fusiongarage grid operating system

‘grid’ is an android-based operating system, featured on fusiongarage’s ‘grid4’ smartphone shown above and ‘grid10’ tablet

featured on the company’s ‘grid10‘ tablet and ‘grid4‘ smartphones, gridOS from fusiongarage is a operating system built on android, providing an intuitive user interface designed around a grid layout and wheel click navigation concept, while still supporting android apps.

the fluid layout of the homescreen is based on a large pannable gridspace. applications are primarily viewed on a split screen containing a left and/or top menu bar, with the applications running in the main space of the screen on a tile layout. a wheel-based interaction system facilitates cross-application browsing, permitting text to be highlighted and then with one click used to generate search results on wikipedia, map applications, media providers, and other sources.

demo of wheel-based interaction

apps are clustered by content. facebook and email accounts are all accessible via a multipane messaging section, and conversations with a particular person across platforms can be viewed together. the ‘heartbeat’ feature makes appointments, notifications, and new messages accessible from a single screen. each phone contact likewise functions as a centralized hub of messaging and social media notifications about the individual. browser-based video and group calling are built-in to the system.

exploration of the ‘contacts’ application

exploration of the ‘heartbeat’ notification interface

with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels over a 10.1-inch 4-point capacitive touchscreen, the wifi and bluetooth -ready ‘grid10’ features a 1.3-megapixel front camera, microSD slot, and build-in microphone and loudspeakers.

featuring a four-inch 480×800 pixel LCD screen, the ‘grid4’ contains no buttons other than a power switch, although it includes a front-facing 0.3-megapixel camera and rear 5-megapixel camera.

both devices are powered by dual-core processors: the tablet by the nvidia tegra 2 and the phone by a qualcomm snapdragon. both also feature a 3-axis gyroscope, accelerometer, ambient light sensor, and GPS, while the smartphone also contains a magnetometer.

full view of ‘grid10’ in use

screenshots of ‘contacts’ application on ‘grid10’ and ‘grid4’

left: the embedded ‘grid map’ to the top right on the tile homescreen illustrates where on the wide pannable space of the screen the user currently is right: messaging center

left: lockscreen mode; right: image viewing

full-screen video

details on the wheel and other navigation features of the interface

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design-aerobics 2011: TECH GADGETS course september 15 – november 15, 2011 as more and more technological objects find their way into everyday life

designboom will hold an online design course on the theme of ‘tech-gadgets’. we’ll look at the most significant designs yet and ponder what might be around the corner. to see a lesson sample and information on how to enroll click here.