i'd say it's flawed, but not useless. It's basically another widget engine built as a Today screen plugin. Widget engines are only as useful as the widgets available for them. Hopefully the panels concept takes off and we see a number of different useful widgets. TouchFlo 3D seems to be more complete and usable than the panels concept so far, but AFAIK HTC hasn't released an SDK for third party development whereas Sony has. If you really hate Panels, you should be able to revert to the standard Today screen. The only thing i really don't like about what i've seen in the interface is the stupid wobble animation when you switch between Panels. i hope that's optional.
Now if you want useless, take a look at the fish panel. i understand the concept, but it's just not that useful or intuitive.
“The experience was a quick and painful reminder that no matter how pretty the window dressing is here, HTC has staged its fashion show in a building that should be scheduled for demolition.
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i'd say it's flawed, but not useless. It's basically another widget engine built as a Today screen plugin. Widget engines are only as useful as the widgets available for them. Hopefully the panels concept takes off and we see a number of different useful widgets. TouchFlo 3D seems to be more complete and usable than the panels concept so far, but AFAIK HTC hasn't released an SDK for third party development whereas Sony has. If you really hate Panels, you should be able to revert to the standard Today screen. The only thing i really don't like about what i've seen in the interface is the stupid wobble animation when you switch between Panels. i hope that's optional.
Now if you want useless, take a look at the fish panel. i understand the concept, but it's just not that useful or intuitive.