TO SHERLOCK AKA BLABLABLA AKA GUEST (SAME PERSON) IVE HEARD YOUR MUMMY HAS HAD MORE PRICKS THAN A SECOND HAND DART BOARD. P.S TELL YOUR MUM TO COLLECT HER KNICKERS FROM MY HOUSE LOL!
My p800
[quote="mbailey"]One way that phone companies could allow users to 'test' a phone is to make a virtual version of its user interface on a website. This would be relatively easy to do in Flash and would allow users to get a feel for whether the system is easy to use and does what they want. I know it wouldn't give you the 'feel' of the phone (e.g. if you like using the jog dial) but it'd be a good start.
While I don't agree with ToneDeBone's comments on the phone that's his opinion to which he's entitled. I have a Nokia 9210 also which I think is superb - my boss bought it and thought it was crap (thankfully he didn't hold it against me and now he might buy a P800 as well). But I would say this: How many phones out there have the flexibility of the P800 and will have as many applications available for them that cross such a broad range of boundaries. I use VNC on my P800 to control a web server several thousand miles away via GPRS. Although I use the same facility on the Nokia this would be via standard dialup.
If I were to compare the P800 with the Nokia 9210 I'd say the Nokia wins with the keyboard, ability to receive faxes and a wider landscape screen, but the P800 wins with virtually everything else. It's a third smaller/lighter than the Nokia, has tri-band and GPRS, MP3 player, already has loads of apps, built in camera (Nokia has one, but separate and connects via IR). Its internet support is far superior to the Nokia - I never successfully connected to my email server via the 9210 but the P800 worked straight out of the box.
Martin B
PS. ToneDeBone's grammer may have been crap, but maybe English is not his/her first language. Alternatively, maybe he's trying to post it on his P800 keyboard 😃[/quote]
This website to test out the user interface, is a very nice idea.
But i think manufacturer's will never want to do that for it would look like they do not know how to design.
But the truth is they have to design something that is easy to use. Such a protype simulation is the way to achieving an optimum user interface.
What could find them agreeing though is doing such a survey on a limited group. For example, they could give this project to a university to test out the user interface - where students test and suggest alternatives.
Best, they could this forum participants to test out their future designs.
Am not sure whether you fully understood what I meant. I am talking about having it as a selling aid.
On the SE main site they have a nice little intro that walks you through the outside of the phone, and to a degree they demonstrate the software quite well, but it would not actually be very difficult to write the entire interface for the standard applications in Flash (at least for a Flash 'guru'😉. Even with my modest Flash skills I could do something with 'smoke and mirrors' that would give users a better feel for how the software worked. Alternatively, couldn't it be done in Java? Then, even some of the applications that have been written specifically could be plugged in and demonstrated on the virtual phone.
The SE P800 site is better than most, but a fully working online version would be the ultimate way to test the phone's capabilities before purchase, especially given that the SE P800 is one of the more expensive on the market and caters for a demanding audience... Nothing beats testing something out yourself rather than watching a passive demo.
My approach would be to design something that is readily accepted by the users.
Why would SE or for that matter any other manufacturer, have such an interactive demo version for would be buyers. It would actually work against their sales. They would rather have buyers who buy and test it out.
Even people like Microsoft let others test out their Beta versions. This approach would solve the problem at the root.