Subscribe I find texting uncomfortable. And it seems I’m not alone.
Someone has filed a new patent for putting the screen below the keypad. Try turning your phone upside down to get a feel for how it might be.
I think I’m sold.
Front to back
Your users experience it that way around.
Delicious
- Monsoon Electronic Brainstorming Software for Innovation
- Android Design - Design Principles
- Android Design - Writing Style
- The Modernist Nerd: Vintage Science Ads from the 1950s and 1960s | Brain Pickings
- Wishbox Lets Your Visitors Complain About Your New Layout With Screenshot Annotations | TechCrunch
- Mobile Insights - Nielsen South Africa
- Fast Path to a Great UX - Increased Exposure Hours
- Flickr: Microcopy
- Before succeeding you have to fully confront failure
- Ux for lean startups london
I’m not quite convinced yet. I did the very basic thing of taking a phone and turning it upside down and ‘pretending’ and then I got a couple of other people to do it*.
The heel of my hand covers the screen. We did wonder if this might be a hand size or palm to thumb-length ratio (is there such a thing?) issue where it will work for some but not for others.
We (my random participants and I) also decided that we fell into the category of people who tend to look at the screen more than at the keys. Maybe that is a factor?
Bang and Olufsen have a phone that is meant to be used upside down. Ok, they do the Bang and Olufsen thing of adding a circular keypad and who knows what other widgets but it might be interesting to have a look at that.
It does seem to be better when the phone is a slider or a clamshell because of the angle of the screen.
I wonder what the default would be if the humble typewriter had fed the paper from below the keys. Was it the potential crumpling of the paper that caused them to make it the way they did or the discomfort to the neck if one had to look down but keep the arms elevated?
Maybe it would be really good if you are typing a message and you want to keep it very secret?
*I appreciate that this is not scientific and doesn’t allow for the fact that the patent pending was actually designed to be keys then screen!