Todd Halfpenny

I’d be the first to admit that I’m no “deisgn guru” and that when you come from a developers back ground trying to work out how users will use a system (be it an e-Commerce web site or a Twitter Client) it is always tough to work out just how the users will go about their business. There is a real hurdle to overcome when trying to use a system as a user rather than as someone who’s deisgned (in terms of workflow at least) and built it.

It’s easy to get into the kind of mindset of “well of course you then click X to get to Y” which is why usability testing is really important. We have to remember that web sites will be used (hopefully) all the time by people who’ve never been there before and hence things should be logical and flow… and when this is not always so simple provide enough guidance to aid the user.

Sometimes folks can go too far… and in fact confuse the user. Take a look at the screenshot below and think about where you’d instinctively click to go to the next page. Bear in mind that it’s likely you’ve just scanned down the text (although I’ve blurred it here but please pretend that the text might be semi-important).

Too helpful?

I would think that most people would click the right facing arrow at the centre bottom of the page, bearing in mind that they’ve just scanned the text above. Yup, the one with the word continue written next to it. Either that or they also see the button at the top right and then may think “Oh, which one do I press and does it matter at all?”. Sadly you’ve got at best a 50% chance of going nowhere. In fact these arrows at the bas of the page are not buttons at all but simply ‘helpful’ instructions about the arrows that will appear at the top right corner of each page.

So what’s the lesson here? Testing is important… and it’s no good just testing something yourself as you know what and how a system is meant to work.

This morning I received the Cupcake update for my UK T-mobile G1… and so far I have to say that it’s a great improvement… in terms not just of niggles I had with the last version but also in reference to some of the new tweaks and features that have now been added.

Android

The update took no more than 10 minutes during which my phone was unusable. There was, however, good visual feedback letting me know at least that something was going on. Straight after the G1 had rebooted I clicked on the ‘ToggleBlu’ application icon to switch the Bluetooth off (it is on by default… I’m not sure as to why but perhaps I’m in the minority here) and sadly it failed. I started to dread that the update would break all my downloaded apps… things were not looking too bright. So I started playing with the other Market downloads to see just how they’d react to the new release of the OS.

From that point on everything seemed a great change; all the other applications whether installed by default (contacts, gmail, etc) or third party software all seemed to run fine… and some with some nice new features.

Here is a list of just a few of the key things that I’ve noticed.

• Faster scrolling - perhaps it’s because I’m excited but I do seem to notice an improvement in the scrolling.
• Batch options in Gmail - you are now able to bulk archive, set labels, etc,
• Auto rotate - without any additional software the orientation of the screen can be automated
• Screen animations - some nice ice candy when moving between screens
• Calendar - more control over events and a better “agenda” view
• Improved Camera capture - seems much quicker and has a better interface/interaction with gallery
• Video playback/capture support - I have only played with this briefly but seems pretty good and also supports audio.
• Browser - 1 click zoom to 1:1 option, a “most visited” tab in the bookmarks page
• On screen keyboard - although I really love having a “proper” qwerty keyboard I think for quick SMS creation this may come in useful.

All in all I have to say I’m pleased so far… I’m also excited about the coming of 3rd party widgets too so to sum up… my phone just keeps improving!

UPDATE (08/05/09): Kudos to  Andrew Schwimmer who had a fix for the ToogleBlu app out yesterday. Also just noticed a nifty “double tap to unlock” feature when on a call. Looks like “Shake Awake” is no longer needed.

Wordpress.org

As part of my work for Gingerbread Design I have just released my first Wordpress plugin into the wild. The plugin provides bulk functionality to help manage eCommerce web sites/stores. Details of the plugin can be found on the official plugin homepage and of course can be downloaded from the Wordpress.org plugin directory.

Please, please try this out if you use the WP e-Commerce plugin in your own web site/store and let me know which other bulk features may be of interest and most use to you.

PingDroid - The Ping.fm Client

PingDroid, the ping.fm client built for the Android OS is an absolute must for anyone who mixes in a plethora of social network circles by enabling the automatic cross posting of ‘Status updates’ to various communities such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Bebo, etc etc. The client itself is reassuringly lightweight and does what all good tools need to do… do something, and do it well. If you, like me, see the value in Ping then be sure to check out their igoogle gadget too.

Ping.fm as a service is growing constantly and the number of web services that it talks to is just ever-expanding and is certainly worth keeping an eye on if they don’t at present support the platforms that you use.

PingDroid was devloped by Bryan Waters and is available via the Android Market.

Klaxon

Klaxon is a beautiful simple alarm clock application for the Android powered devices. To be honest there is nothing uber special about it at all; it simply has functions which should have been in the default Alarm Clock app that comes pre-installed. Features like the ability to modify the snooze time and set an increasing tone volume are just what the doctor ordered.

I’ve never experienced a ‘force close’ from the application and anyone who wants more from an alarm than offered by default on the G1 could certainly do worse than give Klaxon a whirl.

Klaxon was developed by Koushik Dutta and is available via the Android Market.

This could be great news for any occasional (or not so occasional) travellers… one type of mobile charger to suit them all. I read today via PC World that the GSM association have agreed that mobile phone chargers of the future will have a USB mini-type interface. This would mean that when you get a new phone you won’t need a new charger as well (good on a green note) and hopefully will mean a drop in the price of chargers too.

I also hope that this won’t only be a move that the mobile phone manufacturers take up but also one that is followed by the producers of other portable devices such as MP3 players and SatNavs (of course these products may actually just be one piece of equipment by this point in time).

I’d been contemplating buying one of the Asus ultra-portable notebooks ever since the launch of their 701 model last year. I thought it’d make an ideal travel companion and a nice light-weight alternative to me having to haul around my relatively large Sony Vaio (an enormous wide-screen beast). The benefits are such a device - aside from the physical size) include the super efficient Intel Atom processor, the solid state storage (which means more power saving, less heat generation, less noise and a more shock proof system when compared to a standard hard drive) and of course weight. I’d been extremely tempted by the Linux variety as it would provide me with the development requirements I’d need and a more suitable test bed (as most running apps/websites/etc. I build run on Linux servers).

So now, 2 and a half years on I’ve finally got round to getting myself one. I lumped for the 901 Linux model which offers a 8.9″ screen in the same overall case size as the 701. It has a 20GB SSD, built in wireless and Bluetooth, SD card slot , 3 USB2.0 ports, a 1.3 mega pixel webcam and a host of other features. The little beauty set me back just over £210 exc. VAT.

Asus Eee PC 901

The Physicals

As previously mentioned the 901 comes in the same sized shell as the 701 model but offers a ncie 9.1″ screen giving a 1024×600 resolution. It seems to certainly be bright enough too ( even on the lower brightness settings). The keyboard is small, there’s really no getting away from this. But after practice it seems usable for sure, in fact I’m writing this very article on it whilst travelling back from work on the bus. To be honest though the pot-holes and erratic swerving by the bus driver are making it slightly more difficult than it should be. Overall the kit feels solid; the hinge attaching the screen doesn’t seem to be flimsy at all and everything else most definitely does not echo of a rushed cheap product.

The OS and software

Of course being a fan of open source software (and hardware - see the Arduino board) I opted for the Linux version of the Eee. It comes with Xandros - a debian derivative I think - pre-installed and is setup in an “Easy Mode” which offers nice big buttons for “Internet” and “Email” and the like. The default mode is very simple to use and users could be surfing the net and emailing pretty much straight out the box. I should probably mention that I’ve not yet come across a wireless network I couldn’t use (so far used a Sky connection, my N95 and a couple of hotspots)… though reading up on the net it seems that there are connections out there that perhaps do make life difficult for Eee users.

Other notable software which come with the Linux version include Skype, Star Office, and the Pidgin IM client.

The Performance

With a 1.6 atom powering the little gem it doesn’t seem to suffer at all when wanting to do some basic browsing, word processing or mailing. These tasks are likely to be the primary tasks undertaken on my Eee… with perhaps the odd movie viewed and maybe even some development (I’ve yet to see how it copes with the Eclipse IDE which I use for my Android work).

There are three “performance” options available from the system tray which include “Power Saving”, “High Performance” and “Super Performance” as well as an “auto” option which chooses the mode depending on whether or not you’re running the Eee under battery power. If you’re watching a video clip or film then I suggest not using the “Power Saving” mode as this appears to make the images a bit juddery.

The Battery

So far battery life seems good. With the wireless on I get about 5 hours (though not using it much) and as a (yes, pretty large) MP3 player I got more like 8 hours. In fact at present I’ve been typing for about 30 minutes with the wireless off and I’ve used 6%..

The bottom line

I’m overjoyed with how good this little puppy is so far. I have made some few tweaks to be fair (like enabling the full desktop mode, removing some unwanted packages and installing some more software) but this is of course one of the plus-points of the Linux system. I’ll be detailing how I performed these tweaks in later posts… so keep ‘em peeled.

My G1 arrived just before Christmas (in fact just 1 day after my Birthday) after many, many months of pestering work to order me one. To say I was excited would be an understatement (Yes, I am a self confessed geek), the thought have having such an open device really was blowing me away.

T-Mobile Android G1

For those that don’t know the T-Mobile Android G1 was the first released mobile device which runs the open Android operating system (developed by Google). The OS is open source which essentially means that all the code monkeys out there can dig right into the device and develop applications for it to their hearts content. The G1 hardware wise is actually a branded HTC device. HTC prior to this move are probably most famed for their Windows Mobile handsets such as the MDA/XDA ranges.

Anyhoo, back to my first thoughts…

Form Factor

Lots of folks think the G1 isn’t a pretty phone… perhaps they’re right, but to be honest I’m not one of them. And after much much use I actually think the phone is nice and well built. The sliding full qwerty keyboard is extremely usable and feels solid. The small angled portion of the phone helps it sit nicely in my pockets too. It doesn’t seem to big or fat even. One thing that does bug me however is the fact that one handed use is a tough. I don’t think I put this down to the fact that I have small hands but just that the “back” or “return” button is too far left to reach with your left thumb. This small niggle could be resolved by adding a “soft” button to the OS and applications… and given that this phone appears to be a developer’s dream it’s probably not long before this starts to appear.

The battery is poor… there’s no denying it. It would get me through a day of modest use with certain precautions taken like turning off bluetooth, WLAN and turning down the screen brightness but this seems absurd when I think that my old SE P910 would last for days even with extreme use levels. A fair point maybe the use of 3G which is known to be a real battery drainer and has plagued other handsets such as Nokia’s N95.

One thing that does really bother me about the G1 is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone socket. As someone who doesn’t want to have an MP3 (or OGG) player as well as my phone this is a real pain in the derrier. Adapters are available but that’s not really the point.

I suppose that I should make it clear that the hardware for me is certainly at the bottom of my thoughts when I talk about the G1… so lets move on and you’ll find out why.

The Goods

Because of the G1’s open-ness the “Market” (Android’s sister to the iPhone App Store) was full of applications very soon after the phone’s launch. Scores of developers had been using the Android SDK to make all sorts of pieces of software (many useful, many not so much) that could be downloaded directly to the phone. The open-ness also meant that many of the core phone features could be accessed by these developers… things such as the GPS, WLAN, contacts and SMS are all available to be used. Another key benefit that the Android OS offers is that internal architecture is extremely flexible and expandible. Basically if there’s something you don’t lke about any of the software (including the pre-installed apps from Google such as their Contacts applicaation) then these can be re-written and replaced.

Powered by Android

The Bads

At the moment there’s only a couple of things I don’t like about the G1 when it comes to the OS and software, these being the lack of Outlook syncing, Bluetooth being limited to audio use (I.e. no PIM transfer) and no inbuilt support for using the phone as a modem. What we have to remember here is that these are (hopefully) only short-term issues thanks to the Android OS (in fact some clever folks have already come up with a tethering work around). Another point to remember is that support for “paid for” applications in the Market Place should be available in the first quarter of 2009 and that a whole host of offerings including an ActiveSync application should be available very soon after.

The Bottom Line

It’s amazing… yes it is. The G1 itself has a few faults - which I quite happily forgive it for - but this I suppose isn’t what I think is amazing. It is in fact the Android OS that creates a whole world of possibilities. If you don’t like the look of the G1 then don’t worry, they’ll be scores of Android powered terminals coming out over the next year and I’m sure they’ll be one that you’ll feel happy about getting out in the pub.

Google take another slice of the pie

With Google’s announcement of their Grand Central aquisition I see another slice of the mobile operators’ pie being taken away… and yet another push for the network providers to become nothing more than bit-pipes.

Today Grand Central…

Grand Central offer terminating telecoms services such as ‘visual voicemail’, call screening and ListenIn™. These (what I would perceive to be) rich services are not widely - if at all - yet offered by the majority of mobile operators.

These services are facilitated by the offering a new single telephone number which I presume you offer out as your main contact number. There is no sign (that I’ve seen) of number portability yet but I would think it would not be too long till you’ll be able to move your mobile number over to Google’s service.

And these services are just the things that could start to replace the mobile operators very own value added services and systems such as their IN and Voicemail.

This latest move follows Google’s launch of location based services for mobile users back in November 2007 which nabbed one of the most sacred (yet amazingly under-used) pieces of information which the mobile network providers held… Location.

Tomorrow the World?

What is different about this latest move from Google though is it’s not just the mobile operators who are having their toes troden on… this time the impact appears to have a much greater reach and it is infact the fixed-line providers who are under threat as well. With terminating services being taken care of the whole telecoms network and service provider industry has a new competitor.

And with rumours of a Skype purchase by Google floating around we could really see one big VoIP service provider to rule them all. In such a world your traditional fixed line and mobile telephone numbers could be used by no one else other than the providers themselves for billing you for your bit-pipe usage.

So what are the traditional networks to do? I suppose they need to look at what ‘value’ they still hold and can uniqely provide to their customers. To be honest I’ve not yet thought about this in any kind of depth but whatever they do they need to move quick and strong to even stand a chance in the long term. These “bit-pipes-to-be” used to be able to say “We know our customers… we know who they are and where they are” but what Google may soon be able to say is “We know OUR customers… we know who they are and where they are… and not just when they’re using their mobile phones”.

I can see an Orange pay-as-you-go customer making a call on their Android powered handset to one of their Gmail contacts (to their global Grand Central number) over Skype (all transparent to the user of course) which calls the destination’s very own Android phone (over VoIP) as well as their Skype client on the netbook and their fixed line phone (over VoIP too)… and all the originating user pays is their “all you can eat” data bill.

I’m not sure if I’m the only one who’s had trouble with this or not but I’ve found that since the new iGoogle layout launch (I think I’ve winged about this before) I’ve been unable to delete gadgets. Quite simply when I clicked the “delete” link in the gadget menu nothing happened.

A solution (or rather a work around) was stumbled upon when I changed the iGoogle address to use a .co.uk domain suffix rather than the .com I normally use. Bt doing this I was able to see the old iGoogle layout and once again delete gadgets without a hitch.

That is all.