All About Symbian - Symbian, Nokia and S60 unwrapped.
The Curious Edge Case of the Mass Market User Interface
Published by Ewan Spence at 11:16 UTC, January 19th 2009
Our smartphones have a lot of features in them, yet this is causing a divide. When we as power users look at a new device, we're expecting our favourite features to be there, yet this depth of power can be daunting to new users. A survey from Mformation (see here on the BBC), linked to earlier by Tzer2, reports high numbers of users having problems with setting up a new phone and accessing the available services. Read on for my take on the issue...
At the end of last week, Steve pointed to his editorial on All About iPhone, wishing that Apple would take on some of the organisational ability of the S60 interface and provide app folder support. You know, I'm not quite sure about the thrust of this one. As our smartphones reach the mass market, we have to sacrifice something, and invariably it's the complexity of the device.
So how does a manufacturer combat the needs of two groups that seem as distant from each other as possible? Namely the new users, which make up the bulk of sales of modern devices; and the power users that reach out to the edge of the envelope, act as early adopters and influencers and generally do things with the phones that the designers may not have even considered.
It's important to acknowledge the changing playing field here. I feel there will always be a core group of power users that will jump on any device released, use 110% of its capabilities and generally thrash a bleeding edge till all that is left is raw flesh. My gut feel is that the number of people using a device like this would be measured in tens of thousands. With the PDA devices and the early smartphones, that would make up a huge percentage of the user base. So while they were loud, hearing that volume meant that your user base was sending pretty clear messages as to their needs.
As modern communication devices started to sell in ever bigger numbers, the number of power users didn't grow as fast as the sales figures. More and more 'regular' people started to use the phones. They weren't looking to squeeze the last drop of power out of a system. They just wanted something that worked. And comments such as “S60 is really complicated” started to become the accepted norm.
Let our phones learn us, not the other way around.
Having pulled a 7650 out of a nitrogen atmosphere storage bag, I have to say that I don't see how it has got more complicated... What's changed isn't the interface, but the user base. Rather than be happy to tinker with a device, look and try lots of settings, and generally not be phased if something didn't quite work, the modern phone needs to 'work' out the box, with little reference to manuals or online help.
While set-up wizards can help in many cases, the general view of phones being complex devices (which they are) needs to be addressed. And that means a UI that is clearer to understand, no matter the vocal opposition to it.
This is one area where Apple and their iPhone have had a lot of success. I've had an iPhone on loan from O2 now since just before Christmas, and one of the most surprising things for me is that where the traditional view is that little used applications and features should be available, but placed somewhere deep in the menu structure, Apple simply didn't add them into the UI at all. But as Steve found out, even here, once you go outside the original design brief (in this case, by opening an App Store!), it starts to go wrong.
Here's a challenge for everyone in 2009... designing a UI that works for everyone. Is it as simple as an "advanced" option that can be switched on as required (as mentioned in our podcast this week)? Much as I would like to see that (and it is the way that devices like the E63 are starting to go, with the S60 app launcher demoted in preference to the home screen), that feels to be a stop gap solution that is still likely to confuse people.
The thing is, any UI change is going to be discussed at length by power users. Getting the opinions of "the man in the street" is just as vital for the designers. These are the people that need to be convinced to buy your devices. Apple have shown us one way - to strip down the user interface to the essentials, and ignore everything else. Is there another way that harnesses the huge amounts of computing power on these devices, perhaps paired up with some sort of learning UI? By all means start off with a simple UI that has gutted the functionality. Once a power user is 'spotted', the UI can start throwing in all the tweaks and options, reducing the hand holding, until they reach their own level.
To paraphrase Marks and Spencers: This isn't a User Interface. This is a Personal User Interface.
-- Ewan Spence, Jan 2009.
News Discussion
I can't remember the name, but it basically started with a totally blank phone and let you add whichever features you feel you need, leaving out the stuff you don't want. It only exists as a concept, but it's a very good concept, and I wish some manufacturer would implement it.
Because you would add all the features you want, and place them where you want, you would find it much easier to remember where everything is. It's very much like starting with an empty house and adding all the furniture yourself.
I read on AAS a little while ago about a concept “fillable” phone – you started off with very basic functions, and “poured” more in as you wanted to add more features. That could work well for users with basic needs. Part of the problem at the moment is feature creep – manufacturers and operators want to make mobiles do more and more, because the market is something of an arms race. Features have increased (see Tomi Ahonen’s post on Carnival 157 this week about convergence) but the user interface has not kept pace in terms of dealing with this complexity. I think it’s also true that users have not kept pace with the features that are now present on phones, but UI designers cannot blame consumers for not using those features, if they are not exposed in a pleasant way.
Exactly what I meant.
You have to wonder though - how many of those phones would stay blank and be returned... "That fing doesn't even make calls"
One reason it might not happen though is the compulsion of networks (and even manufacturers nowadays) to bundle services with the phone, which they would be reluctant to give up.
I'd love to see it done though, and on home computers too. My parents always have problems finding things on their PC, I think they'd find it a lot easier if they just had the icons for the programs they actually use.
I understand this article seems to be about the challenge of engaging both groups of users.
Personally I would like the concept of modes taken further. Rather than two sets of standby icons and themes and stuff, one mode could be a "Phone" mode and provide the basic functions and the other mode could be an "Advanced" mode where much more could be provided along with the basic functions. I am taking a page out of one of my favorite applications - Spybot S&D - there is a default mode in which you can search for malware as promised on the cover, and an advanced mode which gives a lot of options that most end users may not understand.
Microsoft apps may not have two modes, but they try to present the simple most common usage scenario directly on screen along with toolbars and all the complexity is buried in menus or application dialogs (which you do not need to access if you dont want to).
There is also the fact that, by providing the same view to both sets of users, one set is complaining that "S60 is too complex, but the other group may be feeling that the whole thing is too dumbed down. Why cant I as a non-hacker user have better connection diagnostics than what is provided by the Connection Manager? How about plain text configuration files for applications - if the messaging app settings were stored in a text file, it would be so much fun. Take the audiobooks application, for example - I am able to use it because I can build book indexes by hand if I want to (se-radio.net provides 1 download a week). Of course, in the new version, one has that phone-pc mapping thingmajiggy, but plain text indexes are still helpful.
Although I am not a mobile developer, I have used S60 long enough to know that this is not the way they prefer to do things. But then what is wrong in wishing aloud? :-)
Sorry for the long post.
| since it would not be suitable for the vast majority of users who just want to use the device as a phone |
Instead of seeing dozens of icons on their phones, they could just have the half dozen that they actually click on.
They would never have to fight through a range of mysterious functions they never use, because they would never add those functions to their phone.
The reason why this would work so well is because different people use different functions, and it would let the user tailor their phone to their own needs. For example if someone never uses e-mail they wouldn't select e-mail as a function, and never see e-mail as an option, removing unnecessary clutter.
Current interfaces have so many functions because they're unsure what the user wants, and offer the entire range. Interfaces which have a smaller range of functions aren't the answer either because the user doesn't have a say in choosing which functions go into that smaller range.
By letting the user pick their functions from a setup wizard, they're having the best of both worlds: lots of choice but no clutter.
| kinda like doing a bare minimal installation of linux and then installing only the stuff that you will need - preferably compiling from source |
The concept of the "blank" phone which we were discussing is to have a GUI setup wizard that asks you which functions you want to use, and then adds just those icons to a graphical interface. It would say "do you want to send texts?", and if you answer yes it would add the SMS icon. "Do you want to play games?", and if you answer no it would leave out the games folder. etc. You would only have to do this once, when you buy the phone, and then you could add more stuff later if you wanted to.
There wouldn't be any installation or anything like that, it would be purely about hiding the functions which the user doesn't want to access.
I guess the same concept is used when the Resco News app starts up for the first time. It asks you what sort of topics you are interested in, and proceeds to add rss feeds accordingly. Quite helpful really. And I can see what you mean.
The AAS news item about it (still can't find the link!) had a really good photo to get the idea across, it was basically a blank touchscreen phone with a sign saying "I am empty, click here to start filling your phone" or something like that, which then led to the setup wizard.
A lot of "web 2.0" sites and services do seem to do this kind of thing, but no one has used it as a main interface for a device so far. The nearest I can think of is the EEE PC's favourites tab, which you can set to be the default front page and fill with large icons that go to particular apps.
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