October 16, 2015 at 17:50Tools and devices for designers and interface designers. Change is coming
In the modern world, the following interesting stereotype has long been established that the ideal tool for the designer to work is OS X devices, a tablet and an iOS phone. In terms of design and interface design - this is understandable. Products such as Sketch and Principle have certain advantages: low resource consumption, easy to learn interface, low cost. A huge number of articles have been written about them. And if we talk directly about hardware, then the devices of the corporation from Cupertino look excellent.
But in the light of recent events, namely, the presentation of products from Microsoft and the AdobeMax conference, in the same stereotype, in my opinion, changes can occur. It's about a bunch of devices from Redmond with Project Comet.
The advantage of Microsoft is a single platform on all their devices. And precisely this advantage is deprived of one of their main competitors - Apple. According to the head of the company, Tim Cook - these should be two different operating systems.
I will not list the various technical characteristics of the device, since in fact the experience of using these devices is more interesting, namely the Continuum function.
It allows you to connect your smartphone on Windows 10 Mobile to the Display Dock and monitor, and get a full-fledged computer. Given the performance of modern devices, we can easily work with vector graphics. I really hope that Adobe will take care of the timely adaptation of Project Comet.
If we consider Continuum from the point of view of corporate use, we can immediately note a huge plus of this function. A person has one device, but several profiles. When you connect the device to the Display Dock, depending on the location (home or work), the corresponding profile is activated, and the user gets access to certain tools and services.
The only question remains: what to do with incoming calls? Headset conversation is a matter of course. But after all, many of us move away from the workplace, talking with friends and relatives, for example. So here, not everything is clear yet.
This device has various configurations and can be in the role of a tablet or laptop, plus it is equipped with a stylus that is in no way inferior to Pencil from the Cupertino corporation. I think that this device can well compete with several devices from the apple corporation at once - iPad Pro, latest generation iPad Air and Macbook Air.
From the obvious pluses:
And here the fun begins. The Surface Book is Microsoft's first laptop . In its capabilities and characteristics, it leaves the Macbook Pro far behind, adding experience using a tablet and stylus.
A powerful laptop with a great design can be an excellent workhorse not only for a designer and interface designer, but also for any person who wants to get comfort from work. This is the maximum charged tablet and laptop-transformer in one bottle.
“But Sketch and Principle are still not and will not be on Windows!” - you say. Yes that's right. And in early 2016, Adobe is preparing a surprise for us.
At the AdobeMax conference, they talked about Project Comet , which could become a clear competitor for Sketch, Principle, Flinto, Zeplin and so on.
This is a full-fledged environment for the design and design of interfaces (naturally, vector-based) and it has the following key features:
And I dare to suggest that it will be a really fantastic tool. Now I use three products in my work, namely:
Project Comet will be able to replace them all, plus it works in its native environment with Illustrator and Photoshop.
Based on all the presented devices and the announced product from Adobe, I have identified the following advantages:
Disadvantages:
And how much will it all cost? Let's compare the following kits that are close in technical specifications: smartphone, tablet and laptop. But remember one thing, that in the case of Microsoft, Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book can act as the last two devices.
Macbook Pro 13 "starts at $ 1,299 , Surface Book - from $ 1,499 Surface Pro 4 starts from. $ 899 , and the iPad Pro with similar characteristics - $ 949 Lumia 950 XL -. $ 649 , the iPhone 6S Plus is - $ 749
Given the fact that on Microsoft’s devices a single operating system and Surface tablet can easily be replaced by a laptop when working with vector graphics, the Lumia + Surface Pro 4 or Lumia + Surface Book kit will be an excellent choice, and in any case, cheaper than a kit devices from Cupertino.
And yet it’s worth recognizing that the design of the Redmond team is not far behind. The devices are just perfect.
What I wrote about is just speculation. I myself work on iMac + Sketch + Principle + Zeplin. But I would love to work on Windows if I had good and fast software for it, and not heavy giants in the form of Illustrator and Photoshop. In any case, let's see what happens.
PS: Usability specialists from Apple, you have a question. Do you really think that the El Capitan Split View function works intuitively?
But in the light of recent events, namely, the presentation of products from Microsoft and the AdobeMax conference, in the same stereotype, in my opinion, changes can occur. It's about a bunch of devices from Redmond with Project Comet.
Lumia and Continuum
The advantage of Microsoft is a single platform on all their devices. And precisely this advantage is deprived of one of their main competitors - Apple. According to the head of the company, Tim Cook - these should be two different operating systems.
I will not list the various technical characteristics of the device, since in fact the experience of using these devices is more interesting, namely the Continuum function.
It allows you to connect your smartphone on Windows 10 Mobile to the Display Dock and monitor, and get a full-fledged computer. Given the performance of modern devices, we can easily work with vector graphics. I really hope that Adobe will take care of the timely adaptation of Project Comet.
If we consider Continuum from the point of view of corporate use, we can immediately note a huge plus of this function. A person has one device, but several profiles. When you connect the device to the Display Dock, depending on the location (home or work), the corresponding profile is activated, and the user gets access to certain tools and services.
The only question remains: what to do with incoming calls? Headset conversation is a matter of course. But after all, many of us move away from the workplace, talking with friends and relatives, for example. So here, not everything is clear yet.
Surface Pro 4
This device has various configurations and can be in the role of a tablet or laptop, plus it is equipped with a stylus that is in no way inferior to Pencil from the Cupertino corporation. I think that this device can well compete with several devices from the apple corporation at once - iPad Pro, latest generation iPad Air and Macbook Air.
From the obvious pluses:
- full Windows 10
- could become a replacement for a laptop
- flexibility of use
Surface book
And here the fun begins. The Surface Book is Microsoft's first laptop . In its capabilities and characteristics, it leaves the Macbook Pro far behind, adding experience using a tablet and stylus.
A powerful laptop with a great design can be an excellent workhorse not only for a designer and interface designer, but also for any person who wants to get comfort from work. This is the maximum charged tablet and laptop-transformer in one bottle.
“But Sketch and Principle are still not and will not be on Windows!” - you say. Yes that's right. And in early 2016, Adobe is preparing a surprise for us.
Project comet
At the AdobeMax conference, they talked about Project Comet , which could become a clear competitor for Sketch, Principle, Flinto, Zeplin and so on.
This is a full-fledged environment for the design and design of interfaces (naturally, vector-based) and it has the following key features:
- Intuitively simple and very fast environment.
- Create interactive prototypes.
- View design and prototypes on real devices.
- Work closely with Creative Cloud products.
- Collaboration, commenting and preparation of specifications for developers.
- Extending functionality with plugins.
And I dare to suggest that it will be a really fantastic tool. Now I use three products in my work, namely:
- Sketch - for design and engineering.
- Principle - for interactive prototypes.
- Zeplin - for specifications to developers.
Project Comet will be able to replace them all, plus it works in its native environment with Illustrator and Photoshop.
Windows 10 + Project Comet
Based on all the presented devices and the announced product from Adobe, I have identified the following advantages:
- Unified operating system on all devices.
- Powerful, mobile, interchangeable, hybrid devices. There is no great need to have both a laptop and a tablet from Microsoft.
- One tool on all devices, without cutting functionality
- One tool for the needs of designers and interface designers.
- Devices and operating system from one company, which means maximum compatibility and optimization. By the way, this is one of the trump cards of Apple.
Disadvantages:
- Hybridity. Still, the tablet and laptop are different devices. And when you connect the hairdryer and the refrigerator, you can hardly get anything worthwhile.
- Security. Definitely, Windows 10 surpasses its predecessors by this criterion, but the Yabloko operating system is currently more secure, thanks to the UNIX architecture and Rootless technology. If you imagine that OS X was the rule in the market of desktop operating systems, then the situation would be the opposite.
Issue price
And how much will it all cost? Let's compare the following kits that are close in technical specifications: smartphone, tablet and laptop. But remember one thing, that in the case of Microsoft, Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book can act as the last two devices.
Macbook Pro 13 "starts at $ 1,299 , Surface Book - from $ 1,499 Surface Pro 4 starts from. $ 899 , and the iPad Pro with similar characteristics - $ 949 Lumia 950 XL -. $ 649 , the iPhone 6S Plus is - $ 749
Given the fact that on Microsoft’s devices a single operating system and Surface tablet can easily be replaced by a laptop when working with vector graphics, the Lumia + Surface Pro 4 or Lumia + Surface Book kit will be an excellent choice, and in any case, cheaper than a kit devices from Cupertino.
And yet it’s worth recognizing that the design of the Redmond team is not far behind. The devices are just perfect.
Instead of a conclusion
What I wrote about is just speculation. I myself work on iMac + Sketch + Principle + Zeplin. But I would love to work on Windows if I had good and fast software for it, and not heavy giants in the form of Illustrator and Photoshop. In any case, let's see what happens.
PS: Usability specialists from Apple, you have a question. Do you really think that the El Capitan Split View function works intuitively?