For those folks who don't mind -- nay, who strongly prefer -- a terminal screen on their smartphone, we know you've already thrown down the plastic on OpenMoko's FreeRunner. If you're going insane waiting to get your hands on it, what better to do than read through a remarkably thorough writeup detailing the user interface and all the goop behind the pretty scenes that makes this thing tick? Oh, and if you're just now getting up the courage to see what the brouhaha is all about, you've chosen the perfect time to get schooled. See that read link? Hit it.

[Via BoingBoing]

Tough time to try to hype a new skin for Windows Mobile, we'd say, what with juggernauts HTC and Sony Ericsson both trying to knock balls out of the park with TouchFLO 3D and the XPERIA's shell, respectively; that's not stopping ASUS from giving it a go, though. The Taiwanese manufacturer has chosen Computex as the stage to officially take the wraps off its "Glide" UI concept, the first shot of which we saw in the leaked shots of the P560 a few weeks back. Features of the shell include ASUS Today, a home screen replacement; Anytime Launcher, a straight-up app launcher; EziPhoto for photo management and EziMusic for a glorified media player. Nothing too groundbreaking here, but hey, can't blame 'em for trying to keep up with the Joneses.

In the latest of what's becoming a long history of tweaks to the Meizu M8 interface, Meizu CEO Jack Wong unleashed some new shots of the upcoming UI to his adoring fans. The new interface is designed by eico design -- who have also worked with Google, Lenovo, and Philips -- and looks to have a visually-satisfying sparkle animation for selected items (unless the battery above is just leaking). Another addition appears to be LED-styled status updates to applications, like number of missed calls and unread messages. Until we see this all in motion, though, we'll quietly speculate and hope the pretty pictures are real.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

As we hurl headlong toward HTC's May 6 date with destiny, the Diamond is looking more and more like the headlining act for the unveiling -- but what's it gonna look like when they turn it on? Screen shots of a purported Diamond have turned up on Chinese site PDAFans, and if they turn out to be legit, the answer is "pretty much like any other Windows Mobile 6.1 device." One of the Diamond's alleged claims to fame is a revamped TouchFLO interface, though we're not really seeing a heck of a lot of that here; just a whole lotta plain-vanilla WinMo that has us thinking that this is either fake or an early prototype with an particularly barren build loaded. Doesn't really matter how hot the hardware ends up being -- unless HTC manages to impress with the software visuals, we suspect there are going to be a lot of disappointed people when this one starts shipping.

[Via PDAPhoneHome, thanks Joseph G.]

Samsung's been getting pretty creative with cell cameras lately -- the Instinct lets you pan around web pages by tracking movement with the camera, for example -- but the company's latest patent application, for a gesture-based phone interface, might be a little less practical. The idea is to use the phone's camera to track your hand movements, which, from the drawings, should have you looking insane on the subway in no time. Of course, we've all been guilty of waving at and even talking to our devices when they're acting up, so maybe a little feedback wouldn't be a bad thing -- there's one gesture we'd definitely like to see programmed in there.

[Via Textually.org]

We're not sure how LG managed to hold a touchscreen UI design contest with a $14K prize without telling anyone, but it certainly did -- and keeping things on the DL probably explains why "Driving," pictured above, was the winning entry. The "Art in Mobile" contest started last December in Korea, and the 10 winning entries will see their creations actually turned into functional phone interfaces. There's not much info on the other nine winners, but apparently one is called "Sixty Seconds" and is designed to stall for a minute before connecting a call so you can browse photos and check messages. Uh, yeah -- if our phones were taking a minute to connect calls, we'd have a bigger problem than the UI. Seriously, LG, next time you want some consumer input on phone interfaces, we think we might know some people with ideas.

[Via Unwired View]

Read - Telecoms Korea story on the contest
Read - Translated LG press release

Now, we know the official story on the CeBIT Meizu shutdown was related to MP3 codec licensing, and not the M8's iPhone-like UI. Still, it does seem strangely fortuitous that more pictures of the phone's interface have just appeared that seem to showcase a move away from Apple's familiar look. The Chinese site CNMO has new shots of the device's music player, which now appears to incorporate song info, EQ display, lyrics, and volume / tracking controls all on one screen. The pictures also show a couple of different music browsing options, both in landscape and portrait mode. Is this a signal that the company is putting some distance between the M8 and the iPhone? Only time will tell.

[Via PMP Today]

If you've seen our shots of Samsung's Armani redo, the F480, you might have noticed it's running a new OS. The UI -- called TouchWiz -- is based off of the company's Croix interface (which apparently was rushed out to compete with the iPhone), and will be used on all of the upcoming finger-touch phones from the manufacturer. The cats over at Phone Scoop had a chance to go one-on-one with TouchWiz at Mobile World Congress, and they've put together a pretty informative video that shows off the UI doing its thing. The inclusion of a new widget system, expanded menu options, and overall speed bump make this OS a notable step up from Samsung's previous offering. Take a look at the video after the break to see the system getting all funky-fresh.

[Thanks, Martijn]

It may not be the first time we've seen a really attractive replacement UI for Windows Mobile -- nor the first time it's been redone in a more finger friendly format -- but Pointui may just be the cheapest ultra pretty skin on the market. The asking price of "free" is music to our ears for the program that adds a touchable "Applet Ribbon," one-touch access to frequently used features, and a home screen that refreshingly doesn't look like it's straight out of 2002. Microsoft, you guys paying attention over there?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Let's face it: the device pictured above isn't likely to arrive in America (in that form, anyway) anytime soon, but apparently, the hardware is the least important aspect. InfoSyncWorld was able to get its paws around Keynetik's prototype handset, which currently sports the same name and relies on a user interface with (surprise, surprise) the very same title, too. Apparently, this mobile -- which looks like a cross between a mobile gaming unit and a PDA -- includes a UI that is surprisingly intuitive thanks to the motion tracking support and its ability to take commands from two joysticks and four buttons. For instance, users can select icons by simply tilting the device in the desired direction and subsequently pressing a button, which reportedly makes browsing through tunes and contact lists a lesson in simplicity. Unfortunately, there's no telling if or when Keynetik's creation will ever go commercial, but feel free to check out a few more glimpses of the first edition after the jump.

For all of you fervent Treo fans chomping at the bit to get your hands on the 500v, here's an interesting piece of information which may stir "things" deep inside your mind and body. Apparently, the Windows Mobile-equipped smartphones will be touting a UI that's a pretty big step away from Microsoft's staid and standard operations. According to a slow, yet detailed video we've seen, the new interface will be pulled together using a completely revamped "start menu," (similar to the UI which Samsung is employing on its SGH-i620) which gives you much faster access to applications and settings, and has a completely new look. Menus and application icons also appear to be a departure from what we've seen in other WM devices, giving the interface a wholly unique aspect. Check the video after the break and see for yourself.

[Via pocketnow]

If you had any doubts about Microsoft's ability to innovate in the mobile user interface department, here's a new patent application to mull over. Titled "Extensible Filtered Lists for Mobile Device User Interface," the documentation spells out details for improving the way mobile users interact with the data on their devices. Apparently, the app concentrates on arranging information in "groups or lists," each of which can "include multiple items that provide access to data or tasks from multiple applications." Essentially, these customizable lists (more pictured after the break) would allow users to "quickly access relevant content such as commonly used data or tasks," and moreover, it was noted that the items could be "dynamically updated based upon changes in the underlying data or services provided by software applications." On the surface, the details all sound fairly attractive, but feel free to hit the read link for the full rundown.

Okay, straight up, this patent is pretty meaningless to us; it details some mumbo jumbo about loading a user interface onto a device via an expansion card (wireless is specifically mentioned, though it doesn't seem specific to that). That in itself is a little too boring to bother noting, at least until it materializes into a cool feature on a device we can actually purchase. What does catch one's eye, though, is the weird phone thingy Nokia uses to illustrate the patent. Seriously, what is this -- a Samsung UpStage embedded in the center of a L'Amour? Can this please never be produced, Nokia? Promise?

[Via Gearfuse]

The guys over at PhoneScoop have sure made the site live up to its name today: not only did they get some serious hands-on time with Motorola's upcoming RAZR slider -- codenamed Capri -- they also got to preview the next version of Moto's much-maligned Synergy UI that will show up in such models as the Canary and the SCPL. At least on paper, the Capri seems to offer a very compelling feature set that will probably attract anyone into the RAZR lifestyle- you're getting a model only slightly thicker and heavier than its clamshell counterpart, but which sports a 2.0 megapixel camera, A2DP-capable Bluetooth, and what sounds like a greatly improved user interface. Especially noteworthy in the overhauled Synergy is an address book that seems to work much more intuitively than past iterations (remember the one on the STARtac?), allowing you to organize entries by name and search for contacts using multiple letters. Although Phone Scoop was only testing a pre-production model, they have identified some potential problems to watch out for on the final version, such as the unusually crappy quality of what should be a decent camera, and most importantly, a spring-assisted slider that's difficult to activate due to the raised antenna bulge so familiar to RAZR owners. Click on if you want to peep a few more snaps, but you're really doing yourself a disservice if you don't head over to PhoneScoop for the full gallery and a very thorough write-up...