useability
Latest
Fujitsu's 10-inch Stylistic Q550 tablet to sport Oak Trail, Windows 7
We knew good and well that Fujitsu's Stylistic Q550 was en route, but now we're learning a few more dirty details as its official launch day draws ever nearer. Reportedly, the business-oriented slate will be fully revealed at CeBIT next month, with Fujitsu being one of the only outfits out there eager and willing to take a chance on both Oak Trail and Windows 7 Professional. Our experiences with existing Win7 tablets haven't been stellar, but it's possible that the added power in Oak Trail will cut down on the lag and make things a bit smoother to operate. We're told to expect a 10-inch LED touchscreen, smartcard slot, fingerprint reader, trusted-platform module (TPM), front and rear cameras, a 32GB / 64GB solid state drive, USB socket and an optional 3G module. Most impressive, however, is the claimed eight hours of battery life, which we'll quite honestly have to see to believe. If all goes well, it'll start shipping this April to European nations, but there's no word yet on how badly it'll hurt your wallet (or when it'll grab a passport and head to other continents). As you'd expect, we'll be live from Germany digging for more just as soon as the show floor opens. A brief introductory vid is just past the break.
Fujitsu's tablet is easy like a hammer, cozy as a scarf, and never scratchy like Windows 7 (video)
There's no denying that Meinolf Althaus brings some personality to an otherwise stoic slate. Good thing too, because the idea of Fujitsu and Microsoft spawning a stylus-driven tablet from a session of ugly-bumping doesn't elicit much excitement in the burgeoning tablet space. Enter Mr. Althaus who begins his lesson with an explanation that software user elements must be based on recognition and not on something that's remembered. You know, like a hammer (or Fujitsu's new slate) which is obvious in its usability and function. He then likens the current crop of consumer-based tablets to chocolate bars: they're great for consumption but do little to help with content creation unlike Fujitsu's Windows-based slate that's optimized for corporations -- spreadsheets naturally, not music or illustrations. The highlight, however, has to be the point in the video where he equates the Windows 7 user experience to a "scratchy" kitchen sponge that's useful for utilitarian tasks like cleaning the dishes. Fujitsu's tablet, he contends, is "cozy" like a silk scarf thanks to a custom-built layer that sits on top of the standard Win7 desktop. Brilliant. We'll take two... Meinolfs that is. You will too after watching the video embedded after the break. [Thanks, Hanson]
360 design process out of the box
Some members of the Xbox design team did a session with a usablity interest group in Seattle called SIGCHI and provided a bit of insight into the design process for the 360 interface and... styro-foam. Above are four design possibilities that were narrowed down to the "blades" we all know. ExperienceUCD.com crashed due to all the attention, but here's an excerpt (thanks to Xbox-Scene):On the original XBOX there were 45 screens that needed to fit on 250MB while on the new design and complexity of the system there were 450 screens. These screens had to fit on 2.5MB. To accomplish this was quite a feat. The team had narrowed the core design to four interfaceThe next steps they conducted were usability testing of the four designs. Each of the designs had a flash interface designed and tested in four regions with around 6 participants per region. The top two designs were the top two (loop and concertina). The main reason was ease of use. The overall winner was concertina because of the unique interface coupled with the user feedback on how easy the interface was to navigate. The interface zoomed the user in and out giving them a spatial experience and relationship.The team also acknowledged the importance of the out of box experience. How the user feels, when purchasing and opening their product . Apple does an outstanding job at this. A great reference was the Japanese do a great job at this with their packaging. You buy a snack that has 25 cents worth of product but $2 worth of packaging. They understand the importance of this experience. Would you rather open a brown box with black writing on the side per almost all of consumer electronics or have that experience be just as ritualistic as turning on your TV. I feel like I carry this torch every day at my job, but it isn't just about the end product, but how someone gets there and their experience along the way. I would have liked to have seen a little less thought put into the pretty cardboard and a little more put into actually getting the packages on the shelves. Assuming you had a box to open, are you happy with the 360 "out-of-box experience" and interface design (at least it wasn't cribbed from Dell)?
