There is a lot of speculation about the next generation iPad. Quite a few things seem certain such as a double-density screen resolution. With double the resolution, will the touch screen itself have greater fidelity? Perhaps incorporation of haptics» in some fashion? Even optimizing the screen so that finer points could be used via a stylus would be a welcome addition and make the iPad even more useful to me. The other wish is for the iPad to upgrade the experience when connected to a monitor via RGB or HDMI. When a movie is playing, the iPad itself shows just the video player controls. But other programs are simply mirrored. Turning the iPad into a Magic Trackpad» would require the inclusion of a pointer into iOS I think, and that is maybe moving too far into a PC operating system direction. But if Apple could come up with some clever way of sorting that out, I’d love to use my 24 inch monitor and a bluetooth keyboard and replace many of my needs for a laptop. There are other things I’d like as well such as greater iCloud integration, but those are across all iOS devices, not just the iPad.
Posts Tagged ‘ Tablet ’
Amazon Kindle Fire
The Kindle Fire (or Fire for this article) entered the “tablet” market this Fall sporting a tiny package and the full Amazon suite of media products behind it (books, movies, music, apps). With Amazon’s own application store, the Fire has access to Android applications, but not the full suite of the Android Marketplace. Other sites such as Engadget», The Verge», Anandtech», and Arstechnica» are the place to go for detailed analysis of specs and features. They’ve done a great job and there is little to add there. What this review will do is examine the Kindle from a usability perspective, specifically, how easy it is to use the interface and then how easy it is to read typical content. The short answer is that this feels like a new category of device, not a full-fledged tablet. (more…)
LEVEL Studios: Client
As Director of UX at LEVEL Studios», Mark Sloan helped craft UX/UI solutions for multi-platform user experiences across connected devices. As Sloan Studio developed, the relationship with LEVEL evolved to a peer agency collaboration, where LEVEL hired services from Sloan Studio to serve existing clients. Work included consumer electronics from Android handheld devices to TVs based on the Google TV platform and required a deep understanding of both ergonomic and technological limitations. Sloan Studio worked with LEVEL’s internal UX and design teams to develop the overall UX concepts, wireframes and specifications.
When working on multi-platform devices, it is critical to reset requirements for each as their form factors dictate what is feasible. User goals differ from mobile, to tablet, to TV and from Applications to web sites, so the design must be based on these goals. The ergonomics of each platform also dictates usage, including how they physically interact whether through direct manipulation (multi-touch) or via an input device such as a remote or mouse. To learn more about our multi-platform experience, please Contact Us.