A recent poll of 4000 people (which is probably enough) found that a majority of them felt that mobile phones these days are too hard to set up and too hard to use. I can see that, however I think the iPhone and G1 are doing things right. Even as someone immersed in tech 24/7, I was afraid to explore the capabilities of my old phones on Verizon.
Firstly, the interface was always just god-awful on the flip phones and candybars that I had, plus you couldn’t customize it beyond trading out a couple icons for your main screen. Second, it was never clear what would cost me money. Warnings popped up occasionally saying “this might cost extra!” or I’d find myself charged 45 cents for a PIX message later on. So I just gave up and used it as a phone, kind of like a huge amount of people out there.
One of the pollsters said something along the lines of:
As phones packed in more processing power, that computational ability could be used to anticipate what users were doing and help them find their way around the handset.
Do you know of any phones that do that? I don’t! When I put mp3s onto my microSD card, my little Samsung sure didn’t ask “would you like to set one as a ringtone?” No. This “anticipation” of users he speaks of isn’t some processor-bound limitation. It’s a UI thing, and we could have had good UIs years ago, but carriers have been pushing us toward buying their crappy ringtones and sending expensive text messages for so long that they didn’t think of how to improve the user experience. It’s certainly one of the reasons the iPhone has become so successful, even though it employs many of the same restrictions: it feels like it’s doing what you want, not like it’s letting you pick from 3 options.
Anyway, rant over. The poll sure shows how frustrated people are with phones these days, but the reasons for that frustration aren’t just by-the-by. They’ve been cultured for years and I don’t think anyone has asked a consumer once what would be better.
Of the video (any hype) I’ve seen of the Palm Pre, it may take a small step forward in this regard.
Sometimes, however, having the phone do things for you right out of the box is not a good thing. I recently acquired a BB 8130 Pearl. Nice phone except it comes with its default keypad operation set to a predictive typing mode called SureType. Most that I have talked to really HATE this mode, some grow to love in in time, however. Switching to a more familiar mode called multi-tap is hidden in an obscure option called “language”. Heh, “language” for changing a keypadd mode?
Another gripe is: What genius decided that a qwerty layout was best for single hand operation? Mini-qwerty seems logical, but QWERTY is for touch-typing with TWO HANDS. The convience of QWERTY completely disappears on handsets. A better solution for one handed operation is three rows A-I, J-R, S-Z. Your mind gets familiar with that layout in 2 seconds because it’s logical and ultra easy to remember. QWERTY’s conveniece is based on two-handed familiarity–a single finger pointing about doesn’t retain that familiarity.
When I see that a shiny new E51 from Nokia will not work for 100% using IMAP Idle to get emails instantly on your phone. I wonder why everybody is using a Nokia. And, yes – the IMAP Idle function is part of the E51 product – but it simply doesn’t work. After 2 years of not using a Nokia I thought they finaly arrived in the future – but setting up using email on a E51 or any other Nokia is a real pain. So before creating new products – perhaps Nokia should come up with some better OS and – hell – a new GUI with less menues. 80% I don’t need, 50% don’t work. Thank you Nokia. My girlfriend that wanted the E51 now got an iPhone. The iPhone is not error free but it shows how a phone should work these days.
Yes! Andy I agree with you!! ….
noobs :D