My Thoughts on the Verizon Droid

Here's a few of my thoughts on the Droid. Be sure to recognize my bias as a recent purchaser of the device, but most of these features speak for themselves.

They seem to have developed a really intelligent way to run simultaneous applications without too much system resource usage. You can listen to Pandora while flipping between reading Facebook updates and mapping out your trip in Google Maps.

Android allows you to add widgets to your home screen, which would be more enjoyable if it had more pages. It has three as opposed to other Android phones which can have around 8. With room for only 16 shortcuts on a home screen minus the 4 spaces the Google search bar occupies, I was feeling cramped and wanting more room pretty quickly. You want to have shortcuts to your applications and try out the widgets as well.

One annoying aspect of the Droid's design is that to wake it from sleep/lock mode, I have to feel around among the hard edges of my protective case to find a thin little button in the top right corner of the device. Even with the case off, the button has really bad ergonomics.

Another problem is battery life. With heavy use, it might not make it through the day. Fortunately, it uses the same connector as the ubiquitous Moto RAZR, so adapters are inexpensive.

I'd been dying to try Geocaching for a long time now, and this thing does it pretty well, if you can figure out how to use the apps that are available right now. Currently I have to manually download the waypoint files to my computer and copy them onto the device because of a bug in the android code. After working though the process I found my first cache with Geena the Saturday after I got it.

The tie in with Google's services such as Gmail, contacts, and Google Voice is a huge convenience for those of us already enjoying them. Google has developed some incredible applications. Google Maps with turn-by-turn navigation does way more than your Tom Tom does. Google Sky creates an augmented reality view of the sky, showing you the locations of all the celestial bodies.

The new Motorola Droid runs Android 2.0 as opposed to other Android phones on the market, including the new Verizon HTC Eris that runs Android 1.2. The Eris was released at Verizon Wireless on the same day as the Droid, but they didn't advertise it at all. I strongly considered it because of it's small size, but opted for the bigger, more powerful Droid. Eris advantages are 8 desktop screens, pinch zoom for web browsing and pictures, and it's comfortable size. It lacks a physical keyboard, and it has less impressive specs in general.

The Linux-based Android operating system requires some sort of technical aptitude. I really appreciate the openness of the platform. The hackers haven't figured out how to "root" the 2.0 version of the Android operating system, but most people won't need to bother with this. It doesn't seem like Verizon has been able to lock it down in any meaningful way, so you can install just about any software that you, or some kind soul on the internet has written. Because Linux is simpler and easier to work with for many programmers, it is likely that there will be an exponential increase in the number of apps in the marketplace.

Bad Color Combinations

You'll see these color choices all over the place. Designers should void them like the plague.

Live Mesh Usability Tweak

 

Dear Microsoft Live Mesh team.
I recommend that you change the blue text on blue background to another color, such as white. I sometimes have trouble reading the text. There is even less contrast between text and background as the text extends lower on the message box.

Thank You!

Ubuntu Usability

I've been experimenting with Ubuntu for a few months now, and it is a great operating system. With netbooks on the rise, and increased notoriety, more and more average consumers are trying it out. As far as it has come, there are still problems with hardware and software incompatibility that will keep many users away. Putting technical issues aside, I wondered how usable Ubuntu was for an average Windows user. Usability could play a major role in the adoption rate of the Ubuntu OS. I worked with a team of my fellow Bentley students to perform a usability test on the operating system.

Six individuals participated in a usability test of Ubuntu version 8.04.1. The test aimed to assess Ubuntu’s usability and identify barriers that might hinder Windows users from converting.

Participants completed some tasks with relative ease (reorganizing files, using the word processing application). However, participants struggled to complete other tasks (connecting to a wireless network, changing the screen resolution).

A few participants reported interest in using Ubuntu, others hesitated to abandon their current Windows operating system and voiced concerns about application incompatibility and leaving their comfort zone.

This report presents the project’s goals, our usability test methodology, and our findings and associated recommendations.

Ubuntu Usability Test Report

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: usability ux)

UPDATE: Original PowerPoint Presentation: View ubuntu-testreport-final

LogMeIn

I love free online services; especially when they are well designed and serve an unmet need.

LogMeIn.com is one of those services. The free account is all I need and I can log in remotely to any of my computers or a client's machine for computer systems support.

New Look

I didn't just update the colors, I upgraded to blogger's new template, and I've added lots of cool sidebar items. Some of them are from Google and some are from blogtricks.com and others.

There's lots of good "Dan's shared news clips" over there on the right. Only 5 are showing on the page, but you can click the Read More... link.