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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.
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
