Mobile user interfaces' new paradigm

3G Portal has a great article written by Olof Schybergson and Mike Beeston of Fjord Ltd, UK, about the mobile user interfaces.

At the beginning authors examine the current industry trends where handsets manufacturers race have been one about hardware (more megapixels, size and clarity of screen, battery life, etc), and that with loyalty, churn and customer satisfaction goals, the focus will increasingly shift towards the user experience of the device.

Furthermore, they argue that while the physical capabilities of phones are changing (built-in hard drives, 3 MP cameras, music players, WiFi…), our physical limitations remain the same. The temptation for interface designers is to display as much information as possible in these high-density screens.

Authors are aware of this complexity problem, and add the movement (mobility) as an important factor to be (re)considered in the process of designing the next phone interface.

According to them, so far we’ve had 2 generations of the user interfaces:

• Generation 1 – Task-oriented and linear
• Generation 2 – The computer metaphor

Authors suggest the Generation 3 – The intuitive interface, which amongst the main issues should solve:

• How to anticipate and assist users in the completion of tasks, without getting in their way
• How to enable intelligent customization so that users can easily do things that are important to them or that they do often
• How to enable a rich set of features without pushing people beyond their physical capabilities
• How to enable users to start operating a new phone quickly, without spending hours studying a user manual

Article is concluded with a positive outlook, but with a caution as current interfaces are unlikely to scale well to meet the increasing complexities of tomorrow, and there is a need for an innovative re-think.