4 ms·

I know it's hard to conceive, but you might not be the target market. Microsoft probably has people testing these things. I have no trouble skimming it.

by mkr-hn 14y ago

Samuel_Michon 14y ago
"Microsoft probably has people testing these things." It sure does. But what does Microsoft do with those recommendations? The company had a group test the Kin devices, too. The group decided the devices were unusable, and Microsoft decided to launch them as-is anyways. http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/unreleased-internal-microsoft-videos-show-why-kin-crashed-and-burned/ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/unreleased-internal-m...
- kenjackson 14y ago
  Actually they fixed the perf, which was the main complaint from those videos.
  - Samuel_Michon 14y ago
    From the article: "These internal Microsoft videos, provided to Wired by a person who worked on the project, show focus groups testing the ill-fated Kin. According to our source, these are pre-production models that changed very little from the shipping product, although “performance improved some prior to shipping.” Watch them, and you can readily see why the project tanked: Kin phones just weren’t usable."
    - kenjackson 14y ago
      According to our source, these are pre-production models that changed very little from the shipping product, although “performance improved some prior to shipping.” This is obviously not true by just watching the videos. In the videos the delay between typing a number on the keypad and it coming up is something like 5 seconds. Watch any hands-on video after it launched and you can see no performance issues like that. Kin reviews noted some performance issues, but nothing to the degree noted by these videos. performance improved some prior to shipping I think that would be an understatement given how poor the perf in these videos were. It would be like doing a test group on the iPhone where dragging and tapping was delayed by a few seconds. There's no reason to even test that, because it will break everything else in the UI.
  - bradwestness 14y ago
    I actually have a Kin One and I really like it. The web browser kinda sucks because it's based on IE 6 but the messaging and actual phone parts are great and I love the UI.
mtgx 14y ago
A lot of people may not be in that "target market" for the Metro UI, and yet Microsoft is forcing it on anyone who might want to still use Windows in the future.
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  Huh? They're forcing it as much as they're forcing the UI of the desktop mode. What does that even mean anyway.
  - joenathan 14y ago
    It means "I'm in the mood to bash Microsoft" and nothing more.
CamperBob2 14y ago
Microsoft probably has people testing these things. Without knowledge of the test conditions and methodology, this is a meaningless statement.
- mkr-hn 14y ago
  No more meaningless than declaring it unusable without that information.
danenania 14y ago
Testing won't necessarily help when there's a complete lack of design sensibility. Tests can be poorly framed and misinterpreted. This ui fails on basic ux and design principles.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- fumar 14y ago
  Can you elaborate how the UI fails? Is it the horizontal scrolling?
- jeswin 14y ago
  Exactly. Even scrolling issues aside, how this is easier than black on white (with colored icons) is beyond me. Aesthetically, it looks like crap. It is one of those things that can't be explained so well though.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

I know it's hard to conceive, but you might not be the target market. Microsoft probably has people testing these things. I have no trouble skimming it.

by mkr-hn 14y ago

I know it's hard to conceive, but you might not be the target market. Microsoft probably has people testing these things. I have no trouble skimming it.

Samuel_Michon 14y ago

"Microsoft probably has people testing these things." It sure does. But what does Microsoft do with those recommendations? The company had a group test the Kin devices, too. The group decided the devices were unusable, and Microsoft decided to launch them as-is anyways. http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/unreleased-internal-microsoft-videos-show-why-kin-crashed-and-burned/ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/unreleased-internal-m...

kenjackson 14y ago
Actually they fixed the perf, which was the main complaint from those videos.
- Samuel_Michon 14y ago
  From the article: "These internal Microsoft videos, provided to Wired by a person who worked on the project, show focus groups testing the ill-fated Kin. According to our source, these are pre-production models that changed very little from the shipping product, although “performance improved some prior to shipping.” Watch them, and you can readily see why the project tanked: Kin phones just weren’t usable."
  - kenjackson 14y ago
    According to our source, these are pre-production models that changed very little from the shipping product, although “performance improved some prior to shipping.” This is obviously not true by just watching the videos. In the videos the delay between typing a number on the keypad and it coming up is something like 5 seconds. Watch any hands-on video after it launched and you can see no performance issues like that. Kin reviews noted some performance issues, but nothing to the degree noted by these videos. performance improved some prior to shipping I think that would be an understatement given how poor the perf in these videos were. It would be like doing a test group on the iPhone where dragging and tapping was delayed by a few seconds. There's no reason to even test that, because it will break everything else in the UI.
- bradwestness 14y ago
  I actually have a Kin One and I really like it. The web browser kinda sucks because it's based on IE 6 but the messaging and actual phone parts are great and I love the UI.

mtgx 14y ago

A lot of people may not be in that "target market" for the Metro UI, and yet Microsoft is forcing it on anyone who might want to still use Windows in the future.

drivebyacct2 14y ago
Huh? They're forcing it as much as they're forcing the UI of the desktop mode. What does that even mean anyway.
- joenathan 14y ago
  It means "I'm in the mood to bash Microsoft" and nothing more.

CamperBob2 14y ago

Microsoft probably has people testing these things. Without knowledge of the test conditions and methodology, this is a meaningless statement.

mkr-hn 14y ago
No more meaningless than declaring it unusable without that information.

danenania 14y ago

Testing won't necessarily help when there's a complete lack of design sensibility. Tests can be poorly framed and misinterpreted. This ui fails on basic ux and design principles.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
fumar 14y ago
Can you elaborate how the UI fails? Is it the horizontal scrolling?
jeswin 14y ago
Exactly. Even scrolling issues aside, how this is easier than black on white (with colored icons) is beyond me. Aesthetically, it looks like crap. It is one of those things that can't be explained so well though.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]