This month’s article is a little different. My friend, and fellow HCI colleague, switched from iPhone to Blackberry recently so I asked if she would tell us about it. Below is the full unabridged reply. It is posted anonymously to prevent any unpleasantness at work and please note that they are not the opinions of ixd studio.
“I was the loyal owner of the same battleship gray, cannot kill it if you tried Nokia mobile phone for nearly seven years. That’s right, the same phone. Change my phone out and good-bye to my low, locked-in monthly rate. I held out. But a year ago, phone envy finally got to me and I bought an iPhone.
iPhone V Blackberry
As a software product manager and human factors engineer, the hypocrisy of refusing to be an adopter of any new mobile technology could no longer be ignored. It was becoming a bit embarrassing actually. With an upcoming hand surgery planned, I counted on taking advantage of the days I assumed it would take me to figure out my new contraption.
I got the 10 minute free, in-person tutorial at the store where I purchased it like most everyone else. But by the end of the first day, I was hooked. No manuals, moments of frustration, or on-line help needed – not once. My phone was more than a phone, within hours it became a multi-dimensional tool, and it was fun – the epitome of a wonderful user experience.
Enter my new Blackberry last week, courtesy of my new employer. No personal phone use for work allowed. Ok…
I’m in hell.
Just getting started was like a bad blind date. Within moments, you know you are not attracted. Setting up my voice message and personalizing my ring tone eluded me in the first 10 minutes of trying to figure it out. Like most users, I refused to read the manual. I kept saying to myself, “I’ll figure it out tomorrow when I am less busy; no one knows I have the phone yet anyway.”
I feel as if I have been asked to turn in my sleek, 46” flat screen TV screen for a 19” old-school Motorola.
My fingers’ muscle memory for tapping, or swiping the screen L to R or top to bottom, or making pinching motions for zoom control, and the like won’t be denied.
The keyboard is nearly unusable for my trailing Baby Boomer’s eyes. With mono-vision contacts, I can barely make out the labels on the tiny buttons. Unless I add reading glasses on top of my contacts, it will be nearly useless for me to try and type anything.
Within the first couple of days, I found myself leaving it at my desk and work arounds for doing without it had already set in. I shifted to printing out my meeting schedule instead of trying to use the Microsoft Calendar. I had found was continuously, accidently changing the day of the week focus because I was trying to open meeting invites by swiping the screen over them in order to see additional meeting details.
Not only was my blind date not attractive, he had turned out to be a bad dancer.
I have hope cognitive dissonance will set in. I’m still waiting...”