

A basic usability test on ten phones - robin_reala
http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2010/01/a_basic_usabili.html

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maxklein
I have been an iPhone user since whenever the first one came out. I now own an
iPhone 3GS. I recently (3 weeks ago) bought and tried my very first android
phone (with OS 1.6)

I have really never been so disappointed in my life. This thing is supposed to
compete the iPhone? The movement is not smooth, the interface flickers,
buttons don't react immediately, the keyboard is laggy and the entire thing
feels so unpolished.

I instantly hated it. I still have it - I use it for development, but Android
1.6 is not even close to the iPhone in 'goodness'. Maybe 2.0 will be better.

On the other hand, I wrote my first program for it. Programming for Android is
MUCH easier, a lot more intuitive and there are so many widgets that you can
very quickly get things sown together. Android programming reminds me of
programming in Basic, while iPhone programming is like normal C++ programming.

I know java somewhat and C++ very well, and it took me like a month to really
feel I understood iPhone programming. It took me 2 or 3 days to feel
comfortable programming for Android.

I have not yet sold anything on the Android market, but when I do I'll be sure
to post a comparison of the two platforms with the exact same app. In a week
or two I will have my first Android app up.

~~~
buster
SO, you are actually saying the hardware you have is crap. I guess with the
newer phones (nexus one, xperia x10) the UI will be as responsive as you know
it from your iphone and android will begin to shine.

~~~
dirtyaura
Smoothness of UI is as much about software as it's about hardware. My Macbook
Pro is a super-powered work horse compared to iPhone, but still many
applications and web pages do not give a great smooth, experience.

Reason? Because asynchronous, multithreaded programming, which is required for
smoothness, ain't trivial with abstractions that current programming languages
and platform libraries provide.

~~~
ggruschow
With any hardware made in the past couple decades, it's _entirely_ about
software. Plus, asynchronous, multithreaded programming isn't required for a
perfectly smooth interfaces.

Consider the enormous amount of _instantly_ responsive software on 1 to 4mhz
6502s (Atari 2600, NES, C64, Apple II, Atari 8-bits, etc).. Every current
platform, even the phones, can emulate those at multiple times real-time
speed, so the hardware is certainly capable of it.

In the 2600s case, it didn't even have video memory and a video chip to help
the CPU. The programs had to be timed to output straight to the TV at the
exact speed and time the TV needed data. No threads or asynchronous events to
help there.

------
fragmede
Nice read, but the writer uses the phrase "sends this Obigo browser through
GWT hell". Unless Google is doing more complex user agent sniffing that I
thought, the phone's browser not being able to use Javascript is just that,
the phone browser's problem, and not Google's fault.

A more basic test I'd like to see is how well do these 10 phones stack up wrt
to the task at hand. AS PHONES.

I have a smart phone, and my biggest annoyance? The simple task of "I have a
phone number and I need to call it" is far more complex than it needs to be.
Calling contacts already in the phonebook? Easy. Punching in a phone number
has far too many buttons to get back main screen, go to phone mode and bring
up the actual dialer. Once there, either it's a touchscreen without real
buttons, or it's a sub-qwerty tiny keypad that may as well be annoying
touchscreen at that size (The kind that RIM is quite fond of). (Connection
services like Google Voice are up to the should-be-trivial task though).

Then again, I suppose the smartphone route would be to print up QR codes on
everything and allow dialing of a cellphone camera picture.

~~~
ErrantX
This is where I believe the iPhone wins at the moment.

It works brilliantly, for me, as a phone. I've not found another smart phone
as good so far.

~~~
mortenjorck
The path from locked state to dial is quick enough for me on a 3GS, but I have
to admit it's probably more steps than I would like. On paper, it actually
looks kind of bad if it's a number you don't have in-directory:

1\. Hit home or lock key 2\. Swipe lock slider 3\. Touch phone icon 4\. Touch
dialpad icon 5\. Dial number

Vs. a featurephone or keyboarded smartphone

1\. Hit unlock key or open clamshell 2\. Dial number

What I'd actually like to see is a second slider on the iPhone's lock screen
that goes straight to the phone without stopping by the springboard. That
would pretty much bring it to parity with featurephone keypads.

~~~
nazgulnarsil
second slider is brilliant.

~~~
nazgulnarsil
it wouldn't even be unintuitive. longways slide (current) for regular home.
sideways slide to go straight to phone. I can't believe no one has thought of
this.

~~~
seldo
Nexus One uses a two-way slider to answer calls -- left-to-right to answer,
right-to-left to send to voice mail.

I found it terrible. Unintuitive, and hard to use even when you understand
what it's doing.

~~~
nazgulnarsil
yeah, but don't you think it would be better if they were in totally different
axes?

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DannoHung
Do people really like styluses that much? I guess they're good for tapping
very tiny screen elements, but zoom pretty much solves that.

I wonder if B's opinion would have changed had he spent a few hours with each
phone trying to do some other tasks.

~~~
silversmith
I am writing this standing here, waiting for the train. It is couple degrees
below zero. Stylus alllows me to keep my gloves on - I see that as a HUGE
bonus.

~~~
robin_reala
North Face’s E-Tip gloves let you use capacitative touch screens while your
fingers are toasty warm.

~~~
pronoiac
You can add this feature to other gloves with a few inches of conductive
thread.

[http://lifehacker.com/5412625/make-any-pair-of-gloves-
work-w...](http://lifehacker.com/5412625/make-any-pair-of-gloves-work-with-a-
touchscreen)

------
wendroid
Shame he didn't try an Android with a hardware qwerty keyboard. I've got a G1
Dream Dev, everyone that's tried it has liked it. It has a very nice tactile
feel. I tried a few handsets and nearly bought an E71, luckily it couldn't get
a decent bundle for it.

I was looking forward to the Google phone but sw kb is a turn off.

The G1 does have its downpoints - the scroll wheel jumps from link to link
which means more thumb movement if you need to scroll with the screen. And the
battery life. Oh that's the killer, great if you're not using it but spend an
evening doing a bit of browsing and showing people youtube vids when you wake
up in the morning you can't call a cab. Carrying a mini usb cable is required.

