Evaluation of smartphones with touchscreens as writing tools
S. Strasser · Tampere University Institutional Repository (Tampere University) · 2014
This thesis evaluates word processing on smartphones with multi-touch displays. Seven participants were observed in a laboratory-like condition while performing a set of characteristic scenarios with their own devices. Questionnaires and interviews have been used to gather information on what purposes multi-touch mobile computing devices are used for in general and especially in the context of working with text. Further interviews have been conducted to determine the overall satisfaction of working with text on multi-touch mobile computing devices. The GOMS-model was used as analysis tool. Through operators and selection rules, the methods applied and the criteria for decison-making have been discovered. The results show that written communication is almost as important as spoken communication and text applications are in daily use. However, smartphones are barely used to compose documents with a high requirement on quality and correctness. Another finding was the increased use of advanced tools (clipboard control) to rearrange two sentences. In general copy, cut, and paste have been designed to increase efficiency to reorder text by avoiding to retype it. User behaviour and questionnaire data reflected this concept. Concerning the reasons to decide between using the available text tools or not, the study showed that the advanced methods were preferably used in situations where an application promised an increase in efficiency. Primitive methods on the other hand, were mainly applied because they are easy to use. From these findings the conclusion can be drawn that manipulating text with text tools is more efficient than without, but users remain reluctant to use them because they are perceived as complex.