Usability Review
Native Mobile
Mobile OS Review
Project
mindfulness
Orange Mobile was interested in developing Tizen OS as an Android alternative with Samsung and its partners. Orange was not happy with the interface, especially how close it was to copying the less elegant elements of the Galaxy interfaces. They wanted a usability review based on interfaces they liked, including Nokia’s ‘Meego’.
Method
service_toolbox
This was an expert review based on a prototype phone. It was a time-boxed exercise that needed to cover all interface aspects. Based on my experience with phone interfaces and competitor experiences, I created a running scoring system. Based on user research, I used key user scenarios to validate the experience.
Outcome
Elevation
The review took place in two rounds. The first round led to a document that Samsung used as a blueprint to implement major improvements in the Tizen interface. Months later, Orange called me in to perform a new round of reviews and was astounded by how much they had implemented. I created a second review to improve what is now the Tizen Mobile OS.
The project is still alive and well. See: https://www.tizen.org/
The document I created formed the official response from Orange to the creators of the Tizen OS.
The review was based upon real world usage to create key scenarios.
The review was designed to be clear and quick to use while providing indepth coverage.
Three simple heuristics were used for each section of the review.
The review was comparative and also looked at the key Mobile OS solutions.
Consistency was a key indicator of how integrated design was with the OS.
In 2012 Nokia's Meego operating system was often far ahead in terms of usability.
The iPhone was still playing heavily off it's music origins.
This shows the summary across all functionality.