A Perfect Example Of The Lack Of Consistency On S60
I love S60. But there are times when things get so messed up, I just want to bang my head against the wall and scream in agony “How the hell did you come up with that?!”. Take Nokia’s E71 and the task of zooming in and out. It’s supposed to be easy, simple. Dream on! Someone inside Nokia or S60, or both actually, decided that zooming in and out SHOULD NOT use the same buttons in different applications, go figure.
- So we first have the Gallery, where zooming in and out of an image requires you to press Fn+5 and Fn+0 respectively. On other non-Nseries S60 devices, zooming is usually done through 5 and 0 keys. You would have thought that they would’ve made the numeric function of the 5 and 0 keys readily available in the Gallery on the E71’s qwerty. Nope, they didn’t. You NEED to press a combination of Fn and your shortcut key to do something as simple as zooming, when you have more than THIRTY keys under your thumb on the E71’s keyboard!
- Second is the S60 Web Browser, where zooming in and out is done through the * and # keys. A tiny bit simpler than the Gallery, since admittedly it’s the same as other S60 devices and there is no need for a combination with Fn because the numeric mode is available by default for the shortcut keys.
- Third, there’s the awesomeness of Nokia Maps which uses on the E71 a totally different combination than ANY S60 device out there for zooming in and out: Shift and Backspace. That’s because if you press any other key, the search mode of Nokia Maps will be triggered. Duh!
- Last but of course not least, the Camera application, where zooming in and out is done through the up and down keys of the d-pad. This is obviously because the E71 isn’t an Nseries, and hence there’s a big No-No on using the volume keys for zoom.
Are you kidding me?!
If an S60 newbie bought the E71 today and asked me if there’s a shortcut to zoom in and out on his device, what am I supposed to answer him: “Get me a blackboard and some chalk, get yourself a paper and a pen, because this is going to be one LONG lesson”? I can never, ever, find a decent reason to explain a schism like that in the user experience. Not in this day and age. Not when other manufacturers and OS designers are killing themselves to make things simpler for the user.
I hear you ask what should’ve been done to solve this issue? Well first, there is the genius Nseries-only thought of using the volume keys for zooming in and out in the Camera and the Gallery. How about expanding that thought and applying it to all default applications that have a zoom option? I understand that a product differentiation between Nseries and Eseries lines is obligatory, but this one is particularly ruining the user experience. A second option would be to use any two keys on the qwerty for zooming, but keeping them consistent across different applications. In both instances, the most important aspect would be to make the genius move of printing the zoom in and out symbols on the keys that are picked, you know, the magnifier with a + and a – inside? Maybe it would cost one or two more cents to print them on the qwerty, but how about the awesome improvement in the user experience? That’s priceless.
What do you think of this issue of consistency on S60? I have been meaning to write a full list of instances and questions that don’t make any sense, like for example why does the volume range go from 0% to a 100% in the Music Player, and from 0 to 10 in the Video player? I had a few others on my mind, but the Zoom In/Out on the E71 ticked me off right now and I had to get it written down immediately. If you have any other examples of consistency problems on S60, please tell us. We’re passionate about the oddities in our beloved platform. It’s what makes S60 what it is, an undeniabely capable and useful but seriously challenging and unwelcoming platform.
On a side note, for a full list of shortcuts for the E71, check Eric Thauvin’s list. There is a lot of less known shortcuts on it, and this is where I found out the Gallery zoom in/out keys.
In general, I think it is a result of a big company with many developers working on many different application and not enough overall checking on consistency. If nobody tells the developer of the video app to use 0% to 100%, he or she will never have a reason to change this behavior. And perhaps some developers are 'scared' to change what's already on the market. What if someone wouldn't understand the volume suddenly changed from 1 to 10 into 0% to 100%.
First define a well thought out UI-concept and then consequently apply it to every little corner of software that's going to interact with the user.
I haven't gotten my hands on a 5800 XpressMusic jet, but I hope S60 Touch brought some improvements here.
The pressing of up / down to zoom in / out is a bit understandable as it works the same way on e.g. N95, N82
(in landscape mode, so essentially it would be left / right, but hey, the screen is rotated right?)
They do sometimes have several key combinations for doing the same thing and in one sense it becomes useful, but less useful it is as this article states that the functions are totally lacking while pressing the normally assigned keys.
It is however a bit understandable as more and more phones from Nokia e.g. the N-series, has lost the shift key and therefore can't always use such a combination, though it doesn't excuse them for not using e.g. the key 5 to zoom in in gallery as this has been a shortcut since the days of the early Series60 phones.
So I totally agree on the fact that they should use the same key combinations for accessing functions throughout their phones.
One thing we should appreciate them for is that finally, after so many requests, they have shipped the N79 and the N85 with the same menu setup! I could check the root menu, and afaik, they have followed the same setup in both the phones.
pro
* get a radio, handy as when i was in hospital i used my old n70 for this.
* get better camera with flash.
* get support for bigger memory cards 8gb. still too small for mp3 collection but not bad for other files.
* the built in software for using as a modem when connected to usb to windows pc. i'll probably never use it with my mac or linux laptop but it's a nice idea even if it is no use to me.
* smaller size. it is a flimsier device but the reduction in size is appreciated.
cons and its a doozy
* the search app. the old e61i used the one that was available for the e50 i think. it loaded quickly and offered the ability to search all or some of the apps on the system. very efficient. the new one can search all or only one app. no multi select option. and that's not the worst part. i have hundreds of notes on my system and it takes search longer to load than it does for maps to fire up and get a gps lock! it makes the e71 unusable and unfit for the purpose for which it was purchased (storing and organising information). i'm tempted to write a database app in python just to replace this crap but the documentation available is subpar.
seriously thinking of getting an iphone/ipod touch just to get a working notepad! not that there's is better (no built in search) but i have a better chance of coding a variant myself. only thing holding me back is that you cannot create a itunes account without a credit card which severly limits the device.
probably going to carry the e61i in the short term just for searching notepad. bonkers!
probably going to carry the e61i in the short term just for searching notepad. bonkers!
If I remember correctly, you're a woman. If I'm right, you're my future wife! Finally, another smart woman! I JUST thought the same things. Inconsistency in control methods, as if S60 UI doesn't have a standard design language, is what makes neophytes so scared of S60.
Removing the pencil key made alot of things harder. I wished we had dedicated zoom and scroll controls and an included keymapping utility. Differing form factors needlessly change the controls, something unseen on other branded devices.
@ Floriel,
Be careful what you wish for when mentioning Apple. The iPhone UI is good at being simple. But add more functions, and that screen and single button will expose more issues than it covers up. Its just like an automatic transmission vehicle, which is good on the highway, but horrible in a streetrace. More features, functions, and power requires more and better controls, not less and simpler.
I'm more with Dotsisx's opinion. Its not the UI design, but the consistency of control usage. The efficienct usage of the controls is not well thought out. There needs to be a UI quality control boss to give final say so that the UI stays consistent and speaks one language.
@ alsiladka,
Consistent menu structure is good, but honestly, who still uses the system menu? Most everyone I know uses JBak Taskman's great task launcher tool to find and open programs. The system menu is obsolete. I'm glad its the same, but it probably still isn't organized well. Are the Music and Media folders still separate? Shouldn't they be combined?
I agree third party apps usually solve problems. And MagicKeys is pretty simple, not some geeky tool neophytes will abhor. It doesn't require you to be a hardcore hacker either. But Nokia and Symbian don't make users aware of such great Symbian freeware tools like MagicKeys. A better app delivery system like Android Market would do alot to further that cause. As long as users are blind to the toolbox, tasks such as this will always appear to be something advanced, which its far from.
AND NOW FOR UNREGISTERED...
The E71 is FLIMSY?? I'd bet you could use an E71 to hammer nails in the wall! The E71 is the best-built Nokia since the N90. Small? Sure. But Flimsy? Hell no! Bulletproof is the most common term used to describe the E71. You sure you're not talking about the N95-1?
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