Hype vs function
The current PCS phone I have is most likely the worst designed phone you could purchase and use on a regular basis1. But my contract is up and Telus Mobility has graciously given me a credit with which to purchase a new phone and extend my contract.
In addition to the basics, I am limiting myself this time to phones with Java 2 ME on them. Not so I can download and play games (though I admit that may be fun for a few minutes) but so I can develop some applications for phones and have an actual phone on which to use them. This led me to the LG 60702.
That is until I ran across the latest in hype – FastapTM, a technology put out by Digit Wireless. They have come up with a tiny keyboard that makes entering text faster as you no longer have to rely on a built in dictionary or the old multi-tap text entry techniques. Imagine that.
Okay, while I can see that having all the letters of the alphabet each on their own key will likely be faster, there are two problems. First, other than the fact that Digit Wireless has come up with a way to fit all the keys on the PCS phone there doesn’t seem to be much to the technology, so to speak. But there’s lots of hype – so much so that I’m even going to check out the LG 6190 to see if lives up to it all.
Second, the keyboard itself seems to have been laid out without any thought to functionality whatsoever. It’s simply an A to Z layout, with A in the upper-left and Z in the bottom-right.
Seems logical, given that it’s the same layout basically as phones have now with respect to letters, right? Not so when you read this excerpt from the Digit Wireless website:
Digit Wireless, LLC is a technology development and licensing company focused on advanced interface for next-generation mobile and portable products.
Hmm, an alphabetical keyboard doesn’t seem like a very advanced interface at all, especially if you have read Donald A. Norman’s study of alphabetical and Dvorak keyboards or perhaps read Norman’s book ”The Design of Everyday Things.” Long story short, according to Norman, an alphabetical keyboard works barely better than a keyboard with a random layout3.
So in the end, it’s all about the hype. Same phone, pretty much the same keyboard, somewhat improved functionality4. Hype.
—
1. At least if you have been using mobile phones for ten years or so anyway. If you have, then you probably aren’t a teenager and what you care most about is does the phone have a normal ring of some kind, does it vibrate so I can actually feel it and, most importantly, does it have good sound quality in and out.
2. The LG 6070 appears to be a decent phone, subject to an actual working trial.
3. Donald A. Norman’s book “The Design of Everyday Things” is one of those rare books that, although would seem to apply more to designers of products, software, etc, is enjoyed just as much by everyone else. I bought my copy in 1995 for $20 or so for use in CPSC 481 (Human-Computer Interaction) at the University of Calgary and since then have re-read it on multiple occasions and referred to it on a regular basis. But several non-developer friends have also borrowed it and read it.
4. I’m not convinced (until I try it) that FastapTM is actually much of an improvement. The current hype around the “improvement” is based on measuring the number of keypresses. And while that is indeed one way to measure it, anyone who has ever seen a regular SMS user will have found themselves in awe of the SMS user’s ability to generate messages at a rapid rate. But you can’t simply presume that reducing the number of keypresses will make text message generation that much faster because we’ve changed the actual interface.
Thu, 30 Dec 2004 15:30 Posted in Technology
1 comment »
-
By Donald A. Norman about 2 hours later:
My study of typing doesn't necessarily transfer to this keyboard layout. My study of typing was for normal, two-handed typing with a large (standard size) keyboard. In the Digital Wireless Fastap Keypad, people use numerous fingers to type (some only use the two index fingers, but skilled typists use nine: the eight fingers plus one thumb). Small, tiny, telephone keyboards make it very difficult to use multiple fingers. In the case of a phone keyboard, typing is usually done either with a single finger or with the two thumbs. Neither qwerty nor Dvorak keyboards are appropriate. It is true that both Blackberry and Palm Treo use qwerty, but I'm not convinced this is optimal. (I own a Treo). I don't know of any studies of the proper layout for two thumb typing, but Shumin Zhai of IBM, Almaden has studied the best scheme for one finger or stylus typing. The result is a very novel arrangement of letters, designed to make stylus stroke sequences fast and decipherable (See http://www.almaden.ibm.com/u/zhai/ ) So, the point is, that for small phone keyboards, it isn't clear what scheme is best. Nor is it clear that my earlier pronouncement against the use of alphabetic layout for standard-sized keyboards applies. Alphabetical arrangement makes some sense because SMS users are accustomed to a quasi-alphabetic layout. I think the Digital Wireless Fastap keypad is pretty clever. it might very well live up to its claims. Actually, David Levy's scheme for the keys (he is the inventor) could trivially be used to lay out the keys in any form, including qwerty. So, I wouldn't rush to judgment. You might want to try the keyboard.