Those that know me here know I am a computer nerd. Tech geek. Within five feet of where I type this I have a desktop, laptop, tablet, a phone system that could be expanded to run a 40+ person firm, a PS3, PS2, N64, Sega Dreamcast, and I recently bought four Bluetooth speakers that are paired with my tablet, desktop, and VOIP phone so I have music throughout the house and even my phone ringing into them.
Some brief background, before the user interface design error of this year.
I told myself I'd never get a tablet or a smartphone.
See I work out of my house. I don't travel much (thank gosh). Not in a car stuck in traffic or going to meetings (gosh again). Plus I have a $2,500 "gaming" quality laptop, that is kind of mobile, why do I need a tablet? And a basic LG phone, which takes phone calls. Had GPS. Takes pics. Lets me text message.
Well a few months ago I got the Google Nexus tablet and feel in love with it. Stunning, I mean a stunning item. About the only hardware I've bought that I think is superior was the Apple Mac SE I got like in 1988. Love it.
Well my two year contract with Verizon was up late last month and they were throwing deals at me to buy a smartphone.
I knew my Nexus runs the same Google "Jellybean" operating system, so why not get a Samsung Note II, their top of the line, so I could run the same apps (I mean exactly) on both and everything would be synced.
Everything worked just as I thought. Both the phone and tablet look like mirror images of the other.
But I couldn't figure out how to ansewer my phone!!!!!!!!!!!!! No I am NOT joking.
Now a few other quick points. I spent about the first two decades of my life working at ad agencies. I wasn't a graphic designer, but when you do something that long, you learn about shit. And maybe the "interface" of an ad or brochure isn't the same as a computer or phone, but they have a lot in common.
Generally speaking, less is more. And simple and elegant is often harder to achieve then, well the opposite. That is something not understood my many. That say Apple can make the first iPods and people could use them within seconds without any instructions isn't easy, or everybody would be doing it.
Then I read this book that changed the way I look at the world (at least from a user interface point-of-view), called The Design of Everyday Things. The author doesn't talk about the design of tech products (written in the 80s), but everyday things. How they are overtly complex. Don't convey the meaning they are supposed to.
I started to look at my tea pot differently (really I did). That street sign, was it clear what I was being asked to do? Why did I have to hit 7 buttons to heat something up in a microwave when I only should have needed two, but in the perfect world one.
Then I started to design web sites for a living.
Now I am no expert on any topic, much less interface design, but I like to think I make a good living cause I try to keep things simple yet elegant, and intuitive.
Now to that video and me not being able to take a call on my so called "smartphone."
I keep calling the phone and I couldn't answer the call. I could deny a call, with like ten different messages to the user. The VM features were stunning.
But last I checked the point of owning a phone was the ability to take a FUCKING CALL!
Now I read all the "Quick Start Guides" that came with my phone, nothing about this. I am rocking EverNote. Streaming music to my Bluetooth speakers, killing space aliens, but again I can't take a call.
I gave up and Googled: "How To Answer a Call On The Samsung Galaxy Note II?" I got this great response to my question, but an epic fail from a user design point-of-view (if your volume is up high, lower it before watching).
There was a time I almost put my finger through the front exiting the rear of that phone trying to get it to pick up hitting the "green phone" icon. Cause you know, when I was testing the ring tones, volume, VM, and other stuff if I hit the red phone icon to the right it declines the call the second you touched it.
UGH!
And this is why people don't like technology. A person in the comment of this video said it took him two weeks to figure it out. Gosh.
Generally speaking I am the dude that likes to tinker and figure things out. But if I can't I call support. I know for a fact a lot of smart people that could maybe take apart and put back a '65 Mustang (like my dad) don't like to call and seem "dumb" if they can't figure out technology.
And they shouldn't have to ......
Not everybody is like me. We have to make tech easier for non-tech geeks like me to use and even want to interact with.
Folks that can't just get mad, frustrated, and then don't want to deal with it anymore.
That is said and it is the fault of user design like this. Just some FUBAR.
My mini-Sunday rant ended :).