The NY Times finally asks: When is small too small?
posted October 14th 2004 9:56AM
Have you ever noticed how every year gadgets
get smaller and smaller? We hadn't, but those eagle-eyed aces over at the New York Times haven't been asleep at the
switch like us and have an article today about the pitfalls of over-miniaturization. Michel Marriott takes a look at
emerging personal technologies and how the quest to make gadgets ever-smaller can lead to some serious usability
issues, all the while playing the "isn't it amazing what they can do in so little space?" card. The most tear-jerking,
eye-opening moment is when Marriott talks to very tall people who try to use very tiny cellphones and asks them, "Do
your fingers hurt?", and concludes that technology manufacturers should start thinking about this stuff or pay the
price…something with which we actually agree.
This is just what I've been thinking for a quite a while now. Miniaturization technology has advanced to the point where making the devices small enough isn't really an issue anymore. The real issue is making a device with a good, usable interface. Devices may be shrinking, but the people who use them aren't.
Older people could benefit from "large print" technology. Everything just a bit bigger!