50% slower but still a better experience?
Recently a colleague of mine who owns an iPhone showed me how you set an alarm on the iPhone. He was really liking it and so did I at first sight. I pulled out my own Nokia phone and compared it with the iPhone. My feeling was that the iPhone solution ‘felt’ better but that the Nokia solution may actually be better in terms of usability and effectiveness. Nonetheless, the iPhone seems to be a nice compromise between usability and fun that makes the end-result still interesting or even better than the Nokia solution. So is it a good thing to sacrifice usability over fun? Is that what ‘User Experience’ is all about?
Here are the two interfaces:
Let’s examine this case a bit further…
The iPhone solution
The iPhone uses a rotating wheel solution that we all know from using them in old fashioned cypher locks. In order to set the time you need to position the 3 wheels. If you have selected 24 hour system you don’t get the AM/PM wheel though. I did some timing tests with three of my colleagues that owned an iPhone. I gave them 10 alarm times to set and they needed on average 10.2 seconds to set an alarm. That is including the ‘add alarm’ function. The main reason I could see for this long task time is that you have to do several strokes to get to the right number and then set the one you need, and then do that twice. If you only need to put your alarm half an hour later than normal, the time can be shortened and if you are lucky you only need to use one wheel.
The Nokia solution
The Nokia solution is more straightforward. You simply type in the time using the keypad. The time it will take you is always exactly the same about of time since it is always 4 key presses. Well, nearly the same because of the keyboard layout. I ran a similar test with three other colleagues who were familiar with the Nokia interface. After setting the same 10 alarm times as the iPhone users, my colleagues only needed 6.7 seconds on average per alarm time. That is 3.5 seconds faster than on an iPhone. Actually the difference is even larger because the confirmation message is displayed for about 1.5 seconds and doesn’t allow you to enter the next time. That means the task completion time on the iPhone is about 50% slower! And that is a lot….
Usability versus User Experience?
Mathematically speaking the Nokia solution is far superior in task time completing. Nonetheless, the iPhone solution provides a nice User Experience and seems totally satisfactory for iPhone users. Nobody is complaining about the iPhone solution and they are even praising it! So can a better experience still outweigh a 50% slower task completion time?
According to ‘official’ definitions of usability task completion is an important factor but it is certainly not the only factor. Learnability, memorability, the number of errors made and the subjective satisfaction are other elements of usability. So is the ’subjective satisfaction’ what brings us to the User Experience part of setting an alarm? It seems so and it is tempting to conclude that task completion times can sometimes be sacrificed in order to improve the overall user experience.
When is slower better for the User Experience?
The difference in task completion times in this example is huge but the task is very simple and you don’t need to do it many times a day, sometimes not even in weeks if you always want to wake up at the same time. My explanation is that in this case the following aspects make it ok to sacrifice task completion time:
- The task is very infrequent, perhaps not even once a day or once a week.
- The total task time is still relatively short and differences in short task completion times do not matter much if they are not frequent.
- Users tend to appreciate fun more than efficiency for short infrequent tasks.
This leads us to the even more interesting question: when does the balance tip over to task completion time again? Probably when the task is more frequent but how frequent should it be exactly? I don’t know. Perhaps somebody should do more testing?
March 13th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
It is true, satisfaction is subjective, although generalization and usability heuristics and principles allows us to model for ‘global users’. Again the frequency of performing the task in ‘Usability versus User Experience’ should be considered as key factor. People love chocolate but if they are forced to eat each day several times… the ’satisfaction’ level will drop with the increasing rate of ‘eating’ it! Of course let’s not talk about ‘tooth pain’ and dentist bills!
May 25th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Martijn, I agree with you about the relative infrequency of the task and the short duration making the difference between the two seem irrelevant. I also have some thoughts about the larger context of this particular task, both the form of interaction and the emotional context. I think one of the most satisfying things about interacting with an iPhone is the direct manipulation - being able to make things happen with the tips of your fingers without being mediated by a keyboard, buttons, or other such device. I think that the pleasure of this direct physical engagement with the device may swamp some small efficiency concerns. And as the person learns to enjoy this kind of interaction, each new function on the iPhone that uses it just increases the overall enjoyment of the device. On the more explicitly emotional side, it is clear that Apple has done a great job of making an iPhone owner’s mood in using the device one of wonder and fun, rather than a more utilitarian mood. Perhaps this all contributes to a user encountering the direct manipulation with that wheel and feeling - “wow, that drag-wheel is cool!” instead of “jeesh, that took twice as long as on my old phone!”
June 21st, 2008 at 5:27 am
Looking at the Nokia screen capture I wouldn’t even know that I was trying to set an alarm. There isn’t even a label. I understand that context is everything but unless the screen cap is incorrect I cannot see how anyone could possibly argue against the superiority of the iPhone UX.
August 4th, 2008 at 7:37 am
[...] L’expérience utilisateur ne serait rien sans un certain attrait visuel. Même si certaines personnes de renommé dans le domaine de l’usabilité se soucient peu de l’apparence graphique de leur site web, c’est certainement, pour moi, une partie importante de l’ensemble du processus d’expérience utilisateur. Autant il faut faire attention que les folies graphiques d’un designer web viennent abîmer le travail pauffiné d’usabilité, autant une interface réfléchie et artistiquement intéressante peu faire toute la différence. C’est ce qui rend un logiciel ou un site web plaisant à utiliser, on pense tout de suite au iPhone d’Apple, qui arbore une interface d’une beauté irréprochable et qui nous fait choisir le iPhone même s’il n’est pas le meilleur pour accomplir certaines tâches. [...]
August 11th, 2008 at 2:14 am
I own a Nokia N73, the only problem i have with the nokia alarm is that you can’t set it to repeat every day, or workdays etc etc, I have to get up at 6 every workday…
August 25th, 2008 at 7:40 am
I had the same response to the iPhone as well. I set the alarm often, and it’s irksome.
What disappointed more was the lack of the confirming feedback that Symbian provides: of the number of hours until your alarm goes off. Because “AM” and “PM” look so similar, I find that I occasionally make a mistake and the alarm doesn’t go off (kinda critical if you’re setting a wake-up for a train trip or flight!)
Bedankt voor uw website.
Groetjes,
Eli
September 27th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
[...] die Martijn gaf de elementen van een goede user experience, vond ik erg verhelderend. Vooral het voorbeeld met het instellen van de wekker op een iPhone en een Nokia heeft mijn kijk op usability veranderd. Normaliter had ik als streven [...]
November 29th, 2008 at 9:39 am
[...] Martjin Van Welie writes an excellent little snippet on the differences between setting an alarm on the iPhone interface and the Nokia interface. The vast majority of User Experience experts I know probably would have assumed that speed and responsiveness was a top priority to test in a lab. But it’s very important to note the although it was faster to set up an alarm on the Nokia, the iPhone interface ‘feels’ faster and more responsive. To me, this is the sign of someone who truly understands the human experience. The Nokia interface is so clumsy and unpolished that it literally ‘feels’ less responsive, even though it’s actually a more utilitarian approach. [...]
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:33 am
Your conclusions on task frequency and relative time are completely right. But something is missing in this article: Why it is more fun to use iPhone?
In my opnion, the power of direct manipulation makes iPhone alarm set interface more “fun to use”. Even it is possible to add iPhone like wheels on Nokia interface, they still need to be controlled by arrow/direction keys on Nokia keyboard. User can not have an experience of directly “touching” the wheels. iPhone touchscreen technology makes it possible. It is more natural (and less effective) to use your fingers instead of a spoon while eating soap.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:35 am
sorry, not soap, it should be soup!
January 14th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
I like this article very much, and I believe you did a great job explaining the balance between IxD principles.
Keep on the good work.
P.S.
Steve Jobs Quotes on Design:
1) A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.
2) Design is not how it looks and how it feels. Design is how it works.
Iaax Page
Software, Ingenieria y Diseño
May 30th, 2009 at 4:46 am
good example for fun over effectivness… I think it is relativly new anyway that applications are developed so that it is fun using them instead of just being a good, efficient, working application. And with the whole RIA world, this is even simple to do…
JH
July 23rd, 2009 at 7:34 pm
[...] 原文转自：50% slower but still a better experience? [...]
August 24th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Good article, and nice relatable examples, since so many people own cellphones. One thing I haven’t seen mentioned here, is the target group definition.
I think that serves to explain why the iPhone UI is so successful for iPhone users, since the iPhone by its very nature is designed for a cool, funky and fun market segment.
The Nokia interface, on the other hand, has for many years evolved into a prime example of Nordic efficiency, aimed primarily at business and casual users of phones who just want to get the job done and don’t want to be bothered by too many bits and bobbles.
I own a Nokia E71, considered by many to be one of the most efficient smartphones in the marketplace, with all the functionality of an iPhone, without the glitz and glamour. I’m thrilled with my E71, because I chose it to suit my tastes and purposes.
So neither interface is fundamantelly “wrong” - just aimed at different user groups - and both designs show a careful consideration of the ideal user for the particular device.
September 2nd, 2009 at 3:47 am
Providing an alternative (i.e. link ‘use traditional add alarm dialogue’) for iPhone dialogue would be great.