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© 2010 Jason Delport
Is Audio an Important Part of the Mobile User Experience?
We were testing JSR 75 across a wide variety of devices today and as a result we had an interesting discussion about the mobile user experience in general and audio enhancement in particular. The LG KG800 (Chocolate) and Motorola U9 (PEBL2) both have soothing tones and sounds that accompany user interactions with the OS. I am not sure now long I could take these sounds but they definitely have a powerful impact on the first few uses and at times they can even elicit a sense that the transitions between screens are animated when, in fact, they aren't. I personally don't mind the keypad tones on my Nokia N95 but I know it's the first thing some people turn off. So I guess my question is whether audio is becoming a more important part of the mobile user experience? We have never added audio into any of our Java ME applications and I was wondering whether it is time to start considering doing this.
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i still think mobile phones ringing or keypad tones are annoying. Maybe we can put audio in mobile into a good use when the devices speaker got better..
Even, people can still enjoy playing hardcore game in PSP or Nintendo DS without sound..
anw, very great blog, i learn alot from you ;). Thanks
I think I would eventually turn off the sounds as well but I can't deny their impact of the first few uses. Maybe if they are only used sparingly...
It seems the trend for computer software is to have less and less noise, to the point where sound is reserved primarily for notifications, video, and games. Outside of those areas, many people are likely to find sounds more annoying than helpful.
Additionally, people are used to web apps now where sound is very rarely used for anything. I've never heard anybody complain that an application made too little noise.
I remember that you guys have implemented some social networking applications, and I think audio is important for presence and message notifications there. At the minimum, it is important for the user to be able to *easily* ensure that he can make his phone quiet when needed. Every program on the phone should automatically silence itself when a "silent" or "vibrate only" ringtone profile is enabled; I would avoid sound altogether on any phone where that level of integration is not available.
My experience with Java ME on my own personal phones is that it is slow to start an application. If the application has a bunch of animations and sounds then they will annoy me because I associate that kind of unnecessary ear/eye candy with sluggishness (e.g. the K790 interface). Plus, I suspect the addition of sound effects will make an application even more likely to crash my phone (e.g. Nokia 6300).