Nokia’s Visionary Wants to Out-Design Apple

http://www.wired.com/business/2012/09/nokias-visionary-wants-to-out-design-apple/

by Brajeshwar • 14 years ago

76 65 14 years ago

justinmk• 14 years ago

> “Nothing else looks like this in a phone store,” he says of the 920. “It’s very, very, very organic. It’s almost super-organic,

Also wants to out-do Apple on reality-distortion :)

I am glad to see a company competing on visual/industrial design, where Sony and Dell have failed miserably.

nooneelse2• 14 years ago

Organic things like trees and such are well known for their smooth glass surfaces and straight edges. Be careful if you put one of these phones down in a park, you might lose track of it among any nearby sticks. :)

This goes beyond distortion and well into redefinition.

randallu• 14 years ago

"Organic matter" always makes me think of "fertilizer" or "compost" (ha ha). But I do like the ID designwork Nokia have done.

I don't see how the new phones will change the game for them, though; they're incrementally better than the old ones (apparently as is the software).

sp3323• 14 years ago

Trees are not the only organic things. The Lumia could be some sort of tuber or fruit :)

slantyyz2• 14 years ago

Outside of a few "lost" years spent on weird keypad designs, for the most part, I think that Nokia's phone designs have been pretty good overall.

eternalban2• 14 years ago

Apple's real strength/genius was marketing.

yottabyte47• 14 years ago

I don't know that you can separate marketing from making great products as causes of Apple's success. I think both are needed.

eternalban2• 14 years ago

The statement was concise and clear. You are reading into it.

loumf• 14 years ago

If by "marketing" you mean "understanding what the market really wanted and then making it", then I agree.

jpxxx3• 14 years ago

There exists a treasure trove of truly feculent Apple marketing for you to peruse if you ever have the inclination. But here's a downvote if you're in a rush.

mbreese• 14 years ago

That's a bit too simplistic and really discounts the product. Over the past decade or so, Apple has recently had a very good run of ads (very recent ads notwithstanding). But I think that most of that started with the iPod ads. That is what gave Apple it's trendiness. What Apple is really good at is giving people a well designed product that does what they need, does it well, and isn't much more expensive (or even cheaper) than their competitors.

But really, it's a combination of product design and execution. Apple's hidden genius lies in their supply chain management. It's not sexy, but it's what Tim Cook executed masterfully. And that's what makes Apple its profits.

vilgax• 14 years ago

Nothing kills a bad product faster than good marketing.

Bud• 14 years ago

This couldn't be more wrong if you tried to be wrong. Apple actually spent relatively little on marketing, and it's basically impossible to argue that the iPhone's success, for instance, was because of marketing. It wasn't. It was because of superior design, superior functionality and overwhelmingly good word-of-mouth advertising.

You don't have to hire a bunch of marketing suits if your product is obviously better.

atirip• 14 years ago

First rule of out-designing Apple is you do not talk about out-designing Apple.

nirvana• 14 years ago

Yeah, makes me think the opposite. When you talk about it, it sounds like they don't care about design (or maybe even don't know what design is.)

Nokia has made good products in the past, and I do hope they will succeed in out designing Apple.

But I'll wait til I see it.

seltzered_• 14 years ago

true, and it could be even worse. There's a quote from former HP CEO Leo Apotheker after the webos acquisition about wanting to be more "Apple-like".

I can't tell you how many meetings I've been in where managers / product directors / ceo's all talk about how they want to be more like Apple - even when their business model may not make any sense to be more like Apple. And then their execution plan is focused more on cost savings than actual innovation.

sp3323• 14 years ago

I don't think the designer said that. The author asked him some specific questions about Apple, but almost all of the Apple-oriented content of the article was from the author, not the designer.

pooriaazimi• 14 years ago

It reminds me of RIM Playbook and "Amateur Hour Is Over!"

That didn't help RIM, let's hope it works better for Nokia.

markmm• 14 years ago

I applaud their intentions but their latest effort just looks like any other smartphone only plasticier.

jlarocco• 14 years ago

I don't have a smartphone, so I'm not the target market here.

But to me, it looks like a yellow iPhone running Windows. What have they "out designed Apple" on?

Are there subtle smartphone features I'm missing out on?

potatolicious2• 14 years ago

The Lumia phones really need to be held in the hand to appreciate the design. There are a few salient points:

- The colors are fantastic, the palette is incredibly vibrant without being gaudy.

- Despite the bright colors, the material feels high-quality and not plasticky, which is the fate that usually befalls brightly colored consumer electronics. The texture of the colored bits is really, really good - better than anything HTC or Samsung is fielding, IMO.

- The curvature of the device feels very natural in the hand, moreso than IMO most phones - particularly Motorola phones that feels very front-heavy and too-thin.

- The glass front feels like glass, unlike, say, Samsung's phones. My Galaxy Nexus's glass feels very distinctly plasticky, almost like a thin film has been deposited on top (and I suppose it might actually be just that).

- There's a comfortable heft to it that subtly reminds you that it's supposed to be an upmarket device, similar to iPhone, and dissimilar to Samsung's flagship phones, which feel too light to be taken seriously.

Su-Shee• 14 years ago

Couldn't agree more.

I already own an N9, which is a beautiful, tasteful piece of hardware in itself - no plastic-y feel at all and I have a Galaxy Nexus, too.

Really, no comparison.

On top, I find the metro UI design very elegant and convincing, I'm actually considering a Lumia. Can't wait to try one in my hands.

CountHackulus• 14 years ago

Not to mention the excellent build quality. I've dropped my N900 from my car once and onto the ground many times. It's got a single small scratch in the bezel to show for it, and it's the same story for my friend's N810. Nokia really knows how to build solid hardware.

majormajor2• 14 years ago

Personally the thing that kills me about the iPhone 4 design is the seams on that metal on the side. I even didn't believe the leak at first because I thought it was a clear step backward for Apple.

The Lumia's have a few things going for them: A really sturdy unibody shell that's much more scratch/dent resistant than the Androids I had before, without the shatteriness of the iPhone 4 back (and minor scratches don't hurt the color, it's not just a surface finish). The curve is much more pleasant in hand than the iPhone or most other Androids I've tried. The back of the case is extremely clean, without the logos or fine print of an iPhone. And the 800 and apparently 920 have a curved glass front which is really slick (I hate that the 900 missed out on this).

The press-to-focus/press-all-the-way-to-shoot dedicated camera button is really really nice too.

The side-center sleep/power button location is also a nice subtle touch. Pick it up with my right hand, and it's right under my thumb. Pick it up with my left hand and its right under my middle finger. Easy to press to turn the screen on or off. I didn't think it would matter (and it looked weird at first) but it really is nicer than reaching up to the top of the device to shut off/lock the screen on my old Evo.

But in a world where well over half the people I know with iPhones have them in bulky or just plain ugly cases... how much does hardware design really matter? Everyone has an iPhone like everyone else, and then they put it in a usually-boring case. Heck, even on here, a ton of the people saying it looks nice are saying "but it doesn't have the apps" or such... which of course gets nice and circular!

bluthru• 14 years ago

>Personally the thing that kills me about the iPhone 4 design is the seams on that metal on the side.

I don't understand this thinking at all. The seams have a functional purpose to separate antennas.

I view the iPhone seems the same way I view a car door seam: it has to be there, and because it has to be there I don't perceive it as ugly.

iscrewyou2• 14 years ago

Looks different and something I would want to grab and use. But honestly, Windows Phone layout is just boring. After I used it for a few times, I wouldn't want to pick it back up.

potatolicious2• 14 years ago

Not a Windows Phone user, but have used several and liked them fine - is it really any more boring than the iOS home screen?

pearle2• 14 years ago

Yeah, I really don't get this line of thinking. The iOS and Android home screens are about as boring as you can get. It's just a grid of icons.

slantyyz2• 14 years ago

>> Windows Phone layout is just boring

To me, that's a plus, because most of the stuff I do on my iPhone is rather boring. My usage revolves around the core apps, none of which is very exciting.

If Nokia can keep innovating on the camera front, they might have me switching on my next upgrade cycle.

aik• 14 years ago

Could you explain "WP layout is just boring"? How so? What does this mean?

I used a loaner WP7 phone for a month when abroad and when I came back to my iPhone I actually felt a longing for the WP. It was like iOS felt bulky, old and cluttered in comparison.

jpxxx3• 14 years ago

This article is mostly counting angels on pins given that Nokia has months and not years left, but their Lumia hardware designs really are excellent.

They're beautifully tapered, the colors are distinctive, and the feel in the hand is lovely. I wasn't delighted with the sicky Pentile displays they used for the first run, but the new IPS displays should put that to bed. They're strongly reminiscent of the 2nd Generation iPod Nano, one of the most fantastic pieces of Apple design.

Despite all of Nokia's profound failures in the last few years, they found a distinctive and appealing design for their "flagship" phones that didn't mindlessly ape the market leader and they should be commended.

wmf• 14 years ago

I only wonder if they could make the phone out of metal instead of plastic.

podperson• 14 years ago

Nothing wrong with the right plastic in my opinion.

My problem is Windows Phone 7/8. It looks OK at a glance but I think it's actually less well thought out than either iOS or Android 4.0 in practice.

Maakuth• 14 years ago

They already did, and it seemed to be a solid device when I tried it a bit. Of course they are not very happy to sell anyone that as it runs the infamous 'burning platform', Symbian.

http://www.nokia.com/gb-en/products/phone/x7-00/specificatio...

mtgx• 14 years ago

What new IPS displays? Aren't they still using the OLED/ClearBack screen?

jpxxx3• 14 years ago

I don't think so. Their site says:

Display: 4.5 inch Nokia PureMotion HD+ WXGA IPS LCD, Super Sensitive touch, Nokia ClearBlack with high brightness mode and Sunlight Readability Enhancements

http://conversations.nokia.com/2012/09/05/video-introducing-...

saint-loup• 14 years ago

It's IPS

http://www.nokia.com/global/products/phone/lumia920/specific...

Design > Display features

untog• 14 years ago

Honestly, I'm amazed that Nokia are the only ones doing this. I read that every Android manufacturer except Samsung is losing money, yet they all continue to pump out uninspired black plastic blobs (Samsung included, actually). HTC showed a little spark with their One phones, I hope it continues.

kmfrk• 14 years ago

If you want to get really depressed, read Gizmodo's (or Engadget's) review of their Meego(?) phone that was never sold because of the MS acquisition.

The review basically said that someone had finally created the perfect competitor to the iPhone. And it was never released. :(

yesbabyyes• 14 years ago

Yep, it's pretty cool, my co-founder swears by it. It's on the market here in Sweden at least. Same shape as the other phones, but running apt instead. :-)

tjpick• 14 years ago

I got the N9 here in New Zealand a couple of months ago. It is absolutely brilliant.

By absolutely brilliant, I mean $200 cheaper than the Lumia 800 (which I also got for my wife); A mile better than the crappy samsung gio I previously had; beautiful hardware design; very hand front facing camera and auto adjusts screen brightness to ambient light; very good account management/integration.

The thing that lets it down is app availability.

darklajid• 14 years ago

I like the look of it and I'd love to have a decent smartphone with a great camera for my wife (no iPhone). My nagging inner nay-sayer is probably just the geek that bought into Maemo (and still wears the shirts).

That said and out of the way: Isn't Microsoft dictating quite a bit about the design features of Win7/Win8 phones? Put differently, is there enough room for design (as in, artistic, for simplicity distinguished from technical advance in this question) innovation?

The OS is outside of their control I assume. The basic form factor is a given, buttons etc. predefined. What, ignoring the tech specs and build quality, are the design features?

Or am I just misreading design over and over again as 'make it beautiful' instead of 'engineer it in a way that it works well'?

dmix• 14 years ago

You're correct in that Nokia's limitation of design is in the hardware. The vast majority of the interaction is the software.

That leaves primary the touchscreen, shape of the phone and maybe a button. Also, the camera. I'd say thats about ~20% of the experience of using the phone, likely less.

hexagonc2• 14 years ago

I'm not sure what's new here. All the Windows Phones (7+) had a unique user interface. The array of live tiles, the emphasis on a narrow array of primary colors and the lack of UI customization always characterized Windows Phones. Also, Nokia phones have been known for good build quality for quite a while. Producing phones in colors other than black and white isn't new either.

Considering the limitations that Microsoft imposes on customizing the OS, I'm not sure how many avenues for differentiation remain for the phone body itself. There is only so much you can do with pure design. I think the more radical and original designs are only enabled by superior core technology like the size of the SOCs, batteries and other internal components. If you want a smartphone as thin and flexible as a credit card, then you're going to need advancements on a whole lot of fronts, most of which aren't within the purview of the designers. I think that Nokia needs to bank on something more than just phones that are outwardly a bit fancier than the competition. 4.7 inch screens and Gorilla Glass are old news.

mechnik• 14 years ago

<cones> += [rectangles] http://cabin9design.com/media/content/50274%20Pine%20Cone%20... a nice Scandinavian touch

againandagain• 14 years ago

Put affordable 3D printing and thus production of small hardware enclosures in the hands of honest and open creative people (that excludes Apple). Let the electronic engineers design the boards, and the Asian factories mass produce them. But let honest creative people design and produce the enclosures.

There are so many more creative people out there who could contribute to how electronic gadgets look and feel but who can't because of the closed prototype-->offshore mass production pathway, which has not changed since the 1970's.

Everyone can see that continuing to rely on Apple as the sole source of creativity is not going to work.

bobbles• 14 years ago

Do dishonest creative people make worse design decisions than honest creative people?

ksesong• 14 years ago

A good follow-up to this article could be [this review][http://www.domusweb.it/en/design/portable-cathedrals] of the deceased Nokia N9.

f137• 14 years ago

Thanks, excellent writing. I think I'll buy it after all :)

Nokia’s Visionary Wants to Out-Design Apple

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