What’s the difference ?

I sometimes get confused between a smart phone and a cell (dumb) phone. Also where does the iPhone really go ? There are many different definitons avaialble for smart phones. The one thing states Hamblen (2009) that all deifinitions cincide is that smart phones ‘bring together a computer with a wireless voice device’. The term “converged mobile device with a high level OS” (IDC, cited Hamblen) too was coined as a marketing policy.

Wikipedia Def.1 states that’phones that run complete operating system software providing a standardized interface and platform for application developers.

Wikipedia Def.1 states that ‘a smartphone is simply a phone with advanced features like e-mail, Internet and e-book reader capabilities, and/or a built-in full keyboard or external USB keyboard and VGA connector’

IDC recently, in their press release, coined another apt definition for a smartphone :

“A subset of mobile phones, converged mobile devices feature a high-level operating system that enables the device to run third-party applications in addition to voice telephony. Examples of high-level operating systems include Android, BlackBerry, Linux, Mac OS X, Palm, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. Converged mobile devices share many features with traditional mobile phones, including personal information management, multimedia, games, and office applications, but the presence of a high-level operating system differentiates these devices from all others.”

A high level OS, IDC states, must possess,
1. ability to run third party applications
2. ability to work without/independent of a wireless network and
3. ability to run multiple applications simulataneously.

Smartphones although a bit dearer are finding their way into developing markets as more and more people have taken to web consumption via mobile. The rationale being mobile phones are cheaper than laptops/pcs/macs.

Google has claimed that Nokia (Symbian), Windows Mobile and Apple OS X would be the only survivors in the market. This would mean that the Palm and RIM devices will be redundant. The Android could be an exception…it is probably too early to predict.

Well smart or not….the phones are definitely becoming more and more inseparable. With a few health concerns looming with excessive use of 3G phones…it mught be smart to stay away from them all together. The question is…can you ? Whats the difference ?
Reference :

Google, 2009, Apple in/RIM out: Predictions for 2012 mobile landscape, accessed March 21, 2009, http://www.broodingsavage.com/business-analysis/apple-in-rim-out-predictions-for-the-2012-mobile-landscape.html

Hamblen, M., 2009, Cell phone, smartphone – whats the difference?, Compterworld, accessed March 20, 2009, http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Mobile+and+Wireless&articleId=9129647&taxonomyId=15&pageNumber=1

Wikipedia : Smartphone, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone

The C’s

Collaboration
Clean (Commented) Code
Communication
Coherence
Contingencies
Currency
Client management

3 and Vodafone to merge

Vodafone and Three mobile have announced a possible merger. Having said that, the finer details of the merger are being discussed. The new brand would go by the name VHA and the profits/revenue would be shared 50-50.

Vodafone, with a slightly larger market share, would be getting AuD 500 mil from Hutchinson 3 before the merger goes through.

The possible advantages (amongst others) of this merger are :
1. Better product/price offering
2. Better connectivity and improved performance
3. No change in the existing contracts and plans, thus customers will not be tempted to look elsewhere.
4. Better offering for executives who are on the move between countries would get better deals while ‘roaming’ which are covered by these either/both of these two networks.
How would the two big Telcos (Optus and Telstra) respond?
Only time will tell….

Broughall, N., 2009, ‘More info on the Vodafone and Three mobile merger’, Gizmodo, accessed 10th Feb 2009, http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/02/more_info_on_the_vodafone_and_three_merger.html

What’s color got to do with it?

Over the last few months, I have been working and developing a client’s mobile site. The mobile site is aimed at taking the web experience, content and user base and tailor it to a handheld. I have always been vividly inspired by use of color. As a student of UX I was pleasantly suprised that color can play such a profound role in creating/tailoring an experience.

Colors can evoke emotions and create moods that enhance meaning and invoke physiological response (Poynter, . We use phrases with colors to define our moods. When we feel low, we call it the blues. Ironically Blues is also a sub genre of music. Color plays a very important role in our lives. We use many metaphors based on colors.

Color on the web:

Color is a universal phenomena and the connotations and perceptions do not change with the medium. Lynda Weinman (Adam, 1992) came up with ‘browser safe color palette. As web designers, we do need to consider the audience and the accessibility issues.

Here are some of the common connotations of colors:

• RED: Courage, Love (Happiness and Good fortune in Chinese culture)
• Orange: Stimulates appetite, reduces tension.
• Brown: Comforting color,  stimulates appetite
• Yellow: Cheer
• Green: Growth, Prosperity, Clean; negative connotations : jealousy and sloth.
• Blue: Serenity, Fertility..negative :  calming, sombre, saddeningg color.
• Purple: elegance and sophistication

(Fischer, 2004)

Here are some fun facts about colors I found/know of:

• The color receptors (cones) in our eyes understand three primary colors : R, G and B
• If you stare at any of the primary colors for 10 seconds at a stretch and then close your eyes, you see the complement (Green for Red and vice versa; Purple for Yellow and Orange for Blue).
• Yellow is the most visible color, it also evokes cheer. Yellow flowers sell fastest.
• Blue increases reading retention
• People score better on tests taken in a blue room
• Red makes food more appealing and palatable. Red and Orange make people east and leave fast.
• Black on Yellow is the most legible combination, followed by green on white and red on white
• Black on white is the easiest to read
• Black clothes make people look skinny (Hmmm)
• Gray is made up equal amount of R, G, B.

(Kumar, 2008; Poynter, 2009)

Complementary color wheel:

More when I have a bit more info…

References:

Adam, P.S, 1992, ‘Color, Contrast and Dimension in News Design’,  Poynter Institute, accessed 3rd Feb 2009, http://www.poynterextra.org/cp/colorproject/color.html

Alexander, D., 2006, Color in user interface design, accessed 3rd Feb 2009, http://deyalexander.com/resources/uxd/colour.html

Fischer, J.J., 2004, ‘Colors: Their connotations and perceived meanings’, accessed 3rd Feb 2009, http://ezinearticles.com/?Colors:-Their-Connotations-and-Perceived-Meanings&id=4510

Kumar, S., 2008, ‘Rebrand by color modelling – What color are you?’, User Experience Design @ Mindtree, accessed 3rd Feb 2009,  http://mindtreeux.blogspot.com/2008/11/rebrand-by-color-branding-what-color.html

Wikipedia, 2009, Complementary colors,

3G

 

…. I think  has been as big a buzz word as the iPhone itself. For laymen and non techies, 3G is simply faster internet on your mobile. Thats how it has been promoted by most of Telcos. 

What is actually 3G though?

3G stands for Third Generation Mobile Networks. Unlike the WLAN/WiFi/802.11 protocol, 3G networks are wide area cellular telephone networks, with added features like voice telephony, video calls, broadband wireless data, HSPDA (high speed data packet access, 14.4Mbps down, 5.8Mbps up) and better security all in the mobile environment. 3G networks were first launched in Japan in 2001 by NTT DoCoMo. In Australia, the first (non commercial) 3G network was set up in Adelaide by m.Net Corp in 2002 (using UMTS on 2100 Mhz, Wikipedia). In Dec 2007, the first commercial 3G network was launched by Hutchinson 3 in 2003. 

2G networks are basic GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) or cellular networks.
2.5G was the result of GSM + GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). GPRS allowed 56kbps-114kbps, WAP access, SMS, MMS, Internet and eMail.  
2.75G came to being when GPRS evolved into EDGE, (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution  also known as IMT Single Carrier) using the 8PSK encoding. EDGE is a backward-compatible digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates, as an extension on top of standard GSM (Wikipedia).

EDGE Networks soon gave way to UMTS ( Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) which is pure 3G (5 Mhz).

Apple Inc in promoting its latest multimedia device the iPhone 3G with a clear indication of the network advantage. The ads state (rightly so ofcourse), that 3G is 2.4 times faster than EDGE – GPRS (2.5G). 

The advent of  USB modems, which plug and play into laptops and provide hyperconnectivity, is also largely due to 3G.

Issues with 3G: 

•  It is expensive, as the infrastructure needed is dear. 
•  Telcos hesistant to invest in the infrastructure
• Lack of support from other organizations 
• Higher costs of 3G phones

Sol Trujillo, the CEO of Telstra, termed the “most talked about and controversial telecommunications executive in Australia” (Reardon 2009), recently gave an interesting interview to CNet. Like it or not, 3G is here to stay, those expensive 3G devices in the pockets, mean the wallets/other pockets are running dry . Will we reap the benefits of 3G and moan about some of its disadvanatages, we are all addicted to it. 

 

Well….they say 4G is not far away

Reference: 

Reardon, M., 29 Jan  2009, Sol Trujillo: The interview, CNET News.com, accessed 29th Jan 2009, http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/communications/soa/Sol-Trujillo-The-interview/0,139023754,339294622,00.htm?feed=pt_telstra
Wikipedia
Apple Inc 

Img Source:
Wikipedia

Get ready to be Shazam-ed !!

Recently, I have been spending a lot of time on the iPhone. I am reading up on the Human Interface Guidelines for this      device. And what better way to inform yourself, than learning from experience?

I came across an application called Shazam (Freely available through iTunes) which when initiated in “tag” mode can guess pretty much any song which is playing around you. Be it in a pub, in a disc, in the office, in the car…anywhere….Gone are the days when you listen to a part of a song and wonder…”Now whats that song called”…time for Shazam !!

With a very easy to use interface, the accuracy of the application is simply mind boggling.

Here is a video tour of the application

And trust Apple Inc to make a business case out of it. The App even comes up with the “Buy using iTunes” prompt.

Anyone who has an iPod Touch or an iPhone …go for it…you will not regret it one bit…well…may be..if you are on iPhone 3G …it does eat up the battery like most other apps.

Here is an interesting snippet from the About Us section on their website:

Shazam, was created by a company with the same name, which is based in London. Starting in 2002, Shazam now boasts of 20 Million customers worldwide and a DB of 10o million tracks. Shazam supports most of today’s basic wireless technologies: voice and SMS; and new wireless technologies including: J2ME, BREW, GPRS, MMS, and 3G; but it does not rely on them to deliver a compelling end-user proposition.

If you like to read reviews before you get anything, well read the rave reviews submitted by users about the app here

References:
Apple App Store
Shazam : http://www.shazam.com/music/web/home.html
Shazam App Review by Chris (for Mobile Tech Addicts)

Usability of Mobile Sites

I came across an article published by MobiThinking (a website maitained by dotMobi, now known as mobiForge), titled Desiging usable pocket rockets: A three step guide to usability on the mobile web“. I think it is an interesting article not only for developers, but more so for clients/companies/firms who are venturing into mobile web.

I wish to discuss certain relevant parts of the article itself in light of my very own work and Uni related experiences.  The five rules, claim  the brains at mobiThinking, of designing more usable mobile sites are as follows:

• The mobile web is mobile.
• Context is king.
• The devices are (very) different.
• Forget your dotcom thinking. You need unique content and design.
• Never forget rules one to four.

Rules 1 and 2 are the most important. ‘The mobile web is mobile’ and ‘Context is king’. How many mobile sites adhere to these two rules? Moll (2007) has hit the nail on the head, in saying  “‘mobile’ refers to the user, and not the device or the application “.

The 4th Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index (AMPLI) report  (2008 )claims that while the usage of the “web” on the mobile is on the rise, mobiles predominantly are used for communication viz. Voice and SMS/MMS . The advent of mobile phones, which can also accomplish many other functions (surfing the web, playing music, taking snapshots, maintaing your appointments and to do lists etc) has created  a shift in the paradigm. We now have devices like the iPhone, which have brought toegther an engaging interface and a smart device capable of serving the web on the go (at a stiff price). Do you need all that on the go?

Context of use has always been the most important question which needs to be considered when designing for mobile. Would I, and everyone must ask this question, use this feature while I am walking down the street, with one my mobile/portable/handy in one hand and a coffee in the other? Also, you need to consider the bandwidth/coverage which is available to the user, the speed and most importantly ‘click investment’. If your answer is to the previous question was “yes”…ask yourself the next question, would a majority of your “core target audience” use it? As a developer it is easy to “assume” they would, but I guess this is where a contextual enquiry is of paramount importance.

How can usable site be designed then? mobiThinking recommends three steps to make mobile sites more usable viz:

• Usability step one: Information Architecture.Make it transactional. Keep it simple and clickable.
• Usability step two: Prototyping. Test it. Unearth your usability issues before it’s too late.
• Usability step three: Designing for mobile constraints. Exploring the outer limits of browser and device capabilities

What constitutes a simple and intuitive IA? The answer quite unsurprisingly is by limiting choices available to the user. Its is believed that an intuitive and easy to use IA can be achieved with a simple ‘drill down architecture’, optimal content categories and intuitive nomenclature.  Having said that, to streamline the interaction, providing users an idea of what content lies behind a ‘click’ and prioritising/organizing content (most popular) so that it is easiest to use, also do help. Another important factor to be considered is “clickstreams”. mobiThinking define it well as:

Optimal clickstreams in practice, mean – unlike a typical desktop web page – you need to paginate your content in the most effective way to propel the user through an article or a sequence of ideas. In turn, this means you need to bring out the salesperson in your copywriters or editors, because each break in pagination will be an opportunity for your users to tune out. As mentioned above, as with section or category-level navigation, it’s critical that you load your content navigation points (or links) with ‘pre-sales’ pieces that hint of the ‘payoff’ to follow. (pg. 9)

Prototyping and testing at various stages using various tools cannot be emphasized more. Also, when it comes to mobiles, nothing beats “real device” testing. Getting access to as many real devices is the key to ensuring a consistent and rich user experience.

Understanding the user, mobility and context of use is crucial for clients/content providers. It is easy to get carried away by providing too much content or an interface/mSite which is hard to use or content itself which is not easily navigable.

While there cannot be one formula to gurantee success of a mobile site, following the guidelines above would surely help to get there.

References:

AIMIA, mNet and Ideal Interfaces, 2008, 4th Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index (AMPLI), accessed 25th Aug 2008, 4th Australian Mobile Lifestyle Index (AMPLI)

mobiThinking, 2008, Desiging usable pocket rockets: A three step guide to usability on the mobile web, accessed 5th Dec 2008, http://mobithinking.com/sites/mobithinking.com/files/dotMobi_Mobile_Usability_Best_Practice.pdf

Moll, C.(2007), ‘Mobile web fundamentals: A web standards approach to delivering content to mobile devices version 1.0’, pp. 17

Interface design

Over the last couple of months I have been researching and educating myself on the touch screen interfaces. Obviously, at the moment one cannot look beyond the iPhone. However, the touch interfaces are becoming more and more prevalent. I recently used a camera (Sony T70) which had a touchscreen interface.

Apple Inc has been great with providing educative material for developers designing for the iPhone. The iPhone Human Interface Guidelines (User Experience)  book published by Apple Inc to help developers understand the nuances of designing applications for the iPhone/iPod. 

The book lists six key interface princples: 

• Metaphors
• Direct Manipulation
• See and point
• Feedback
• User control
• Asthetic integrity

Of course these draw upon the UX of Apple devices over the years. But taking a step back, these can be applied to various interfaces and conversely, these have been drafted, baased on the other UX examples. Let us look at them in some detail. But before that, it might be a good idea to go back and ask ourselves, what is an experience? Wikipedia defines Experience as as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event. 

Metaphor implies comparing two independent entities. In this case people draw upon their past experiences and interact with a device, based on their prior knowledge and/or experience. Having standards (like web standards) has also been influenced or has influenced these experiences. People expect intuitively or assume aspects of an interaction from what they have seen and interacted with before. I feel online or console games are the best examples to depict how metaphors get used in design. 

Direct Manipulation, implies that the experience is richer if the user feels that the interface can be controlled or influenced based on their actions. Thus the actions performed by the user and the effects/reactions created should be visible and Fedback to the user. An experience is richer if the exchange is tangible/measureable/quantifiable, rather than abstract.  The feedback itself can be subtle and does not have to be blatantly obvious. 

See and Point implies influencing “choice” rather than providing users complete freedom. Directing/Channelizing the choices made during the interaction, help structure the entire experience. 

Having stressed these principles, the most important one is the next one, which states that Users need to have (or should feel that they have) complete Control over the interaction, interface and thus the experience. Aesthetic Integrity , a developer must remember is not a measure of how beautiful the application is but it is a measure of how well the appearance of the application integrates with its function. Functionality of the application is key. Afterall, the application must serve its purpose of enabling a task. 

The elements of UX have to be chosen after careful consideration. Afterall, it can make or break your application. 

 

Why dot Mobi?

 

Following on the naming conventions, I decided to look up the link Vance Hedderel (Director of PR and Communication, dotMobi) suggested. For all those who like to adhere to standards, here are few of the recommendations made by the mobitThinking mob:

A .mobi name tells consumers to expect a mobile experience

A site that’s optimized for a mobile device and a mobile user.

Using a variation of .com, .edu or.org says “expect a desktop web site.”

It makes your site guessable

As more and more brands choose .mobi for their mobile sites, users are more likely to guess yourbrand.mobi than any other URL.

• dotMobi explicitly conveys to the user that he is going to be served mobile specific content
• In the longer run, it would be as obvious as dotCom, dotEDU and dotOrg domains we are so used to
• dotMobi domains are search friendly and help in SEO
• m.domain currently gets registered as a different site, a dotMobi site will always be indexed as the mobile equivalent of the website. 
• dotMobi is arguably ‘short and sweet’.
• It provides for tiny URLS. 
• It improves the UX and Usability of the mSite
• It can help improve the web analytics/stats/reporting and help keep web and mobile separate. 
• Since dotMobi is a Top Level Domain (TLD), it informs the users that the they can expect an optimized experience
• dotMobi is the only domain actively promoted. 
• It is supported by dotMobi Consortium (the W3 equivalent for mobile) and dotMobi is the only mobile domain that’s actively promoted.
• dotMobi is supported by most Content Management solutions. 
• The revenue generated from registering the domains is pumped back into the industry. 
• A standard mobile naming convention will help mobile internet grow. 

Thanks dotMobi…makes some sense. 

However a part of me still thinks that typing in m.sitename is a lot quicker than keying in sitename.mobi. Unless ofcourse you have .mobi as a button on the virtual keypads

References: 

mobiThinking, 2008, ‘Why dot MObi?’, accessed 10th Nov 2008,  http://mobithinking.com/why-mobi

Naming mobile sites

DotMobi (recently renamed to mobiForge) has published some basic guidelines to help mobile developers to come up with relevant naming guidelines for their respective mSites.

While the questions till lingers, m.something or something.mobi, here are the two guidelines:

1. In order to identify with national variations of dotMobi sites by using the corresponding country code top level domain identifier (ccTLD) as the third level domain identifier. What this means is that while, you still hold www.example.mobi (or really http://example.mobi), you also provide au.example.mobi or Australian users.
2. Language preference: Having said use the ccTLD to identify and locate users, it is recommended not to assume the langage preference of the users based on the national variation.

The global abbreviations used can be found here:
http://www.iana.org/cctld/cctld-whois.htm

Having said that, I still prefer naming the micro site m.website.com.au. Then again, having a detection script running on your website, is probably the best approach as you would then redirect customers to the right site.

Reference:

mobiForge, 2008, ‘DotMobi Domain Naming Guidelines’, accessed 25th Oct 2008, http://mobiforge.com/files/dotMobi_Domain_Naming_Guidelines_1.0.html