Mobile phones are used by commoners who have limited technical know how of the device operations. Every available smartphone comes with hundreds of pre-installed applications and the actual success of these applications depends on the ease with which they reach-out to the crowd. Mobile usability testing is a way to find the design flaws in the product so that the user experience is improved. The internal functionality of the system is not known to the user as opposed to the developer. So testing done by the actual end users before the launch of the handset is known as Usability testing.
The main creative goals for Android based phones are : Enchant the user, simplify the user experience and amaze the user with the features provided. These goals can only be achieved when the end user finds it easy to use the system. Its highly impossible to create a user manual for all the pre-installed applications that are shipped from factory.
Mentioned below are the things to keep in mind while performing Usability test in Android based phones
Having worked in the Android Mobile handset division myself, there are a few lessons that I always keep in mind during Usability testing.
- By performing testing in the User's own handset and environment, you are more likely to unearth the issues. Reason being, the user is quite comfortable with the phone he is currently using and can easily determine changes in the same.
- Perform drive tests. Network issues and behaviors related to connectivity can be simulated only when the user is travelling.
- Ask people from different age groups to test the phone. The younger generation is more likely to know the technology than the elderly who have not tried their hand at using the latest applications. The success of the phone will depend on the ease with which all can use it.
- The important traits of a good UI are : It should be consistent, flexible, comfortable, intuitive and correct.
- Intuitive UI : UI is clean, unobtrusive and not busy. Responses are obvious. Does the help feature really help the users
- Consistent UI: Placement of buttons should be consistent throughout the phone.
- Flexible UI : Users like flexibility in performing operations. Shortcuts should be provided to users.
- Comfortable UI: Does the UI provide Redo/Undo options? How fast are the reactions to the commands performed?
The points mentioned above help the developers to achieve the desired results out of Usability testing. If applications are uploaded onto the Android market without the actual user testing it beforehand it could cause the application to fail miserably and have no buyers.[1] http://sdsu-dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.10/3556/Alluri_Aruna.pdf?sequence=1
[2] http://developer.android.com/design/style/index.html
[3]https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~spiros/teaching/SE320/slides/usability-testing.pdf
A very nice article giving insight into mobile domain, the details about Android usability testing, and how to make a successful app for Android smartphone. It would have been better to have a higher resolution images because the text is not readable in the current state. Nice read!
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