How many clicks does it take to get to the SMS sending of a "quick" message?
By Eddie Lopez. Friday, 15. December 2006, 05:29:15
How many clicks does it take to get to the SMS sending of a "quick" message?
Lets find out...
"Quick Notes" are not quick.
My phone has a series of predefined “quick notes” that you can use to save you some typing, which is an admirable feature on mobile handsets... at least their heart is in the right place. Because as you can imagine in the real world, there are very few times a canned message comes in handy. You would use them more for “Yes/No” type responses that are pretty quick and easy to type anyway.
I do however, have rare occasion to actually use a quick message. I noticed since I’m not actually typing anything and strickly navigating through the menu, sending a quick note is anything but quick.
There's too much UI getting in the way of my task. Let me focus on what I'm doing. When the interface is too cumbersome, it gets you off the "scent" of your task and train of thought. The UI shouldn't be noticed if at all possible. Activity Centered design is the key to simplicity.
I will say it’s easy to send the message, since I’m pressing the same menu button almost exclusively as I work throught the options, but that is what makes the whole process more noticeable. At best, I'm down to 9 clicks to send a message...that's using the quick note and optimized address book (I've tried 4 or 5 different 'routes').
eh, so what? Well what I thought was most interesting about all this is that I configured a shortcut to get as deep as I could into this menu... the which is about the third step. But by doing that, for some strange reason, it's comes out to 12 total clicks instead of 9. So the shortcut actually adds three extra steps in there... nice.
How quickly does your phone let you fire off a message? (not including the actual typing or selecting from a contact list). Can you beat 9 clicks? What's the most?
I'm in the market for a new smart phone (well, at least something smarter than the RAZR), so I'd love to hear feedback on what is most efficient at this task.
(and for what it's worth, I actually had all nine steps as images, but boy it sure was boring)
WIDGETIZE
Ramunas # 15. December 2006, 06:11
Eddie_Lopez # 15. December 2006, 06:23
Anyway- 4 clicks would be nice
dantesoft # 15. December 2006, 12:35
2 = Press Menu+5 (shortcut to New Short Message)
0 = typing, inserting Quick Notes, etc.
1 = Press OK
0 = select contacts
1 = Press Send
Eddie_Lopez # 15. December 2006, 12:57
I viewed that as one "action" -Getting someone to send to. I tried to relate each click to an action or decision process.
kmaage # 15. December 2006, 13:54
5 clicks to get a new blank message
9 clicks to insert a quick template (just typing "see you soon." would require 14 clicks. Wow! A savings of 5 clicks!)*
3 clicks to send (if it's to my wife who's number is already there by default)
total 17 clicks, my fastest method with my phone
* The problem here is that the time saved (less clicks) using the template is overshadowed by the time taken deciding to use or not use the template. In KLM-GOMS evaluations, this kind of mental preparation costs 1.2 second. If your brain knows that there is no decision to make (no "quicker way" is available), it doesn't waste time evaluating. Instead it "prefetches" the muscle movement commands needed to start typing your message so that you can begin immediately. Hence, in this short-message cell phone domain, using a template will almost always be (paradoxically), slower.
Eddie_Lopez # 15. December 2006, 14:27
Anonymous # 15. December 2006, 17:39
Treo 700p
1. Shortcut key to SMS
2. New message
3. Quicktext button, select text
4. Add contact (700p SMS uses a drop down for previously used contacts)
5. Send
However - the 700p does chat logs for SMS. If I already have a log open with my contact, then I can replace New message with Open Log - then cut out the Add Contact step and go straight to send - 4 steps.
kmaage # 19. December 2006, 15:18
1) why physical? Because our muscles have a mysterious feedback mechanism through our neural system that reinforces neural pathways that are frequently used
2) why stable? Because unstable actions "blur" the effects of learning, and the brain then falls back (actually up) to conscious involvement when the learned actions aren't strong enough.
My old phone used Menu-2-3-3 start typing. The Menu-2-3-3 had become automatic for me. The buttons were big enough to not interfere with each other...I could start a text message without thinking about the interface. Ah, heaven.
dantesoft # 19. December 2006, 18:33
Originally posted by kmaage:
Oh yes, Nokia. Got easily used to my old phone, too: I had an automatic way to check last call duration, set alarm, etc. because of the number based menu.With C650 (which allows menu reordering on most entries), to start typing an SMS I press the joystick thing 4 times. Heaven
PS: Push it 2 more times, and it's Insert>Quick note