With the introduction of the Windows Phone 7 Series Microsoft decided that moving on to the minimalistic direction and user interface of Metro was the only way to save Windows Mobile.
The Metro UI was first seen on Windows Media Center which made it's debut on Windows XP specifically in Windows XP Media Center. The UI made menu surfing and content browsing easier on a remote control or arrow cursor. This was when Internet television was still in its early stage.
From there, new Windows releases updated the Windows Media Center and recently it was ported to the Zune HD and it’s software (Microsoft’s version of iPod and iTunes) where it gained rave reviews from various tech and blog websites as being intuitive and fresh.
It didn’t take long before people clamored for a Zune Phone. Microsoft reiterated that they have no plans of making a Zune-branded phone hardware anytime soon. (As this move would surely be seen as direct competition by Microsoft’s own hardware partners)
But Microsoft was open to the idea of porting the zune-software to various mobile handsets and start development from scratch. It was the only logical move seeing that their once mighty Windows Mobile OS behind Apple’s iPhone OS and Google’s Android OS.
So with their refresh of the old Windows Mobile and reiteration of the new Zune UI. Will the consumer accept the Metro UI the way they ‘got’ the iPhone UI? Is the text-based interface too limited? What do you think about the home screen?
Watch the video below to get an idea of the UI’s effect and transitions. Not bad at all.
