User interface expert Dr. Jakob Nielsen, who describes himself as an author, researcher and consultant on user interfaces, recently studied the user experience of the Kindle Fire and dubbed it “disappointingly poor.” Nielsen said the lack of physical buttons impeded the reading experience, the device was too heavy and was “unpleasant to hold for long periods of time,” and while there was potential for a good magazine reading experience, Nielsen said the result was “miserable.&#...

Samsung took some time at a developer day event in South Korea to note that it will have sold 5 million Bada-powered Wave phones when 2010 comes to an end. It also projects sales of more than 10 million Wave devices in the first half of 2011 alone. Most of the attention at the event, however, was focused on the host of features Samsung said it will introduce in version 2 of its in-house mobile operating system. Among the more notable additions making their way to Bada 2.0 are third-party multitasking support,...

RIM’s upcoming QNX-based OS is about to get a swift kick in the UI, as the company announced its acquisition of The Astonishing Tribe on Thursday. Also known as TAT, the team is renowned for its stunning UI work that often includes unique concepts that never manage to find their way to production devices. While TAT has done a great deal of work across several markets including automotive and consumer electronics, mobile platforms user experiences is where they shine and as any BlackBerry user will tell ...

As Google prepares to release a fresh new version of Android, Sony Ericsson has announced that it will finally push out an OS update for three of its smartphones… to Android 2.1. No, the Xperia X10 family won’t be gobbling down Gingerbread any time soon, or even feasting on FroYo. Instead, the Xperia X10, Xperia X10 mini and Xperia X10 mini pro will all be stuck eating Eclair beginning Sunday, October 31st. Oh and if you have an AT&T-branded X10, you’ll have to wait until some time in No...

TechCrunch broke the news and Business Insider is also reporting that Facebook is working on their own mobile handset. The first report claimed that Facebook’s Joe Hewitt and Eric Tseng (previous Facebook iPhone app developer and previous Senior Product Manager for Android at Google) are heading up the project. When Business Insider chimed in, however, the scope of the project seemed to make more sense than Facebook creating a mobile OS from scratch — they’re rumored to be using Android as t...

There has been quite a bit of press about high-level executives mobile maker Nokia has been shedding, but this fairly large addition managed to slip under the radar. Nokia has hired Peter Skillman — former Vice President of Design at Palm — to be their Vice President of MeeGo User Experience and Services. Skillman worked for Palm for over eleven years and headed the team that was in charge of designing the Palm Pre. Hopefully, Mr. Skillman’s addition will expedite Nokia’s development o...

RIM has posted some additional screen shots of their yet-to-be-released-or-have-a-release-date-announced BlackBerry 6 operating system. You may recall that earlier in the month RIM provided a few screen shots displaying some of BlackBerry 6′s media capabilities. This particular post is from Douglas Soltys, he interviews RIM’s Director in the User Experience group, Joey Benedek, who shows off the new OS’ “home screen evolution.” Hit the read link to see all the goodies, and do l...

Any burning questions you’ve ever had about the upgrade path for the XPERIA X10 family of products can now be put to rest, as Sony Ericsson has finally gone public with its intentions. As of Q4 2010, all three phones — the X10, X10 mini and X10 mini Pro — will be upgraded to Android 2.1 aka “Eclair”. Not only that, but after the update, the X10′s 8.1 megapixel camera will be able to record videos in HD. Throw in enhancements to the Timescape and Mediascape applications, as...

It’s not available in stores, through the phone, or online just yet, but Rogers has officially launched the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10. In an email memo sent out minutes ago, Rogers announced to its employees that the Android smartphone is now shipping from their warehouses and should arrive within the next three days. Want one? That’ll be $149.99 on contract or $549.99 without. Just keep in mind this phone lacks multitouch as you stand at the till, okay? We wouldn’t want you getting a case of...

Alright, Canada, the time has come. You can now pre-order the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 from Rogers Wireless. To be available in both Sensuous Black and Luster White, the XPERIA X10 will set you back $149.99 on a 3-year contract. Definitely not bad for a phone with a 4″ WVGA display, 8.1 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, HSDPA and sexy UX UI overlay, but we can certainly see the lack of multitouch and the fact it currently runs Android 1.6 being a deal breaker for many. Rogers won’t give in and tell u...

Ordinarily, looking at FCC filings are about as fun as discussing the history of blotting paper, but we have a rare exception in the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10. While the standard fare external pictures offer nothing we haven’t already seen, the filing contains a wealth of teardown photos that are sure to please both phone junkies and anyone fascinated with design. But it gets better. Not only do we have a slew of test reports (exciting!), but the entire 40-page user manual which not only gives a great ov...

Today we hit up Sony Ericsson’s shindig in NYC for some one-on-one time with its XPERIA X10, and so far (it’s a non-retail prototype) it looks like SE has a decent device on its hands. Of course, we all know the X10 is running Android 1.6, but SE has created its own UI, or UX as it prefers to say (short for User Experience), called Nexus. Like other UI overlays for Android, Nexus focuses on social media integration, entertainment and simplifying contact info by aggregating user information. Two ve...

And yet another manufacturer has officially entered the Android game as Sony Ericsson has formally announced the XPERIA X10. Powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and running on Android 1.6 “Donut”, the X10 boasts a 4″ WVGA capacitive touchscreen display, an 8.1 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS and two flavors of UMTS/HSPA — one of which supports T-Mobile, the other, AT&T — in addition to quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE. Regrettably there is only 1GB of built in memory, although an 8GB ...

Making a mobile OS “open” is one thing, but this is unlike anything we’ve seen to date. The Symbian Foundation — the newly formed group charged with bringing Nokia’s ever-popular OS into the 21st century — needs your help. Finding a way to update that aged UI is a bit trying we presume (though we wouldn’t mind seeing TAT finally give it a shot) so Scott Weiss, the Symbian Foundation’s UI Technology Manager, has officially opened the UI conversation to the world....