“Is one hand better than two? For years, smart-phone designers have built products around the premise that people should only have to use one hand to look up a contact, scroll through e-mail, or answer a call. Think of a business traveler rushing through an airport, trying to check voice mail while searching for the gate and recaffeinating,” Tom Krazit writes for CNET News.
“But Apple, as it is wont to do, headed in the other direction with the iPhone. If you’ve got long, flexible fingers you can use the iPhone with one hand, but most of us have to use two to do just about anything on the iPhone’s touch-screen interface, as shown in the demonstration videos produced by Apple,” Krazit writes.
MacDailyNews Take: We do not think we have the world’s longest, most-flexible fingers, but we can still somehow manage to use most anything on the iPhone one-handed and type with our thumbs. Pinching to zoom does, of course, require two hands, or at least a place for the iPhone to rest while you zoom with two fingers, although we’ve have had some limited success with one-handed pinching (that’s what the girl said at the picnic), by using the good old thumb and index finger method while cradling the iPhone with our other three fingers and palm; this does take some flexibility. Bottom line: Krazit is overstating the need for two-handed iPhone operation by a decent amount which makes us wonder if he’s actually really used the iPhone in the real world or just watched Apple’s online videos.
Krazit continues, “The smart phones that most people are familiar with–the Nokias, BlackBerrys and Treos–only require one hand for basic operation. Obviously, typing on the QWERTY keyboards used by most of those devices is a two-handed operation, but navigating through the menu, looking up a contact, and using countless other functions only requires a single hand.”
“To achieve those goals, one-handed phones have to have real buttons–famously dismissed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs–that give people the ability to feel their way around a keypad, said Gadi Amit, founder and principal designer of New Deal Design,” Krazit writes.
“Try doing that with the iPhone. The lack of tactile buttons–except for the home button–has forced Apple into a two-handed mode of operation because users need to have the phone directly in front of them, with their attention focused on the screen, to make sure they are hitting the right buttons, the designers agreed,” Krazit writes.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, overstating the need for two hands – the real difference with iPhone is the need to use your eyes to see the screen vs. memorizing physical buttons to achieve limited results like placing a call. One glance at the iPhone and you can initiate a call quicker than with most other cell phones with physical buttons and their awful interfaces.
Krazit continues, “While all designers bemoaned the lack of physical buttons, they also said Apple’s touch-screen approach is a breakthrough in terms of how people interact with their phones.”
Krazit writes, “Physical buttons would have required Apple to make compromises on the size and quality of the screen, and would take away some of the flexibility of the iPhone. Buttons drawn by software can be discarded when the user switches to another application, but on other smart phones, a healthy portion of the device is covered with buttons that only come into play when typing. So, is this a problem for Apple? Will users be frustrated by the need to keep two hands on their iPhones at all times? Perhaps at first, but there are some likely outcomes.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The ultimate would be a screen that actually physically transforms to give tactile feedback based upon its display. Until then, we like the direction Apple’s taken (although perhaps five or so small bumps on the iPhone’s side to which users could assign desired functions (play/pause for iPod, frequently dialed numbers, etc.) might be an interesting idea.
One thing I LOVE about the interface is I’ve NEVER picked up my iPhone and found that I’ve accidentally called someone. Even on some phones that can be locked (like my former ‘Berry), unlocking is simply triggering the select button twice!! A few button presses in your bag or pocket and you’ve placed a long distance call or have left the strangest message on someone’s machine!
ONE-HANDED USAGE
As I made my way into the Pacific Design Center from the parking lot this morning, I turned on the phone, checked emails, and banged out two text messages (total of 41 words – did not need to correct any typing), then turned the phone off: all with one hand.
Saw users of other phones using one hand for the scrolling, etc., but resorting to two hands for entering email/texts.
So, Does iPhone require two-handed operation?
Absolutely NOT.
Poor Krazit. I wonder if he has been trying to use two hands all his life for other one-handed activities!
I only HAVE one hand, and I use mine just fine. No excuses.
Anyone else start to barf when they read this part-
“Being able to engage an iPhone at a restaurant without looking like a total idiot is really important,” Rolston said. “You have to sneak it under the table, which requires a higher target precision. That’s probably the battleground, the high context that a touch screen offers you versus the reliable precision of the full keypad.”
-? I sure did.
“And, I can’t wear earbuds at work.”
“Woah, that’s harsh! Do they not allow any headsets as it’s essentially a wired phone headset? Or is it just white ones that look like iPod headphones that they have a problem with?”
I haven’t received a mandate from my bosses. The headphone restriction is self-inflicted. I’m a doctor, and some patients might consider me distracted if I’m examining them while wearing ipod headphones. But then again, maybe they wouldn’t, as long as I wasn’t humming and continued to answer their questions coherently.
“I’m a doctor, and some patients might consider me distracted if I’m examining them while wearing ipod headphones.”
Sounds like a market for stethophones to me! Triple usage, as a traditional stethoscope, headphone connection and, if you’ve got an iPhone, a button to depress to answer your phone.
I can see why you wouldn’t want those earphones around your neck in that setting…
@Wade
You’d only look like a total idiot by trying to hide it! I was at dinner at a restaurant and we wanted to know who won American Idol as neither of us watch it. Seconds later, I had the answer, no sneaking under the table required!
I’m fucking sick of hearing all these douches ramble on about the tactile feedback letting them use their phones blind. One or two functions, sure, but it is unlikely that the bulk of consumers are able to use their phone one handed without looking.
No matter the type of input, some people will not like it. What percentage of consumers will ever own an iPhone, even in a best-case scenario? As long as that many consumers are OK with not having a physical QWERTY keyboard, it does not fucking matter if some large subset of people hate it. For that matter, texting on fucking numeric keyboard absolutely blows, but a ridiculous number of people are able to get by with it. The bar may be a little higher for smart phone buyers, but I certainly prefer this to the physical keyboard. Oh no! I don’t like the little buttons! All those devices are going to fail! OMFG!! There’s a learning curve. So fucking what?!?! The physical QWERTY is inborn or something? Spare me the fucking bullshit.
Krazit = Fudmeister
The iPhone works fine with one hand for most operations, as we’ve all been saying.
I once had a Nokia, a Treo and a Blackberry..I not only used one figure, but I eventually gave them the figure….the middle one.