A basic usability test on ten phones

http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2010/01/a_basic_usabili.html

by robin_reala • 17 years ago

87 29 17 years ago

fragmede• 17 years ago

Nice read, but the writer uses the phrase "sends this Obigo browser through GWT hell". Unless Google is doing more complex user agent sniffing that I thought, the phone's browser not being able to use Javascript is just that, the phone browser's problem, and not Google's fault.

A more basic test I'd like to see is how well do these 10 phones stack up wrt to the task at hand. AS PHONES.

I have a smart phone, and my biggest annoyance? The simple task of "I have a phone number and I need to call it" is far more complex than it needs to be. Calling contacts already in the phonebook? Easy. Punching in a phone number has far too many buttons to get back main screen, go to phone mode and bring up the actual dialer. Once there, either it's a touchscreen without real buttons, or it's a sub-qwerty tiny keypad that may as well be annoying touchscreen at that size (The kind that RIM is quite fond of). (Connection services like Google Voice are up to the should-be-trivial task though).

Then again, I suppose the smartphone route would be to print up QR codes on everything and allow dialing of a cellphone camera picture.

ErrantX2• 17 years ago

This is where I believe the iPhone wins at the moment.

It works brilliantly, for me, as a phone. I've not found another smart phone as good so far.

mortenjorck• 17 years ago

The path from locked state to dial is quick enough for me on a 3GS, but I have to admit it's probably more steps than I would like. On paper, it actually looks kind of bad if it's a number you don't have in-directory:

1. Hit home or lock key 2. Swipe lock slider 3. Touch phone icon 4. Touch dialpad icon 5. Dial number

Vs. a featurephone or keyboarded smartphone

1. Hit unlock key or open clamshell 2. Dial number

What I'd actually like to see is a second slider on the iPhone's lock screen that goes straight to the phone without stopping by the springboard. That would pretty much bring it to parity with featurephone keypads.

silversmith2• 17 years ago

Nokia 5800 is quite good in this one too.

1) Press middle of the three hardware buttons on the lower part of the phone. Home screen appears. 2) Press icon in lower left part of the home screen, numpad appears. 3) Input the number. 4) Press call button on touch screen or the leftmost of the hardware buttons. Overall, one more action than a non-smart.

Please note that it is not my intention, however, to present 5800 as overall good phone. Most of it is usability nightmare.

storborg• 17 years ago

Dialing a phone number with actual digits accounts for maybe 1/500th of the use of my phone. That may not be common, but I don't think dialing digits is "the task at hand" for a phone anymore.

In fact, Apple's iPhone integration spans so far that I rarely even enter contacts on my phone anymore:

1. Someone emails me their phone number.

2. I mouse over it in Mail.app, click 'Create New Contact'.

3. I click 'Add to Address Book'

...

4. That's it. There's nothing else. Their name and email address get filled in automagically from the email, and within a few minutes the contact gets synced over the air to my phone.

maxklein• 17 years ago

I have been an iPhone user since whenever the first one came out. I now own an iPhone 3GS. I recently (3 weeks ago) bought and tried my very first android phone (with OS 1.6)

I have really never been so disappointed in my life. This thing is supposed to compete the iPhone? The movement is not smooth, the interface flickers, buttons don't react immediately, the keyboard is laggy and the entire thing feels so unpolished.

I instantly hated it. I still have it - I use it for development, but Android 1.6 is not even close to the iPhone in 'goodness'. Maybe 2.0 will be better.

On the other hand, I wrote my first program for it. Programming for Android is MUCH easier, a lot more intuitive and there are so many widgets that you can very quickly get things sown together. Android programming reminds me of programming in Basic, while iPhone programming is like normal C++ programming.

I know java somewhat and C++ very well, and it took me like a month to really feel I understood iPhone programming. It took me 2 or 3 days to feel comfortable programming for Android.

I have not yet sold anything on the Android market, but when I do I'll be sure to post a comparison of the two platforms with the exact same app. In a week or two I will have my first Android app up.

buster• 17 years ago

SO, you are actually saying the hardware you have is crap. I guess with the newer phones (nexus one, xperia x10) the UI will be as responsive as you know it from your iphone and android will begin to shine.

ubernostrum• 17 years ago

It's worth pointing out that when the very first G1 showed up in customers' hands, people complained that there were issues with speed and responsiveness. The standard reply was "wait until the next phone comes out with better hardware, then Android will really shine!"

It's been a year and three months since then. Each new phone on the market has bumped things up a bit, and now the top of the line has roughly doubled every hardware spec on the original G1. And there are still issues with speed and responsiveness, and the standard reply is still "wait until the next phone comes out with better hardware, then Android will really shine!"

dirtyaura• 17 years ago

Smoothness of UI is as much about software as it's about hardware. My Macbook Pro is a super-powered work horse compared to iPhone, but still many applications and web pages do not give a great smooth, experience.

Reason? Because asynchronous, multithreaded programming, which is required for smoothness, ain't trivial with abstractions that current programming languages and platform libraries provide.

iron_ball2• 17 years ago

I've found the Motorola Droid, with Android 2.0, to be quite smooth and responsive. It's not quite up to the iPhone's well-oiled level of smoothness, but I've never seen the "jerky menus" people talk about either -- just the occasional one-frame pause when scrolling a graphics-heavy web page.

donw• 17 years ago

I looked very heavily at the Droid before I got my iPhone, and it felt far less polished than the Apple offering. Plus, Verizon's decision to not include multitouch staggers me -- pinch to zoom is one of the things that makes web browsing on the iPhone usable, IMO.

The Droid also has no IME, and rotating the device when in the web browser seemed to have no effect whatsoever, and a CDMA-only phone is, to me, as a communications device, marginally less useful than a brick.

That said, I don't think it's a bad phone, and Motorola seems to be selling a hell of a lot of them. The hardware feels to be very good quality, and when Google works out the Android UI quirks, it'll be one hell of a platform, especially because there's no App Store Nazi sitting between the developer and the customer.

So, the Droid is not in the same area code as the iPhone, but unlike a lot of other phones on the market, it's at least on the same planet, in terms of usability.

sunkencity• 17 years ago

It's always possible to tell when an app is running non-native on any platform. C/C++ is more responsive.

DannoHung• 17 years ago

Do people really like styluses that much? I guess they're good for tapping very tiny screen elements, but zoom pretty much solves that.

I wonder if B's opinion would have changed had he spent a few hours with each phone trying to do some other tasks.

silversmith2• 17 years ago

I am writing this standing here, waiting for the train. It is couple degrees below zero. Stylus alllows me to keep my gloves on - I see that as a HUGE bonus.

robin_reala• 17 years ago

North Face’s E-Tip gloves let you use capacitative touch screens while your fingers are toasty warm.

seldo2• 17 years ago

When I was in D.C. for the inauguration last January I discovered the fatal incompatibility of iPhone's touchscreen with gloves. A stylus would have been handy.

sunir• 17 years ago

It was obvious to this Canadian the first winter I owned an iPhone that the designers of the iPhone lived in California.

wendroid• 17 years ago

Shame he didn't try an Android with a hardware qwerty keyboard. I've got a G1 Dream Dev, everyone that's tried it has liked it. It has a very nice tactile feel. I tried a few handsets and nearly bought an E71, luckily it couldn't get a decent bundle for it.

I was looking forward to the Google phone but sw kb is a turn off.

The G1 does have its downpoints - the scroll wheel jumps from link to link which means more thumb movement if you need to scroll with the screen. And the battery life. Oh that's the killer, great if you're not using it but spend an evening doing a bit of browsing and showing people youtube vids when you wake up in the morning you can't call a cab. Carrying a mini usb cable is required.

A basic usability test on ten phones

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