First Else Linux Phone Gets Teasing London Launch

The First Else phone, previewed in London today, aims to challenge the iPhone and Android, with a user interface design that challenges operators to cede control to the web.

The phone was displayed in a darkened room, and only Else people could handle it, but the demonstration showed a device that handles communications well, has media functions, and a user interface design that goes back to basics so users can drive it with one phone.

Oh, and it isn’t a phone, say the Else people.

The device is supposed to adapt to what you do, rather than make you adapt to it, said CTO Eldad Eilam, and it uses a user interface called Splay – which spreads options out from the thumb position on the right of the handset (so far it looks right-handed only) and does away with conventional device menus.

The phone uses the Access Linux platform, has a 854×480 pixel, 3.5in touchscreen, and has 16 to 32Gbyte storage built in. Features demonstrated in London included constant recording and indexing of all calls, and a context sensitive “fish eye” button zone, which gives the best options for a given context, such as “email phone or text” for a contact, or “find” for an address.

All the menu options are text buttons rather than icons – a deliberate choice, said user interface contributor Itai Vonshak, co-founder of UX elements, who argues that words (which can be localised) are clearer: “We’ll use an enevelope icon for email, but what icon would we use for units conversion?”

The phone has a “silent answer” function to allow users to respond to essential calls in meetings going to text. Contacts are sorted by the number of times you call them, and locations are tagged onto everything.

The device also backs everything up to the web, said Eilam: “If you lose it, it’s disposable, you get a new handset and it sets up in a few seconds.”

At this point, the device is still a prototype and samples won’t be available for anybody till January. General availability isn’t planned till the second half of 2010, and it’s entirely possible that, without deals with other companies, it might never see the light of day at all. Emblaze itself has a checquered history, including a dotcom splurge, and legal wrangles.

Before anyone gets to play with the Else, Emblaze will have to convince operators to adopt a phone whose user interface seemingly has no room for the kind of branding they like – the kind of thing that has allowed Vodafone to imprint a heavy thumbprint on its Vodafone 360. “We’ve already had some arguments with operators,” said Eliam.

Attendees were impressed by the show, but remain to be convinced: “A few more specs would be useful,” said analyst Clive Longbottom of QuoCirca, “and a radically different user interface might put some users off.”