Last night Vodafone gave tech fans a sneak peak at its new “web directed” homescreen for Nokia s60 devices. The newly skinned homescreen is said to be altogether quicker and simpler to use especially for fans of web based mobile services.

I know that Orange used to (and may still) have their own option for an alternate to the default s60 homescreen, but it seems they decided now to with the 5800 as I haven’t seen any proof they kept this feature on. However, this Vodafone attempt does look quite handy and should make its way to Vodafone devices towards the middle of the summer.

At first glance the Vodafone Homescreen is a simple re-skin. But with a much closer look you’ll see some serious thought and intuition has been put into its design. The homescreen makes use of the D-Pad and should be making its first appearence on the Nokia N85 before expanding its way throughout the rest of the N-series range. A quick press upwards gives one-touch access to phone functions, messaging, and the calendarr whilst a press to the right opens up your music and media libraries, along with fast access for those who use Vodafone’s own music store.

A press downwards opens up your ‘VIP contacts’ which apparently is a flashy new speed dialer. The left press is perhaps the most interesting however because with a press of the D-Pad in this direction it will open up an entire ‘Internet’ panel (similar to the s60v5 internet menu). Upon entering this screen the first thing you’ll see is a Google search box which will make quick web queries a breeze. There’s also instant access to Vodafone’s own App Store bringing software direct to your handset.

The Internet panel is also where you’ll find widgets and web shortcuts, which in truth is all very handy and certainly trumps filtering through Nokia’s default s60 menu in order to find the web browser, RSS reader or applications folder. According to reports, the Vodafone homescreen isn’t only available on your mobile with it also being ported to PC aswell.

When you buy a phone with Vodafone Homescreen installed (currently the N85 at present), you’ll be given a PIN to log in to Vodafone’s My Web service where you can tap in the PIN and your mobile number and it’ll automatically sync the My Web homepage to the contents of your phone.

So for example, if you add a weather widget on the web, it’ll automatically appear on your phone too. This also means you can add widgets and feeds to your phone with the confidence of knowing they’ll sync to the web instantly.

[ad#Google Adsense Float Right]First impressions show that the Vodafone homescreen is slick, quick and works like a charm. Vodafone seems deadly serious about pushing the web to your mobile and our guess is that the other UK mobile carrriers will be rushing to create their own homescreens for s60 in the hope of boosting sales even further. We’ll update you on any more news on this story as and when it comes to us.

(source)

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