Filed under: Transportation

Your retinas have been treated to plenty of external shots of Tesla’s Roadster, but have you ever stopped to wonder what kind of excitement sat just southwest of the steering wheel? CNET’s UK branch managed to get their camcorder within a Roadster parked on display over in Britain, and what they found was a rather robust interface that enables owners to get all sorts of involved with how and when the car charges. The representative did note that typical navigation functions were controlled via the JVC head unit, but the small panel just under the gauges enables motorists to control a number of aspects in relation to charging. There’s even a guide that explains which choices are cheaper and more beneficial for the long-term life of the battery. Have a look at the video in the read link.

[Via Digg]

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Teclast’s M26 seemed vaguely more interesting than the dozens of other garbage, status-quo portable media devices that get pumped out of Chinese factories on a weekly basis — and now we need not spend any more time wondering just where they got their design, um, inspiration. At least Meizu’s M8 sexed it up a little — this take is just a bit depressing.

[Via thegadgetsite]

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Filed under: Laptops

We know he’s just thinking about the children but damn, if Walter Bender’s latest move doesn’t smack of retribution for Negroponte’s XP-lust. Having successfully spun himself out from under NickNeg’s OLPC, Bender’s UI now owned by his non-profit Sugar Labs might just end up on Intel’s Classmate PC. Right, the same competing platform the OLPC camp had lambasted, repeatedly, for its “shameless” and “half-hearted” behavior in the educational marketplace. Nevertheless, Bender is quoted in an interview saying, “A community volunteer is working with Intel on Sugar for the Classmate PC. Sugar Labs helped to expedite the relationship.” We assume Bender’s loftier goals act as a lithium-salve to what must be a palpable internal turmoil.

P.S. That’s our mockup, Intel declined to comment on the usage of Sugar.

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Filed under: Cellphones

In the latest of what’s becoming a long history of tweaks to the Meizu M8 interface, Meizu CEO Jack Wong unleashed some new shots of the upcoming UI to his adoring fans. The new interface is designed by eico design — who have also worked with Google, Lenovo, and Philips — and looks to have a visually-satisfying sparkle animation for selected items (unless the battery above is just leaking). Another addition appears to be LED-styled status updates to applications, like number of missed calls and unread messages. Until we see this all in motion, though, we’ll quietly speculate and hope the pretty pictures are real.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung’s been getting pretty creative with cell cameras lately — the Instinct lets you pan around web pages by tracking movement with the camera, for example — but the company’s latest patent application, for a gesture-based phone interface, might be a little less practical. The idea is to use the phone’s camera to track your hand movements, which, from the drawings, should have you looking insane on the subway in no time. Of course, we’ve all been guilty of waving at and even talking to our devices when they’re acting up, so maybe a little feedback wouldn’t be a bad thing — there’s one gesture we’d definitely like to see programmed in there.

[Via Textually.org]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

Samsung and pretty much everyone else is taking a long hard look at their clumsy UIs as consumer electronics continue to commodify. We’ve certainly seen that demonstrated with striking effect with the Samsung F480’s unfortunately named TouchWiz interface. Now take a look at the UI for Samsung’s NV24HD. Besides shooting 720p video, this 10.2 megapixel shooter with 24-mm ultra-wide angle lens features a series of touch-sensitive buttons surrounding a brilliant 2.5-inch AMOLED display. An interesting twist on the lifeless touch-screens we’ve seen on other cameras. However, it does so at the expense of screen size on a crowded back panel. Still, we’re a bit smitten by the user experience which we quickly got the hang of. See for yourself in the video after the break.

Continue reading Video: Hands-on Samsung’s 10 megapixel / 720p NV24HD shooter

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Filed under: Cellphones

Now, we know the official story on the CeBIT Meizu shutdown was related to MP3 codec licensing, and not the M8’s iPhone-like UI. Still, it does seem strangely fortuitous that more pictures of the phone’s interface have just appeared that seem to showcase a move away from Apple’s familiar look. The Chinese site CNMO has new shots of the device’s music player, which now appears to incorporate song info, EQ display, lyrics, and volume / tracking controls all on one screen. The pictures also show a couple of different music browsing options, both in landscape and portrait mode. Is this a signal that the company is putting some distance between the M8 and the iPhone? Only time will tell.

[Via PMP Today]

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Filed under: Cellphones

If you’ve seen our shots of Samsung’s Armani redo, the F480, you might have noticed it’s running a new OS. The UI — called TouchWiz — is based off of the company’s Croix interface (which apparently was rushed out to compete with the iPhone), and will be used on all of the upcoming finger-touch phones from the manufacturer. The cats over at Phone Scoop had a chance to go one-on-one with TouchWiz at Mobile World Congress, and they’ve put together a pretty informative video that shows off the UI doing its thing. The inclusion of a new widget system, expanded menu options, and overall speed bump make this OS a notable step up from Samsung’s previous offering. Take a look at the video after the break to see the system getting all funky-fresh.

[Thanks, Martijn]

Continue reading Samsung’s new TouchWiz UI gets previewed on video

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Filed under: Cellphones, Features

Here it is folks, the latest and greatest that Google has to offer — the new Android SDK. As you can see, they’ve made some major cosmetic changes, as well as added some functionality. Why tell you about when we can show you, though? Take a look at the gallery below and see it all for yourself.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Let’s face it: the device pictured above isn’t likely to arrive in America (in that form, anyway) anytime soon, but apparently, the hardware is the least important aspect. InfoSyncWorld was able to get its paws around Keynetik’s prototype handset, which currently sports the same name and relies on a user interface with (surprise, surprise) the very same title, too. Apparently, this mobile — which looks like a cross between a mobile gaming unit and a PDA — includes a UI that is surprisingly intuitive thanks to the motion tracking support and its ability to take commands from two joysticks and four buttons. For instance, users can select icons by simply tilting the device in the desired direction and subsequently pressing a button, which reportedly makes browsing through tunes and contact lists a lesson in simplicity. Unfortunately, there’s no telling if or when Keynetik’s creation will ever go commercial, but feel free to check out a few more glimpses of the first edition after the jump.

Continue reading Keynetik’s motion tracking prototype handset spotted in the wild

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones

For all of you fervent Treo fans chomping at the bit to get your hands on the 500v, here’s an interesting piece of information which may stir “things” deep inside your mind and body. Apparently, the Windows Mobile-equipped smartphones will be touting a UI that’s a pretty big step away from Microsoft’s staid and standard operations. According to a slow, yet detailed video we’ve seen, the new interface will be pulled together using a completely revamped “start menu,” (similar to the UI which Samsung is employing on its SGH-i620) which gives you much faster access to applications and settings, and has a completely new look. Menus and application icons also appear to be a departure from what we’ve seen in other WM devices, giving the interface a wholly unique aspect. Check the video after the break and see for yourself.

[Via pocketnow]

Continue reading Treo 500v sports a revamped Windows Mobile interface

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Microsoft is apparently going sci-fi in the battle with Apple for UI supremacy — the company filed a patent application in August for an EEG system that can classify a user’s “brain states” as they work with an interface, sorting them into one of eight categories: interruptability, cognitive workload, task engagement, communication mediation, interpreting and predicting system response, surprise, satisfaction, and frustration. According to the patent application, Microsoft believes that “human beings are often poor reporters of their own actions,” and that properly filtered and classified EEG data provides a “less interruptive and more informative technique of determining user interface effectiveness.” The patent also describes using the brain state data in real time to adapt the interface to the user, which sounds like it could be a revolution or a terrifying mashup of Clippy and the Lawnmower Man. No word on whether Redmond is already using this tech, but that new Zune interface certainly looks pretty slick, doesn’t it?

[Via New Scientist]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

If you had any doubts about Microsoft’s ability to innovate in the mobile user interface department, here’s a new patent application to mull over. Titled “Extensible Filtered Lists for Mobile Device User Interface,” the documentation spells out details for improving the way mobile users interact with the data on their devices. Apparently, the app concentrates on arranging information in “groups or lists,” each of which can “include multiple items that provide access to data or tasks from multiple applications.” Essentially, these customizable lists (more pictured after the break) would allow users to “quickly access relevant content such as commonly used data or tasks,” and moreover, it was noted that the items could be “dynamically updated based upon changes in the underlying data or services provided by software applications.” On the surface, the details all sound fairly attractive, but feel free to hit the read link for the full rundown.

Continue reading Microsoft patent app shows off new user interface for mobiles

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

As we all twiddle our thumbs while waiting for the next-generation of Zunes to ship out, ZuneRama has pointed out a number of user interface changes to tide you over. Notable differences include the volume setting reaching 40 (versus 20 on the existing models), album artwork when browsing by Album looks bigger than on the current firmware and when advancing from one track to another, the album art for the new track slides in from the right in a “wipe” transition. Granted, most of these changes aren’t apt to make or break your experience with the new players, but if you’re interested in checking out the full list, the read link’s got the goods.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!