TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Simplifying the Cellphone Experience

Re: Simplifying the Cellphone Experience

mc (look@www.ai.uga.edu.for.address)
Sun, 31 Dec 2006 19:47:36 -0500

Simple, standard user interfaces aren't just for old geezers. They're
for anybody who is more interested in getting the work done than in
playing with the gadget.

Does anybody remember word processing in, say, 1985? Absolutely
hundreds of function key and Ctrl/Alt key combinations to remember!
Charts all over the keyboard ... Cell phones are going through that
stage of existence right now.

And another thing today's cell phones have in common with 1980s word
processors is that they're driven by "creeping featurism." They're
bought by people who don't have any experience using them, based on
lists of features. "Does Word Perfect have a key to underline a
superscript? No? Then we'll buy its competitor, which has 500
features instead of 490..."

Consider cameras, too. All digital cameras today have essentially the
same UI. It wasn't always so. Hand a Nikon F3 to an experienced
Olympus or Minolta user and he'll only recognize about two thirds of
the controls.

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