Reading with mobile phone and large display

Roswita Gostner, Hand Gellersen, Chris Kray, Corina Sas

the paper tries to identify how interaction with two devices (mobile phone & screen) is preferred over interaction with the cellphone itself or the screen alone. The authors introduce three main hypotheses to investigate

1. completion time for SD+LD is faster than for SD only
2. completion time for SD+LD is faster than for LD only
3. SD+LD will be considered the easiest one for use by users

Dependent variables

• various user responses to the technology
  

Independent variables

• device combinations

I think some of the design issues affect what they want to measure. So the device combination is not the only thing changing in their methodology. They have different methods of interaction with the system. The keyboard size and shape is changing. The way the content is presented to the users is changing as well, so these things definitely affect the perception of the users while interacting with the large screen! I think considering the device combinations as the only independent variable is totally wrong!

The authors describe the design and the apparatus which is the physical specification of their environment. they describe the procedure and the participants and finally demonstrate the results.

Typing using the touch screen was not more difficult than using the phone! The mobile phone was ranked the second place compared to the large screen in terms of ease of use. This is interesting because it seems to me like they had typed it in faster using the screen but then they have considered the mobile phone easier to use when compared to the toch screen. Still the combination was considered faster.

The participants found working between two screens confusing! Looking at them as two separate entities as opposed to one single entity. I think in reality too it is also two separate entities. We dont do things on the mobile phone as part of the things that we can do with one computer but we actually consider it as an assitive secondary tool to do the task of typing!