Do Recent Devices Address Mobile Need or Convenience?

A friend of mine recently told me she thought the iPhone was a horrible idea for a mobile phone because it totally relied on the touchscreen. Besides the lack of tactile feedback, she also bemoaned the size of elements on the screen and wondered whether it would be even worth the hassle in figuring out where the font and accessibility settings were.

Mind you, she thinks like this because she has visual impairments, and has been highly critical of mobile devices because they seem to address flash and form over "her" needed usability.

As we continued to talk, I gave to her my Treo to play with for a bit. This is a touchscreen device, but most of the elements can be navigated about with the keys. Of course, the first critique was the size of the buttons and the fact that even with the backlight, the contrast on them was harder to discern (I have a Copper Treo 680). She began to ask questions about how to get to various places on the device, and eventually how to get to SMS messaging. I could see clearly that it was the messaging application that she, and most likely many others, was dealing with.

Her comments ranged from the font being too small and there not being enough contrast between the letters and the background (black text on a while background), to the only way of being able to send a message is to tap the screen rather than hitting the "send" button that her phone uses to send a text message.

As she went on, I began seeing how design decisions that worked well for me, failed over and over for another person who has a need to use a mobile device, but cannot do so because of how it is designed.

Not Closing the Gap

I then began to wonder about the state of design of the latest devices, and whether they are closing accessibility gaps or widening them. Given that advancements such as e-ink and haptic feedback touchscreens are few and far between on mobiles (with the exception of a few prototype devices here and there), and the increasing emphasis on removing "common" buttons for style, I tend to wonder if mobiles are only being designed for the able-bodied consumer, and intentionally leaving others behind.

This is not to say that there isn't a place for divergent design and trying new things. In my arsenal of mobile devices I have a touchscreen smartphone, a touchscreen Internet tablet, and a slider feature-phone. Each of them has their own quirks and features. And to a large extent they have been designed to take advantage of the physical size, capability, and projected use of each. The problem is that there are many different ways of approaching the relatively simple tasks of talking, data collecting, searching, etc. and these devices have their strengths and weaknesses, but none seem to just simply get it right for everyone.

What Do We Want?

I went back to my friend and asked her what it was that she was looking for in a mobile device. Besides those features and fun aspects, what parts of an ideal mobile device would speak to her needs?

What came back was interesting, and yet very common to all of us: a clear and easy to read screen; the ability to use it via the keypad and touchscreen; a clear signal everywhere; and the ability to set information for contacts that meet her needs, not the needs of the developer who built the device.

The biggest thing, though, was that she could just use it. That she could charge it out of the box and it just works. No major configuring, no hassling with "where is that setting again" kind of things. She wanted most of all for the device to just work for simple tasks, and if it did more that would be great, but not if it gets of the way of what needs to be done right now.

When I consider where we are with mobile devices, I really do stop and think if whether there is a need for all of the wiz-bang gadgetry that I have. Sometimes it is a hassle to learn a new operating system just so that I can make a phone call or view the call log. Sometimes I don't care whether there is WI-Fi or not; I just want to get directions to the pizza place as soon as possible.

Though when I look at the landscape of things out there, I've become like my friend: wishing for devices to be more usable so that they fit why I would need one, not so filled with features and fluff that all that is convenient for me is to leave it at alone, and instead go for something less satisfactory but simpler to use.