20 Jan 2007, Posted by Alex in Blog, 0 Comments.

The iPhone a UX sum-up

UX (user experience) is a tricky thing, mostly because we as humans are tricky. In order to build an experience you need to first of all get your priorities straight. Do you care more about fun or productivity? Esthetics or short navigation? I’m not saying that necessarily these are the tradeoffs but there are tradeoffs, especially when designing for small screens and limited platforms.

Different companies have different priorities.

For example Microsoft value consistent experience across platforms and the feeling a user has of feature rich platforms. Just look at the windows mobile 5 platform … a PC cramped into a 3 inch screen.

Nokia value above all the warm and fuzzy feeling that their “never changing” series 40 UI gives users: all applications work in the same way and all phones (series 40) have the same software.

Apple have decided to put the WOW factor of user experience as their top goal. The Mac Aqua style and their incredible core animation technology have allowed them to achieve this goal magnificently. In addition the scrolling and cover flow interaction certainly have their own pizazz element.

Another top goal is the simplicity of main features. Apple decided to concentrate on the main flows of “day to day” use and make them as simple as possible. In order to do this they have sacrificed any advanced user seeking something beyond the main functions of the phone. Again we return to the fact that it does not seem that you can send an sms from the contacts app or even send a contact info via Bluetooth or Email. This is classic apple interaction style – if they ever add the feature you can be sure Stave Jobs will be up on stage saying BOOM.

Well what am I saying ? … apple have created a great interaction but I am not sure it fits what we have come to expect from a mobile phone. The difference between a mobile phone and an MP3 player in terms of expectations is that an MP3 player is not expected to be productive and efficient, phones are most certainly expected to be. I do hope apple will realize this in time and make some modifications but I really don’t think they will because:

a) This is how they do things
b) They actually don’t have much time (with the FCC / AT&T testing and all)

Apple are approaching the consumer market with a great device… will it be enough to beat the Nokia’s and Motorola’s at the high-end market – probably not.