Sony aren't what they used to be. They used to be pure class. It's as if Apple have stolen Sony's soul. Abandoning XMB doesn't make sense to me. It was versatile, practical, and is a good fit for all devices.
Sony's NeoGeo Pocket's (PSP2/Vita) business/non technical ramifications talk
- Thread starter Farid
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XMB isn't the most practical interface for touch devices though, and it would have been very counter-intuitive for people used to them.
Hmm, well according to most reviews, the touchPad wasn't as smooth as the iPad2, so maybe they should have worried about getting it to work better on its own hardware first.
I don't think the battery life was competitive with iOS either. Someone mentioned in the HP thread that while the multitasking was more slick on webOS, when you're running apps. in full screen, there was no advantage in having full-blown multitasking, esp. if you're trying to optimize battery life.
Anyways, hoping to pick up one or two touchPads with the fire sale they're having, partly because someone will be porting Honeycomb or Ice Create Sandwich to it.
How is it very different from iOS and Android, where you'd swipe left/right to scroll the main incons, and up/down to scroll that list, and then touch to select the file/app you'd want to run? Move works kinda that way, but not as intuitively because you have to press a button to 'grab' the interface, rather than touch it directly. Just imagining touch-XMB in front of me, I can't see any obvious issues or confusion.
It has similar grid structure as XMB but at the macro level. I suspect if they coat the Vita UI with XMB styling, it would be perceived as XMB 2.0. PS3's XMB UI is designed for big screen. The XMB UI in smaller Sony devices behave quite differently.
I like how my friends jump up from the bottom of the screen when they have something to say. Those kind of elements give character to the UI.
I like how my friends jump up from the bottom of the screen when they have something to say. Those kind of elements give character to the UI.
Hmm, well according to most reviews, the touchPad wasn't as smooth as the iPad2, so maybe they should have worried about getting it to work better on its own hardware first.
... Which is why Sony hardware would make a good pair up.
Have to look at the use case first. A good multitasking framework may be great for hosting game servers on the Vita to allow wireless LAN play, since 3G sucks.
They can always add wake-suspend mode on top for regular fullscreen app.
You do realize that iOS GUI is basically XMB designed for touch right? Vertical and horizontal swiping...how's that not intuitive? One could EASILY redesign the XMB interface for touch input...it's not even a question of how...it's a question of why not?
That you can easily do something doesn't mean it is a good or the best idea.
Last I checked I didn't see a valid answer to the question of why not...
The best idea isn't one that garners responses like these...
The important bit isn't the swiping but the direct access to anywhere on the screen via touch. Thus an interface designed for touch should make good use of the whole screen instead of showing a single column and row of icons.
XMB doesn't have to be artificially restricted to single rows and columns, only stupid people who can't think outside the box have this belief...some people should hold on to their day job.
And why would you still call it XMB then?
Why does it matter what it's called? Who says XMB version 2 has to have 1 column and 1 row?
As long as it feels and looks like what people ALREADY know and use on PS3, PSP and other Sony CE devices I could call it DUH IN UR FACE and it still wouldn't change how it's used...
I disagree. On my PC I have access to every point on the screen. Yet you wouldn't consider a good menu interface one that fills the screen with options! Conceptual organisation deliberately reduces clutter and directs the user along a relevant subset of options to simplify and speed operation. And even if it's no better to use, at least it doesn't look a mess! This is preferable to the iOS style pages of icons where you have to search for what you want.
XMBVita could have the same XMB icons as PS3, maybe with some Social Network icon too. You scroll across to find the category, similar to a menu bar. This present a list of sub-options perhaps, and scrolling down to a chosen option and touching that icon brings in a page of related apps/content to be perused one at a time.
Good design can be as much about what you don't show as what you do. Too much going on is plain uncomfortable for some folk.
If you take away core elements it won't feel like that.
A windowed interface designed for multitasking is hardly directly comparable. But I would hate, say, a file browser that can only display files as a single column and doesn't make efficient use of the space allocated to it.
But maybe we have just different interpretations of what "touch XMB" is supposed to mean.
If you don't know WTF you're doing then yes....like I said stick to your day job and let the "outside the box thinkers" come up with stuff that actually doesn't look like shit.
BTW have you seen the X360's dash? It's basically XMB with big pictures....single row single column...
As would I (though I'll quite often use a list view too). But I'd also hate a menu interface that has every single option present at once, instead of hiding unrelated content I don't need. XMB is equivalent to a pretty menu bar, with categories on the horizontal, and related content within each category in the vertical. Exactly as has been used since GEM appeared on the original Mac, which is a conceptual embodiment of the filing cabinet - you don't see every file at once, but select a category of files according to which drawer you want, and select from the subset of all files that the drawer presents.
The current preferred touch interface is contrary to this sensible subdividing. It's just a mass of icons presented in no particular order where you have to dig around for what you want. It's equivalent to this:
That desktop is using the full space available, just as you prefer. Are you really seeing this is easier to navigate than a Start menu subdividued into different categories??
On my PC I have folders for creative stuff, entertaining stuff, productive stuff, and sensible stuff. On my PS3, rather than have one long list of games I subdivide them into categories. It's natural for people to organise their data into smaller subsets when the dataset becomes quite large and unmanageable.XMB has exactly the same grid structure as a page of iOS icons, only arranged by category and with automatic hiding of rows of icons, which makes sense.
Coming up with a good touch interface doesn't necessitate "outside the box" thinking (not that it hurts), as it's been done before. That doesn't make it similar to XMB, though, just like the iOS interface isn't "basically XMB designed for touch".
No, but I'm not arguing against categories. I just don't think "categories = XMB". Organisation and controls are two aspects of the interface. XMB is designed for directional controls and works quite well with those, given a good controller (the directional controls on Sony IR remotes are rubbish, just like anyone else's). For a touch interface I'd want something else, though.That desktop is using the full space available, just as you prefer. Are you really seeing this is easier to navigate than a Start menu subdividued into different categories??
XMB = columns and rows + categories
NXE = columns and rows + categories
Take NXE and apply a "XMB theme" to it and you eccentially have XMB version 2. Don't sit inside your box and tell me NXE won't work with touch input.
From what you've stated so far it doesn't sound like you even know what you want or why you want it....you're just waffling and confused. Vita's current GUI looks like shit....whether you want it is irrelevent. Why don't you stop dancing around and TELL us what's so great about the current Vita GUI versus a redesigned XMB...instead of handwaving about why XMB cannot be made into a touch interface. I'm telling you it CAN be made EASILY.
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Okay, what's your suggestion? You could have a page of categories, and click an icon to bring up a page of content. That's fine. The main advocation of XMB comes with device uniformity. This XMB design wouldn't be a bad design for a touch screen - scroll left/right with a flick, as we do already on touch devices, scroll up and down with a flick, and press an icon. One can argue it won't be as efficient as a page of options as I've just described, but being uniform across all Sony devices would be a plus, helping to create a standard experience that helps build the Sony brand. Different interfaces on different devices is going to make them seem disconnected. And the elegance of XMB IMO is that it works in all these cases. It could be implemented on PC like Media Centre, on console, on portable and phone, and TV.
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