The official Nokia S60 browser blog's post on the problems of simplifying their application has got me thinking... They rightly contend that it's tricky to design software to be simple to a large range of potential users with very different aims and expertise levels.
BUT
Why not set things up so that the same application, or even S60 as a whole, can look and behave in different ways according to the personal preference and ability of the person using the smartphone?
I remember 10 years ago when the desktop email application Eudora came with three different levels of interface complexity, from simple through to advanced. When installed, it asked you which one you'd like and then it presented you with just the level of menu/icon/pane complexity you'd asked for. Thus, beginner home users wouldn't get bogged down in complex folder and rule management, and so on. At any time, if you wanted to change the level of interface, you could do so in Settings.
Why could the same idea not be applied to complex S60 applications like Web (reducing the number of menu options in 'simple' mode, especially important as more and more functionality gets shoehorned into the program) and Messaging (for example removing 'My folders', 'Reports', 'Cell broadcast', 'Service command' etc in 'simple' mode)?
And perhaps apply the idea to the S60 application launching interface itself. What about dropping the active standby icons and, in simple mode, have no standby screen, with the Menu being the only launch screen, taking away the numeric app shortcuts so that users could dial from the app launcher? And of course reducing the usual cluttered set of 50 or so application icons to around 20 at most? (things like 'Data cbl', 'Modem', 'Dev mgr', 'RealPlayer' [standalone] and 'Flash' [standalone] spring to mind as obvious things to lose)
Then there are all those 'Settings' which even I don't really understand - the total number of settings could be happily reduced down to just the half dozen that the beginner user will want.
The moment a user starts needing something from the 'Advanced' tableau, i.e. they're going beyond the basics and are now familiar with S60 and how it works, they make the switch in 'Settings' and everything returns as it is now.
What about it Nokia? One simple question when a smartphone is powered on for the first time. "Are you experienced?" Or, playing less to the title image above:
Something to think about anyway, Nokia... An optional 'S60 Lite', maybe? Ditto developers - two apps in one, depending on user experience?
Steve Litchfield, 19 Feb 2007