3 ms·

The 2D UI is a big risk considering the competition. iPhone 1.0 had a nice 3D feel to it. The WP7 OS seems very responsive and snappy. But the lack of wow facto

• pavlov 16y ago
  Even though the graphic elements are strictly 2D, the interaction can have a depth component that's not obvious in screenshots. 2D layers can be animated in 3D space, and distorted to break the flatness. The Engadget review mentions that the WP7 UI makes efficient use of a parallax effect where overlapping layers scroll at a different pace. That's a good example of a "2.5D" depth effect.
• GiraffeNecktie 16y ago
  3d is a little overrated. The most recent Ubuntu has gone with a very plain 2d look for icons and it looks very clean and polished.
  • nooneelse 16y ago
    And with "do this for me now" use cases, quite common for phones (such as "did someone just tell me something relevant in that message I just got" or "what was that building number again?" while walking down a street thinking about some larger goal), I find visual clarity all the more appealing. So "plain" might be just what the use cases call for. Several icons or buttons all made to be 3-d and pretty with candy-round edges and bright colors, each wanting to impress me with slickness or compete to stick in my memory better are just more distraction from that one shape or word my visual cortex is primed by the task to find.