Frogdesign’s New Feel UX User Interface

“frog and Sharp’s vision was to create a sleek line of smartphones that would break out of the conventional Android model and offer a visually stunning, highly interactive experience.”

Color me unimpressed

Enough with the placeholder phrases. A chance to redesign the Android UI deserves a bolder vision. A vision should not be within comfortable reach. A vision should give you a slight scare every time you hear it, and remind you of the huge leap you plan to make.

You said you wanted to break out of the Android model? –– I don’t see it.
Visually stunning? –– I see visual make up, that ultimately degrades the experience.
Highly interactive? –– Good UX design is not about cramming in as many contextual menus as possible.

What it really is

Feel UX is basically a stock Android with a bit of iOS, on top of some Windows Mobile 8 Live tiles. To add distinction, new features and swipe directions have been added. And of course the array of hidden menus, only accessible through arbitrary swipe gestures (This of course, being the first culprit. More is not better). All in all I feel like I _do_ need a user manual. It is the result of three individual mobile platforms mashed together, with the result of performing less than their individual counterparts. If this is what frog will continue to deliver in it’s attempting to become a interaction design oriented consultancy, I am worried.

What it should be

Be it interaction design or product design - good design is making easy out of the complex. It is to reduce to the bare essence and transform the experience to something innate. The feeling of knowing how to use the object, before you even picked it up.

Designing is doing all the heavy lifting so the user doesn’t have to. Or in culinary terms, it is doing all the cooking so the user can sit back and enjoy the meal. It is the case with art, just like it is with literature. A well written novel will use few means to convey strong emotions.

Feel UX is a great example of lack of innovation. It is an overly complex Android iteration at best.