Nokia introduces touch interface for S60: it's all in the UI

Nokia sure isn't sitting still with all of the iPhone hype going on these past few months. The largest handset manufacturer continues to make a strong push for feature parity and today shows the latest effort: the S60 touch interface. All About Symbian breaks the news and shares a YouTube video demonstrating the touch capabilities to be offered. Features include support for both finger and stylus input, haptics (tactile feedback that the iPhone doesn't currently offer) and backwards compatibility.

We've long been advocates of touch input; heck, we've been using touch-capable devices daily for several years. The key to success with touch is all in the interface. While touchscreens have been around for years, this is the first year that we have UIs that take full advantage of them in my opinion. From what I saw of the concepts in the video, Nokia is fully cognizant of the need for a good UI. The company will make the technology available for

Comments

[Nikooo]

Yes they are fully aware that a uber-good UI is needed... but if you look at the scrolling, they haven't implemented yet a way to fast scroll down a long list. Also did you see how small the keyboard was? Last but not least there seem to have no auto-rotation feature. I hope this is just a pre-alpha demo and not the final product :)

[Rodfather]

It's going to be tough for anyone to compete with Apple's touch interface since it was built from the ground up for 100% touch.
Like after you get over the initial interface of the HTC Touch, it's still Windows Mobile underneath and have to end up pulling out the stylus for input.
I have a feeling it'll be the same way with the S60.