OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- User Centric, Inc., a
Chicago-based usability consultancy, finished a final study examining the
user experience of Apple's iPhone. Previously, test participants found the
iPhone's touch keyboard overly sensitive despite the iPhone's overall high
usability. In this usability study, User Centric compared texting
experiences of iPhone owners and non-owners across devices.
User Centric collected data from 60 participants who entered specific
text messages and completed mobile device tasks. Twenty iPhone owners (had
iPhone for at least one month), 20 hard-key QWERTY phone (aka QWERTY)
owners, and 20 numeric phone owners (multi-tap texters) all entered six
fixed-length text messages on their own phones. Non-iPhone owners also
entered six messages on a test iPhone and a phone of another type. The
Blackberry was the other phone for numeric users while QWERTYs used a
Samsung E300.
Texting Errors More Frequent on iPhones than Hard-Key QWERTY and
Numeric Phones
iPhone owners entered text as rapidly as QWERTY owners on their own
phones. However, iPhone owners made significantly more texting errors on
their own phone (5.6 errors/message) than both QWERTY owners (2.1
errors/message) and numeric phone owners (2.4 errors/message) on their own
phones, p < .01.
Interestingly, comparing texting performance between iPhone owners and
novices (non-owners) on the iPhone found no significant difference in error
rates.
"While the iPhone's corrective text feature helps, this data suggests
that iPhone users who have owned the device for a month still make about
the same number of errors as the day they got it," said Gavin Lew, Managing
Director.
Unfamiliar Users Performed Best on Hard-Key QWERTY Phone
User Centric also compared users' performance on unfamiliar phones.
Numeric phone owners had faster text entry on a hard-key QWERTY phone than
on the iPhone and also made significantly fewer errors on the hard-key
QWERTY.
"Participants also indicated a preference for hard-key QWERTY phones
when texting," said Jen Allen, User Experience Specialist.
Lew added that the "iPhone is a great switch from a numeric phone. But
if you're switching from a hard-key QWERTY phone, try the iPhone in the
store first."
For a complete summary, including analysis of the iPhone keyboard,
visit http://www.usercentric.com.
User Centric is a privately-held consulting firm that has focused on
improving user experience since 1999. Services include usability testing,
eye tracking, expert evaluations, design consulting, and global studies.
http://www.usercentric.com
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