Broken display = broken interface'
Florian Schaub, Julian Seifert, Frank Honold, Michael Müller, Enrico Rukzio, Michael Weber · 2014
This paper is the first to assess the impact of touchscreen damage on smartphone interaction. We gathered a dataset consisting of 95 closeup images of damaged smartphones and extensive information about a device's usage history, damage severity, and impact on use. 88% of our participants continued to use their damaged smartphone for at least three months; 32% plan to use it for another year or more, mainly due to high repair and replacement costs. From the dataset, we identified three categories of damaged smartphone displays. Reading and text input were most affected. Further interviews (n=11) revealed that users adapt to damage with diverse coping strategies, closely tailored to specific interaction issues. In total, we identified 23 different strategies. Based on our results, we proposed guidelines for interaction design in order to provide a positive user experience when display damage occurs.