Comments on: The Question of Touchscreens http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/ Russell Buckley and Carlo Longino on mobile technology. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:56:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: the Obligatory Blog » Blog Archive » the question of touchscreens http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/comment-page-1/#comment-116483 the Obligatory Blog » Blog Archive » the question of touchscreens Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:55:14 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/#comment-116483 [...] on the debate of touchscreens improving UI…what does everyone else [...] [...] on the debate of touchscreens improving UI…what does everyone else [...]

]]> By: Small Surfaces - Touchscreen, or not? http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/comment-page-1/#comment-115364 Small Surfaces - Touchscreen, or not? Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:29:57 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/#comment-115364 [...] The Question of Touchscreens [...] [...] The Question of Touchscreens [...]

]]> By: Antoine of MMM http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/comment-page-1/#comment-115308 Antoine of MMM Sun, 19 Aug 2007 20:09:55 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/#comment-115308 Great article. It should not be an either or, but the OS has to be designed from the gound up for both suitable options. Touchscreens are best when menus are short and simple, text and buttons are finger-large, and physically are very durable. Things such as screen transisitions and schemes that make it known when somethying is touched also help the user experience there. Even as a ardent Treo user, I don't see that touchscreen really capitalise on all of that. Thugh the iPhone and Prada has let people know, again, that its possible to make experience without buttons possible. On the other side, the arugment for buttons is a good one. If designed right, off the top of my head I am thinking of the TMobile Dash/HTC S620 that has multiple functions for buttons on short and long presses. If these functions are easy to understand and nearly intuitive, then buttons can weok a lot better than touchscreens. THe problem there is teaching those extra features, and most want simple, not extra. All in all, I prefer my Treo because of its tousccreen, but have no problem flipping to the N95 when I just need simple and no extra UI fluff. Great article. It should not be an either or, but the OS has to be designed from the gound up for both suitable options. Touchscreens are best when menus are short and simple, text and buttons are finger-large, and physically are very durable. Things such as screen transisitions and schemes that make it known when somethying is touched also help the user experience there. Even as a ardent Treo user, I don’t see that touchscreen really capitalise on all of that. Thugh the iPhone and Prada has let people know, again, that its possible to make experience without buttons possible.

On the other side, the arugment for buttons is a good one. If designed right, off the top of my head I am thinking of the TMobile Dash/HTC S620 that has multiple functions for buttons on short and long presses. If these functions are easy to understand and nearly intuitive, then buttons can weok a lot better than touchscreens. THe problem there is teaching those extra features, and most want simple, not extra.

All in all, I prefer my Treo because of its tousccreen, but have no problem flipping to the N95 when I just need simple and no extra UI fluff.

]]> By: Nick Cowie http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/comment-page-1/#comment-115289 Nick Cowie Sun, 19 Aug 2007 15:06:23 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/#comment-115289 I have a Dopod 838Pro (aka HTC Hermes, Orange SPV M3100, Cingular 8500 & 8525, MDA Vario II, i-mate JASJAM, O2 XDA Trion or the Docomo Htc Z) which has touchscreen and slide out QWERTY keyboard. How I use this phone has changed since I bought it. Now most of my use including web browsing, is done with one hand, the touch screen and scroll wheel. The only time the keyboard is used is for texting, email, entering URLs, usernames and passwords into the web browser. And the stylus is only ever used to soft reset. If I had to choose between QWERTY keyboard and a touch screen, now it would be a touchscreen. It is far more usable for how I use my phone. I have a Dopod 838Pro (aka HTC Hermes, Orange SPV M3100, Cingular 8500 & 8525, MDA Vario II, i-mate JASJAM, O2 XDA Trion or the Docomo Htc Z) which has touchscreen and slide out QWERTY keyboard.

How I use this phone has changed since I bought it. Now most of my use including web browsing, is done with one hand, the touch screen and scroll wheel. The only time the keyboard is used is for texting, email, entering URLs, usernames and passwords into the web browser. And the stylus is only ever used to soft reset.

If I had to choose between QWERTY keyboard and a touch screen, now it would be a touchscreen. It is far more usable for how I use my phone.

]]> By: Stefan Constantinescu http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/comment-page-1/#comment-115173 Stefan Constantinescu Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:35:55 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/#comment-115173 One word: Treo You can use it very well without a touch screen and it can only make you faster in some cases with a stylus. One word: Treo

You can use it very well without a touch screen and it can only make you faster in some cases with a stylus.

]]> By: Laane http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/comment-page-1/#comment-115171 Laane Sat, 18 Aug 2007 20:53:06 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/08/18/the-question-of-touchscreens/#comment-115171 Man walking in the street. His mobile phone sings his favorite song and he smiles to people who look at him. He's talking, trying to overpower the trafficsounds. It takes afew minutes, then he takes another thing out if his pocket and puts the cellphone away. A penlike thing appears in his finger. He's now standing still, trying to type something... His face gets red... he starts to get irritated. When a bag touches his leg, he looks up, angry. He doesn't seem to be able to see what he wants to see, turning his back against the stream of walking people. Maybe..maybe he had been a happier man with agenda and pen. Man walking in the street.
His mobile phone sings his favorite song and he smiles to people who look at him.

He’s talking, trying to overpower the trafficsounds.

It takes afew minutes, then he takes another thing out if his pocket and puts the cellphone away.

A penlike thing appears in his finger.
He’s now standing still, trying to type something…
His face gets red… he starts to get irritated.
When a bag touches his leg, he looks up, angry.

He doesn’t seem to be able to see what he wants to see, turning his back against the stream of walking people.

Maybe..maybe he had been a happier man with agenda and pen.

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