What do Sense, TouchWiz and Emotion UI all have in common? They’re all manufacturer applied skins to go over the top of Android. These skins are designed to enhance the user experience and make using the device a whole lot easier.
Yesterday Huawei announced Emotion UI and it looks quite familiar. Different icons, widgets, themes, panels and custom apps like voice search. They have yet to announce how it will be rolled out to existing devices, hopefully it will be an optional thing. More than likely it will be new devices only.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD47-8GdDJI
Here is the press release:
Berlin, Germany, August 30, 2012 – Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, today launched a sneak preview of the Huawei Emotion UI at IFA 2012. An Android-based user interface (UI), Emotion UI will play a critical role in cementing the strength of Huawei’s smartphone portfolio. Reinforcing Huawei’s user-centric design philosophy, “Design with Empathy”, Emotion UI is built on a clear understanding of how consumers interact with their smartphones and what they expect from these interactions.
“Emotion UI is a reflection of Huawei’s empathic design philosophy – built by consumers for consumers. In designing this user interface, we spoke to consumers to find out what they wanted from their smartphones, the type of experiences they sought when interacting with their devices and what we, as consumers ourselves, want from our smartphones. The team was very conscious about placing people before technology. We believe that it is only through listening to what consumers want and need that we can truly develop products that they will love,” said Dennis Poon, Global UI Design Director, Huawei Device.The Emotion UI showcase at IFA 2012 provided a glimpse of what consumers can expect from the final product. Emotion UI improves usability and provides a much simpler navigational experience for users. It enables users to customise the design and functions of their smartphone home page to suit their personal needs, in addition to simplifying folder functions for easier management of applications. “Me Widget” allows users to combine all the information and functions they need in a single, customisable widget while “Smart Tutorial” acts as a comprehensive support tool to help entry-level users get up to speed with their phone’s features in the shortest time possible.
Post-IFA, Emotion UI will enter the next phase of its development, driven further by consumer wants and needs. From August 30, 2012, Huawei will call for consumer and user feedback for use in the UI design and development process. Consumers can watch a demo video of Emotion UI at www.youtube.com/HuaweiDeviceCo or access more information via the Emotion UI Facebook page www.facebook.com/Huaweiemui.