Research on availability of handheld devices

Original usability for handheld devices versus Consolidator
Usability of the handheld devices

Many users currently use different mobile devices in different environments-including smartphones, digital cameras, MP3 players, E-books and GPS. How does the user interface behave on the device after the user leaves the desktop? How to design devices-including hardware-driven controls, interaction models, and function key layouts-that will determine the usability of design and software applications. How we understand the user experience in the move. These questions will be answered and more about the mobile user experience, interactive design, and usability of handheld mobile devices.

The only important thing in design is how the design itself relates to people. --victor Papanek

Companies are gradually introducing more advanced technologies into consumer electronics, and handheld devices are taking up more and more of their time each day. Does the user's interaction with a handheld device have the same interaction with a desktop-platform Web site? What type of challenge is the user's day-to-day use of such a wide range of handheld devices? What are the usability professionals taking into account in learning about the availability of different platforms?

one hand or two hands?

The first very big question is, does the user need one hand or two hands to operate the equipment? Usually when interacting with a desktop Web site, using both hands when operating a standard keyboard, using a mouse or other click device requires a single hand. Sometimes the decision is driven by the situation. For example, a user has only one spare hand to operate a GPS device while driving a vehicle. Some decisions are culturally driven. Smart-phone users in Japan, for example, are accustomed to one-handed operations because they often grab the rails with their other hand on a Mercedes-Benz train.

Whether we plan to use a single hand or a device with both hands will largely affect how we design it--so it affects how the user understands its usability. A usability professional needs to take this factor into consideration when planning a test task and creating a test scenario.

A standard keyboard or a different set of keys?

When a user interacts with a desktop Web site, a standard QWERTY keyboard provides an approximate, consistent interaction model. However, when interacting with a handheld device, the user may need to manipulate a particular device or manipulate the control through a hard control, such as a button, or a direct touch screen. Handheld devices have many different shapes and many different types of controls. For example, a Sony reader has a very different set of buttons than the Amazon Kindle. Sony Reader is characterized by 10 digital buttons, a set of five-D keys. The Kindle has a QWERTY keyboard, a front page and a Back button, a five-D key set and a Back button. Two of enterprises design their devices to provide users with a better reading experience, their designers are considering how to enable users to interact with digital reading devices, of course, based on different ideas. Five-D key sets make it easier for them to operate up and down. A QWERTY keyboard makes input easier.

When interacting with different types of handheld devices, sometimes a lack of standardized experience increases the frustration of the user. Because of the lack of standardization, usability professionals must systematically think about the usability of mobile devices rather than focusing on an isolated button. So, when you ask a similar question like how users understand how to use this particular button, the way to learn value is to become a more useful question-how does a particular device's full set of buttons help users accomplish their tasks, and the user can successfully find a way to manipulate the device? Did they get lost in the button collection?

What is a device application scenario?

Users do not use handheld devices in a vacuum (except for astronauts ^ ^). They drive cars and use GPS, or send text messages to friends on trains, or they use cameras to catch landscapes on the road, or they use the Kindle to read books on buses. Everything happens in a scenario that is used by devices created around the contact user--an important part of the device's user experience. Scenarios where users use handheld devices, and environments are based on very different considerations and events when evaluating the availability of their devices.

For example, when users interact with a digital camera, they often try to capture a good shot--perhaps a fleeting moment--with a very short time and the need to manipulate the camera's attention. How the designer optimizes the design of the camera-making sure that users can easily and correctly press the correct button-is an important aspect of camera usability. When a user operates a GPS, driving is usually a top priority task. Users have limited attention to the GPS, in the driving scene, the user interface button is large enough for easy to use. This is also why voice commands currently play a part in the Navigation system user interface.

Ways to learn about the availability of handheld devices

The ideas given above are very clear, but usability testing in the lab is not ideal for learning about the availability of handheld devices. When a specific lab test environment requires participants to participate, they enter a test model from the beginning of the lab. They begin to think about what the experimental device is going to be, what happens in it, and what they might experience in the test. I've heard that participants in a usability lab have comments like this "This is new ..." or "I've never done this before ...". Once people get out of the lab, they'll go back to their original self-start using their own handheld devices, but they're completely different from what they just told us about their regular operations.

Although participants have complete freedom in usability testing, user researchers have created a very good test scenario, and testing in the lab does not provide a rich environment for real life. The cultural and environmental elements of real life do not exist. In a lab environment, it is not possible to reproduce all the real-life small events that affect the way people use handheld devices in real-world environments.

Ideally, if a user researcher as an invisible shadow would be better, follow the participants around rather than impose them into their reality. For example, when a participant tries to use a new GPS system while driving, the researcher can sit next to him and observe all the problems in his experience. There are many ways to make user researchers and usability professionals go closer to participants.

Home or work visits are often superior to usability tests in the lab. When researchers and participants are in a very familiar place, participants are more comfortable demonstrating the typical day-to-day use of equipment. The participants ' conversations with the researchers, which occur in the participants ' day-to-day environment, often help to think of specific stories that use the device, which has proven to be invaluable and provides a good opportunity for insight.

Short-term, longitudinal research is also beneficial to usability learning for handheld devices. Longer viewing cycles enable participants to experience devices in a more relaxed and natural way, allowing more random failures and problems. If participants are sufficiently purposeful to maintain contact, the diary can be effective by longitudinal studies of what happens during the course of each day. However, reviewing the diary may not be feasible for all participants. Many people find it difficult to sit for a long time every night and think about what is going on in the day. Logs in real devices can be a good alternative. It prompts the participants to make a simple record without considering whether they need it or not.

Summary

Users face very different usability challenges from handheld devices to interacting with desktop Web sites. As a usability professional, we need to consider the use of a device from one hand or two hands. Similarly, we observe the user's interaction with the handheld device, which is useful for thinking about the usability of the device's system, not just the use of the standalone button.

The situation plays a very important role in the use of handheld devices. Family or work calls, short, longitudinal studies, and diaries are better suited than traditional lab usability tests.