Sunday, December 24, 2006

Videocon TV remote usability

I have this Videocon portable(14 inch) TV. If you look at the remote, the designers have placed the most unused buttons(Frequency, Chanel scan & color settings) very close to most frequently used buttons(volume). They thought the user is going to carry this portable TV every alternate day to USA and then to India. They the user needs to change the frequency from 50Hertz to 60Hz. Then they thought user needs to keep scanning channels every day. It was such a headache that i finally chopped off the rubber buttons. You can see that. Thanks Videocon for providing rubber buttons.

Philips DVD player. Placement of buttons ?


Check out this Philips DVD player. Everytime i have to eject the CD, to put the next one, i often swithch off this player. You know why ?.. .the power off button is next to CD window and eject button is far at the end. Dont you think is should have been reversed ?

Friday, December 22, 2006

Windows mobile 5 features

  • The new windows mobile 5 OS do not allow for adding separate video for any contacts. You can just add picture. But look at the size of picture it displays.. It like a small icone.
    Also the dialing pad do not have some important buttons(call history, Speed dial) mapped to hard buttons. You have to use the touch screen only...
  • Another big issue is it does not closes applications (eg- file manager, camera, photos viewer, music player) once you open it. They all run in background and eat your Ram. There is no exit menu for any application.
  • The fonts are very small. You cant really increase size to make it readable.
  • And off course it hangs many times.
  • I like it but still needs improvement.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Usability of windows mobile ActiveSync 4.5




Guys i never thought of writing blog until i stumbled across horrible usability of Microsoft windows mobile PC software. They call it ActiveSync 4.5 It is used to synch the pocket PC ( PDA mobile phone) with your outlook and also install software on your mobile through your PC. But my god.. such a pathetic design.. too much of text and all confusion..


This image shows a add and remove tool of this ActivSync.. Can anyone tell me what should i do to remove software or add software.. God knows,.. its packed with soooo much extra text , i am lost. I just want to remove one software. IT confuses me whether i should click OK or Remove. For this any user needs to carefully read each text twice.