"..."

After Fang Nian finished speaking, Lei Zhe subconsciously looked at Huang Xiujie.

Just in time to catch Huang Xiujie's gaze, the two of them looked at each other with a slightly unclear meaning.

In the end, Huang Xiujie did not refuse Fang Nian's seemingly hasty request.

"...In fact, the industrial design of m9 has been updated in many versions, and even the prototypes have different forms. I am not sure whether the current one will be the final product."

Speaking of this, Huang Xiujie's face felt somewhat embarrassed.

From MP3 players to smartphones, Meizu, a traditional factory, faces many more difficulties than imagined.

It took more than two years for the m8, the most delayed model, to come out. Although the sales were good, there were also many problems.

After that, Mr. Huang Xiujie, whose ID is jak.wong and is called j.w by some netizens and loves to surf the Internet, has repeatedly stated that he will launch m9 immediately.

However, this 'immediately' has been postponed from last year to this year.

Fang Nian glanced at Huang Xiujie, then turned over the industrial design draft and said: "Some of Apple's successful experiences in the smartphone industry are worth learning from;

Launch one mobile phone a year, and if there is spare capacity that year, launch two, and even promote one as the flagship model.

There is absolutely no need to follow the trend of copycat phones and make new tricks every day, as this will not have unique brand power.”

Hearing this, Huang Xiujie was silent for a moment.

Although Fang Nian's words were direct and a bit harsh, it makes sense if you think about it carefully.

In the end, Huang Xiujie agreed: "Although Meizu is forced to repeatedly postpone the launch of new phones, what Mr. Fang said makes sense."

"Apple launched iPhone 2G as the first generation of smartphone products in 2007, and it has indeed been epoch-making every time since then."

After Huang Xiujie finished speaking, Lei Zhe interjected: "The reason why copycat mobile phones have so many new tricks is actually a kind of competitiveness. They have to keep it fresh."

Fang Nian didn't raise his head and didn't talk about this topic again.

He turned over the industrial design draft of m9 with a calm expression.

After a while, Fang Nian raised his head and looked at Huang Xiujie: "Although I don't understand industrial design, the design draft of the m9 product is very confusing. After reading it, I understood why there are different prototypes."

At this time, Huang Xiujie's expression became serious.

"I would like to ask Mr. Fang for some advice. Originally, I wanted to make the m8 series of mobile phones. I can only say that the process is difficult to describe."

Fang Nian was well prepared, but from the industrial design draft of m9, he saw more of Meizu's chaotic product design and messy ideas.

It should be said that these have a lot to do with Huang Xiujie himself.

Originally, Fang Nian was still thinking that with Huang Xiujie's character, he might confront him on the spot.

"It should be that Mr. Lei has done a lot of communication in advance."

Judging from some of the information that Fang knows in his past and present life, Meizu’s strength lies in its in-depth Android customized UI that has been in preparation since the second half of last year;

It's just that it considers more the user operation level and is not so demanding on industrial design.

Facing Huang Xiujie's gaze, Fang Nian took out a notepad from the pocket of the coat he had barely put on when he left the hotel and handed it to Huang Xiujie.

"This is my graffiti work. The lines are not very beautiful and are not as good as those of professionals. Please take a look at it first, Mr. Huang."

Fang Nian explained while watching Huang Xiujie turn over pages of pencil drafts.

“I had nothing to do last night before I got seasick, so I drew it on a whim;

Personally, since m9 has been delayed for so long, I should work harder to make an amazing product;

As a user, the most important factor that determines whether you have the desire to buy a mobile phone at first glance is not the price, but whether the appearance meets expectations."

Huang Xiujie didn't quite agree with this, and said without emotion: "I think functional operations are also very important."

Lei Zhe, who was on the sidelines, was convinced: “When users want to buy something, they have a mental budget range;

Take mobile phones as an example. Once the selling price is determined at the time of release, the target user group has been defined;

How to stand out at this time? Most users will really care about the appearance at first glance, and then they will think about whether the functions meet expectations;

Finally, there is the operating experience. Although it is likely that the operating experience will be completely pushed to the top of the list, this is Meizu’s strength.”

At this time, Huang Xiujie finished flipping through Fang Nian's "graffiti", and his expression was very different from before.

Then Huang Xiujie glanced at Lei Zhe and said with emotion: "Mr. Lei, I think you need to take a look at the graffiti in Mr. Fang's mouth."

"Oh?" Lei Zhe reached out and took the small notepad and started flipping through it.

Soon, Lei Zhe's expression became serious, and finally he asked.

"Mr. Fang has really never studied subjects such as industrial design, human-computer interaction, and computing science?"

Fang Nian laughed: "Don't Mr. Lei know that I am currently studying philosophy in my freshman year?"

Then he explained: “Since the iPhone product was launched and attracted attention, the design concept of iPhone has actually begun to continuously change the world;

When Steve Jobs released the first-generation iPhone, he said that more than 20 years ago, humans had already invented the simplest operating device, the mouse;

But in fact, the best devices are our fingers; the invention of multi-touch allows humans to use mobile phones in the easiest way."

Lei Zhe raised the notepad in his hand: "So, when Mr. Fang was 'doodle', he accidentally drew a few more things?"

"Absolutely." Fang Nian said with a smile, "After all, it can't just be a fancy thing."

At this time, Huang Xiujie raised a question: "I took a closer look. Mr. Fang seems to be emphasizing the elimination of all physical buttons except the volume button and the power button?"

"And the emphasis on a more appropriate big screen concept?"

Fang Nian nodded: "Let's talk about the concept of large screens first. I think that with the rapid development of the mobile Internet era, there will be more and more information on mobile phones. It is foreseeable that mobile phone screens will become larger within a suitable range."

"Although there is news that the fourth-generation iPhone may use a 3.5-inch screen, I believe that this screen will gradually fail to meet people's needs.

But limited by the current industrial standards, 3.5 inches is a suitable choice at the moment."

After listening to Fang Nian's explanation, Lei Zhe asked: "Then why do you want to cancel the physical buttons?"

"This is actually the same question. How to make the screen larger within a suitable size?" Fang Nian asked and answered himself, "Reduce the upper and lower borders."

"So, if you make subtraction from the beginning, you should find ways to reduce the bezel and expand the screen-to-body ratio."

"The more important reason is that I personally think that since the screen realizes multi-touch, why can't it be solved by touch outside the screen? The buttons always require force. For users, of course, it saves effort and is the most comfortable."

After a pause, Fang Nian said calmly: "Let's talk about the lock screen password to protect the privacy and security of mobile phones;

For example, the already very common fingerprint punch card application does not have the concept of pressing;

Therefore, what is more convenient for users is to integrate the fingerprint on the finger with the He key and open it with just one touch. Wouldn’t it be better?”

"Of course, these must be done step by step."

Huang Xiujie looked at Fang Nian and said with a smile: "In order to avoid infringing Apple's patents, I have been troubled by the problem of the he key for a long time. Mr. Fang's solution in the form of a circle aperture touch made me suddenly enlightened.

I now agree with Mr. Fang’s point of view. If the appearance is outstanding, users will have a good impression at first sight.”

Fang Nian smiled and said nothing.

In fact, he was really just copying homework. This similar solution was probably first used on domestic mobile phones by Meizu’s mx2.

Fang Nian just used another way to buy time.

He used many later known design concepts, but also took into account various factors such as the current industrial level and user acceptance, and did not achieve it in one step.

For example, full-scale water drop screen, notch screen, under-screen fingerprint lock, face recognition based on optical structure, curved surface art, etc.

It's just that the concept of fingerprint unlocking on the he key was put forward in a relatively advanced way.

"Mr. Fang, can you please explain the concept of roundness?" Lei Zhe was more interested in the word "roundness" on the mobile phone appearance design drawn by Fang Nian.

Fang Nian answered casually: “It’s a statement that takes into account both aesthetics and user experience;

Regardless of whether it is made of plastic, aluminum or steel, the hand feeling brought by roundness will definitely be better than that of right-angled lines, especially it is not easy to cut the hand, although it will test the craftsmanship level.

Although I don’t understand industrial design, I personally believe that in the field of electronic products such as mobile phones, industrial design must consider every detail of the user experience.”

The iPhone 4 only uses an R-corner design on the four corners, and the frame is almost completely right-angled, which is too angular and doesn’t feel that good in the hand.

Later, when the industrial base was sufficient, major manufacturers began to pursue multi-curved surfaces;

After differences in all aspects gradually disappear, manufacturers will naturally pay more attention to user experience and be demanding about every detail.

In the hope that it will have a selling point.

"As for the design of the mute button, Mr. Fang seems to pay more attention to the text."

Huang Xiujie was a little curious: "As far as I know, there are actually more ways to solve this problem on Android. There is no need to make an extra button. The cost is actually not too low, and some patents have to be bypassed."

Fang Nian laughed: "We should learn from German ideas in this regard. For example, Toyota is well optimized in all aspects, but rich people only have money to buy Porsches!"

"Mr. Huang, let me ask you a question. During the meeting, you forgot to mute your phone in advance. When the phone rang, you had four choices in front of you:

Hang up, press the volume button to lower the volume, mute from the status bar, and mute with one click.

Which way do you think is more comfortable?"

Before Huang Xiujie had time to answer this question, Lei Zhe took over the conversation first.

"I think what Mr. Fang said is very reasonable, and the solution is also very beautiful. Compared with Apple's back and forth, both solutions proposed by Mr. Fang are smoother.
To be continued...