14 DAY TRIAL // Handset manufacturers that are developing their proprietary UIs for Android smartphones have a new competitor on the market, as MobiWire has just announced the launch of its Surface UX user interface.
Focusing on the full potential of the open Android platform, Surface UX is meant to enhance the standard operating system by creating a rich and intuitive user experience.
Furthermore, MobiWire developed a series of patented Surface Apps which act as ‘super widgets,’ delivering all the relevant content into a series of UI panes that can be customized and branded by the carrier.
According to the developer, Surface Apps enable the carrier to push services in real-time and provide a one-tap access to their stores and digital services.
Thanks to the included Stream surface app users will be provided with a unified inbox, which can be expanded.
“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.”
Applications 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.
MobiWire has also added a personalized speed bar that enables users to quickly go to their favorite apps.
A new ‘Switcher’ for easy multi-tasking between open apps has been included, which also enables personalization to add, remove, and reorder panes.
The Menu button now includes shortcuts to both key features such as phone and contacts and user-defined shortcuts to their most used apps.
Surface UX is compatible with multi-touch smartphones running Android 2.3. The first devices carrying MobiWire's Surface UX user interface will be generally available through brand partners in Q2 2011.
Surface UX for Honeycomb tablets will also be available sometime in the first half of 2011.
