3 ms·

while the demo is amazing with all the possibilities presented, isn't moving interface elements around quite disorienting for the user?

aembleton 11y ago
Offering up UI controls near an available finger seems like a great idea. If you're selecting a file at the bottom of the screen then you might want to have the controls at the top of the screen. If the phone can sense that that is what you're trying to do, this could be a great UI.
ygra 11y ago
Theoretically maybe. Practically likely no. First of all, this is (assuming perfect sensor accuracy) fairly predictable in that identical interactions yield identical results. It's not very random. Then there is the whole point that the UI presented is context-aware in that it knows where your finger is. Thus is has the potential to be much better to use than a static UI. You can probably compare it to the clipboard copy button appearing near your selection instead of in a static place on the screen. While it's not in the same location every time, it's in a sensible and usable location. Of course, this all presumes that you never make mistakes, such as mistakenly assuming that a thumb from the left is used while it's actually the opposite. Then the experience is much worse. However, considering how often my phone thinks it should go to landscape mode while in portrait (never), I guess that's not going to happen often either. If things go wrong, it's your touch-screen. You probably wouldn't worry much about UI popping up in strange places when you simply cannot use your phone.
CameronBanga 11y ago
There are many effects that happen like this on your phone currently, and when subtle, greatly improve usability. Take your phone and flip it upside down, and don't allow the device to flip orientation using a lock in software (iOS has the control panel orientation lock switch). You can start to see subtle differences in ease of tapping buttons, targets, etc. The software here is adjusting for how a user actually touches the screen in comparison to where they think they're touching, etc. Here's we're seeing extreme examples, which probably wouldn't work well in practice. But slight integrations could do wonders.

aembleton 11y ago

Offering up UI controls near an available finger seems like a great idea. If you're selecting a file at the bottom of the screen then you might want to have the controls at the top of the screen. If the phone can sense that that is what you're trying to do, this could be a great UI.

ygra 11y ago

Theoretically maybe. Practically likely no. First of all, this is (assuming perfect sensor accuracy) fairly predictable in that identical interactions yield identical results. It's not very random. Then there is the whole point that the UI presented is context-aware in that it knows where your finger is. Thus is has the potential to be much better to use than a static UI. You can probably compare it to the clipboard copy button appearing near your selection instead of in a static place on the screen. While it's not in the same location every time, it's in a sensible and usable location. Of course, this all presumes that you never make mistakes, such as mistakenly assuming that a thumb from the left is used while it's actually the opposite. Then the experience is much worse. However, considering how often my phone thinks it should go to landscape mode while in portrait (never), I guess that's not going to happen often either. If things go wrong, it's your touch-screen. You probably wouldn't worry much about UI popping up in strange places when you simply cannot use your phone.

CameronBanga 11y ago

There are many effects that happen like this on your phone currently, and when subtle, greatly improve usability. Take your phone and flip it upside down, and don't allow the device to flip orientation using a lock in software (iOS has the control panel orientation lock switch). You can start to see subtle differences in ease of tapping buttons, targets, etc. The software here is adjusting for how a user actually touches the screen in comparison to where they think they're touching, etc. Here's we're seeing extreme examples, which probably wouldn't work well in practice. But slight integrations could do wonders.