Interactive Technology Misada Jantrupon: User Evaluation of Mobile Browser Features Related to Information Retrieval

Technological advancements in mobile technologies, improved network coverage, and cheaper data plans have led to an increase in internet browsing via mobile phone. Improvements such as bigger screen sizes, higher resolutions, and touchscreens have led to a better browsing experience compared with when mobile browsing first emerged. Most of the research concerning mobile browsing seems to focus on website design for smaller screen displays, with very limited research done on the design and functionality of mobile web browsers themselves. Due to the physical constraints and small display screens, the user interface needs to be designed so that users can perform tasks easily and information can be accessed quickly. This thesis evaluates different features from six of the most popularly used mobile browsers (Chrome, Dolphin, Internet Explorer, Opera Mini, Safari, and the UC Browser) in order to determine which features help to improve the mobile browsing experience. Ten participants were asked to perform several tasks on two mobile browsers and evaluate the browsers based on task difficulty. After all the tasks were completed