Sonystyle interview with UX developers

[hayashikerubin]

found this in the sonystyle japan website, it is the first part of a series of interviews with the product designers. i translated to to best of my abilities as follows:

Yet again, the PDA world is excited. This time round, the new CLIE PEG UX50 has built in wireless LAN, is very small and in landscape orientation. Why this functions and this shape? Sonystyle interviewed the product design director Nakai-san and product leader Satou-san.

Nakai: Above all it is very small. When compared to the new CLIE UX50, a wallet is bigger. What we wanted to create is an internet communicator. The pursuit of a small device that enables effortless net-surfing and e-mailing.

Satou: Actually we were able to make an even smaller device. However, taken into considerations user-friendliness of the keyboard and the various buttons, we decided on this size.

Due to excellent consideration in every aspect, the landscape layout is decided. This is extremely compatible to webpage viewing. Also we made the keyboard bigger. The wave design on the keyboard makes using it effortless.

Nakai: Input is easy and convenient. This is especially so for users who are unfamiliar with graffiti.

This new CLIE UX50 is made by the formation of a project team of members of different departments and positions putting their strengths together. This new CLIE is not an attempt to break the mould of PDAs, it is the birth of an entirely new mobile category.

Satou: It is not only small, but has a long stamina and fast response. This is because of the self developed SONY CPU. This is not an ordinary CPU but one made by SONY, and it is not a one time scoop, we intend to continue with it.

Nakai: The first time the first prototype, made of plastic, was powered, I was very happy and excited.

the original can be found in this website:

www.jp.sonystyle.com/peg/weekly_ux/first.html

[TG50Lover]

That was a very good thing from Sony. They have vision.

I not only use Sony Clie, most of my A/V made by sony.

[xenna]

Originally posted by hayashikerubin
[BThis new CLIE is not an attempt to break the mould of PDAs, it is the birth of an entirely new mobile category.
[/B]

I'd call it a rebirth. It's what the successor of my HP 200LX or somebody else's Psion should have been if the world hadn't suddenly decided that PDA's without keyboards were better than PDA's with keyboards...

Glad to see that they're beginning to realize the error of their ways.

How long will it take before the PPC crowd (slow to pick up the kbd-less trend) follows?

X.

[EdFrmBrighthand]

Thanks hayashikerubin. I know this was a lot of work.

[Deep blue Sky]

Originally posted by xenna


I'd call it a rebirth. It's what the successor of my HP 200LX or somebody else's Psion should have been if the world hadn't suddenly decided that PDA's without keyboards were better than PDA's with keyboards...

Glad to see that they're beginning to realize the error of their ways.

How long will it take before the PPC crowd (slow to pick up the kbd-less trend) follows?

X.

Hmm....on the contrary.....I think the success of Zire in Sales and the failure of Psion might be an indication that they are probably going the wrong way with the UX.....

While I like keyboards (full size) I don't really like thumb boards. Getting a piece of paper and write things down is still quite intuitive to people. Palm's graffiti is really doing that.

[mvfrancisco]

it depends... i know most TG50 users like myself love the keyboard. Hard buttons are faster once you get used to them, and the ability to map special functions to them makes operations so much easier. that's why they say "it's as easy as pushing a button".

[elf]

Originally posted by Deep blue Sky


Hmm....on the contrary.....I think the success of Zire in Sales and the failure of Psion might be an indication that they are probably going the wrong way with the UX.....


How do you explain the success of the Blackberry?

What the Zire and the Psion lack is wireless networking-- something the Balckberry and the UX50 do have.

[hausman]

Yep - I stopped using my Psion S5 because:

1. Too big to carry, too heavy
2. Screen hard to read
3. I discovered over time that (for large hands) the keyboard was too small to touch type, but too big to thumb-type. I don't think the UX will fail - I just think it'll be extremely popular with a limited set of people (esp. until they add a portrait mode). If they get the software and hardware right (a lot of people are complaining about the OS and memory) I think this could be a niche winner, and there will always be room for clamshell designs.

And elf, good point about wireless. Another thing that just wasn't available when the Psion was around. :)

On the Zaurus forum over at Sharp, someone said Microsoft doesn't allow keyboards in the Pocket PC spec. That's why you don't see anything from the PPC line with a built-in keyboard. Sad, but not too surprising to me considering Bill Gates' obsession with pen computing.

[xenna]

Originally posted by hausman
n the Zaurus forum over at Sharp, someone said Microsoft doesn't allow keyboards in the Pocket PC spec. That's why you don't see anything from the PPC line with a built-in keyboard. Sad, but not too surprising to me considering Bill Gates' obsession with pen computing.

Ah, good. Strange though, because my last experience with an MS based palmtop was the WinCE HP 320LX, a terrible slow clamshell design that I bought when my 200LX was stolen.

It was a disaster, so I got rid of it and I bought a 2nd hand 200LX instead. I lost interest in the MS stuff, after that. I always thought PPC was just a new label for WinCE...

Then again, I also had a very short affair with a Palm V, couldn't stand the limited functionality and Graffiti.

X.

[Sneezy]

Psion failed because they were poor at marketing (at least they were here in the US). The only "Psion" I saw at the major electronic stores was a Diamond Mako, a Revo knockoff. Coupled with the facts that the screens were either not backlit or lacked contrast, and they usually had only ram and no external storage options, the psions were destined to wither away if they didn't improve their hardware. It was too little too late by the time the 7 series came out, and they were outrageously expensive. Otherwise, the keyboard idea really worked for these pioneering "palmtops."

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Sneezy
Psion failed because they were poor at marketing (at least they were here in the US). The only "Psion" I saw at the major electronic stores was a Diamond Mako, a Revo knockoff. Coupled with the facts that the screens were either not backlit or lacked contrast, and they usually had only ram and no external storage options, the psions were destined to wither away if they didn't improve their hardware. It was too little too late by the time the 7 series came out, and they were outrageously expensive. Otherwise, the keyboard idea really worked for these pioneering "palmtops."

The Diamond Mako wasn't a Revo knockoff, it *was* the Revo. It ran all the Revo apps.

[hayashikerubin]

i think having a keyboard will be especially useful for people who are not used to grafitti. and together with the light weight and small form factor, i dun see why this clie should not be popular.

i also agree that support for portrait view would make this a better device.

[peterh]

Originally posted by Sneezy
Psion failed because they were poor at marketing (at least they were here in the US). The only "Psion" I saw at the major electronic stores was a Diamond Mako, a Revo knockoff. Coupled with the facts that the screens were either not backlit or lacked contrast, and they usually had only ram and no external storage options, the psions were destined to wither away if they didn't improve their hardware. It was too little too late by the time the 7 series came out, and they were outrageously expensive. Otherwise, the keyboard idea really worked for these pioneering "palmtops."

Psions were much more popular here in the UK.
Admitadly they weren't marketed as much as they could be.

You can look at psion palmtops now and think they are primitve, but at the time they were way ahead of others like palm.

Psion palmtops like the series 3 which was first made in the 80's already had external storage, and the Series 5 could use CF cards.
When the series 5 was out they were already targetting it to people with infrared phones to surf the net.

I think its a shame psion stopped making pda's, they just seemed to slow down and stopped inovating as much as they were.