Harvard study : WP7 vs BB, Android and Apple.

[Winterfang]

‪Harvard Smartphone Usability Study‬‏ - YouTube


They ask novice users to perform three task.

1- Make a call.
2- Add a contact.
3- Send a text.

Will Windows Phone raise to the top? or will it get crushed by the other Behemoths?

 

[1jaxstate1]

Saw this video yesterday on WMPU, and I thought to myself, what a bunch of idiots. They probably would be better off with a dumb phone.

 

[Winterfang]

Aww come on man. Those are Novice for a reason, the represent perfectly how easy to use smartphone is, when you focus on easy of use.

 

[enahs555]

I just have a problem with the call one really. They went right to the phone thing, but ignored the number pad button on the bottom, left and came back into it; but had no trouble doing the exact same steps to make a call the first time on the other phone.

 

[bear_lx]

that and the sms text on the iphone went right into a previous conversation? wth? its pretty easy to send a text when you are already in a conversation, none of the other phones were though... the samsung, htc, and storm, all had to create a new conversation... a little bias i think

and this was a study at harvard? wow... that was dumb, but fun to watch

 

[Winterfang]

Probably not the same people. Also the Thunderbolt was running a weird Android theme that looked hard to use. Also they had a BB Storm =/

 

[selfcreation]

well that was kida dumb....

notice the Iphone and WP is the SAME thing to make a call but the guy using the WP7 was simply a bigger idiot , and because of it it got less points .. LOL

 

[Curtieson]

Making a Call:
What I noticed: The WP7 was also the only phone that started up in LOCK mode...all the other ones already had the screen swiped and were ready to type.

The Android and BB did make it much easier to get the simple screen, instantly popping up the dial pad...but seriously, who memorizes numbers anymore??? Ok, they pop to the dial pad easier, but I use it to make 1/30th of my phone calls. The iPhone and WP7 have the exact same feature path yet scored differently?

PLUS, it was an iPhone 4G!!!! [@1:47]

 

[selfcreation]

The iPhone and WP7 have the exact same feature path yet scored differently?

yeah cause it was an Idiot Test not an actual phone test.

Obviously you cant test Phones with NOOOBS! its like you tell some one to get in a plane and fly it....GOOOOOOD Luck!


notice the different hands on the phones:

Smartest one was the Girl using the Iphone at 4 1/2 star, s LOL

not far behind in second place the guy usning Wp7

Black berry user was disqualify for asking help from the Iphone girl.(HAHA )

and the Android guy got 3rd but clearly was the biggest idiot.

LMAO!! im sorry but maan... failed test by Harvard... dont think any one is graduating this year! LOL

 

[Winterfang]

Well to be honest that was the point of this. To see which phones are more idiot proofed. You won't believe the people that returned phones because they didn't knew how to use them. A lot of them tell me about at my job.

 

[Curtieson]

Based on the professor in the video...I found the class that you would have to be in to have taken part in this

http://www.summer.harvard.edu/courses/faculty/g_i.jsp

Prof Dennis F. Galletta teaches two classes (on loan from Pitt)


ISMT S-170 Human Factors in Information Systems Design (32596)
Dennis F. Galletta.
Class times: Tuesdays, Thursdays, noon-3 pm.
Course tuition: undergraduate and graduate credit $2,640.

While many organizations have outsourced the design of production systems, the recent Internet and e-commerce explosion has created the need to design corporate web sites. These sites are developed by people of various backgrounds, but organizational practices must exist to make sure they take into account what we know about human factors engineering. This course focuses on how to gather requirements, achieve a usable first draft, and test and improve that draft. Publisher or Dreamweaver are used for course projects. (4 credits)

That's my guess....but upon second read through, it sounds a lot more website based than UI based.

 

[Curtieson]

Well to be honest that was the point of this. To see which phones are more idiot proofed. You won't believe the people that returned phones because they didn't knew how to use them. A lot of them tell me about at my job.

I agree...and understand the point was to find people that have never touched a smart phone and to see what they would do. I have a feeling though that these "tests" were...."here, I'll show you once...then you repeat"...at least that is the assumption I took when viewing the iPhone 4 SMS example.

I do think you could get good data behind this though...and I would actually really like to see what they come up with. I didn't think BB's were that tough...but I did think Android was.

 

[selfcreation]

Well to be honest that was the point of this. To see which phones are more idiot proofed. You won't believe the people that returned phones because they didn't knew how to use them. A lot of them tell me about at my job.

yeah i guess your right . on the SORT of test that it was ... but still ...

the end result was Inconclusive .. (specially on making a phone call )

how can phones with the SAME path get different ratings??

what they should of done!! was make ALL the users test ALL the phones ....

you see the guy struggle with the FOCUS , and the girl dint struggle with the iphone . but yet its the same thing..

what if that girl had tried all 4 phones and got it PERFECT off the bat ( or failed on the other 3 ) , and the guy failed at all the 4 phones?( or just the focus ) the results would clearly change.


i think this test ( or what they showed us in the VID any ways ) cant in any way be taken seriously because it lacks ALLOT of data . ( like more test from more users) they had the right idea doh , just not enough DATA to support the ratings they gave it. not for me any ways.

 

[thed]

I don't understand how they're assigning ratings. For the call, the BB and the iPhone people both got it right away and got 4 stars. The Android person also got it right away and got 5? I don't get it.

They should have had all 4 people try all 4 phones.

 

[theefman]

Well to be honest that was the point of this. To see which phones are more idiot proofed. You won't believe the people that returned phones because they didn't knew how to use them. A lot of them tell me about at my job.

They didnt have to use actual idiots, did they?

 

[selfcreation]

They didnt have to use actual idiots, did they?

LMAO!!

i think the best way to test this ..

Grab a WP7 user , and make him do things on Iphone ( BB android )

Grab a Iphone user , and make him do things on the WP (BB android )



that way you see how good it really is or how BAD it really is if a regular user cant figuer it out...

im sorry but if i give my phone to my DAD , i can tell you right now hes not getting by the LOCK SCREEN!! , HAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[Winterfang]

To be honest everyone that I show my phone, flick it to the right, then flick it again, when they see nothing happening they get very confused, most of them stop using it right away.

When I use an Android phone, for example the Mytouch 4G. I get confused because of all the hardware buttons. Also I can't used blackberries to save my life.

 

[3migo]

They use the latest and greatest phones from each operating system, then throw out a Blackberry storm which is probably the worst Blackberry ever created?

On top of that, this test was terribly regulated, the scoring system made no sense at all, and the participants are complete idiots.

 

[Dave Blake]

Well there goes 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

 

[Winterfang]

They use the latest and greatest phones from each operating system, then throw out a Blackberry storm which is probably the worst Blackberry ever created?

On top of that, this test was terribly regulated, the scoring system made no sense at all, and the participants are complete idiots.

Your avatar is sooo good.