News
iPhone beats N95, HTC Touch in usability test
By Charles Starrett
Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Monday, September 24, 2007
News Category: iPhone
The iPhone soundly bested both the Nokia N95 and HTC Touch in a recent usability test by Perceptive Sciences, a Texas-based usability consulting firm. The test, which was designed to be as objective as possible, asked ten people who had never used any of the three devices to perform simple tasks, such as setting the phone to vibrate, making a call, saving a phone number to the contact list, sending a brief e-mail, and taking a photo. Completion times for each task were recorded and compared; based on these results and the scientists’ observations, a score of between one and five was awarded. Overall, the iPhone received a score of 4.6 out of 5, compared to the HTC Touch’s score of 3.4 and the N95’s score of 3.2. “Testers were [typically] about twice as fast doing specific tasks on the iPhone, which is pretty remarkable,” said senior research scientist Tom Thornton. The iPhone was triumphant in all but one of the five testing categories, losing to the Nokia N95 in “Functionality.”
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All that the survey shows, is that the iPhone is targeted at the average Joe, mass market, non power user, and it gets it admirably right.
I have a Nokia E61 and I use almost every feature on it on a daily basis. It has probably 5x the functionality of an iPhone. I have played with an iPhone many times, and I do admire its beautiful screen and intuitive interface. Then again, I’ve hardly ever cracked the manual for my feature packed E61, and have it working without any problems. I’d love to get an N95 featured device with a decent keyboard! GPS, 5MP camera, 3G, WiFi, Symbian - what’s not to like?
To get a better feel for the target market of the iPhone, simply read the comments above. They refer to the looks of the device - N95 ugly / bulky, etc, iPhone beautiful, easy to use etc.
So choose your device for what you want it to do for you, and let the fashion conscious robots choose their devices
(no bias there!)
Posted by kokketiel on September 25, 2007 at 7:24 AM (PDT)
22
What a bogus review. Comments like “hard to find—turning the sound down” are used to critize the N95. Press the volume keys! Nothing could be easier than that.
Don’t mention unlocked N95 price when comparing to the locked iPhone. The Nokia N95 available from carriers is FREE.
The N95 is a master of hardware leaps beyond anything else. Camcorder, GPS, TV-Out, etc.
People brag about how fast the iPhone is selling, yet fail to mention that Nokia is blowing through more than 1.5 million N95s per quarter.
Posted by Bill on September 25, 2007 at 1:15 PM (PDT)
23
look, to all you noobs trying to brag about thee n95 not sync-ing.. it does ok? we just had to wait for some 3rd party products to be developed because nokia doesnt develop nething apart from phones (well approx). yeh that’s right.. the 3rd party programs that work on our products. imagine that. and who gives a toot if it’s there first phone. the technology was practically all there. i bet nokias first phone was wow to for the amount they were known and the technology available to them. the iphone is simply unamazing. its like a hand help mac bomb. its a horrible consumerist happenin, and braggin about the screen is like braggin about aero glass look of vista. woohoo. still #### product.
Posted by Elit3 on October 10, 2007 at 12:01 AM (PDT)
24
I own an N95 and I hope I have something useful to add.
First of all, the phone is not ugly, as some of the pictures [and posters] online might suggest. In person it looks identical to a sleek digital camera, and the screen is large and beautiful. Without fail friends mention what a “nice camera” it is when I take it out for photos.
Secondly, the phones serve different purposes. The iPhone is hardly a serviceable camera, and the N95 lacks the iPhone’s usability as a dedicated music player.
If you want a big iPod that’s “cool-looking”, pick the iPhone. If you want a sleek camera with some useful extras [i.e. GPS, phone calls], choose the N95. It’s not really a head-to-head comparison in my mind.
Posted by Jermaine on December 14, 2007 at 7:01 AM (PDT)
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