WTF Cell Phone Design

[dar512]

Actually, I think that can be extended into a general rule. Anything with more than two buttons has underlying complexity and will require a manual.

Things that have more than two buttons that you think are intuitive are only easy for you because you have experience with some similar metaphor previously.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by dar512

Actually, I think that can be extended into a general rule. Anything with more than two buttons has underlying complexity and will require a manual.

Things that have more than two buttons that you think are intuitive are only easy for you because you have experience with some similar metaphor previously.

I think you're placing the burden of de-obscurifying badly designed devices upon the customer, who has already paid his hard-earned dollars to purchase a product that should be designed to perform the function it was intended for.

It's a goddamn telephone. I don't care if it has cameras and all this other useless crap on it, make me punch extra buttons to get to those superfluous features, and I wouldn't mind; but--it's a PHONE! It should function well, as a PHONE, without me having to hack the damn thing just to get it to work.

If I open the telephone, guess what? I'M CALLING SOMEBODY. There's no excuse for my stored numbers not to pop up by default. Make me re-program the device to default to a web browser or a Tetris session, and I wouldn't mind. Because it's a phone; asking it to do some non-phone task might conceivably be a few clicks back.

Incidentally, I've found that clicking "down" on the navigation nexus mysteriously materializes my stored numbers. Up to this point, I've avoided the "iDrive" toggle on my phone, because every time I've ever touched it, I've launched a WAP session or some other feature I'm probably getting charged by-the-second for until I can figure out how to terminate it.

Maybe I need a Jitterbug. Made by Samsung, the same people that made my phone. [/Andy Rooney]