Hasta La Gadget!

Released April, Apple's iPad 2 is faster and skinnier than its predecessor. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

One year after the iPad’s release, third-party apps have improved dramatically in usability, according to an interface scientist.

Jakob Nielsen, often hailed as “king of usability,” published results this week on a follow-up study examining iPad app interfaces. He found that iPad apps today are considerably “less wacky” and therefore easier to use than they were last year.

“We really came quite a long way in a year, and a year is a short amount of time,” Nielsen told Wired.com in a phone interview. “If we think back to when the web came out … there were five years when the web got worse before it started getting better.”

For software makers, interface design can be a tricky thing, because digital experiences are purely subjective. The ultimate question: What do customers want? For instance, where do they want this button, or what do they want to happen when selecting this menu? Software makers often must poll groups of testers before releasing their apps to the public to determine the most user-friendly design.

On the iPad, it can be especially challenging to nail usability, because multitouch gestures are invisible, and it’s up to the user to figure out which gestures do what. Compare that to the desktop PCs we’ve grown accustomed to, which deal with physical keyboard and mice, mouse pointers, windows and icons — usability is a bit more clear-cut in this environment.

The initial issue with the iPad, Nielsen pointed out last year, was that before the original iPad was released, Apple didn’t give developers iPads to test their apps on. Apple only allowed a select group of programmers access to iPads to test their apps in an isolated room with blacked-out windows at Apple headquarters, meaning they couldn’t do any user testing prior to the iPad’s release. Therefore, the earliest iPad apps were coded in the dark.

As a result, user interfaces in the initial batch of iPad apps were all over the map, with little consistency among the various apps. Apps would behave differently when we swiped or pinched, and some apps used complex interactions such as running three fingers diagonally across the screen, Nielsen said.

Today, iPad apps have become more simple and user-friendly, Nielsen said. He found that magazine apps, for example, would display a cover with the top stories, and tapping on a top story would bring you straight to the content, rather than make you turn to the table of contents and flip to the article manually. His study also found that more apps included Back buttons and broader use of search.

“For the average user, technology is a means to an end,” Nielsen said. “People want to jump in and get results. If I see a cover with three interesting [stories], I want to tap and read right away.”

To conduct his study, Nielsen recruited 16 iPad customers with two months of experience using their iPads. Nielsen’s team watched the test subjects as they launched and interacted with 26 different apps and six websites.

See Also:

• iPad Developers Code Their Apps in the Dark
• 10 Apps You Should Download for iPad 2
• Adobe Shows Three Amazing iPad Apps for Photoshop

There’s been so much chatter about Apple iCloud that you’d think the streaming music service had already been announced and the deals inked. But it’s still just a rumor until an Apple executive takes the stage and unleashes the Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music competitor in a spate of superlatives. That hasn’t stopped Businessweek from stepping up with a good summary of all that is “known” thus far, while giving us some insight into the particulars of how the service will work and the motivations to make it happen. One revelation, sourced from three people in the know, claims that Apple will scan customers’ iTunes libraries (hello, LaLa) and quickly mirror the contents on Apple’s own servers — no massive DSL-choking upload required. And Apple will do you the solid of “replacing” any low bitrate tracks with the “high-quality” versions it stores in its fully licensed music locker for streaming to your connected devices.

Of course, this value-add won’t come free and will certainly require a subscription fee. The cost to the consumer, though, is still very much unclear as is the service’s integration with Apple’s $99 per year MobileMe sham. And you know those rumors about MobileMe being offered as a free service? We wouldn’t be surprised if it stays at $99 with iCloud being announced as a “free” feature update; aka, an $8.25 per month music subscription that also provides web access to your synced bookmarks, contacts, email, and calendar. Regardless, it’s this subscription model that has the major labels so enthusiastic as it will finally allow them to extort fees for all that pirated audio you may have stumbled upon since Napster was loosed on an unprepared music industry a decade ago. All signs point to WWDC for this to get official but we’re sure to hear more — much more — before the event kicks off on June 6th.

Apple’s iCloud music service will automatically mirror your iTunes library using ‘high-quality’ tracks? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 May 2011 03:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We love ourselves extra storage as much as the next guy, and we also happen to hate cables as much the next guy, so whenever a device promises some extra wiggle room with no strings attached, we’re all ears. The AirStash is a wireless flash drive that lets you expand the capacity of your mobile device up to 32GB at a time through swappable SD cards, freeing up local storage for apps and the like. We first got our paws on one back at CES, but now that it’s a shipping product and has a finalized iOS app, we gave it a quick shakedown as promised to see whether this gadget is worth dipping into your personal stash for.

Continue reading AirStash wireless flash drive (and iOS app) review

AirStash wireless flash drive (and iOS app) review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumors regarding Pioneer’s AppRadio hit the web last month, promising unparalleled iDevice integration for our automobiles. Pioneer has finally unleashed the double-DIN device, and it’s everything we thought it would be — namely a big car stereo that plays nice with iOS. There’s an 800 x 400 6.1-inch multitouch capacitive display, Bluetooth connectivity, and it teams up with your iPhone or iPod touch (running iOS 4.2) via a 30-pin connector and Pioneer’s AppRadio app. There’s also an external mic and GPS antenna, full iPod music control and Google Maps integration, and specially formatted apps from Rdio and Pandora. Pioneer suggests a price “below $500” when it goes on sale June 22nd. We’re going hands-on with the new stereo as we speak, so peruse the PR after the break and stay tuned for pics and impressions.

Continue reading Pioneer unveils its AppRadio, integrates iOS into your automobile

Pioneer unveils its AppRadio, integrates iOS into your automobile originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 May 2011 16:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Altec Lansing popped by our offices earlier today to show off the successor to its oversized Mix iMT800 iPhone / iPod dock. There’s not a heck of a lot to talk about in terms of changes with the iM810 — the dock is now iPhone 4 certified, the gold trim has been changed to silver, and the amber LED has been swapped for blue. The company does get some bonus points for reenacting the one scene from Say Anything that anyone remembers with the winner of its in-office John Cusack look-alike contest, however. The new dock packs in a 5.25-inch subwoofer, a seven band graphic equalizer, and a slot for storing its little carabiner-equipped remote — the hulking accessory can also achieve relative portability with the help of eight D size batteries. It’s available now for $300, Peter Gabriel album not included. Press release after the break.

Continue reading Altec Lansing Mix iMT810 is big, loud, desperately seeking Ione Skye’s affection

Altec Lansing Mix iMT810 is big, loud, desperately seeking Ione Skye’s affection originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 May 2011 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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