4 ms·

The iPhone is not easy to use, as compared to what other device that currently exists?

• gthank 17y ago
  There was no such comparison in the article. It merely provides good examples of the usability price paid to achieve its generality (lack of any affordances, etc.) and points out inconsistencies, lack of visual cues, etc.
• mechanical_fish 17y ago
  I have a relative, old and nearly blind, who has a Jitterbug phone. It has about seven buttons total, but three of them are the big buttons: a green one labeled "Operator", a red one labeled "911" and a yellow one with an arbitrary label (often marked "Tow" in the pictures). You can think of these as the "call someone", "call the squad", and "call my best friend" buttons. You really only need the big green button to make calls. You press it and you get a human operator who offers to complete the calls, either by accepting a number, or a name, or (most likely) a name from the contact list that you or someone else has set up in advance. You can find the buttons in the dark. You can operate the phone without vision. You don't need fine motor skills beyond finding one big button and pushing it. You don't need to read numbers. You don't need to know how to read, period. That is a device designed for usability. Of course, most of us don't want one, because it is too boring and would make us feel kind of silly... which is exactly this designer's point.
  • davidw 17y ago
    I think you have to divide the functionality by ease of use. Something that has 1000 features is going to be more difficult than something that only does 10. But if they manage to contain the complexity so that it's only twice as difficult to use, then they've done a good job, even though in absolute terms, some people will still prefer the simplest solution, rather than the best ratio of features to usability.
  • Retric 17y ago
    Talking to an operater to make a call is a long, slow, and complex process. The only advantage is people are used to the interface but, it's not inherently simple. And it has other usability problems for the spanish speaking etc.
    • mechanical_fish 17y ago
      Talking to an operater to make a call is a long, slow, and complex process. Not when compared to trying to find an entry on the iPhone when you are elderly and blind. But, yes, it's got tradeoffs, like any designed object. This is why designers get paid: There's no simple checklist of things you can do to make your design good. It has to fit the use case. This is what the essayist is trying to say: From a certain point of view, the iPhone has a lot of interface elements that are hard to use. But, nonetheless, it meets a different important design criterion: It's delightful to explore. There are interface elements that are incredibly obscure, ("Why have all the application icons started shivering like they were cold?") but once you find them it's kind of thrilling, like a magic trick, or an Easter egg. (I find those shivering icons highly amusing, even if nobody has any clue what they mean the first time through.) But not everyone wants that. The fact that no one design can suit everyone is one reason why we want a diversity of options in the marketplace.
      • GHFigs 17y ago
        Not to contradict anything you said, but supposedly the iPhone is quite good if you're blind: http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/making-the-iphone-icons-speak/ http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/making-the-iphone-...
  • tjogin 17y ago
    That's a really disingenuous comparison, given that device doesn't even do a fraction of what the iPhone does, and you know it.
  • mrtron 17y ago
    A Jitterbug does well to simplify phone calls for old/technology incompetent people. But an iphone is hardly comparable. It is an ipod, internet browser, game machine, and cell phone. And the usability considering the multi use is FANTASTIC.