Posted on by Nils

Is smartphone usability going down?

There was a time when I knew how to change every setting on my smartphone. Ok, I’m a bit of a geek/nerd when it comes to that. But recently I’ve found myself searching online for instructions on how to do something on my phone. 

At some point, it was very easy to understand (and remember) where to find a specific setting. Also, one would simply learn and understand how things work simply by using the interface and exploring.But this seems to not be the case anymore. This changed sometime in the last 5 years (that’s what my gut feel tells me).

So many new features were added – many of them actually useful. But it’s harder to know intuitively where to find them and how to use them. 

Comparison of Smartphones vs “Dumb Phones”, how features were added and how usability changed. This is based on observation and gut feel and not any real data.

Is that because Steve Jobs is not controlling things anymore at Apple?

Obviously, I’m talking about iPhones and iOS. I’ll pause here for a minute in case you have an opinion on Apple products you want to let out…

Apple vs. Android vs. Whatever, bla bla 😉

If we leave any differences between phones and their software aside – do you know how to do everything you want on your smartphone?

  • How do you feel about the evolution of smartphones and their user interface?
  • Do you think it became more difficult to do things on your phone? Or easier and more intuitive?
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