One of the most discussed and important thing about the today’s cell phones and tablets is the graphical user interface. With the arrival of the Android as an open source operating system, discussion about this trend rise among the developers and users intensely. Nowadays, all the Android manufactures compete with each other closely by presenting their own graphical user interface, for example Samsung with TouchWiz, Sony with TimeScape, Motorola with MotorBlur and HTC with Sense. These user interfaces introduced by different companies are just a weapon to compete with each other in the market for the better sales and revenues. However, like always, these are the users which will benefit from this competition. HTC’s user interface, Sense, is always been recognized as the best one among the consumers; A graphical user interface with customizable widgets, windows, menus and amazing video effects which has always tried to follow a consistent policy. HTC recently introduced the Sense 5.0 on HTC One, which is the latest one in the line. In this version, we are observing maturity in functionality and breathe taking beauty in the user interface. In the following, we are going to introduce some of the new features and functionalities in this new version.
The new feeling in Sense 5.0 which induces to user indicates the intelligence and ability of the HTC’s engineers. In Sense 5.0, we see a big change and it is Blinkfeed. Actually, the home page has been designed with a new style. In this page which is known as Blinkfeed, we are seeing several live puzzles. These puzzles are almost like the tiles in the Windows 8 Metro interface. These puzzles show live information to the users. Information like: recent events in the social networks, news headlines, blogs posts, and as well as news and photos of friends in the social networks. Therefore, there is no need to check news blogs and social networks constantly.
Moreover, the Blinkfeed eliminates the need to open lots of applications for the notifications of the events. The user can scroll up or down to get the latest headlines. HTC considered near 1400 news line for the Blinkfeed and in addition there is an ability to add new items too. Also, writing a new post and putting the comments directly on the news are embedded in this section too. Blinkfeed functionality can be considered as similar to Flipboard or Google Currents.
Home screen on Sense 5.0 has other features except the Blinkfeed. You just swipe right or left to get to the other pages. Like before, in these pages, you can add shortcuts or widgets. Fortunately, a dock is been considered in Sense 5.0 and it’s visible on all the pages and menus. In this dock, 5 shortcuts embedded which can organize each of them with other applications in a folder. Weather and time widget which have the most changes from their previous versions, can be seen everywhere, whether in the home page or in the Applications menu. Whereas their presence everywhere, they will be hide in the applications menu to give a space for existing applications, when you scroll to the bottom. In the application menu, the ability to choose the number of columns is considered too.
We don’t see lots of changes in the lock screen (With Jelly Bean 4.1.2). In addition to showing the dock in lock screen, the weather widget will be shown too. Likewise, you can have up to four shortcuts to the applications too, and if you need more than that, then you can create a folder to get what you’re looking for.
