Is Nokia destroying Windows Phone design language?

[Hiiiiiiiii]

Am I the only one extremely worried about Nokia's pollution to the Windows Phone UI?

If you take a look at their latest apps, they do look WP'ish but fonts are different (don't make sense), navigation is changed, etc. however, their latest app is a UI nightmare.

WINTER SKI & RIDE

It's nothing like Metro, at all.

Why are they doing this? Reminds me of the marketplace icon change on WP7 phones, they did it just to be different, even though it looked horrible. horrible, horrible.

 

[Gaichuke]

What are you talking about?

Those fonts are clearly Segoe WP bold and Segoe WP light. The design is a bit off-grid, but otherwise it looks ok to me.




Here's the same screen after small fixes. Looks much better when just the alignment of the UI elements is refined a bit. It's immediately more focused and the design breathes now a bit more.


Also, what's the deal with the title here? Nokia's destroying the whole Windows Phone design language when one app of theirs (app development really made by Summit Data Corp) does not look good to you?

 

[iamtim]

Nokia's destroying the whole Windows Phone design language when one app of theirs (app development really made by Summit Data Corp) does not look good to you?

C'mon, this is WP Central. Drama is mandatory.

 

[B T C]

And what are those colors? Are they inventing new colors?

 

[TonyDedrick]

Stretching to find something to talk about, lol.

 

[Funky Cricket]

I think everything should be comic sans. and circles!!

 

[Gaichuke]

I contacted the team that made this app and expressed concern over the unfinished feel of the UI and this was their reply:

WINTER worked with top Microsoft UI team to create a user interface specifically optimized for glove touch and winter conditions. This UI not only passed the approval by the Microsoft design team, but is also patented at Microsoft as the modification of glove friendly Metro. Enjoy!

So Nokia is not to blame here in any way. There seems to be some double-standards though if this kind of app design gets approval from MS design team and completely different signals are given to other developers regarding the design.

 

[socialcarpet]

Nokia does more to help Windows Phone than any other OEM.

In fact you could argue that they do as much or more than Microsoft, to be honest.

I think Nokia is mostly responsible for the resurgence of Windows Phone.

Before the Nokia entered the market and the Lumias came along, no one was paying any attention to Windows Phone.

So, no, they are not destroying the Windows Phone design language. If anything, they are further defining it.

Without Nokia, I'm pretty confident Windows Phone would be screwed, so even if you don't use a Nokia device, you should be glad Nokia is there.

 

[spokanedj]

As an avid Windows Phone Developer and User, I'm not sure I see anything but positive affects from Nokia pumping apps into the store, even if slightly off in design. Windows Phone doesn't have the luxury of being picky with the apps that are made for it, as it desperately is trying to catch up to the other two platforms. We need to be thanking and showing appreciation to these companies bringing apps to WP, not worried that their design might be off (user input in a constructive manner is always appreciated from developers, though). Also realize that some of these developers might not be dedicated WP developers, might be completely new to WP or not familiar in the WP design mottos.

For Nokia's part, they are encouraging and helping companies deliver WP apps that might not have ever happened, otherwise. That's a major win! They are filling voids that exist in the WP Store, and providing a premium experience for Nokia WP Customers. This is exactly why two people in my family have a 920 rather than the 8X (which they wanted for the size difference).

My first thought when I installed this app, was it would work great with my 920 and gloves, even before I saw the reply from the developer. I've been desperate for a tracking app for Snowboarding and have been using Skiers App for several years. This has a leaderboard, reports, resorts, friends and social aspect to it that is really good. I'm excited to try this app this weekend and love that Nokia is improving life with Windows Phone.

 

[gsquared]

Why do you worry about thing you have no control over?

 

[SymoClod]

Of course, they're not. Nokia is the best thing WP has going for it right now. If anything Microsoft should just hand Windows Phone over to them and let them get on with it, 'cause MS sure as **** don't seem that bothered at the moment. Edit : Am I not allowed to say h-e-l-l here? Seen people cursing like crazy on other threads so why has that word been asterixed out?

 

[AngryNil]

It's nothing like Metro, at all.

Unfortunately, this thread only serves to tell the world that you don't know what Metro is.

Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 differ in navigation. Microsoft is destroying Metro! The Bing app on Windows 8 shows the Bing logo, which isn't in Segoe WP. Microsoft is destroying Metro!

 

[jdhooghe]

I think everything should be comic sans. and circles!!

wingdings?!

 

[spokanedj]

Just as an update to this app, I think its awesome. I have used it now four times to the mountain and hands down the best tracking app I have seen. I'm not sure if it uses background tracking like a navigation app can, but it did send me a push notifications once when I didn't have the app running under lock screen. If the app truly can track while NOT being the foreground app, that puts it in a league of its own (at least for iOS and Windows phone) and definitely something WP needs!

The design definitely caters to the "low accessibility" motto they said and is very easy to use. Here is a sample screenshot of my Saturday snowboarding. Also, the "gamification" of King of the Mountain is just an awesome idea (probably, not unique to this app, but its just another feature that it has).

 

[aubreyq]

Anyone bothered to note who the thread's author is? Should explain a lot :wink: