View Full Version : "How intuitive is the user interface?"
optimaxxx
2009-11-03, 00:01
intuitive is simply a measure of how little people have to actually think through what they're doing..
and he actually complains about the touchscreen JUST because it's ressistive, "It’s worth noting at this point that the N900’s touchscreen is resistive, like the Nokia N97’s, and not capacitive, like the iPhone’s or Android phones. This was disappointing to hear"
also: "In fact, in some cases, the touchscreen is just a little too responsive. It seems to react to even the slightest touch of your finger, which can cause it to interpret a movement as a swipe when all you meant to do was place your finger on the screen."
what is WRONG with this person!?!
source of my hate:
http://mobilementalism.com/2009/09/14/hands-on-nokia-n900-review-the-best-nokia-smartphone-yet/
haha that was kind of funny so exactly what did he not like about the resistive screen?
He tried. You could tell he was really trying. Bless his heart.
(Hands-on with the N900 in a darkened theatre = sticky keyboard?)
…and why you shouldn’t!
Number of apps written for Maemo platform will be limited
how can he say something like that?
mannakiosk
2009-11-03, 09:39
how can he say something like that?
He could base that on assumptions that android and iphone will have a larger marketshare and more developers.
I'd still pick n900 for the openness. And I think and hope the n900 will grow much bigger than what would be expected from the interest in the n8x0:s and previous maemos.
Or maybe he just means limited as opposed to infinite, which is probably a correct assessment for the foreseeable future.
"The N900 sports a compass and aGPS"
Cue the hordes of maniacs obsessing over n900's (lack of) compass and how they could wrangle it in
He could base that on assumptions that android and iphone will have a larger marketshare and more developers.
I'd still pick n900 for the openness. And I think and hope the n900 will grow much bigger than what would be expected from the interest in the n8x0:s and previous maemos.
Or maybe he just means limited as opposed to infinite, which is probably a correct assessment for the foreseeable future.
Yes, maybe. But it doesn't have to be that way.
As you probably already know;
There are already several applications to earlier the earlier maemo-dists which probably are going to be ported and there are also tons of applications for Linux in general which be modified for maemo5.
So I don't see that lack of applications will be an issue.
It's more intuitive than Symbian but less intuitive than the iPhone
(Please notice the iPhone UI is designed to be as simple as possible and stuff like multitasking would be way too complicated for your average iPhone user)
Laughing Man
2009-11-03, 12:48
I don't think multitasking would be to hard for the people who use the iPhone. Rather it's the OS itself and application market that's not designed around multitasking that causes the problems.
Once Apple releases their revolutionary multitasking feature on the iphone you'll see people multitasking.
sjgadsby
2009-11-03, 14:35
It's more intuitive than Symbian but less intuitive than the iPhone
Personally, I go out of my way to avoid using the word "intuitive" to describe anything. I've found it to be entirely too subjective.
In the end, there are two items I've most often seen upheld as paragons of intuitiveness: the hammer and the nipple. UI/UX designers have a tendency to wax poetic on the perfect design of these items. However, it's common for people to grip hammers too high on the handle, reducing the effectiveness of the tool, until they are taught proper usage. And calling a nipple "intuitive" ignores the existence of lactation consultant as a career path as well as the USLCA, the ILCA, college courses, and certifying boards for those in the profession.
Nipple usage instructions are included in mammalian firmware out-of-the-box.
sjgadsby
2009-11-03, 18:54
Nipple usage instructions are included in mammalian firmware out-of-the-box.
That's just it though, there's an entire career based on helping newborn mammals learn that usage, so "intuitive" is a tough sell even there.
I don't think multitasking would be to hard for the people who use the iPhone. Rather it's the OS itself and application market that's not designed around multitasking that causes the problems.
Once Apple releases their revolutionary multitasking feature on the iphone you'll see people multitasking.
It's also the decision to use serial tasking that allows the applications to be fluid as there is little running in the background to hog memory. It's a blessing and a curse, but as Apple want to run their user's experience, and doesn't trust their users to be able to close apps when there's slowdown.
The more time it elapses, and the more all the competitors start to actively enable and promote multitasking in their devices, the harder it will become for Apple to hold on to this singletasking story. It will be interesting to see what kind of UI solution and story they will bring here. Looking at the Dock on OSX might be a good first guess.
Oh man I fear the day when apple will "invent" multitasking. The fanboys and girls will explode with applelove when they see the new, completely innovative feature, never before seen on any device, big or small!
Kinda like Doom, that was recently released for the iphone. I must admit I also cheered when I first got doom on my ngage... in 2003.
Either way, I heard that my friends mum tested the N900 without any assistance whatsoever, never before seen or even heard of the device. Took a while to unlock the screen, but after that it was 2 minute learning and then smooth rolling. So pretty seems intuitive imo.
LOL I loaded Ubuntu on my Wifes Thinkpad, and put Firefox and Thunderbird exactly where she used to find it.
Browser check
Email check
Changed the wallpaper to be just the same as windows XP and she did'nt even notice she was running Linux.
They are the only two apps she uses.
I went into Apple store to try out iPhone, kept rotating the browser to horizontal expecting it to rotate, and it stayed in Portrait, struggled with the on screen keyboard. I left and went back to my very intuitive E71 Symbian device. It has a key for Mail, a key for calendar and a key for Contacts 90% of my use case for a phone covered.
Mike C
Laughing Man
2009-11-03, 20:57
I think the rotation for the iPhone depends on force. Cause my cousin (who owns the iPhone 3G) and I both tried it and at first we struggled with making it rotate. He would have to keep shaking it to get it to rotate. But if you do it quickly then it'll usually register it.
I think the rotation for the iPhone depends on force. Cause my cousin (who owns the iPhone 3G) and I both tried it and at first we struggled with making it rotate. He would have to keep shaking it to get it to rotate. But if you do it quickly then it'll usually register it.
I tried it on more than one device in the shop, and nope they did not rotate. Thats not to say it was supposed to. In fact I'm not even clear that many of the apps will work in landscape, but it wont stop me from rotating the device in the hope it will.
optimaxxx
2009-11-04, 10:14
exactly what i hate about the iphone
why the hell do I need to change the way I operate!?
I bought this phone, it does what I TELL IT TO DO!!
Laughing Man
2009-11-06, 12:47
Personally, I go out of my way to avoid using the word "intuitive" to describe anything. I've found it to be entirely too subjective.
In the end, there are two items I've most often seen upheld as paragons of intuitiveness: the hammer and the nipple. UI/UX designers have a tendency to wax poetic on the perfect design of these items. However, it's common for people to grip hammers too high on the handle, reducing the effectiveness of the tool, until they are taught proper usage. And calling a nipple "intuitive" ignores the existence of lactation consultant as a career path as well as the USLCA, the ILCA, college courses, and certifying boards for those in the profession.
Intuitive to me is if you give it to most people without telling them how to use it properly use it. If they use it correctly then that's intuitive. If not, then it's not and you should hire a usability expert to help you make it more intuitive. ;)
Nowadays intuitive is a lot more of "what mental models and user behaviour the users already know of and therefore would want to reutilize" than "give this design to a tabula rasa mind and see if he learns to use this".
Not saying if this is good or bad, but asking "whether this UI is intuitive" is more like asking whether this UI follows known patterns or not. In theory I could design something really "intuitive" but because it would be very much different from what are the currently known user patterns, there would be a strong initial feeling of "non-intuitiveness", because it differs from the norm.
Then again, designs like these do prove themselves or not over the longer term of use.
Few things in life are truly intuitive. If you wanted to turn off the lights in a room, you would be looking everywhere for the light switch, until someone told you just need to clap your hands (sound-activated sensor). That doesn't mean it's not intuitive to clap the lights on and off - it's just not very used
I found the iphone's interface extremely strange at first - because i was expecting at least some sort of structure, not a 3-page dump of everything the thing could do, even if a good-looking dump
Laughing Man
2009-11-06, 13:18
Nowadays intuitive is a lot more of "what mental models and user behaviour the users already know of and therefore would want to reutilize" than "give this design to a tabula rasa mind and see if he learns to use this".
Not saying if this is good or bad, but asking "whether this UI is intuitive" is more like asking whether this UI follows known patterns or not. In theory I could design something really "intuitive" but because it would be very much different from what are the currently known user patterns, there would be a strong initial feeling of "non-intuitiveness", because it differs from the norm.
Then again, designs like these do prove themselves or not over the longer term of use.
True that's why a company like Apple can convince everyone that zooming in via pinching and zooming out via a spreading motion is intuitive (frankly to me it should be the opposite way around if you were going to use these motions).
Here is what he said on intuitiveness:
Most of it is intuitive; however, the lack of a back button (or any other button for that matter!) meant that sometime you had no clue how to navigate around the device.
For example, to back up from an application or a Web page, you press the very top left of the screen. Unfortunately, there;s no icon there to indicate this functionality, so if you;ve never used the phone before, you;ll have no idea what to do whatsoever!. Of course, you;ll get used to this over time, but it;s unnecessarily confusing
Now I have yet to try out a N900 so I can't say if I agree or disagree, but I have wondered about it... and if maybe by "intuitive", he means expected or familiar. After all, most of us have had cell phones with a home key, menu key and back (or ESC) key and know well how to use them.
I will keep an open mind, but I still suspect that having NO keys on the face of the device was not done for reasons of practicality or functionality.
Then again, designs like these do prove themselves or not over the longer term of use.This I respectfully do not agree with. Especially if you are attempting to equate commercial success with successful UI design. There are just too many other factors that relate to product success. It could be lowest common denominator rather than quality that leads to success. Cheap beer sells more than beer which is better but more expensive. People say the Apple Newton design was very good, even though it flopped commercially, etc.
This I respectfully do not agree with. Especially if you are attempting to equate commercial success with successful UI design. There are just too many other factors that relate to product success. It could be lowest common denominator rather than quality that leads to success. Cheap beer sells more than beer which is better but more expensive. People say the Apple Newton design was very good, even though it flopped commercially, etc.
Yes. I meant "prove themselves" as ... as when you would do an usability test for a feature. At the end of an usability test (as long as it is not only about first impressions), a design can prove itself or not.
Naturally that doesn't mean "prove themselves" in terms of such a design being a commercial success or not. (Just look at Palm Pre, for instance. It has a really nice design in many areas.)
True that's why a company like Apple can convince everyone that zooming in via pinching and zooming out via a spreading motion is intuitive (frankly to me it should be the opposite way around if you were going to use these motions).
Er, it is the opposite way around.
I went into Apple store to try out iPhone, kept rotating the browser to horizontal expecting it to rotate, and it stayed in Portrait, struggled with the on screen keyboard. I left and went back to my very intuitive E71 Symbian device. It has a key for Mail, a key for calendar and a key for Contacts 90% of my use case for a phone covered.
Mike C
The iPhone's browser disables the auto-rotation when you have the keyboard out, for whatever reason. I think this is the cause that the iphone that you tested were locked in a single orientation.
Try as I might, I can't make my iPhone (3gs) to 'lock' the browser even when rotating it very very slowly near horizontal position, with the keyboard hidden.
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