Every so often, we run into modern devices fitted with a great interface.  They’re extremely useful, they’re extremely usable.  In this series, we explore the elements of user interface - what causes them to be great, what causes us to gripe.

In the first article of the series, we explore one of the hottest topics of modern gadget-users: user feedback.  Tactile feedback has been a staple for many QWERTY devices of today, however the touchscreen market has boomed?  What has happened from the mix of markets, and what innovations will emerge?  We discuss this topic after the break.

User Feedback
This single point, is arguably the most important element of user interfaces.  To reign champion, a device must involve strong implementations of the following three aspects:

1. Tactile Feedback
2. Feedback on surrounding environment
3. Feedback from Sound
4. Visual Feedback

 1. Tactile Feedback

On one hand, you have avid CEO’s attacking the use of buttons head-on (i.e. Steve Jobs).  On the other hand, you have CEO’s claiming that buttons will never go away (i.e. RIM’s Co-CEO’s).  Ironically enough, the former deployed a trackpad on a button in their latest product, Apple’s Macbook Pro; the latter deployed a button underneath their first-ever touchscreen in their latest product, the BlackBerry Storm.  Is that not a sign of convergence or what?

Awkwardly enough, tactile feedback has been a feature hungered for by many gadget-users.  We ogle at screens, but we need buttons for functionality.  With physical buttons taking on too much real-estate on a smartphone however, it was extremely difficult to find the best of both worlds.  Apple previously decided to ditch the haptics altogether and instead, delivered a strong contender for visual feedback.  Its QWERTY keyboard provides a small pop-up over where your finger presses, to let you know the right key has been pressed.  The QWERTY devices of today however, have remained a staple of texters, emailers and business-users.  With sales booming from RIM’s latest offerings, who can deny that physical buttons are still needed in today’s market?

So tactile feedback is needed, but more real estate is also needed for displays.  Admit it, there is a very strong correlation between screen size and the gorgeousness of a device.  So what innovations and solutions have emerged from this dilemma?  Samsung marketed their use of “haptic feedback” quite strongly, but the question of its usefulness is still up for debate.  Essentially, their products with haptic feedback vibrate for a brief moment when a button is pushed, letting you know that the action has been triggered; after all, that IS what buttons help you do. 

Samsung has two major flaws with this implementation.  A) Due to their algorithms, the vibrations only occur after the button has been triggered.  Unfortunately, this causes a “usage lag”, which is a lag caused by the nature of the algorithms, forcing you to wait until the vibration to continue triggering other functions -it’s like waiting for the end of a slow menu animation to finally click one of the items.  B) The use of haptic feedback, has been described by many, as a way of “shocking” you.  In effect, many have understood it as a punishment for pushing a button.  Sad and humourous, but ultimately true - in my humble opinion.

RIM has decided to take a direction which, unfortunately for me, is very similar to concepts I had drawn for stronger tactility in a touchscreen market.  Essentially, their new product and their first foray into the touchscreen market, the BlackBerry Storm, deploys a button underneath its touschreen.  When you push it down, its tactility very closely follows the tactility of a button… that is rather large.  It not only allows you to free up lots of real estate for more screen goodness, but it allows you to press and activate any item on the screen as if you were pressing down on a physical button.  It’s simple and by the reactions of many, it works! 

Now I’m totally not trying to aid in the advertisement of the device, I’m merely presenting innovations that are new to the tech/gadget world.  But honestly, how can you not be excited about such good innovation!  In truth, as I stated in a previous paragraph, Apple deployed a button underneath its trackpad of its newest iteration of the Macbook Pro.  And what can I say?  Competition (even though its in different markets) is awesome.

2. Feedback on surrounding environment

In their latest podcast, the Engadget crew noted something that perked my ears.  They talked about the keyboards on the new Macbook Pros and how they’ve converted to the “chiclet-styled” keyboards made famous by the Sony VAIOs and the previous Macbook line.  One of the complaints with this transistion is that, since the keys are spaced out much farther, it was difficult to “feel” your way around the keyboard.  In any traditional keyboard, when a finger is lying on a button, you can feel the position of the adjacent keys.  Not only does this help people form a subconscious image of the keyboard, it also follows the phrase stating, well, everything is relative! 

Mobile QWERTY devices were so useful and so strongly advocated by many, that in a sense, RIM arguably only exists because of this mentality.  QWERTY devices let you feel they keyboard underneath your thumbs, so that you can pre-position your thumb properly and subconsciously.  Granted, BlackBerry’s upcoming release with a touchscreen scraps the idea of “environmental” feedback for a touchscreen, and it’s already warming the hearts of many.  However, I truly believe that for the fastest and the quickest typing speeds, environmental feedback should be warranted.

Audio Feedback

Visual feedback and tactile/environmental feedback touch on two of human’s senses.  Unless someone deploys a smell & taste oriented feedback system, NOW THERE’S AN IDEA the last sense would be sound.  Buttons naturally have this element (except for the somewhat-hated silent keyboard) and most, if not all, touchscreen handsets emit a short-lived sound when an action is triggered.  So if all devices support this natively, why are we still discussing this topic?  The answer is of course, poor implementation.

Again, this goes back to what other manufacturers have done wrong, and what others have done right.  In fact, many harp on the iPhone’s accidental success, but it truly implements some of the finest details in the world of user-interface.  When typing and using the keyboard, it plays a clicking sound when you touch it.  Unfortunately, Samsung and Motorola have opted for an implementation stemming from their use of haptic feedback, where the sound is played when an action is triggered (i.e. after you release).  This gives an ultimate impression of lag, especially when using the keyboard.

 

Ultimately, the idea is this: if you implement sound feedback for a keyboard or anything else requiring the speed, play a noise when the user TOUCHES the screen.  Users outpace many devices now, since the sound and vibrations play when the user has already touched the next button - causing an immediate disconnect from human and machine.  For a menu choice, it comes down to preference.  Of course, Apple decided to forgo the entire idea and opted for silence when selecting menu items - smart.

4. Visual Feedback

This last category, like the previous, applies for the upcoming current touchscreen market and is again, satisfactorily implemented in most cases.  Unfortunately, some manufacturers don’t seem to have the development capabilities to make feedback a priority when designing devices (email me for my resume!).  Fortunately, many do, and they are well integrated for typical typing uses.  Of course, there isn’t one way of doing it, but there are optimal ways.  The typical problem for visual feedback is the issue that when your finger presses on an item, the item is obviously covered from your finger, therefore barring any visual feedback capabilities from that specific area.  The solution is to use other areas to inform, or as I’ve tried to note previously, implement other human senses.

Wrap-up

Whether or not smells and tastes are eventually implemented as feedback sources, there are definitely improvements to make for each and every single device manufacturer (well thank you, Captain Obvious!).  The point is: for an optimal user-interface, user feedback is to function, what interface & aesthetics are to form.  Which is more important to focus on?  Well that, my friends, is a largely debated subject.  <Insert shameless plug for: Column: Form over Function>

Tags: Audio Feedback, Haptic Feedback, Tactile Feedback, User Feedback, User Interface, Visual Feedback

This entry was posted on Monday, October 27th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Columns, User Interface. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.