In the mobile phone world, the iPhone from Apple has definitely set the bar with regards to touch interfaces.  Apple, with their multi-touch capabilities, has set a new paradigm with regards to user interfaces and user experience on mobile handsets.  We have seen other players in the mobile industry try and replicate Apple’s success, but have come short.

Nokia has appeared to be a sleeping giant when it comes to touch interfaces.  Over the last year, we have seen the Nokia XpressMusic 5800 and the corresponding S60 5th Edition come to the market.  And now, the Nokia N97 is the flagship Nokia model with its large 3.5″ touch screen.

These two handsets have been modest entries into the touch market and it appears with recent announcements from the Finnish handset maker that they have finally embraced the touch user interface and are putting their engineering talent behind it.

The Nokia N900 Tablet

As discussed before, the Nokia N900 Tablet/Phone takes some of the best features of the Nokia N97 and marries them with the popular, yet niche, features of Nokia’s Internet Tablet line.  With the N900 we get the expendable Linux-based Maemo 5 operating system tied in with a 5Mp Camera with Carl Zeiss Lens, 3.5″ touch screen, 32GB of onboard storage and a slide-our keyboard.

If you watch the demo video provided by Nokia, you’ll see they’re featuring the touch interface front and center.  The N900 from Nokia is all about creating media and sharing it with those in your social circle online.

Nokia X6

The X6 is a brand new device category from Nokia.  This X6 device is made for media consumption with its 3.2″ screen.  It also features 32GB of onboard memory and a 5MP digital camera.

But, in a huge step for Nokia, the biggest news out of Nokia World (in my opinion), is the Nokia X6 features a capacitive touch screen.  Whereas the N97 and 5800 XpressMusic features a resistive touch screen that requires ample feedback to register a keystroke or tap, the X6 will be more user-friendly – like the iPhone which also features a capacitive screen.

With its advertised 35 hours of music playback and customizable homescreen, the X6 represents a new venture for Nokia in the touchscreen phone market.

What do you think? Do these new handsets excite you?  Or is Nokia just trying too hard and coming up short?

It is interesting to see all the changes that are occurring in the handset market.  The iPhone’s effect is starting to ripple and its time for other innovators to start showing us their stuff.  Does Nokia have any chops?  You tell me.

We have been working hard at Taptu to refine our application on the iPhone and iPod Touch platform.  We believe our app is a great addition to the touch web and brings all the highlights of touch-friendly content to your fingertips.

With that in mind, we’ve released a new version of the application into Apple iTunes App Store.  There are a few notable changes.

User Interface Improvements:

These include a few minor changes to make it easier to utilize all the functionality of the Taptu Search Application. The most notable change is that the “Orbital” function is now an actual button.  This feature was present in the last version of the application, but many users missed it because it wasn’t visibly noticeable as a click-able (tap-able) button.

Now, if you click on the button in the upper right – you can see the awesome functionality which lets you refine the scope of your search by just searching images, twitter, and so on.  Also, you can see related search terms based on what you enter.

Finally, we’ve implemented a new Settings tab in the App that lets you refine how the Taptu Search App behaves.  The new tab will allow you to set user preferences in the App, without having to go to the iPhone’s settings bar.

Other Changes

We have also made an effort to tidy up the Sharing options. As before, you can still share out your results via email and SMS, or on your favorite social network such as Facebook or Twitter.  We just cleaned up the interface a bit.

In another change, if you launch the App after having it closed – it will load up the last search you executed.  This change is a direct result from user feedback we’ve attained since the App debuted in July.

Please Give Us Feedback!

As you can see, this minor update addresses a few of the concerns our users have given us since the launch of our iPhone/iPod Touch application.  In fact, two of the changed items mentioned above came about because of feedback I’ve received from our user community.

So, the bottom line is – we’re here and we’re listening.  So please connect if you have issues, comments, or concerns about our application.  We’re always looking for ways to make our applications and service better!

To grab the latest version of the Taptu iPhone App, follow this link.

Get in touch with us by emailing me at jason <at> taptu <dot> com or via our Twitter account.

Jason

US Community Manager – Taptu

In using the Taptu Search App on your iPhone or iPod Touch, you’ve seen that we have done away with traditional search engine results and given then a new visual representation that utilizes the beautiful touch interface that is native to the iPhone.  We’ve done away with result lists and replaced them with visual ‘cards’.

We think it’s a pretty novel way to surf through search results. Each result is presented in a card format. You can flick horizontally through the cards, in order of relevancy.

This interface is brand new and is something we at Taptu have been working hard on. In fact, it’s a key differentiator between our search results and other options available on the mobile web.  Granted, flicking through search results may not be a way to research your college thesis, but flicking is a fun and functional way of navigating search results on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

As always, we’re looking for ways to improve our apps and core search service.  If you have feedback, please reach out to us by leaving a comment below, via Twitter.

We spend a lot of time looking at iPhone apps these days and it’s very clear that the user experience can be the difference between someone buying an app or not.

Marc posted about the importance of creating the right impression within the App Store . I wanted to write here briefly about how the app itself then needs to continue with creating the right impression through its UX.

As example, lets take the simple ‘converter’ app – you know, the one you download because you need to convert Fahrenheit to Centigrade, or Miles to Kilometers? It could be seen as a ‘boring utility’ by many, but user experience design can still make one app stand out over another.

I’ve downloaded a couple of converters and one that I really liked was Convertbot. With Convertbot the designers have really crafted the user experience. They have considered everything from the icon onwards and made it feel seamless and clean to use.

When you start the app, the loading screen is a metallic/industrial-feeling ‘shutter’ with animation – this then leads nicely into a main screen which maintains the industrial feel and where users simply spin a wheel of icons to choose what type of conversion they want to make – length, weight, etc.

Putting that in the context of other converter apps its clear to see that Converbot user experience is more considered from a design perspective.

Take a look at the two screens here from two different converter apps. This is the main screen where the user chooses their conversion and enters what they want to convert.

Convertbot keeps it very simple – the user just flicks the wheel to select what they want to convert. Convertbot also reduces complexity by offering the user either the wheel or the keypad – depending on the context they are in. This reveals the complexity as needed rather than attempting to fit everything onto one screen.

As you all know, we’re really excited about the utilizing the touch interface to it’s fullest extent.  To this end, we’ve taken a project of ours, The Music Cube, and ported it to the iPhone.  Our new application is now available in the iTunes App store.

How does The Music Cube work?  It’s a fun game whereby you analyze an image puzzle and try to guess the artist/band/song  based on the visual image(s) you see.  It’s challenging, addictive and works  well on the touch interface. So if you have an iPhone or Touch and love music then give it a spin.

Music Cube on the iPhone was a little side project here at Taptu.  As linked above, the desktop web version was produced a while back and proved so popular we just couldn’t resist porting it to the iPhone.  When so many Taptuans rally behind an effort, its hard to hold them back.  Our lead engineer on the project was Telmo Menezes (since crowned King of Open GL) with Matt and Marc on the design side.

Astonishingly, the Music Cube iPhone app was pumped out in just four weeks.  Pretty cool, I think!

The intent of the Music Cube is to provide a fun game to pass the time while you’re waiting in a line, riding the bus, or otherwise have a few spare moments to challenge your music knowledge.  Also, if you get stuck, you an always rely upon Taptu Mobile Search to help guide your way

Be sure to check out upcoming versions of the Music Cube app for additional, more challenging questions.

As a US-based mobile nut, I’m always looking abroad to Europe and Asia to see what’s coming in the mobile industry.  For some reason, it seems that with mobile hardware, software, and web services, many innovations hit Asia and Europe before coming to North American shores.  I think it has to do with regulatory environments and also culture.

This “grass is always greener” mentality hit me like a freight train yesterday when I saw a post from Taptu friend Ewan over at Mobile Industry Review.  Basically, Ewan pointed out that 3, a UK mobile phone carrier, is offering the brand new Nokia N97 for free in exchange for customers signing an 18 month contract and a mere £35/month (that’s roughly $58 US dollars for my fellow yanks) tariff!

In exchange for your £35/month, you get 300 mobile minutes.  Add on another £5, and 3 will throw in unlimited data.

This is really an awesome deal, from a US perspective.  If this a similar offering were made available by AT&T in the States, the handset would probably cost $300 or $400 up front, and you’d have to have a voice and data package that would be roughly $100/month; all with a 2-year agreement versus 3’s 18-month.   Note: I’m using the iPhone 3GS handset cost and monthly plan costs as a comparison.

Right now in the United States, no carrier is offering to subsidize the Nokia N97, meaning potential customers will pay the full $700 handset cost plus around $100/month to AT&T for voice/data services.

And don’t even get me started on how spotty AT&T’s voice and data network is here in the States.  I know from friends that 3G speeds in the UK leave AT&T in the dust.

My point is this: competition in the mobile market is a good thing that benefits all mobile services consumers.  3, in an effort to stand out, is giving a pretty sweet offer for customers who want to purchase top of the line handsets like the Nokia N97.  Unfortunately here in the U.S., we only have two GSM carriers, leaving a void in terms of competition and therefore making our mobile landscape less attractive.

What’s the view like from the other side of the pond?  How do you view the US mobile market?  I look forward to being educated.

When we first started out on this journey, 10,000 searches on a mobile device felt like climbing Everest but we’re pleased to announce today that we’ve just reached a major traffic milestone. The BIG 1m. Everyday Taptu users across the world tap over 1,000,000 search requests on their mobile phones.

It’s a cheesey cliche but we’d genuinely like to thank all the people who use Taptu regularly and the team at Taptu for working so hard to achieve this.

Now for the next milestone….

The official press/blogger/ release thingy-me-jig is here

It’s with great pleasure that we host the first June Carnival of the Mobilists, #176. Those of you regular to the Taptu blog may have noticed it has received a new lick of paint alongside the new desktop site. Keep an eye on the site and join us on Twitter to find out when the app goes live!

This past weekend was beautifully sunny in the UK, and the air is full of positive vibes, great hope and the smell of BBQ as we approach the Summer Solstice. This Carnival seems to breathe that same air of growth and progress in bringing people together through mobile technology.

Geoff Ballinger tells us about the first Mobile Monday Edinburgh – Congratulations Geoff on launching MoMo up North, we hope it leads to many new ideas and interesting discussions! The second MoMo is this evening, so if you’re in Edinburgh, be sure to join the conversation.

Also in the vein of excellent mobile events, Rudy de Waele flags up Mobile 2.0, which is now under three weeks away. For those less familiar with the event, follow the link for more details – the event is composed of a developer day on the Thursday, led by Dan Appelquist and Mike Rowehl, followed by a Startup Demo Launch Pad day which is always very promising, as well as the usual conference day. Steve Ives, Taptu CEO, will be attending the conference, so be sure to say hi if you see him!

Aaron Chua shares some highly creative and exciting possibilities where mobile helps connect online and offline, from the convenience of integrated e-commerce to pay for your coffee to location-aware search in a bookshop. Each one of these ideas seems to be an inch out of reach of our fingertips, completely possible yet not quite in place yet. What else would you like to see your mobile facilitate? Personally, I wish it could help me locate my glasses on an eyes-half-open Monday morning…

Peggy Anne Salz interviews Gypsii CEO Dan Harple for her MSearchGroove podcast, discussing Gypsii’s new iPhone application [iTunes link] which was recently launched.

Chetan Sharma investigates the advances in health-related use of mobile, following the mHealth conference. The post is worth a look just to see Chetan’s photos of the different devices used to capture medical information and potentially save lives.

Ajit Jaokar also provides a thorough event summary from the LTE World Summit in Berlin, while Eric at Mobileslate outlines some of the challenges mobile advertisers in Asia are likely to face in entering that market.

On the go? Grab the mobilespace podcast which discusses the many ways one can create a mobile site, brought to you by mJelly and Peter Glaeser of Sponsormob.

Meanwhile, if you have time to sit down with a cup of tea and want to read something nice and meaty, sink your teeth into Tomi Ahonen’s “Beyond demographics, how marketing will use mobile to collect better insights” on mobile as the seventh mass media.

Finally, Russell at MobHappy writes a thought-provoking piece on Humanity 2.0 or what he calls The Singularity – a single all-knowing, all-seeing entity that is aware of our every move and communication. What happens then? Russell presents four scenarios, but I’d be curious to hear yours.

[Image source: copenhagen, kongens have, perfect summer day by svanes on Flickr, Creative Commons]

Since the rise of Twitter and the associated “real-time web”, much attention has been paid to how real-time search could perhaps pass conventional search results in usability and relativity.  I’ll leave this debate to the blogosphere and social media anthropologists, but I do want point out one fact: searching Twitter on the mobile platform leaves a lot to be desired.

That is, until Taptu embraced Twitter as a search type.  Using our mobile search engine crawlers and search algorithms, we index Twitter and therefore are the perfect solution for searching Twitter on the mobile web.  Also, in our upcoming iPhone/iPod Touch application you can narrow your search to Twitter content as well, making our iPhone app an ideal way to find Twitter search results on your iPhone.

Searching Twitter in Taptu Mobile Search

To find your Twitter search results in Taptu mobile search, go to Taptu.com on your mobile and search for any term you want.  Then, in the upper right, click “more>>” and chose Twitter to narrow down your search and only show Twitter search results.  The search page will refresh with the Tweets that contain the search term(s) you input.

As an added bonus, using our sharing methods, if you’d like to share your search results with your friends via Twitter, Facebook, SMS, or Email, you can do that the same way you always have.

Other Options Exist, But Lack

Yes, Google does some indexing of Twitter search results in their desktop search experience, but these Twitter search results on the Google mobile site are indiscernible from the other relevant search results and don’t show up in a few tests I tried on my Nokia devices and Apple iPhone.

Also, there is the conventional Twitter search (formerly Summize), but this page and the associated search results are not formatted or optimized for browsing on your mobile screen and over your mobile data connection.

Becoming Your Mobile Search Machine

We’re working hard to cover all the areas of search you want on your mobile.  We already cover photos, entertainment, sport, movies, travel guides, and Wikipedia, but we’re constantly looking out to become your mobile search machine.

What areas would you like us to go with our searching technology to make our service more useful?  Please connect with us on Twitter by messaging @taptu or leave a comment in the comments section.

Earlier this week, I attended an excellent unconference event here in Cambridge called Amplified 09; the objective of the discussion is to encourage innovation, creativity and communication in the UK. One of the most interesting discussions was a review of the Digital Britain report published earlier by the UK government.

Connecting Britain

The Digital Britain report outlines the action plan to get the UK more connected, and one strand in particular caught my interest. It has been criticised for lacking detail and vague commitment to make a difference, guaranteeing a “digital universal service commitment” of 2Mbits/s across the UK – half the current average speed of existing connections. While it’s noble to focus on giving remote areas access, which I assume is what they intend to do, 2Mbits isn’t exciting.

In the same way some countries are bypassing the traditional fixed line connection and jumping straight to mobile phones, could the answer in better broadband be with mobile connections? While we’re behind in countries like Japan where 92% of handsets sold in 2006 (yes two thousand and six) were 3G phones, the move towards faster mobile access is happening here too.

Granted, there are still hurdles to a fully-connected country – namely a need for a stronger infrastructure especially in non-central regions and improved speeds – before it becomes a serious alternative. I do wonder, however, whether the solution will come in the form of a small dongle or integrated SIM slot within a laptop, which can be used regardless of location. The theoretical speeds for mobile connections with HSDPA and HSDPA+ do get pretty sexy.

Free As A… Dongle?

Digital nomads already make heavy use of mobile connectivity, as T-Mobile’s figures show – it has seen its sales of mobile dongles and USB modems rise by 35% between 2nd and 3rd quarters in 2008. While some regions of the UK aren’t yet covered and may take a few years to get usable speeds, wouldn’t it make more sense to have a single provider for connectivity, regardless of whether it’s used in a handset or laptop and regardless of location? I do wonder how long it’ll take to get to this stage.

Personally, my limited experience of mobile broadband has been lukewarm to date but the idea and the opportunities excite me immensely. The freedom of sitting in the middle of a park with my speedy phone or laptop appeals much more than sitting in a cold office, doesn’t it? Would you drop landline connectivity if the quality was good enough? I think I just might.