InUse study says that iPhone is easy to use, most preferred

Another iPhone usability study - InUse says that iPhone is easy to
use, most preferred
Yesterday, February 25, 2008, 1:52:04 PM | willpark
To beat this particular cat to death, research firm InUse has just
published another iPhone usability report. The iPhone's user-interface
(which defines the user experience) is the most unique and arguably
the most attractive on the market, but just how does it fare against
the top competitors? Quite well, quite well indeed.

InUse pitted the iPhone against the HTC TyTn (AT&T 8525), the Sony
Ericsson W910i, and the venerable Nokia N95. It seems that the study
aimed to find out just how well individual operating systems fared
against its rivals, with hardware usability taking a close back-seat
to the software experience.

Five study participants with different usage patterns were allowed
five minutes of pre-study playtime with each device, and were then
tasked with:

Making a manually-dialed voice call
Placing a voice-call from the address book
Changing call-volume
Adding a new contact to address book
Creating a new calendar event
Setting an alarm
Composing and sending a text message
Switch the phone into "Silent" mode
Taking a picture and sending it to a contact in the address book
After each person ran through the test with each phone, they were
asked which phone they would most prefer if they had to choose today.
Four out of five (4/5) of the study participants said that they'd take
the Apple iPhone, with the remaining participant preferring the Sony
Ericsson W910i.

"In terms of subjective preference, this means that the iPhone won by
wide margins. The Sony Ericsson came in second place and the Nokia
third. Most of the subjects did not mention the HTC at all when
speaking of which device they would prefer."

It should be noted that the study participants were aware that the
Nokia N95 was the "more completed [sic] and smartest" of the bunch,
but the iPhone's user experience had seduced them into choosing the
iconic device as their favorite. Furthermore, the iPhone OS topped the
study in terms of intuitiveness and usability.

So, does the iPhone live up to the hype?

"Crucial everyday actions are intuitive and effective to carry out, at
least better implemented than with competing mobile device
conventions. The iPhone also seduces with its glossy interface and
bright screen.

So - yes. The iPhone does live up to the hype!"


Find the InUse usability study here. (PDF link)
http://www.inuseful.se/files/so_does...o_its_hype.pdf

---

› See More: InUse study says that iPhone is easy to use, most preferred

4phun wrote:
> Another iPhone usability study - InUse says that iPhone is easy to
> use, most preferred

I didn't see any test of which phone had the best voice-dialing capability.

SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in
news:47c43574$0$36338$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net:

> 4phun wrote:
>> Another iPhone usability study - InUse says that iPhone is easy to
>> use, most preferred
>
> I didn't see any test of which phone had the best voice-dialing
> capability.
>

Of course not. Apple paid for the test....(c;

4phun <vic.healey@gmail.com> amazed us all with the following in
news:60eee30c-fcdb-44f6-b9e8-6167035914b2@64g2000hsw.googlegroups.com:

> "In terms of subjective preference"

Enough said.

The Bob wrote:
> 4phun <vic.healey@gmail.com> amazed us all with the following in
> news:60eee30c-fcdb-44f6-b9e8-6167035914b2@64g2000hsw.googlegroups.com:
>
>
>>"In terms of subjective preference"
>
>
> Enough said.
>

"Oxford-endorsed"

In article <68KdnayV2KuIMVnanZ2dnUVZ_s_inZ2d@speakeasy.net>,
News <News@Group.name> wrote:

> The Bob wrote:
> > 4phun <vic.healey@gmail.com> amazed us all with the following in
> > news:60eee30c-fcdb-44f6-b9e8-6167035914b2@64g2000hsw.googlegroups.com:
> >
> >
> >>"In terms of subjective preference"
> >
> >
> > Enough said.
> >
>
> "Oxford-endorsed"

"Not cool for Geeks"

--
To reply by email, remove the word "space"

At 26 Feb 2008 18:04:56 -0600 The Bob wrote:

> > "In terms of subjective preference"
>
> Enough said.


To be fair to theiPhone, I don't think anyone faults it's ease of use, or UI.
It's just a lack of included features that makes it something I wouldn't
carry.

Also, not to pick on the study unduly, but I've never had a problem with
using basic everyday features with any phone, (at worst, after a short
learning curve, anyway.) It's the lesser-used features that are an
unintuitive pain to find on most phones. (I.e. guessing if a particular
setting would be found under a menu for "phone settings," "call settings,"
"network settings," or "display settings" is often a seemingly random
crapshoot!)


If you really want to test how intuitive a phone's interface is, throw the
phones at newbs and have them try to find something that usually takes a
hunt through the manual to accomplish! See how fast they can erase the
call log, check/clear the minutes used timer,set an alarm, etc.

(I'm not suggesting the iPhone would fare badly at these examples- I'd
wager it'd do well. But a real usability test should focus on how easy it
is to accomplish random less common tasks, since that's a good test of a
well-designed UI. For example, you can generally figure out how to print a
document easily even with the worst-designed word processors- but how easy
it is to, say, do a mail-merge, or use headers, footers or footnotes, will
separate the well-designed ones from the lousy ones.)

Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> amazed us all with the
following in news:fq3s1a$l3n$1@aioe.org:

> At 26 Feb 2008 18:04:56 -0600 The Bob wrote:
>
>> > "In terms of subjective preference"
>>
>> Enough said.
>
>
> To be fair to theiPhone, I don't think anyone faults it's ease of use,
> or UI.
> It's just a lack of included features that makes it something I
> wouldn't
> carry.

I agree- I don't fault ease of use, but as you say below that hasn't really
been an issue for a while now. Basicaaly, it has a glitzy interface that
offers the ease of use found on other phones.

What I do fault is the constant stream of announcements touting the lastest
"advancement" in iPhone technology, when in fact they are adding
functionality and software that has been the norm for other makers for
years. I also fault the Apple fanbois for their very narrow view of the
world.

>

In article <Xns9A51B004E445Fbob@216.196.97.136>,
The Bob <nospam@bob.com> wrote:

> Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> amazed us all with the
> following in news:fq3s1a$l3n$1@aioe.org:
>
> > At 26 Feb 2008 18:04:56 -0600 The Bob wrote:
> >
> >> > "In terms of subjective preference"
> >>
> >> Enough said.
> >
> >
> > To be fair to theiPhone, I don't think anyone faults it's ease of use,
> > or UI.
> > It's just a lack of included features that makes it something I
> > wouldn't
> > carry.
>
> I agree- I don't fault ease of use, but as you say below that hasn't really
> been an issue for a while now. Basicaaly, it has a glitzy interface that
> offers the ease of use found on other phones.
>
What other phone with all its features, is as easy and intuitive as the
iPhone?

--
To reply by email, remove the word "space"

Kurt <labolide@spacegmail.com> amazed us all with the following in
news:labolide-0E3F37.18464827022008@news.giganews.com:

> In article <Xns9A51B004E445Fbob@216.196.97.136>,
> The Bob <nospam@bob.com> wrote:
>
>> Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> amazed us all with the
>> following in news:fq3s1a$l3n$1@aioe.org:
>>
>> > At 26 Feb 2008 18:04:56 -0600 The Bob wrote:
>> >
>> >> > "In terms of subjective preference"
>> >>
>> >> Enough said.
>> >
>> >
>> > To be fair to theiPhone, I don't think anyone faults it's ease of
>> > use, or UI.
>> > It's just a lack of included features that makes it something I
>> > wouldn't
>> > carry.
>>
>> I agree- I don't fault ease of use, but as you say below that hasn't
>> really been an issue for a while now. Basicaaly, it has a glitzy
>> interface that offers the ease of use found on other phones.
>>
> What other phone with all its features, is as easy and intuitive as
> the iPhone?
>

Any phone I've used or tested in the last two years would satisy that
statement. Amd amy of those phones had just as many, if not more,
practical features than the iPhone.