The Reliance CDMA mobile <\/a>phones are a rage all right. Most of my friends who had scoffed at the idea of having a mobile phone, have availed of the Reliance Monsoon offer <\/a>and now are proud owners of hep mobile instrument that make my Nokia <\/a>an anachronism. But when my friend complained about how he can’t browse and charge his Samsung phone simultaneously, I realized that only the ads and the colors are snazzy. But when it came to user friendliness they suck.<\/p>\n Here are a few usability issues that I had observed:<\/strong> LG scores over Samsung in the CDMA mobile phone design. The display is big and the text in the display is prominent and readable. It has separate slots for your data cable and charger. But that does not make it a user-friendly phone mind you. Forget CDMA or GSM, mobile phones in general do not follow standards. Samsung has its own, so does LG. What I don’t understand is that why can’t these guys build on Nokia’s years of hard work? Nokia is by far the most user-friendly phone that I have seen. My Nokia allows me to send messages to multiple recipients. It allows me to send and receive ring tones. It has a great phone book feature… The amount of interest Samsung and LG show in colors and jazz, they’ve failed to show in user-focus. What will I do with a snazzy color phone if sending a message takes me forever?
\nMost of them (the new CDMA mobile owners) own either an LG RD 2030 or a Samsung SCH 191<\/a>. (I got the model names from the Reliance Infocomm site and the phones look like those that my friends own. So if there is any inaccuracy in my information. I take the blame.)<\/small>
\nBoth LG and Samsung deviate from the ‘standards’. I am a Nokia user and I find using the LG, Samsung CDMA phones tough. It beats me; I mean though GSM and CDMA are totally different technologies, their use is enabling people with mobile communication. For example, for me to send an SMS from a Nokia GSM phone takes 2 minutes tops. I struggled with the LG CDMA phone. The options and menus are weird and I gave up after a few futile attempts. NO, I am not saying it is impossible to send an SMS from an LG CDMA phone. All I say is that it is tougher.
\nSamsung’s SCH 191 <\/strong>tops the blooper list. It has a single slot for the data cable and the charger…<\/strong> or so say my friends. What it means is that, you lose charge while browsing the net using the Reliance infocomm service (you need to hook up your phone to your PC using a data cable). And, you have to disconnect if you want to recharge your phone’s battery. Now, what kind of a product design is that? Myopic? You be the judge.<\/p>\n
\nIf someone from LG or Samsung is listening: please conduct a usability test on your popular models. Identify tasks and ask your users to accomplish them. Measure how long each task takes. Take user surveys and find out their satisfaction levels. You might even bump into a great product idea do all this. And hey the path to a great product\/brand is user focus. Nokia proves it. So can you.
\nNote:<\/b>I did a google on LG and Samsung CDMA phones but I couldn’t find any relevant information about them on the web.
\nwww.lgezbuy.com\/ <\/a>http:\/\/www.lgindia.com\/ <\/a>offer no information about LG mobile phones.<\/p>\n