Hi all,
So I essentially sell phones for a living. When the HTC One first launched, I was excited about all of the goodness in and out of it, however, I could never understand why HTC decided to use a two button set up instead of their usual three button set up for the capacitive navigation buttons. For a user like me, I still think that the three button option MAY have been better, but for a vast majority of people, I think the two button setup is much more intuitive.
About two months ago, I began to really take a look at how people reacted to learning the HTC One, and how the two button set up allowed for that learning. I sell to a lot of people who are first time smartphone users, and (even better) first time non-Apple-iPhone users. I have found that the reason the iPhone is so much easier to use is:
1) It can do less than Android devices... much less.
2) It has only one button.
With, say, a Samsung phone, I have noticed that people seem to have a little bit of a harder time figuring out how to do things, how to open up extra options, how to learn what the best way to change something within the device is. With the HTC One, I have noticed that people generally pick it up and learn it incredibly fast. I honestly believe that has to do with the fact that for the regular consumer, they only have to think about "home" and "back".... not "home," "back," and the "menu" key (what's a menu key?!)
Even I, a tech enthusiast, got fooled by the menu button a few days back. Here is an example: I was looking for how to change an option within an application on a GS3. I kept going back and forth between screens, trying to look for the options area of the app. I had the same app on my HTC One, so I pulled out my phone to see if I could maybe find it there. Sure enough, I found it immediately... because of the nice little three dots sitting in the top right hand corner. That's when it clicked! I hit the "menu" key on the samsung device and found my option.
I have very, very rarely seen the HTC One come back with questions on how to use the device whereas I see it all the time with all other Android phones, especially questions on how to change settings. I think the two button setup allows for people to look for the settings on screen rather than literally having to dig for them. I have noticed that it is a much easier design to explain to people when learning a new phone, and I have noticed that it is more intuitive for the general public to have as little navigation as possible.
The buttons setup simply works.
So I essentially sell phones for a living. When the HTC One first launched, I was excited about all of the goodness in and out of it, however, I could never understand why HTC decided to use a two button set up instead of their usual three button set up for the capacitive navigation buttons. For a user like me, I still think that the three button option MAY have been better, but for a vast majority of people, I think the two button setup is much more intuitive.
About two months ago, I began to really take a look at how people reacted to learning the HTC One, and how the two button set up allowed for that learning. I sell to a lot of people who are first time smartphone users, and (even better) first time non-Apple-iPhone users. I have found that the reason the iPhone is so much easier to use is:
1) It can do less than Android devices... much less.
2) It has only one button.
With, say, a Samsung phone, I have noticed that people seem to have a little bit of a harder time figuring out how to do things, how to open up extra options, how to learn what the best way to change something within the device is. With the HTC One, I have noticed that people generally pick it up and learn it incredibly fast. I honestly believe that has to do with the fact that for the regular consumer, they only have to think about "home" and "back".... not "home," "back," and the "menu" key (what's a menu key?!)
Even I, a tech enthusiast, got fooled by the menu button a few days back. Here is an example: I was looking for how to change an option within an application on a GS3. I kept going back and forth between screens, trying to look for the options area of the app. I had the same app on my HTC One, so I pulled out my phone to see if I could maybe find it there. Sure enough, I found it immediately... because of the nice little three dots sitting in the top right hand corner. That's when it clicked! I hit the "menu" key on the samsung device and found my option.
I have very, very rarely seen the HTC One come back with questions on how to use the device whereas I see it all the time with all other Android phones, especially questions on how to change settings. I think the two button setup allows for people to look for the settings on screen rather than literally having to dig for them. I have noticed that it is a much easier design to explain to people when learning a new phone, and I have noticed that it is more intuitive for the general public to have as little navigation as possible.
The buttons setup simply works.
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