Making the feature phone smart

Nowadays the mainstream market have all but forgotten about the feature phone, yet our research indicates that there’s still a potentially large market which demands a product with all the essential functions of a phone, but smarter and better focused on their needs. At ACADINE, we believe we can reinvent this product and connect it to the new IoT era with the H5OS.

Focusing on scalability and adaptability, H5OS is a customized HTML-5 based, commercially ready OS, created for mobile and the IoT. A series of core apps that you would expect to see from smartphones are included in H5OS for the smart feature phone.

Photo by Vadim Kozlovsky/Hemera / Getty Images

Working on multiple apps has been a very challenging and rewarding experience, as we were transforming what people love about smartphones into feature phone adapted usabilities. Differing form factors can introduce very different interaction models. We want to utilize physical keys while avoiding the navigation burden it might incur. As a case in point, vertical list looping is enabled to allow user quickly access of top/bottom of list.

Another design task is that the unique functions of each app needs to be highlighted while maintaining the design consistency across apps. We discussed extensively to identify what the key features are for apps within the same category (such as communications, productivity) and what are the ways to make those features easily accessible. For example, most used functions are always place on the left side of the soft key bar. This is particularly important considering the target user may be the elderly. Applying similar interaction models to different apps can effectively lower the learning curve for them.

Main contribution

• Designed and created a wide range of smart feature phone app wireframes including Browser, Message, Camera, Gallery, FTU, CMAS, Music, Secondary screen, Notifications and home / launcher.
• Assisted on scheduling interaction spec delivery deadlines and collaborate with PMs to clarify requirements.
• Worked closely with visual designers to create the best UI with both aesthetics and usability .
• Worked closely with developers to discuss the feasibilities of features and potential solutions.
• Worked closely with QA members to assure the quality of H5OS smart feature phone.