Design

With the arrival of the new Facebook beta app for Windows Phone 8 this week, the discussion immediately focused on two aspects (1) functionality (2) design. The first one is one of those “in motion” issues that all betas face, meaning some functions may yet have been added (especially when combined with the ever changing feature set of the Facebook ecosystem). The second though ranges from personal opinion to a higher discussion of Design Principles.

More specifically, the question of whether the new Facebook app is “Metro” enough (or whatever you want to call the Modern UI Design Principles that runs through Windows Phone) has become one of the hot topics amongst commenters.

First impressions are everything and Windows Phone has that covered. It’s by far one of the most unique and beautiful operating systems at first glance. Its beauty is also more than skin deep, spend a few minutes playing around and you’ll know something is different about it. Albert Shum recently sat down with Jay Greene at CNET to talk Windows Phone and design.

Here’s an interesting twist: An HTC Windows Phone design is evidently being reused for a new Android phone. Yes, after a few cycles of having it in reverse it appears now that HTC will take their highly praised 8X design and recycle it for a new Android M7.

The images come via Android Police and while this is far from official (or 100% confirmed), the phone looks different enough from the 8X to be legitimate.

Fire up Photoshop or Illustrator because design magazine Core77 is running another design competition for Windows Phone. The contest is similar to one a year ago that Core77 did in partnership with the Windows Phone Team, this one is also a joint effort. Back then the contest was called "Fast Track to the Mobile App" and this year is going under the name "App to the Future". Winning submissions will have some nice prizes to look forward too! What's also unique about this contest is that it isn't restricted to North American residents, it's open to every abled designer on the planet.

File this under good news. The AT&T HTC 8X actually has less labeling than we have come to expect from the carrier.

Our international HTC 8X has the 'HTC' label on the front with the Beats Audio logo on the back (also with and embossed HTC logo). We assumed that the AT&T variant would be like the AT&T Nokia Lumia 920--with a HTC and AT&T blazoned on the front--but as it turns out, the 8X is quite conservative.

Windows Phone brought with it Metro, the design principles that have gone on to reach every aspect of Microsoft’s product line up. For those who have a keen interest in Metro and UX (user experience) in general you may have been following the excellent series by Arturo Toledo that explores all things Metro.

Arturo is a former senior user experience designer at Microsoft, the series has been fascinating and well worth a look.

Fan concept of a Nokia Tablet

The notion that Nokia may be working on a tablet is not really controversial—members of the company have said as much in recent months. Rumors go back that they had Meego tablet in the works before that whole Microsoft deal squashed the future of that platform for the company. Indeed, we’re not a 100% sure of what to make of the two patents filed by Nokia for tablets, just that they have them.

MSN is set to receive a visual overhaul this October to coincide with the release of Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10. Microsoft plans to roll-out the upgrade on October 26th, which will see the portal that receives over 480 million visitors per month sporting a new design and integration possibilities with other Microsoft products. The team have also looked at how the service can be made more user friendly when viewed on tablets running Windows 8.

MSN will be the portal that will fire up once Internet Explorer is launched in Windows 8, so what will consumers be greeted with?