"I just wanted a beautiful phone" - Checklist-based evaluation of smartphones usability for the elderly users

Mobile phone technology and user interface design have evolved into a multi-functional touchscreen-based smartphones with advanced capabilities and vast amount of applications. One potentially growing user group of the smartphones are elderly persons who have experienced the evolution of the technology during their adulthood. The objectives of this thesis were to chart what kind of requirements the persons over 65 years old have in relation to the mobile devices, and to evaluate how current user interface designs of smartphones fulfill the identified requirements. The evaluation process followed the existing framework designed for evaluating the usability of mobile phones based on multi-level, hierarchical model of usability factors. The framework provides tools and a process to compare different designs. The process has four phases: plan, prepare, conduct evaluation and analyze results. In the planning phase Windows Phone 8.0 and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean were selected to represent different smartphone user interface designs. Items important from the elderly users’ viewpoint were identified during the preparation phase. Different heuristic checklists and design guidelines developed for mobile phones were also reviewed. Checklists used in the actual evaluation phase were composed by combining items essential to the elderly users and to the characteristics of the mobile phones. The evaluation was conducted by inspecting both Windows Phone and Android user interface designs against the checklists. The items of the checklists were analyzed and classified into five usability indicators: visual support of task goals, support of cognitive interaction, support of efficient interaction, functional support of user needs and ergonomic support. The classification allowed the comparison of the two designs in more generic level instead of comparing individual items in the checklists. Results of the checklist based expert evaluation indicated that the main differences were in the visual support of task goals and functional support of user needs. Overall simplicity, minimalistic design and fewer functions of Windows Phone reflect better the needs and desires of the elderly users