Radical New Smartphone Appears — Emblaze First Else
Engadget has uncovered a new smartphone just appearing that has a radical new user interface. The Emblaze First Else (rotten name) uses a single thumb to manipulate all aspects of the interface which fans down the right side of the phone display. Lefties are left out in the cold as it definitely looks to only be manipulated with the right hand.
While the interface is new and refreshing, it looks like it would take some time to get used to. Actions are performed by swiping both down the screen with the thumb and left across the screen. It seems utilitarian in appearance, and a bit laggy at times.
Interestingly, the First Else is based on the Access Linux Platform (ALP), a mobile OS that seemed to have died a while back. That’s the platform started by Palm way back when and then sold to Access in Japan.
Take a look at the videos that Engadget shot of the First Else, it’s totally new.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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Actually, this has nothing to do with Palm. Palm separated into two companies: PalmOne (hardware) and PalmSource (software). PalmSource created Cobalt, which was nothing special, and so nobody actually ended up using it. Access then bought PalmSource, and then started work on the new OS, ALP. In other words, ALP isn’t based on anything PalmSource did, but instead is a new OS that started after the acquisition.
(And if you’re wondering, PalmOne bought Handspring and then bought the “Palm” name back, as well as a perpetual Garnet license, when Access acquired PalmSource.)
Joe,
Many of the folks working on the Else are the PalmSource team, who are now working for ACCESS. The new code is different, but there’s definitely overlap in the team and sensibilities that created PalmOS and the one that created the infrastructure for Else.
This article is not even half complete. You are missing tones of info. What about the device’s list of features for example?
Let me fill in the missing info:
The device has a 3.5-inch, 854 x 480 capacitive touchscreen WiFi/3G/Bluetooth/GPS, built in accelerometers, and a 5 MP camera.
Radio: WCDMA/HSDPA/GSM/GPRS/EDGE: Quad-band 850/900/1800/1900MHz and Tri-band 850/1900/2100MHz.
The official website: http://www.elsemobile.com/
there’s a video in Youtube demonstrating how the UI works: http://www.firstelse.com/#/Connect/MessageWiz
@ John:
thanks for the spec.
In fact i would like to describe the First Else as a personal secretary rather than a cell phone. I’ve seen from the website that there is a feature called message Wiz. When you cannot answer a call, you can instruct the phone to tell the caller “I will call you back in 5 mins”, isn’t it cool?