Usability evaluation of a new text input method for smart TVs
Young Mi Choi, Jingtian Li · Journal of Usability Studies archive · 2016
Smart TVs are becoming an increasingly important multimedia device for home entertainment. A smart TV is a platform that provides access to many types of media and services such as games, the Internet, social networking sites, and TV programs. One of the most important interactions between users and these platforms is the ability to effectively enter and edit text. The purpose of this study was to test a new approach for smart TV text entry that combines a touch pad and virtual keyboard interaction. A prototype was created and tested against existing methods (a simple remote control, a touch pad, and a physical keyboard). Twenty college students were recruited to perform a usability test with each of the four different input methods. Participants performed a text entry task and a text edit task on each device. The results indicate that combining a virtual keyboard with touch pad type functionality for text entry and editing can lead to faster text entry and faster text editing.