[SailfishDevel] No consistency across screens

Graham Cobb g+jolla at cobb.uk.net
Mon Dec 30 18:07:03 UTC 2013


On 30/12/13 17:20, Mikael Hermansson wrote:
> On Monday 30 December 2013 15.35.39 Graham Cobb wrote:
>> I need that information all the time -- a **lot** more
>> often than I actually interact with the phone.
> In every app you can just shortly "swipe left less than half of screen"

It doesn't work when on the home screen.  So, you have to look at the
screen, work out which page it is on and then take some special action
dependent on that page.

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9YGtW274GI and you will see the clock,
> 3g level and wifi level and then just release and you back in current
> application. So I dont see any reason this must be visible all the time
> when its so easy check it that way.

My phone sits on my desk, near my normal line of sight, and I glance at
it frequently. I don't move my hands off the keyboard to touch it -- I
am not even consciously doing the task of "checking my phone".

I also often glance at it while on a non-handsfree call which has become
a longer call than I expected -- while talking and listening I can
quickly move the phone into view, check it isn't about to run down on me
and return it to my ear without the other person noticing.

There are three key pieces of information which must be available at a
glance: is there signal?, how is the battery?, have there been any
missed calls?

Note: I spend a lot of time on conference calls of an hour or so,
usually using a desk phone -- I often do not remember whether I missed
any calls on my mobile while I was on a conference call.  Nor do I
always remember to check when the call finishes (often rushing to get a
glass of water or go to the toilet before the next call starts).  So,
having all three things visible whenever my eyes stray from my screen to
my phone is very important.

> Seriously, just because everyone copycats each other in that area it
> doesn't mean it can be done different.

Indeed. But just because a UI feature looks nice doesn't mean it is
necessarily practical.

I am not a UX person, but I strongly suspect the Jolla team need to do
more user testing, with more varied types of users, in this area.


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