerce conversion.
“We are already in a post-app world where silos of data are being superseded by an
aggregated, real-time, multi-tasking user experience,” said Jerome Nadel, EVP User
Experience at MobiWire. “As we look beyond apps, the user interface is a dynamic
environment where multiple feeds of data, content and services come together to
create a definable experience. By bringing the principles of relevance, context and
intuition to the UI design process, Surface UX delivers a connected user experience
that is unmatched in the way it takes full advantage of the power and flexibility of
the Android platform, creating a UI that encourages usage and exploration, and
simplifies conversion to buy services and products.”
Patented improvements to the generic Android UI include:
? Home screen main menu structure – Apps can be ‘tagged’ and presented in a
tiered menu structure so that pre-loaded and branded apps are separated
from a user’s downloaded apps and not lost in an alphabetized listing. A
personalized speed bar enables the user to quickly go to their favorite apps.
? A powerful ‘switcher’ for easy multi-tasking between open apps –
simplifying existing implementations of Android task switching, the Surface
UX switcher enables the user to easily navigate directly between panes and
open applications. It also enables personalization to add, remove, and
reorder panes.
? Menu button with personalized shortcuts that remain visible on any pane –
the menu button includes shortcuts to both key features such as phone and
contacts and user-defined shortcuts to their most used apps.
The Surface Apps enable the brand partner to push services in real-time and
provide a one-tap access to their stores and digital services. The Stream surface
app provides a unified inbox, expandable preview window and contextualized
actions for email, SMS, social networking and RSS feeds. The Post surface app
creates a central place for the user to share and update all their social networks.
Finally, the Music and Web surface apps provide a direct connection into the brand’s
digital assets such as a mCommerce site or online music store.
“An optimized Android UI simplifies the out-of-the box experience, encourages
usage and device mastery” said Sylvain Gommier, director of User Experience at
MobiWire. “The general improvements to the Android UI, together with the
patented Surface Apps, means the content that matters most can be aggregated,
surfaced and presented in a way that is consistent, easy to navigate and
contextualized.”
Surface UX runs on Android 2.3 multi-touch smartphones. Available to brand,
retail, and device partners today, the first devices with the Surface UX will be
available to consumers through brand partners in Q2 2011. Surface UX will be
available on Android 3.0 tablets in H2, 2011.
