Nokia experiments with Bubbles interface on Symbian cell phones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSRuY_9ZMsY

Touchscreen interaction with a cell phone has quickly become the norm
in the smartphone category. Each operating system seems to have its own
set of rules for how interaction should work, and Nokia is no
different.
But Nokia also has Nokia Beta Labs for R&D, and they aren’t
afraid to experiment a bit. The Lab’s latest release is called Nokia
Bubbles, and it offers a new way to achieve a bunch of different
interactions and access functionality with a load of bubbles floating
around on your handset’s touchscreen.

The interface is made up of bubbles that bounce off each other and
around the screen. Within each is a recognizable symbol relating to an
action. The full range of actions supported under bubbles includes:

• Unlock the phone
• View new messages
• View/Respond to missed calls
• Control the music player
• Control the FM radio
• Change profile (profile timing also supported)
• Call/Message your three best friends
• Activate the backlight to use as a flashlight
• Show your current location using Ovi Maps
• Change the background of the Bubbles screen
• Display when battery needs charging
• Display statistics about bubble speed and distance (just for fun)

Dragging a bubble to a designated drop point brings up some actions which can then be tapped (see video above).



It looks like a fun way to interact with your phone from watching the
video. In fact, that was the whole idea as Beta Labs’ Pauli Asikainen
explains:

When I invented the bubbles concept (with my friend
Sami) the idea was to have a fun way to unlock the phone. After some
thinking it was obvious that bubbles can be used for many other purposes
and at the same time have some fun things on your screen. Throwing the
bubbles around was one of the first things we did with them. And when
you have some event you want to respond to it is very easy and fast to
do so.

Nokia is making Bubbles available for download in beta form as it
wants some feedback on the app. You’ll need a Symbian touchscreen device
to try it out.

Read more at Nokia Beta Labs

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