It's probably something that most of us do multiple times a day and has now become just another part of our daily lives...texting.
I love the idea that we can send someone a message instantaneously that doesn't rely on the receiver being available to take the call like a phone call would. It also gives the user a sense of privacy; only you and the recipient can see the message and texting in a public place may be much more appropriate then a phone call.
Even with this in mind I've never been a fan of texting on a mobile phone. This may be because of the phones I've owned but I find myself constantly frustrated that it isn't as easy as using an actual keyboard. I know this may be almost technologically impossible but it still annoys me. My current phone is an old nokia that's about 4ish years old, one where each button is either three or four letters. While this can be absolute pain to type out longer messages it's great for quick little texts. Because each button does numerous functions, less buttons are needed and it means that we can also have larger buttons. Even people with stubby fingers can easily press each button without pressing down any other unwanted letters, a problem many people can have with smart phones and blackberry style phones.
We have since got phones that have full QWERTY keyboards and smart phones that use a touch screen keyboard. I've used all of these interfaces and still have to say that the interface that my phone uses is my favourite. All these are other methods of texting are trying to emulate a keyboard but are falling short in comparison with a real keyboard. While the touchscreen keyboards let us tip the keyboard sideways to access a larger keyboard, I believe that as users, feeling the button move when pressed is something that definitely helps the user interact with the product .
Stefan
I personally believe that the traditional phone keypad is significantly better to use than more recent QWERTY keypads and touch screen interfaces used on smart phones. I currently own an iPhone like many other people and do not understand the point of a QWERTY keyboard when we are only able to type with our thumbs. The traditional mobile phone interface allows one to 'touch type', meaning we are able to multi-task, like texting whilst watching TV, texting when your phone is in your pocket and finally although we all no its illegal many consumers attempt to text whilst driving a vehicle, an activity which is executed more safely on a traditional phone in comparison to the more modern variety.
ReplyDeleteAshlee Shepherd