Just to note that Smartphones Show 30 is now live, with a hands-on preview of the Nokia N77 (thanks Rafe), interview snippets with a couple of Forum Oxford speakers (more from these in AAS video podcasts next week), a demo of the Proporta USB Mobile Device Charger and a rant on the subject of touchscreens on smartphones.
Read on in the full article.
Yes, I'm with you all the way on touchscreens. I loved the one on my Psion 7, and still can't understand why they don't put them on laptops instead of those awful glidepads. But those are completely different devices. I never planned on having a one-handed S60 device, but when they became affordable, I tried one and was completely sold on the idea; I now want my mobile device to be one-handed. (Pity about the basic S60 PIM apps, though.)
I'm with you also Steve!
There are many examples that touch screen just don't work for me. Yesterday I got an email and send back a quick reply from my S60 phone, and all that while riding a bike. No need to stop to write back 😊
PS: And this man talking about iPhone has probably no slightest idea about capabilities of N95...
As an ex P900 user and a current E61 one I have to agree about touch screens . The P900 would have been completely useless on the move without the keypad you cant touch a specific point of a screen whilst on the move with any accuracy. (Even then the P900 keypad was not good). You need the tactile feel of a key and having to make a distinct press to register an action. I liked the touch screen when I was not on anything that was moving but I can't say I've missed it since changing to the E61. Touch screen only phones have been tried before and they have always been a failure so I am surprised that LG with the Prada and Apple with the iPhone are even trying to go down that route.
Also am I the only person to not get this 2 finger interface on the iPhone? What advantage is it meant to give you? Yes it looks good in a demo but is it any easier to use than one finger? It does not seem to add any more functionality i.e. you can resize a window using one finger to drag out the corner or reposition it by touching the bar at the top and moving it just like we do with a mouse in windows. I'm also not sure how much you would want to do this on a mobile device anyway and then you have the increased problem of accurately placing two fingers when on the move. So will two fingers be the success of the iPhone or will the users just give it two fingers?
as a windows mobile ppc user i know that problem with one-handed devicecontrol.
but it is simple to trim your ppc to one handed usage! with third party apps you can replace the whole gui, today plugins help to start apps only with your fingers and so most important things can be done with only one hand.
you listen music while you are going somewhere? if your device has no dedicated music buttons, always you have to switch to the music app for playing the next song or something like that. with a touchscreen you can have big controlbuttons on your screen, which are often bigger than dedicated buttons on music-devices.
that is the strength of a touchscreen gui: the way of input can adjust itself to the current usage. but this has to be done by the developer. if he doesn't cares about it, you have to use your stylus for these mini-icons. thankfully the trend is going to the other way 😊
i agree that a stylus it not the best solution. for textentry i use a big fullscreen qwertz keyboard and it works well.
i hope you unterstood everything despite my not perfect english.