Mobile Phones and Usability

Tuesday, Jun. 6 2006 | Author: J. Angelo Racoma

Ever wonder why Nokia is the preferred mobile phone brand (at least in Asia and Europe, and second in the US)? It’s because of usability. Never mind those snazzy looks and features that other brands give you. Never mind the hacker-friendly mobiles that let users tweak and flash their firmwares to their hearts content.

Nokias rule because even the dummiest of dummies can operate them. Yes,the interface is usually clunky (like vertical-folder instead of grid like everyone else). But it works.

A Lesson in Design

It’s ironic that some devices that have what we perceive to be clunky interfaces are, in fact, those with the friendliest UIs–so friendly that many mobile users will simply not consider any other brand because they’re comfortable with a certain interface, and will stick to that.

As for designing Websites or Web apps, it pays to be as simple and straightforward as possible, even if your site may not fare well in the snazzy department. I know some companies and developers love to wow their audiences with fancy splash screens, dropdown menus that automagically drop down on mouse-over, and AJAXy sites that have all these alerts popping up every now and then (useless widgets, anyone?). Usability buffs would say these are only annoying and should be done away with. I agree.

Some Questions

Here are a few questions to consider when conceptualizing your site, blog, web-app, or even software.

Am I requiring my users to do otherwordly stuff before accessing the functions of my site? It should be as simple as clicking a few links. The fewer the better. For the Nokia, it’s click, a few presses of the up/down button, click, up or down again, and so on. Yes, they can press Menu-2-1-4, but they shouldn’t necessarily have to remember how to press combinations of several keys just to access the function they want.
Am I making it easy for users to find what they’re looking for? Again, for instance, it’s that darned “home” link! Users shouldn’t have to have a difficult time navigating your site or looking for information they might need or want. Help them out, or else they will leave.
Do I present too much information? This is called overload, and this is bad. This is why Nokias have a nested menu system instead of offering all features upfront. And this is why on my blogs, I chose not to put every conceivable tidbit of information on the site’s sidebar. No one really reads them, anyway, and I’d like my readers to focus on the content. If my users want more information, they will look for it, and my navigation system should help them on that.

I don’t claim to be a usability expert, and I never have. But I’ve done usability testing for my previous employer, and I’m also a user of gadgets and Web applications myself. While I consider myself to be in the intermediate to advanced range, I still do find unfriendly design daunting and annoying. What more to those not really well-versed in gadgets, technology, or a devices’ interface?

Again, I echo myself–design with stupid in mind.

I don’t use a Nokia, by the way. I use a Windows-based SmartPhone.

Share and Enjoy

Multitasking on Series 60 Nokia Phones
Design with Usability – nay, Stupidity – in Mind!
New Domain Approved For Mobile Devices
GNOME 2.6 Usability Study and Review
Hacking T-mobile phones for unlimited text messaging

Hope you like that post!

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7 Responses for "Mobile Phones and Usability"

Marco (Griffith) Jardim

June 7th, 2006 at 4:17 am
1

I happen to have experienced this not too long ago.

On my mother’s birthday, I gave her my former Nokia, which has two methods of presenting the interface, by grid, or by list, just as you mention above.

When she saw the grid interface, her first reaction was: “This is too complicated for me”. But, as soon as I changed it to a list she started saying: “Oh! Now it’s almost the same as my old Nokia”.

I currently own a Sony-Ericsson k750i.
Brody

June 7th, 2006 at 8:55 am
2

From what I’ve experienced Nokia appears to always be the cheapest. The majority of the time when a phone is offered free it’s a Nokia, so maybe that’s why it’s so highly preferred.
BDB

June 8th, 2006 at 9:05 am
3

For many of us, regardless of intellect in gadgetry, there are only two important usability features in mobile phones…

1) Phone rings, I answer (or ignore, as the case may be).

2) I make a call, they answer (or ignore).

All the bells and whistles (once you find them, or more importantly, figure out how to get around them) are sometimes cute and maybe even fun… for about 5 minutes. Then it’s back to business as usual.

It seems inevitable that phones will continue to have more knobs to tweak than the Houston Space Center, but when all is said and done, these basic features must remain simple, or it’s pointless as a phone.
Daniel Escasa

June 10th, 2006 at 6:07 am
4

My phones, in chronological order: a Nokia 2010, then a Motorola StarTAC, a Siemens M35i, and a Siemens ME45. A few weeks ago, I “inherited” a Nokia 6108 from my niece. I used the M35i for about three months, and the ME45 for five years. I *hated* the Motorola software, mainly because it wouldn’t display the name of the sender of an incoming text message. Also, I couldn’t reply to a text message — there was no Reply option, d’uh! — instead, I had to write down the sender’s number, then compose a text message and *manually* type in that number. That’s why I found it easier to place a voice call than reply with a test. I could never get myself to even tolerate that UI. That was a late 90s model, and I understand that their newer phones have more rational interfaces.

The Siemens handsets, on the other hand, had *much* smoother interfaces. And, of course, so does the Nokia. I can’t say which is the winner because there are UI elements I like from one that are not in the other. As to keypad layout, I’m still trying to get used to the Nokia’s vs the Siemens’s — and in case you’re wondering, it’s the non-alpha keys when I’m doing SMS that are different. For instance, the key to cycle through the T9 choices is the upper right in the Siemens but the bottom left on the Nokia. The punctuation marks and the space key on the Siemens are shared with the ‘1′ key, and on the Nokia, I get them by *holding down* the bottom left key — with the exception of the space, which is the bottom middle. Which is better? The one I’m used to :), and I’m not sure I’ll ever *really* get used to Nokia’s.
jangelo

June 10th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
5

Danny, perhaps it’s because you’re a techie that Nokias don’t appeal to you well. I’ve been using Siemens 45-series phones for the longest time (for about five years, too). First the ME45, then another ME45, then I hacked the newer ME45 with the S45i firmware, then I got myself an old S45 w/c I also hacked with the “i” firmware, plus a handful of patches (shortuts, enhancements and UI changes galore).

During that time I’ve had my share of SonyEricssons and Nokias, but I found myself going back to my Siemens because of the interface that I loved so much (and that non-techies could never appreciate).

My S45 finally broke down on me a few months back and I got myself a Microsoft-based “Smart” phone (”Microsoft” and “smart” don’t usually get a long well in a single phrase).
Daniel Escasa

October 31st, 2006 at 12:07 pm
6

I think it has more to do with my familiarity with the Siemens interface — specifically, the functions of the keys in SMS entry. For instance, Siemens assigns Backspace to the left soft-menu key. In my Nokia, it’s the right soft-menu key. Space is ‘1′ on the Siemens, ‘0′ on the Nokia. I still get confused now and then, and have sent an incomplete message as a result. Figure out how I did that :)

But I digressed, and you followed. We were talking about our respective uses of the functions, yes? In my case, I’d like to think I use almost all of them :) I haven’t tried sending a Calendar entry by SMS though. I did try IR’ing it to my PDA, and it didn’t come in >:(
Daniel Escasa

November 15th, 2006 at 11:21 am
7

Update: I tried it with an identical Nokia, and it worked. Haven’t tried sending a calendar entry via SMS, because I’m too cheap to do it just for testing :)

As an aside, I did manage to IR both ways between my Visor and my old Siemens. So I think it fair to blame the Nokia :)