2 posts tagged “mobile”

Belle (Ying-Tzu) Huang

Com 597: Theories and Practice of Interactivity

Autumn 2007

Nov. 7 2007

 

Journal 5

Mobile Interactive Design in Gphone

 

Let’s talk about the big technology story this week.

 

A broad alliance of leading technology and wireless companies today joined forces to announce the development of Android, the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. Google Inc., T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola and others have collaborated on the development of Android through the Open Handset Alliance, a multinational alliance of technology and mobile industry leaders.[1]

 

Nokia wasn’t in this list before Google first time announced the Open Handset Alliance. However, one day after, the biggest handset company in the world, Nokia, said that they would welcome Google’s plans to provide software for use in mobile phones, saying access to third-party applications is part of the Finnish telecommunications company's core strategy.[2]

 

Open Platform

 

Google estimated that Open Handset Alliance will address a set of completed” Software Development Kit” from Android next week. This time, Google is trying to change the ecology of our handsets and most of mobile telecommunication system. Although the level of “open” in World Wide Web was taken as a matter of course, our handsets and all kinds of telecommunication devices are basically individual and separated. Every device has its own operating system and developing environment. A package of mobile software could never be used on different handsets.

 

Today, there are 1.5 billion television sets in use around the world. 1 billion people are on the Internet. But nearly 3 billion people have a mobile phone, making it one of the world's most successful consumer products.[3] Building a better mobile phone with better interactive interface would enrich the lives of countless people across the globe.

 

Android was built from the ground-up to enable developers to create compelling mobile applications that take full advantage of all a handset has to offer. It is built to be truly open. For example, an application could call upon any of the phone's core functionality such as making calls, sending text messages, or using the camera, allowing developers to create richer and more cohesive experiences for users. Android is built on the open Linux Kernel. Furthermore, it utilizes a custom virtual machine that has been designed to optimize memory and hardware resources in a mobile environment. Android will be open source; it can be liberally extended to incorporate new cutting edge technologies as they emerge. The platform will continue to evolve as the developer community works together to build innovative mobile applications.[4]

 

Video of introducing Android: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rYozIZOgDk

 

Before the Android, Google announced the “OpenSocial” software platform on Nov. 5^th.[5] It’s the same spirit of “truly sharing.”  OpenSocial is a set of common APIs for building social applications across the web. The partnership spearheads an initiative to standardize and simplify the development of social applications. Google's announcement underscored MySpace's commitment to supporting standards that foster innovation in an increasingly social Web.

 

Google hopes that OpenSocial could share users’ information and create value through the distribution. I believe that more people write the application programs, more system developers will focus on what users’ real needs. Thus, it is an ideal way to improve interaction design in mobile industry. 

 

Software Adoption

 

Back to Nokia, my target in the final project. Last November, YouTube announced YouTube Mobile, a project that will allow mobile phones access to the massive database of YouTube movies. Verizon was first on board; and now, the much popular Nokia wants to join the excitement. [6]

 

Many mobile phone browsers are not compatible with Flash 9, the same format behind all the current YouTube content; however, Youtube Mobile bridges the gap between the phone and the format. Users no longer need to send their friends a URL or even have access to a computer to share videos. 

 

Nokia and Youtube have worked out a deal that will let Nokia’s N-series of Internet capable phones to access the YouTube Mobile website[7], through the Nokia Web Browser. The N-series phones will support YouTube RSS feeds; allowing users to view such feeds as the most recent or highest rated videos on the system, or specific RSS feeds modeled around a certain genre.

 

Ten Usability Heuristics for Nokia’s Review

 

What if I had a magic cell phone?[8] What will I wish an ideal mobile handset could bring to me? According to Jakob Nielsen’s “Ten Usability Heuristics,” ten general principles for user interface design, I came out some suggestions for Nokia’s review in the future interactive usability design.

 

1. Visibility of system status

A good mobile phone should always keep users informed about what is going on.

Ex. Dialog window, Red/green button, Navi-Key, Page-up

 

2. Match between system and the real world

A good mobile phone should speak the users' language.

Ex. Daily conversation, Graphic icons, Touch screen, Wi-fi

 

3. User control and freedom

Users often choose system functions by mistake.

Ex. Support undo and redo, Dialog window, Clear exit option

 

4. Consistency and standards

Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing.

 

That is one of the benefits on Open Handset Alliance, if the application is common, once people learn how to use an individual application, they could always completely imitate to other handset. Since Nokia represented that they would like to join; now their problem is how to drag in those applications with consistency in their original HCI design.    

 

5. Error prevention

Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place.

Ex. Dialog window, Page-up, Clear error message with visual and audio feedback

 

6. Recognition rather than recall

Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible.

Ex. Graphic icons which is map to the real-world, Visible actions (like countdown bar, processing bar)

 

7. Flexibility and efficiency of use

Accelerators may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users.

Ex. Allow users to tailor frequent actions, Menu, Frequently call list, Hot-key, Dock bar

 

8. Aesthetic and minimalist design

Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed.

 

9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

Error messages should be expressed in plain language, precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.

 

10. Help and documentation

Documentation should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.

 

 

Reference

 

Picture comes from: REUTERS/Google/Handout

The Google Personalized Home page is seen on a mobile phone in this undated handout. Google Inc. said on Monday it would offer a software system to make the Internet work as smoothly on mobile phones as it does on computers, seeking to spur change in a tightly controlled industry.

Picture comes from: REUTERS/Kimberly White

The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet sits on display at the Web. 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, California October 18, 2007. Nokia would not rule out taking part in Google Inc's new mobile software alliance, which is seen rivaling Nokia's own plans, a spokesman for the world's top mobile phone maker said on Tuesday.

 

Industry Leaders Announce Open Platform for Mobile Devices, Google Press Center, Nov. 5, 2007

http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/20071105_mobile_open.html

 

Introducing the Gphone: Google enters the mobile phone market, The Daily Mail, Nov. 5, 2007

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=491899&in_page_id=1811

 

Google: Android Has No Built-in Business Model, Wired.com, Nov. 5, 2007

http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/11/google-android-.html

 

Google gets into Smartphone Linux OS game, Computer Business Review, Nov. 6, 2007

http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=60E3B9B8-B32D-4095-9C60-698CA1EBDDE8

 

MySpace and Google Join Forces to Launch Open Platform for Social Application Development, Google Press Center, Nov. 1, 2007

http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/myspace_opensocial.html

 

Google pitches Gphones to Verizon, CNET News.com, Oct. 30, 2007

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9808106-7.html?tag=nefd.blgs

 

Nokia says door open to Google alliance, Reuter, Nov. 6, 2007

http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL0617473720071106

 

Nokia Welcomes Google's Android Platform, Says Openness Is Key, CNNMoney.com, Nov. 6, 2007

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200711061024DOWJONESDJONLINE000433_FORTUNE5.htm

 

Nokia interested in Google’s Android mobile phone OS?, Danny Mendez, Nov. 6, 2007

http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/11/06/nokia-interested-in-googles-android-mobile-phone-os/

 

Nokia challenges iPhone with direct-to-mobile music store, Arnold Zafra, Aug. 29, 2007

http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/08/29/nokia-challenges-iphone-with-direct-to-mobile-music-store/

 

Nokia to help YouTube win mobile market, George Gardner, Feb. 12, 2007

http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/02/12/nokia-to-help-youtube-win-mobile-market/

 

Google's View of Our Cell Phone Future Isn't a GPhone, TidBits.com, Glenn Fleishman, Nov. 5, 2007 http://db.tidbits.com/article/9291

 

 

Belle (Ying-Tzu) Huang

Com 597: Theories and Practice of Interactivity

Autumn 2007

Oct. 24 2007

 

Final Project Proposal

Book Review

 

Mobile Usability

How NOKIA Changed the Face of the Mobile Phone

By Christian Lindholm, Turkka Keinonen, Harri Kiljander

 

I. Motivation

When I think about what is the best topic for researching an interface design with nice interaction between human beings and machines. I thought about my Nokia.

I had my first cell phone when I was seventeen years old. Since then, I’ve used four different cell phones which were produced from Nokia. On the other words, I am a huge fan of Nokia.

 

As Nokia’s slogan, “Connecting People,” I believe that mobile phones were invented because human beings have desires to connecting with people, any time, any where. 

 

The slogan Nokia uses in Taiwan is “Technology comes from humanity all the time,” which also shows that humanity is what interface designers focus on.

 

Like the cover of this book, there are only three buttons which control all the functions on entire Nokia 3310.  The “C” button represents “make a phone call.” Also, the combination of main blue button and up-and-down button can nearly complete all the commands on menu or cell phone setting. We don’t need tons of buttons any more. Simplicity radically changed people’s user behaviors.   

 

Written by present and former Nokia employees, this book mainly discusses about the process and working methods that have enabled Nokia to revolutionize the usability, which was fully explained first time. That’s why this book interests me.

 

 

II. Significance

 

Sociologists talk about how mobile phones change the tempo of our lives, culture, social structure, communication model, concepts to time and space, interpersonal relationship, identity, digital divide, and dependence on it. Even famous writer Stephen King wrote a horrific novel “Cell” to imagine the technological warfare and terrorism that cell phone might cause. 

 

Since mobile phones made foregoing changes, interface designers were eager to find a better way to make less education when people first time use their products.

 

Seeking for a better user interface (UI) design might be a solution to it. Interface design is all about understanding users’ life style. It's not about technology; it's about human life experience.

 

UI, user interface (or Human Machine Interface) is the aggregation of how users interact with a particular machine, digital device, computer program or system. User interface contains: (1) Input, which allows users to manipulate a system; (2) Output, which allows the system to produce the effects of the users' manipulation.

 

Foe advanced, a graphical user interface (GUI) might perform better understanding on mobile design. GUI is a type of user interface which allows people to interact with a computer and computer-controlled devices. The application implements graphical icons, visual indicators or special graphical elements called "widgets", along with text, labels or text navigation to represent the information and actions available to a user.

 

The goal of graphical user interface design is to enhance the usability of the underlying logical design of a stored program. The visible graphical interface features include graphical elements (widgets) that may be used to interact with the program. Common widgets we apply everyday could be: windows, buttons, menus, and scroll bars. Larger widgets, such as windows, usually provide a frame or container for the main presentation content such as a web page, email message or drawing. Smaller ones usually act as a user-input tool.

 

Giant Ant Co. addressed an article “The Context of Mobile Interaction” and a “Mobile Context Model” for mobile interaction design[1]. It describes how interface plays an important role in users’ daily life. With so many tasks and environment interferences,

Nokia, as the leading brand in mobile phone sales[2], should provide more completed interface design in the mobile market to engage users. I will also apply this model to exam if Nokia’s cell phones could achieve those tasks in daily life.

 

 

 

III. Topics in the Book

 

Mobile Usability: How Nokia Changed the Face of the Mobile Phone was written by the team that brought us the Nokia user interface that a lot of users have come to know and love. I will make a succinct summary in this section to point out several design concepts Nokia applies.

 

The first part of this book reveals the framework of Nokia user interfaces. User interface styles, according to Nokia's internal definition, are combinations of the user interaction conventions, audiovisual-tactile appearance, and interface hardware.

The second part authors discussed about how living styles and culture make the mobile interface design different. Katja Konkka, drew a panorama picture of people's living style in Mobai, India. Then authors used several case studies, prototypes, and work flows to map their design concepts.

 

The key to Nokia's UI development strategy was market segmentation to target user interfaces to specific demographics and types of users, and today we have the Nokia Series 40 for mass market consumers, the Series 60 smartphone for sophisticated consumers desiring PDA functionality, and Series 80 for enterprise users.

 

In the book, the authors describe the psychographics of groups they designed for. UI attributes for "Balancers" include intuitiveness, personalization and simplicity. Phones designed for "Controllers" have attributes of efficiency and productivity. "Experiencers" get phones that express individuality, appearance and fashionability, and "Impressers" need exclusivity, individuality and attention to details.

 

The common goal of usability professionals working on Nokia mobile phones is to develop devices from the end-user needs’ perspective, and not only based on technical possibilities. Their task is to ensure that the target user group of each model can operate the device fluently and with joy.

 

Nokia investigates all phases in the device lifecycle: taking the device into use, learning to use it, and daily use. The variety of different cultures and contexts of use make usability work especially interesting and challenging. Compared to PC application development or Web site authoring, mobile phone manufacturing requires a much wider range of usability investigation. Some examples in this book discuss about the principles of usability and Research & Development process that Nokia experts investigate.

 

Virpi Roto, senior usability specialist in Nokia Research Center, addressed the sample research topics in mobile device usability they use in Nokia[3]:

 

Input	Output	Software	Other
- Ergonomics of  keys & the whole device - Key discovery - Text input - Touch screen input - Speech input - Motion gestures	- Display quality - Audio quality - Haptic feedback	- User interface consistency - Information visualization - Usability within single applications - Application	- Mechanics (e.g. battery change) - Cover material - Graceful power saving - Accessories

 

 

IV. Extended Reading

 

Designing Interfaces by Jenifer Tidwell

 

Like the author said, “Designing a good interface isn't easy.” Users expect software that is well-behaved, good-looking, and easy to use. UI designers over the years have refined the art of interface design, evolving many best practices and reusable ideas.

 

This is a good book which addresses almost a hundred principles and patterns in designing interfaces, including the solutions to common design problems, tailored to the situation at hand. Each pattern contains practical advice that you can put to use immediately, plus a variety of examples illustrated in full color.

 

Each chapter describes key design concepts that are often misunderstood, such as affordances, visual hierarchy, navigational distance, and the use of color. I would like to capture some design ideas as background knowledge to check Nokia’s design and development process.

 

Mobile Interaction Design By Matt Jones, Gary Marsden

 

Mobile Interaction Design shifts the design perspective away from the technology and concentrates on usability; in other words the book concentrates on developing interfaces and devices with a great deal of sensitivity to human needs, desires and capabilities li>Presents key interaction design ideas and successes in an accessible, relevant wa Exercises, case studies and study questions make this book ideal for students Provides ideals and techniques which will enable designers to create the next generation of effective mobile applications Critiques current mobile interaction design (bloopers) to help designers avoid pitfalls Design challenges and worked examples are given to reinforce ideas Discusses the new applications and gadgets requiring knowledgeable and inspired thinking about usability and design Authors have extensive experience in mobile interaction design, research, industry and teaching

 

How complex can mobile interface design be: iPhone, Enemy or Partner?

 

When Apple Co. made their iPhone enter the market on June 2007, the battle on mobile interface design went to a peak. Facing to the threat, Nokia also developed their “GoPlay event” for fulfill the interaction and graphical 3D interface. The new version of cell phone interface will enter the market next year. From users’ aspect, we indeed hope that digital devices come from different could make the best performance and satisfy consumers’ needs. In this part, I will discuss about the advantages and disadvantages in iPhone interface.

 

How simple can mobile interface design be: One Laptop per Child[4]

 

The project was originated by Nicholas Negroponte to provide children around the world, especially nearly two–billion children in the developing world, with new opportunities to explore and express themselves. The desktop metaphor is so entrenched in personal computer users' collective consciousness that it is easy to forget what a bold and radical innovation the Graphical User Interface (GUI) was and how it helped free the computer from the “professionals” who were appalled at the idea of computing for everyone. Through a simple and clear interface design, scientists are hoping to reduce the digital divide in the developing world.

 

 

V. Reference Materials

 

Emotional Design, Donald A. Norman

Designing Interfaces, Jenifer Tidwell

Mobile Interaction Design, Matt Jones and Gary Marsden

 

TdAic Taiwan Digital Arts, http://www.digiarts.org.tw/en/indextw.aspx

Engadget Discussion Forumhttp://www.engadget.com/

Graphical User Interface Gallery http://www.guidebookgallery.org/

Information Architects Japan http://www.informationarchitects.jp/

Giant Ant Co. http://www.giantant.com/

One Laptop per Child http://www.laptop.org/en/index.shtml

MOSH http://mosh.nokia.com/