Motorola i1

Project Overview

Adapt Android for iDen users

Before Material Design, Android was very customizable & each carrier was encouraged to do so. In this case the designers of CXD (Consumer Experience Division) had just released our latest version of the design language. For me, my challenge was to now take the new design language & extend it to iDen devices & use cases, primarily the Push to Talk (PTT) experience.

Solution

Using the base Motorola Android design language, it was my job to extend it to fit the needs of the iDen client & it's customers needs. Push to Talk is the primary mode of operation for iDen users. Before Android it was a glorified walkie talkie system, but now we could begin to visualize & build off of that core experience into something more visual.

It was important to create an experience that felt familiar & intuitive to our iDen users, while giving them more context during their conversations. The PPT experience didn't end at the user interface, it extended to various parts of the UI, home screen, notifications, lock screens to name a few.

Key experiences

Quick access to PTT

Like most of our mobile experiences they start with a home screen. The PTT experience happens mostly using the hard keys, now Android begins to give us the opportunity to visualize more of the people who we're talking to.

To start I created a PTT widget on the home screen. Here you can see who you are currently talking to or who you last spoke to.

This widget also gives quick access to the full PTT experience with a simple tap.

Group PTT experience

Most of the iDen users are in construction or military. Taking your eyes off of the job could get yourself or someone else hurt or worse.

The Push to Talk experience is a active one as well. If you remember me saying that it's much like a Walkie Talkie, having multiple ways to notify the user that they're actively engaging in this experience is key.

The blue Push to Talk header was a visual indication that you are in a chat session, this is especially useful while multi-tasking on the phone

Main header area is dedicated to whoever currently has the floor, while the body is a list of everyone contributing to the group PTT & is also a history of who spoke when.

I wanted to make sure that the user had a clear understanding of who spoke when in the conversation so that they could respond appropriately.

PTT with Jane

The individual PTT experience was updated to be a bit more visual & incorporate additional functionality such as sending photos, & other common file types.

The top PTT bar is meant to indicate who has the floor. If your PTT button is pressed the other person can not speak, so being able to know when the floor is open is key to making sure the chat session goes smoothly.

Quickly being able to mute the PTT noise is also a nice to have. If you've ever been in a place with someone who has a PTT device, you know that they are there. That chirp is anything but quiet, so muting that sound, but still being able to know what is going on makes everyones life a little more enjoyable.

You're talking

When you're speaking the icon in the PTT bar instantly illuminates. On your side it is blue & located near the physical PTT button.

You're listening

When you're speaking this is what it would look like on the other end. The space below the name is dedicated to sending & receiving files much like a text message.