metro ui

Hotmail is dead! Long "Live" Outlook

So, last week Microsoft launched Outlook.com, a refresh/relaunch of their webmail service. Outlook.com replaces existing Hotmail and Live user interface, beefs up the service and even gives users the opportunity to change their email domain from Hotmail.com to Outlook.com.
I've been using Outlook.com both through a new email address and with my existing Live account, so here are my impressions almost a week in.

The user interface, once you have either signed up or agreed to have your existing Hotmail/Live use the new UI, is clean. At launch, everyone was referring to the UI as the Metro one.

Metro UI is the design language/style used by Microsoft for their smartphones (running Windows Phone), the Xbox dashboard and on Windows 8. Later in the week, news broke of the fact that Microsoft staff and partners have been explicitly told not to use the term Metro UI, due to threat of legal action from Metro AG, a German retail group. Until Microsoft come up with a replacement name for their UI, I'll call it Metro UI.
My Winodows 8 Start screen. I call it Metro UI.
The clean UI on Outlook.com is a definitely better. The larger, more readable fonts and cleaner screen seem to be snappier than the now clunky Hotmail webmail. Media, such as images and video, can be set to open automatically within the email itself and images can also be viewed as a slideshow too.
An email with an image as an attachment.
A gallery view of the image attachments.
From the Outlook.com webmail page you can also chat with your MSN/Windows Live chat buddies, integrate your Facebook chat and soon you will be able to make and receive Skype voice and video calls. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Skype from Outlook.com compares to Google Talk from Gmail.
I have refrained from transferring my Live account over to the Outlook.com domain because of all the other services tied to my Live email address, mainly Xbox Live and my Windows Phone Nokia Lumia. Apparently switching your address to an Outlook.com one can break those services and accounts.

Outlook.com is obviously not finished yet. Clicking on the logo in the top left corner of the page, you get to switch from your webmail to other services such as People (contacts), Calendar and Skydrive. People is using the Metro UI design language, but Calendar and Skydrive are still using the old Hotmail/Live UI. I look forward to seeing how those services behave using the Metro UI.
Metro UI switcher to the other account services.
My Outlook.com email address synchronises perfectly with my Nokia Lumia 710, and it is as good an experience on the Windows Phone platform as Hotmail was. Essentially, nothing is new there. On Android, you can add an Outlook.com email account to the Hotmail application and get your email on the go there. My personal view on the Hotmail for Android app: it's pants, don't bother trying!

This Outlook.com webmail refresh is a good start for Microsoft, I like the shinily simple UI and service. Is it enough to win me over? Currently I'm locked into Google's services and webmail service, GMail, so it will be tough for Microsoft to do so. Check back in a few months time and see if I have changed...

These are the views of an Android fanboy, bear that in mind. As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below.

New BBC Homepage Is Live! [BBC]

Yesterday evening I went through one of the things I do most often on my laptop/netbook/tablet/desktop/smartphone: I visited the BBC website to browse the news/sport/iPlayer content of the day. In this particular instance I was on my laptop (which is happily running Linux Mint 12). Low and behold the BBC Homepage has switched to the new interface!
The New BBC Homepage (First Page)

I like the new BBC Homepage on www.bbc.co.uk . The top bar remains static, with links to the main sections of the website (News, Sport, Weather, iPlayer, TV, Radio, More...). The bar beneath the top one is static as well, but contains an analogue clock, the date and weather snapshot (you can personalise this feed for wherever you are by simply entering your postcode). Below the two static bars at the top, content from the website is displayed as tiles with snapshot previews and easy to read symbols of the type of content contained within the tile. This user interface is in many ways similar to the Windows Phone 7 Metro UI (tiles). I like it!
The lower section of the New BBC Homepage
If you scroll down on the webpage you are presented with sections (tiles) specifically for the iPlayer, popular content on the website and a fuller selection of sections of the website. The website is designed as a 3x2 panel canvas so you can click on one of the large arrows at the right or left of the page to scroll through the content. The 3x2 panels are on a loop so once you click right from the 3rd panel you go back to the first one. The lower panels of the homepage are all populated by the same content as the first bottom one.
The New BBC Homepage (Second Page)

The lower section of the New BBC Homepage (it's the same throughout)

The New BBC Homepage (Third Page)
As I have said in the past, I really like what the BBC have done with their website homepage. The new design is clean, sleek and magazine like. I love using the new website on my Archos 80 G9, the new design is particularly well suited for touch interface devices. Using the service and browsing the content easier and more intuitive. Well done to everyone involved in the redesign. I'm happy to see my TV License money being spent on improving the BBC services I receive.

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below or on the Google Plus link. Let me know how you get on with the new BBC Homepage.

The New Google Android Market

I've just updated the Android Market on my HTC Desire (running CyanogenMod 7.1 RC).



 The new Market application has a very Metro UI (Windows Phone 7) similar interface. I am already a fan of the Metro UI interface (you can get Launcher 7 for Android from the Market for free), so this update is well received on my phone.
Could this be an indicator of UI changes still to come in Android? Let the rumour excitement and speculation begin.

As usual, feel free to leave comments/questions at the end and Google +1 this post.