MeeGo* Tablet User Experience

Version 1.0 Created: February 10, 2011

Intel Tablet User Experience for the MeeGo v1.2 Operating System

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Intel Tablet User Experience for the MeeGo v1.2 Operating System

Abstract This document describes the core ideas behind the tablet user experience developed by Intel for the MeeGo* operating system. The new MeeGo tablet user experience slashes time-to-market for OEMs and service providers, freeing them to innovate in product and services. Consumers are the final arbiters of the value offered by the MeeGo tablet user experience, which is aimed at a specific segment of consumers: the multitasking generation. For these consumers, the new MeeGo user experience isn’t just a new “look.” It’s a fundamental reimagining of how mobile devices should operate in the hands of the savvy consumer, a user experience that works like they do. The new MeeGo tablet user experience from Intel helps consumers become the center of their mobile experience by presenting their digital life, including their favorite social media, people, video, and photos, through a unique panel model. Agile, object-oriented navigation of content and social networks leads to a more seamless multitasking experience.

Intel’s MeeGo Strategy Intel’s overall software strategy for the Intel Atom processors is known as “architecture of choice.” This means that Intel works to ensure that all possible software solutions run best on Intel processors. Intel executes this strategy by implementing Intel Atom processorss on the best process technology in the world, by designing CPU features specifically with underlying software requirements in mind (silicon/software co-design), and by working with software suppliers to optimize their products to run best on Intel Atom processors. As Intel developed the Atom processor family, it became clear that the fragmentation of was hindering OEMs and service providers in their efforts to offer solutions that span the many segments they now want to serve. The MeeGo OS was created under the auspices of the to address the fragmentation that dilutes the efforts of application developers. MeeGo provides a common set of across device segments, with compliance tests and segment-specific profiles to ensure that an application written for MeeGo works on multiple implementations within and between device segments. Value for Operators, OEMs, and Developers MeeGo is purpose-built to allow network operators to benefit from value-added services deployed on their network and subsidized platforms, rather than limiting their participation to that of a data carrier. Intel’s federated applications store, the Intel AppUp Center, provides operators the flexibility to participate in or control new business models for service delivery while benefiting from a global effort to enable applications for the MeeGo platform. As an open source platform, MeeGo adheres to the highest standards of inclusion, transparency, and meritocracy, and the subscribes to the “upstream first” philosophy. MeeGo code is released to open source months ahead of license requirements to allow time for community comment and early access by companies other than the major MeeGo contributors. MeeGo doesn’t just theoretically run on both ARM and IA; it is actively developed on both architectures. For developers and operators, Intel’s wide target of devices for MeeGo, spanning , handhelds, tablets, connected TVs, in-vehicle entertainment, mediaphones, and more, means that their investments can be leveraged across many classes of devices, including devices not yet conceived. The MeeGo Core OS provides unconstrained access to Internet content, great performance, and a broad selection of attractive and creative applications. Built on an outstanding implementation of Linux optimized for the Intel Atom processor, MeeGo offers a rich array of services to application developers who write natively for MeeGo on the Intel Atom processor platform. And now the new MeeGo tablet user experience slashes time-to-market for OEMs and service providers, freeing them to innovate in product and services. The Breakthrough User Experience for MeeGo The prototypical , now three years old, is rooted in the same assumption that has been made by OS designers since the command line, namely that applications are the center of the consumer experience. * famously

Intel Tablet User Experience for the MeeGo v1.2 Operating System used the Rolling Stones “Start Me Up” in early ads for Windows* 95 to emphasize the primacy of the Start menu and the applications contained within it. However, experienced users avoid the Start menu in favor of double-clicking on files whose name extension implies which application is to be invoked to operate on the object. Double-click on a file whose name ends with .doc, and Word* is launched to edit the file. Double-click on a file whose name ends with .wav, and the Media Player launches to play the sound clip. The same two invocation concepts inhabit the Mac OS interface. The now-ubiquitous grid of application icons on smartphone home screens echoes the Start Menu from Windows 95 or the Application dock of the Mac. Want to browse the web? Launch an app. Read or write email? Launch a different app. Write an instant message? Better launch another app. Now there are hundreds of thousands of apps and a thriving third- party ecosystem for mobile operating systems. There is no doubt that application-orientation has its place in the user experience. Certain activities do naturally begin with the application that makes the activity possible. Want to play a game? Just find the game app and launch it. But mature mobile operating systems need a fundamental capability to place people and content at the center of the experience. Does it really matter how we get a message from a friend? Why should we care if a message arrives via one of several instant-messaging protocols, SMS, or email? Today’s mobile devices should not make the implicit assumption that our digital lives are organized around the apps we use. The new MeeGo tablet user experience puts the content of our lives back at the center of the user experience. Though it includes the now de rigueur grid of icons, the application grid in the new MeeGo UX is best thought of as an occasional stop for navigation. Objects, not applications, are the real story of the MeeGo UX. An object might be a sound clip, a video, a message from one of your friends in any number of formats, a calendar item, or a place. A simple tap on the object invokes the default application associated with that object, very often with far fewer navigational steps than it would take to launch an application to do the same task through an application grid. For example, consider the task of playing a video. With the MeeGo UX, one taps the video and it plays. It’s also possible to go to the application grid, find the video player, open it with a tap, and then use the player to navigate to the video, finally selecting it for playing. But why bother? And why have to remember how to open a video rather than an audio clip? The value of object orientation is acknowledged in some areas of existing mobile OSes. For example, one might see a Web link highlighted in an email; tap on the link and the browser will launch. However, this kind of object-orientation is a property of individual applications and not of the top-level UX itself, so it’s inconsistently implemented in today’s mobile OS’s. The most visible manifestation of the MeeGo OS user experience is the collection of panels that organize content and other objects. Panels include objects of similar type. For example, “My Friends” may include messages from any number of applications, grouped together simply because they are all messages. Vertical swipe gestures reveal more messages. Horizontal swipes reveal panels of different types. The screen of a large tablet may allow for three panels viewed in parallel, while a small tablet could allow a user to view two panels at a time. The development preview implementation suggests one way of organizing content and contacts into panels, but in production devices this could be an area for differentiation among OSVs and device manufacturers. The panel metaphor extends to the built-in applications for the MeeGo open source UX, lending a consistent, clean, easy-to- use interface throughout. For example, the touch-enabled browser for tablets uses panels for organizing open sites, bookmarks, and recently visited sites. Objects will frequently be operable by more than one application. For example, a photo can be viewed or shared. A tap on a thumbnail displays the expanded photo. A press-and-hold gesture brings up a menu: view the photo or share it? These contextual menus will be familiar to computer users as analogous to a right click of the mouse, but they require neither a mouse nor any complicated gestures. Gestures can be added by OSVs or OEMs to differentiate their implementations. The new MeeGo tablet user experience features object-oriented application invocation and a powerful way of organizing content, contacts, and other objects into easily navigable panels. For the multitasking generation, it’s an interface for mobile devices that works – like they do.