Palm Pre's Zen ringtones

During the 15-month gestation of Palm's new cellphone, the Pre, the company's designers and engineers drew inspiration from Japanese Zen gardens and grassy fields. Forbes reports.

The nature theme extended to the phone's audio sounds as well. Palm commissioned a new set of ringtones and alerts for the phone.

... When recording the audio's base notes, the company opted for actual musicians playing simple instruments like Tibetan bells over synthetic gizmos that generate "electronic blips and bloops," says Matias Duarte, Palm's vice president of human interface and user experience.

"We wanted to have tones that would be part of the Pre's aesthetic whole," Duarte says. "The phone's hardware, software and audio experience needed to be coherent."

emily | 10:38 PM | News, Buzz |
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