Product Design Assessment: Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 UI/UX - Part 1

Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 Mobile Linux OS running on LG Nexus 5 testbed

Picking up where I last left off on my assessment of the Ubuntu Touch mobile OS on my Nexus 5 testbed, my goal over the next few posts is to conduct a methodical deep dive of the product from the User Interface and User Experience perspective (UI/UX). 

Although the latest update of Ubuntu touch (OTA-9) is already out, my intention is to use the version I started with as a reference point, and then perform comparisons as I upgrade and move to the newer releases.

In this post, the focus will be on the main UI screens and examine their features and behaviour. In the next post, I intend to focus on the standard applications bundled with OTA-7 and investigate them in detail.

MAIN LOCK SCREEN/SCREENSAVER UI:

With the testbed powered on and the startup sequence completed, the main screen at rest or when locked is usually the default Ubuntu Touch screensaver:

Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 lock screen UI

At this juncture, I should mention just how much I enjoy the design of this screen. It's a pleasure to look at anytime I bring the phone out of lock or sleep mode. 

This is a screenshot taken by using the hardwired screenshot key combination of the Nexus 5 (power and volume buttons together), but it doesn't do justice to the  actual hues and shades when seen on the testbed's actual display (as an example, compare with the actual photo above, where some hues of pink and orange are evident). Users familiar with Ubuntu's long-standing "royal purple" hue used with it's standard Ambiance system theme will instantly recognize the colour. I've always found it deeply soothing and comforting for some reason.

The standard icons in the black bar at the top indicate the standard system data/updates - messages, cellular signal strength, Wi-fi signal strength, speaker volume, battery life and time at locale.

Aside from that, it's the presentation of data is the focus of the lock  screen. Below a pleasant font showing the time and date of the currentl locale is a circular display that I initially didn't understand, but really appreciate after I understood its meaning. The little dots/pips of the circle represent the days of the current month. As each day is completed, the circles are filled in. In the centre of the circle is some statistics of the current day's activities. As each month comes to an end, the circle refreshes and starts tracking again. I found this focus on "kairos" time quite refreshing, a reminder of the subtitle that came with Ubuntu's earliest days - "Linux for human beings". It's a great representation and reminder of the flow of time and seasons, being aligned to a compass rather than being driven by the tyranny of the clock.

MAIN APPLICATION UI:

Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 main app screen

A swipe of the finger to the left or right from the edge of the lock screen brings up the User Interface of the main screen, populated with the stock apps bundled with OTA-7.  These apps will be explored in detail tomorrow from the UI/UX perspective.

The core apps that constitute smartphone functionality are arranged at the top - phone, messaging, contact lookup, camera, broswer and the clock. Other, but equally frequently used apps are arranged below - the calculator, calendar, external drive and internal file manager, photo, movie and music player apps, note taking, weather and system setting. 

Two unique and important apps are to be noted at this point - the OpenStore (which gives online access to a large number of open-source alternatives to popular apps seen in the Android and iOS ecosystem), and the Terminal, which gives a shell-like access to the operating system internals, much like on the typical Linux distribution desktop application.

I really like the aesthetic of the main screen layout, and the colours chosen. There is a friendly, pleasant and vibrant harmony to the icons with their squarish proportions and rounded edges. The same goes for the various choices of transitions and gradients in the hues of green, orange, blue, red, yellow and black employed - for example, the soothing leaf-green used for the Phone app, adjacent to the peach-like golden yellow and orange hue of the Messaging app. It contrasts nicely with the deep blue of the Morph browser icon, the contrasting teal and grey of the Calculator app, the purple of the Media Player and crimson red of the Music app, for example. Taken together, the visual impression presents a friendly, approachable and casual interface that experienced Linux users will recognize and appreciate.

SYSTEM SETTINGS AND CONFIGURATION UI:

Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 System Settings UI

This is where things get quite interesting, as a compendium of thoughtful features that have been built to provide depth of configurability for individual user preferances.

The main System Settings UI is accessed by either clicking on the System Settings app from the main User Interface, or by swiping down from the upper edge of the display and going to the last option on the right of the various icons displayed in the header, called System. The System Settings option will be one of those listed.

The list of options for configuration are quite numerous, and categorized well. A search function at the top makes it easier to find a setting that the user it looking for without having to scroll and check each item on the UI. Positioning the Airplane Mode and Rotation Lock options at the top is a sensible choice given, that those would be quickly looked for and inconvienient to bury in a sub interface. The nice sliders to signal the respective underlying functions to turn on/off are intuitive and turn green when engaged.

Below these two options, the other options for configuration are grouped under Network, Personal and System respectively. 

Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 System Settings UI

The Network listing evidently covers configuration of the wi-fi, cellular, bluetooth, mobile hotspot and VPN connectivity. Scrolling further down, the Personal grouping allows configuration of the system wallpaper background, options for ringtone and sound volume, language settings, syncronization of external accounts and notifications. Finally, the System listing allows monitoring and configuration of typical hardware and system-related functionality: battery and power usage, mouse and touchpad for connecting a bluetooth mouse and keyboard, locale settings, screen brightness and display, security, updates and reset capability and the report on the system itself.

From a UI/UX perspective, the System Settings UI is quite logically organized and well thought out. I really like the minimalist approach to the design, with the little monochorome icons on the left with standard icons, and the pleasant, rounded font that's used across the various OTA-7 UIs. After a little poking around, it became intuitive to remember where a particular setting would be located. 

There is one setting that I haven't listed or covered within this UI, and that's the unusual one called Libertine. Now that's something very interesting indeed, and I intend to dive into that in the next post.

Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 secondary System Settings UI

As mentioned earlier, it should also be noted that most, or the most commonly used, of these system settings are accessible by swiping down from the main Application Screen UI, and navigating across the horizontally laid out icons that appear at the top. The designers however have interestingly chosen to invert the foreground and background colours of the settings on this UI, with white text overlaid on black background.

I'm not entirely sure for the rationale behind this choice, but it does work as well as the other. From my perspective as an engineer and designer, the difference in layout and inversion of colour would be useful in helping the user associate and differentiate where among the various Ubuntu Touch UIs they were. Reinforcement would eventually remind them that to go back to the previous main screen, they simply had to swipe up from the three dots at the bottom, as opposed to being in one of the other UIs. In either case, it looks and works well.

This brings me to the conclusion of this inital dive into OTA-7. In the next post, I'll be examining the actual apps and detailed sub-menu UIs in greater detail and forming a conclusion on the overall user experience.

See you in the next post!

REFERENCES:

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[1] Initial Product Testing Notes: Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 on Google Nexus 5 Testbed