Have we made technologies more complicated than they should be and do regular end-users care? I just picked 3 devices that have control buttons on them I used last night - a remote control for a television, a remote control for the Roku media streaming device and my iPhone. I counted how many buttons are on each of them and how many I used. The TV remote control has 46 buttons and I use 3 (on/off, channel up/down and volume up/down). Typically, I turn on the TV, channel surf with the up and down button, may be adjust the volume, and turn it off because there is nothing really worth watching. Now comes the Roku remote control, it has 9 buttons and I use 7 of them. Finally, the iPhone it has 4 buttons on them - volume up/down, an on/off switch, the silent switch and the prominant home button on the face of the iPhone. How many of them do I use? All of them.
My point is do we really need all those control buttons if the majority of time we only use a few? Aren't we making things too complicated. I am sure all the buttons have functions on my TV remote control but do I really need them given the TV also has on screen menu? It probably makes sense to the engineers who design them but not for the general public. (Disclosure: I am trained as an engineer but to be honest some of the things engineers design do not make a whole lot of sense to average consumers.)
I was pleasantly surprised when I receive the Roku and in particular the Roku remote control. It was so small, with only the essential buttons and I can figure out how to use it without referring to the user manual. That's user-friendly and how consumer products should be done. A good engineering design should hide the complexity, unclutter the user interface and create a better user experience.
Needless to say, I was thrilled when I first saw the iPhone. Its clean design makes it so easy to use. It's the sort of marketing genius you get from Apple making you believe their product is so simple. And the marketing message works! The one button I use most is the home button. When you press the home button, it actually reveals screens full of other buttons/icons. Hmm, haven't I seen this idea before..... thinking.... thinking.... thinking.... Ah.... the Microsoft Windows "Start button".
