Usability Speed Tests: Treo 800w | Pocketnow

Опубликовано 16 июля 2008, 0:00

This is Adam Lein with Pocketnow.com. We're going to try some tests I made up to see how easy it is to perform certain tasks with your smartphone. These tests assume you've already learned how to use your phone and are proficient with its functions, so get your phone out and follow along with the video to see how you do.

First we'll try accessing programs like email, contacts, & calendar. I'm not going to test making phone calls since you probably know different people than I do, but email, contacts, & calendar programs are pretty standard on smartphones. If you think it will make your results faster, feel free to pre-load your applications into memory.

- Launching programs: email, contacts, calendar

That was pretty easy. You're probably saying that's not fair because the Treo has 10 customizable application launching shortcuts. Okay, I'll give you that.

Let's try launching a 3rd party program that's buried within the interface. Something that doesn't have a shortcut key and is not right there on the Start menu or home screen. How about Google Maps? If you don't already have it installed just visit Google.com/gmm and there's sure to be a version available for your phone. If you're timing yourself, measure from the time you turn on the phone to the activation of Google maps. We don't care about how long it takes Google maps to load since we're just looking at the usability of the interface.
I'll show you my programs folder to prove to you that I'm not cheating by preselecting the application.

- Launching Google Maps from programs menu -- Start, p, G-O, enter

Okay, now what about the web browser? How quickly can you access a favorite. Let's see how easy it is to open your Pocketnow.com bookmark. If you're using a Blackberry, I know it remembers that last bookmark you visited and opens directly to the bookmark listing. Some people might consider that cheating. We're trying to see how quick and easy it is to access any bookmark at any time, not just the last one you used or the first one on the list.

Open Pocketnow.com in browser -- Start, I, right softkey, A, PO, enter

Now how about an MP3 player? Most smartphones have music players these days. Let's see how easy it is to find a specific song we want to play. You probably already have some Weird Al Yankovik music on your phone, and if you don't, you can download "You're Pitiful" from WeirdAl.com for free. Don't cheat by making it the only song in your library. I've got about 400 or so other songs in there right now.

Play Weird Al song -- Start, E, down to Artist, enter, W-e-i, left sofkey play.

Treo 800w Results
Test 1: open email, contacts, & calendar = 2 seconds (63 frames)
Test 2: open Google Maps = 2 seconds (71 frames)
Test 3: open a saved website favorite = 5 seconds (155 frames)
Test 4: find and play music from a specific artist = 8 seconds (239 frames)

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Usability Speed Tests: Treo 800w | Pocketnow
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