Windows Mobile Team Blog

I actually like using the touchscreen to dial... I just wish the buttons were larger so I didn't have to pull out the stylus. I had a sidekick previously and trying to dial w/out opening the flip was horrible.

I'm in the "I just hate being forced to use the stylus" camp. If I have it out already that's one thing, but being *forced* to use it is a drag.

Another excellent discussion topic, thanks Mike.

I think you've described the issue well, I fall into the "1-handed nav works pretty well with WM5" camp.

A general suggestion - if there's a menu selection to be made, and the device has a hardware keyboard, always make sure the alpha keys can be used to jump to the items that begin with the corresponding letter.  Most WM5 menus do this pretty well, but why doesn't WMP use this in the media selection menus?  What is this method of navigation termed?  I love that PIE uses this to navigate Favorites (folders and saved items).

Yes, the email folder navigation has to be the #1 thing that makes me frustrated when navigating on WM5.  I'm sure you guys have some solutions worked out, but it seems obvious to me that the main view should be a tree view, perhaps with the ability to expand/collapse the tree branches with left/right motions on the dpad or hardware arrow keys, or just click through into a folder with enter or dpad button and exit from the folder with OK.  

#2 on the frustration list might be queuing up tracks in WMP (which is about to be extinct, time for an update), once a selection is made, for example, to queue up all tracks from an album using the tap and hold menu of the dpad button, there's no easy non-screen tapping method of backing out to the previous menu to be able to queue up other albums or tracks for a different artist.  Again, the left/right dpad is functionless in this menu, it should be used to navigate back and forth through albums and artists views.

Regarding dialing the phone, I think this is a major frustration for those of us with devices that have a hardware keyboard.  It feels as if most of the keyboard is "dead" in that app.  Only the number keys are recognized, and unless a 3rd party option is used, no smart dialing occurs from the main phone screen.  It's frustrating that the standard dial screen is totally blind to the alpha portion of the keyboard, and even with HTC's Smart Dialer installed, it only recognizes numeric characters.  How should it work?  Well, for example, if you pick up a Hiptop and start entering someones name or number using the keyboard in the phone app (or from the home screen if I recall correctly) the Hiptop "smart dialer" quickly brings up a filtered-on-the-fly list of your contacts associated with the name or number you've entered so far.  Whatever you know about the person who you want to call should be able to be used to dial them!  As soon as we are in the phone app, any user using a device with a hardware keyboard should be able to use the alpha keys to spell out the name of the contact they wish to dial, and have a smart dialer filter the contacts database based on the text entry without the user having to enter a separate contacts menu.  

I have a HP 6915, which works pretty well one-handed, which makes the islands of misfunction even more obvious and annoying.

What I would want (ideally, I know) is that NOTHING should need the stylus.  I know the folder problem in pocket outlook was sorted out already (the aku 2.4 HP does this with a "go to" submenu).  However, why cant I change the soft order in a folder via in file explorer via the hardware keys?  The problem with WMP was already mentioned earlier. Why are there not shortcuts assigned to the tabs in control panel, to make switching between them easy on QWERTY devices? Why cant I go to the url area in PIE without scrolling right to the top of the screen (at least that is an improvement).  Why do I have to go all the way to the memory control panel to close a running app?  This takes at least 10-11 taps, either by keyboard or stylus.  Why des holding down the OK key not do this automatically? Why does the d-pad in the phone app do nothing.  It used to take you to the cal history, but now no longer.

So firstly, everything should be possible via the hard keys, and then what is there should be optimised.

I know you may say if you need this level of one-handedness, why not use a smartphone?  The short of it is that OEM's are already selling your WM PPC software in a smartphone form factor.  The genie is out of the bottle, and you may as well adapt to he reality on the ground.  Except for WMP, the rest of the changes should be relatively trivial (e.g the d-pad in the phone app going to phon history and tabbing between dialed calls, missed calls, recieved calls etc).

I can see the lates AKU's already have addressed som of the issues.  Keep up the good work, one handed use IS a priority to users.

Surur  

I think that one handed navigation in Windows Mobile for Pocket PC is progressing well. I expect the next major release to have solved all issues in WM5.

Other features I have found missing:
* Profiles, just as in Smartphone.
* Smartdialing, just as in Smartphone.
* Lock the device by a long press on the end button, just as in Smartphone.

One handed navigation:

I can use the touch-screen one-handed as long as the buttons are big enough.  For instance, the password screen (the one with the big digits on) is fine.  The telephone dialler has much smaller buttons and is hard to use without the stylus.

Can I suggest that you try picking up a device, holding it in one hand and working the screen with your thumb?  That's a perfectly reasonable one-handed approach to use, but thumbs are a lot less precise than styluses, and need big, fat buttons.

Yes, yes, yes...I want a touch screen *and* a proper phone pad.

As a phone dialer the touchscreen sucks big time - really unfriendly if you are walking around...but I also want the touch screen when I'm checking email and surfing etc. You need both for the device to function well in both scenarios.

If there was a device like the O2 XDA Mini S that had a phone keypad at the bottom like a standard phone then that would be the perfect combination for me.

S.

I have the MDA WM5.  I immediately changed the email/ie buttons to start/ok also.

The contacts summary view is extremely annoying one handed.  Sometimes I punch up the wrong contact, and I want to go to the next one in the list, but I can't unless I hit ok.  Enabling the right/left dpad to go to next/previous contact would be helpful.  Now, it goes to the notes tab, and from there I can never get back to summary (if I have a note, which I do for almost every contact).

Also - would be nice if the contacts list opened to the last contact you were looking at.  If you punch up a contact, choose to call them, and the end the call.  Then look at email, and hit the contacts off the start menu, the focus in the list is reset to the top.  I would like to have it go back to the last one I was looking at.

For the phone dialer, I would like to be able to hit the voice speed dial when the phone keypad is displayed, and call out the numbers to dial "one" "two" "three"...  But that would be too cool.  

it would also be nice if the voice speed dial could assign parameters to the app it executes.  Like if I assigned "play music" to windows media with a specific playlist.  Or "email jane" started an email to a specific contact email address.

Probably the biggest pet peave I have right now with one handed navigation is the fact that scrolling often doesn't work. For example, in IE, the D Pad jumps in between links. It doesn't really scroll the page. I can't say I can really think of a solution for that as when I want to click on a link I'd like to be able to do it without having to tap the screen. But it'd also be nice to be able to scroll a page preditably.

Also, regarding the dialer, I could probably live with the fact that there's no tactile feedback if it didn't seem so unresponsive. On my 6700 it seems that I quite often have to hit a button more than once, though not every time. I don't know if it's a "fat finger" issue that could be solved with bigger buttons or an unreponsive software issue...

The one hand navigation problem is tied to the fact  that PocketPC have wide/big screens, used with high density graphics : the thumb cannot reach and touch any screen zone and when it can, there are several items under the thumb. Therefore, you have to use a stylus and 2 hands  !

But you need also 2 hands when you use  large (10 columns) micro-qwerty keyboards. 2 known exeption, Blackberry 7100 and Sony 600i which have 1/2 qwerty (i bet that Sony 600i design will become a model).

A solution exists : the Tiki'labs MMI process :
you put a full keyboard and a pointing pad (a micro-joystick could do) under the area which the thumb can encompass. Since you have a softkeyboard, you can get all shortcuts you need and can learn, and, without having to move the hand, just the thumb, you have a pointer able to go to all zones of the screen and clic.
That design can be implemented on either side of a touchscreen... but will be more flexible  with a distinct detachable wireless ambidextruous device.

Regards,

Larry, lgs@tikilabs.com  Ceo of a french startup which will come out of stealth mode in september.

PS : the keyboard is chordic... but with a visual interactive guide ... and therefore, you can use it immediately.

WM5 is headed in the right direction.  I love the navigation and touch the screen now that I have a screen protector.  Some ideas:

- WMP library needs left dpad to go Back
- Phone needs left/right to switch between main phone screen, Speed Dial and Recent Call History
- PIE fullscreen should perform softkey actions instead of just restoring, which requires me to hit Left Soft Key twice to navigate back
- Fix tab orders on Today Settings screen and other areas
- Select All in mail!  I've already read them on my desktop, I want to mark all as read (or delete)
- Hold-OK-to-quit is a good idea, but i realize it's against your ideals and can be third party
- Fix onscreen keyboard!  It becomes persistent once you use it, making us all avoid it like the plague.  I wouldn't have to open the keyboard just to punch one alphanumeric.

'For the phone dialer, I would like to be able to hit the voice speed dial when the phone keypad is displayed, and call out the numbers to dial "one" "two" "three"...  But that would be too cool.'

Microsoft voice command allows you to do that - "dial 01111 111 1111" will dial that number for you

Two more things:
- WMP library always starts out browsing Main Memory, which I have never once stored media in.  It takes two screen-taps just to get to Storage Card.  This needs to be fixed at some point.
- Ditto for Pictures & Video.  Honestly, I told WM to store my stuff on the storage card, so lets not make me navigate there every time I want to view it.  

I like the fact that the DPad in Pocket IE moves the focus from link to link instead of scrolling the page. But I do agree with Jake that it becomes annoying when you simply want to scroll the page. Why not scroll the page when the DPad is held down instead of pressed? For example, holding down "up" would scroll up by one page.

I'm surprised no one (besides Andy) has brought up the powerful features included with Voice Command.  With my Cingular/HTC 8125 I have perfected the art of one handed use (especially while on the go).  Since my 8125 doesn't have an "OK" button I reassigned the camera button to be the "OK/Close" button.  This is especially great when I have the keyboard open because it is located right at the top.

I can't wait for the HTC TyTN to hit the United States (rumored to be available for Cingular as the 8525 in October).  This would bring a phone with dedicated buttons for Start and OK on a Cingular device making one handed navigation easier.

To my understanding, many of us are using WM5 Phone edition devices as "phones" - that being said, we'd like to use it in right (or left) hand only. Since the device typically has much more functions than plain phone this makes it difficult to design (or use) it completely one-handed.

IMHO : the best way to do this would be that everything in OS is tested without stylus near. (That assumes user is able to thumb-press touchscreen though)... I think the most annoying things here are :

1) Moving between many-open programs is too difficult (dynamo,magicbutton,sbp anyone? :) )
2) Little things in the screen do not "respect" a thumb - take an horrible example, SIP. This could be enchanced by having "touch averaging" which learns users thumb size and averages "large inputs" (thumb pressing touchscreen) with that data.
3) ctrl-q (close program or abort or esc) key REALLY should be there. Closing a note application after accidentally opening it saves a empty note, modifying contact and wanting to "undo" changes being impossible and other similar things makes me want to have a key which would escape or abort whatever i was just doing.

OK, lets break the problem down to a narrower scope - I want to be able to use my HTC MDA _as a phone_, one handed.

It is nearly criminal that there is no way to navigate through recent calls using only the directional pad.  every phone in existance for the last 5 years allows you to press TALK, UP/DOWN to scroll through your recent calls.  It is especially frustrating that the dpad does _nothing_ on the "phone" screen.  If you've ever got buttons that do nothing, having them do nearly _anything_ would be an imrovement.  And why does the "phone" screen need a "contacts" softkey? The today screen you just came from has one (and t-mobile default to button1 as contact).  Probably the easiest solution here would be for that softkey to go to recent calls.

And not strictly a one-hand-usage feature, but something related, is the order of notifications.  If I miss a call, and they leave voicemail, the notifications work as a LIFO stack, where I see the voicemail notification, then the missed call notification.  However, when actually using a mobile phone, its common to want to see _which_ call you just missed, before even calling your voicemail.

A few ideas to steal from devices that far outclass yours. Face it, its the way your company has always kept up on the desktop, and its time to do it on the phone.

For task switching, using the start menu is slow. I have to go past stuff I don't want at the top, and I might have stuff open (since I can't close it) that isn't in the MRU in the middle. Solution, steal from the Symbian Series 60 UI. My Nokia 3650 has an app key, that is about the same as your Windows key. When I push it, I get the list of apps to start. However, if I hold it for a second, I get a popup list of running programs in the order I've last used them, which I navigate with the D-pad. Of course, to keep this easy, I nedd a way to prune the list. I like the idea above about holding the OK/close button to close the application for real. I think its time to give up the retarded idea of keeping everything open. Everyone hates it and its one of the first things brought out to bash a WM device.

Phone dialing could be accomplish in a neat way. Ever used a Tapwave Zodiac? Its program launcher used the D-pad to jump to apps or folders that would have more apps in them. Using diagonals, you can go 8 ways. I think with a little imagination you can see a way to dial the phone with that thing. up left = 1, up = 2, up right = 3, left = 4, center push = 5, right = 6, left down = 7, down = 8, down right = 9, and zero you hold the center for a half second and it does that instead of the 5 you get with the quick tap. Full phone dialing from the D-pad, Tada!

I'm a developer for about a year now on WM devices and I carry my trusty Nokia phone because it works. My desk is littered with all manner of WM5 and 2K5 PPC phone devices, yet I RARELY use one for anything but development testing. They are so frustrating that I"d smash one within a week if I had to use it as a phone. The suggestions made would go a LONG way to improving interaction. Speeding them up would do most of the rest. You've got processors with more power than my first computer (a 486), yet it is almost always slower to respond than the version of Windows that was current when I had that computer. A lot of it seems to be related to disgustingly inefficient painting routines, obvious as I watch each element slowly draw on many occassions. Failing to show any sign of recognition of input means I either double tap something and get an unexpected response when it suddenly realized I hit something and responds twice, or I stare at it for several seconds waiting to be convienced it didn't actually read the push and isn't just waiting to feel like responding.

Hi,

There could be an improvemnet that would help a lot.

If we could select easly a number in any program and press the phone button to dial it.

Example:

I would put in the metting description in outlook:

"Meeting with Jonas Tel:9999999"

And when I want to dial it I would select the number with the DPAD and press the phone button. Detectin this was a number the Phone aplication would ask me if I wanted to dial it.

This already happens in the notes section of the programs, but we have to go to the pda open the notes on the apointmnet write tel:9999999 and press enter so that the programa reconizes it as a phone number.

If there was a way of putting this code in the outlook.

It would save a lot of work.

Regards, Jose

It would detect that the

I've had my XV6700 for two days and one handed navigation is my biggest focus.  I downloaded E-TEN dialer that reformatted your dialing screen.  It spread the number buttons out across the screen making them VERY easy to dial using my thumb.  Before, I nearly re-sold the phone on ebay because it was so hard to dial without the stylus.

For me, I disagree with your assumption that one-handed navigation means not tapping the screen.  If buttons could be made bigger (vertically), then my thumb would be able to handle them.  I love the ETEN dialer because my thumb finally is accurate enough.  Using the ETEN dialer, I do not need or want a hardware number pad.

JC

I've had my XV6700 for two days and one handed navigation is my biggest focus.  I downloaded E-TEN dialer that reformatted your dialing screen.  It spread the number buttons out across the screen making them VERY easy to dial using my thumb.  Before, I nearly re-sold the phone on ebay because it was so hard to dial without the stylus.

For me, I disagree with your assumption that one-handed navigation means not tapping the screen.  If buttons could be made bigger (vertically), then my thumb would be able to handle them.  I love the ETEN dialer because my thumb finally is accurate enough.  Using the ETEN dialer, I do not need or want a hardware number pad.

JC

> The biggest of these, in my opinion, is that you can’t change folders in inbox without tapping the dropdown on the upper left corner of the screen.

No idea if its WM5 or Qtek specific but on the Qtek 9100 you can press the Mail button to switch/cycle through the mail folders.

Could you add support for "press-and-hold" actions on the buttons?  This would make it possible to scroll in ie (hold the arrow and after a second or two it starts scrolling in a pre-defined tempo).  Holding the <enter> key could bring up the context menu or a list of running programs, holding the <ok> button closes the app (yes, you _know_ we want it, now please give it to us) etc.

Then make it all user definable.

My main concern with one-handed navigation is phone-dialling, as for most people here, as I could see in the previous comments. Bigger buttons would make it much easier (I don't mind using my thumb as long as I don't have to use the stylus).

It is true, however, that 99% of my calls are made to people in my Contacts list or to numbers I already have in my call list (incoming and outgoing). This means that streamlining my one-handed access to Contacts and to the call history will dramatically improve my experience, rather than focusing on those one or two calls a week for which I have to dial the number.

I remember my iPaq 5450, where there was an HP app that was launched from one of the hardware buttons and allowed me to switch from the currently active apps. That would be great if standard, not as an OEM choice, too.

Mike,

Thanks for bringing this topic up.

The #1 want on my list for OHN would be to bring the alphabet bar into focus in the contact list. Now, when I open Contacts, the first name in my contact list is highlighed. If I press "up" on the dpad, focus jumps past the alphabet bar (don't know what this is really called) to the search text box. If we could bring the alphabet bar into focus, I could use right/left on the dpad to skip from "#ab" to "cde" to ... "xyz", then from there use "down" on the dpad to scroll to the name I'm looking for.

This would make the Contacts MUCH more useable without having to grab the stylus.

My biggest complaint isn't that things can't be done one handed, but that they are too difficult to do that way.

Take moving around in the Settings screens. You can adjust your Connection settings with just one hand, but it takes about 50 button presses to get there.

I have a suggestion for your development team: Take some Pocket PC phones and modify them so that the touchscreen is disabled. Then use them for a couple of weeks.

You'll quickly realize how often you're touching the screen in order to perform common tasks.

On my WM Smartphone, there are sites on which the links are numbered (the mobile version of Gmail is one example.) Pushing that number on the phone's numberpad opens that link.

Please add this functionality to the Pocket PC version of Internet Explorer.

It might be heresy to suggest, but the Samsung SPH-i500 handles one-handed dialing pretty well. Pressing "talk" from the Palm launcher displays the list of recent incoming/outgoing calls. From that point, you can scroll up and down the list, and hit talk to dial the selected number.

Pressing the "address" hardkey brings up the addressbook, at which point you can scroll up/down with the rocker, then hit talk to dial the default number of the selected entry. Not *quite* perfect, but a good start that could be improved with a proper 5-way navigator.

The acid test: can a user driving along a crowded freeway at 70mph pick up the phone and call someone whose number isn't known by memory without taking one hand off the steering wheel or looking away from the road for more than a moment at a time? If the user simply MUST try to hold the phone with the "steering-wheel hand" while navigating menus with the other, the UI has failed.

Suggestion: in addressbook...

* up/down moves one entry at a time

* right/left moves one screen at a time

* double-pressing the navigator (holding it in after the second press) dials the contact's default phone number after a moment's pause, but aborts and hangs up if the button is released before the phone gives the vibrator a little kick ~500msec later to confirm it. Rapidly pressing the button 3 or more times aborts dialing and gives a short-long vibrate feedback.

* pressing the navigator displays the available numbers for the contact, with the default number listed first, and a menu option at the end to return to the contact list. Pressing and holding the navigator initiates dialing, but aborts unless the navigator is pressed for ~500msec (a prefs setting), and gives a little vibrator kick to confirm and let the user know dialing is in progress and it's ok to let go of the button. The same "ohshit" gesture applies... rapidly pressing the button 3 or more times aborts dialing and gives a short-long vibrate feedback.

* left from the contact's number list returns to the list of contacts. right from the contact's number list jumps to the next contact in the list. right-right jumps to the previous contact in the list (handles use case where the user got trigger-happy (or drove over a bump in the road) and hit the button one contact early or late.


Microsoft REALLY needs to learn that menus are nice for soccer moms, but gestures are a good thing to have as a preference option for advanced users. Accommodate the nontechnical users if you must, but leave plenty of opportunities for advanced users willing to spend time learning the shortcuts to leapfrog over those users and move to the next level.

Just two buttons on the side (pressable by the forefinger and middle finger) can be overloaded and serve dozens of purposes... things like, "Press and hold A, press B twice and hold it after the last press, release A, release B". Just don't forget the all-important "ohshit gesture"™ that ALWAYS cancels an action just launched, as well as the equally-important "nevermind, ignore this" gesture. Say, pressing and holding "B", while rapidly pressing "A" four or more times in a row ("ohshit"), or pressing and holding both "A" and "B", pressing the 5-way nav button twice (holding it after the second press), releasing A and B, then releasing the 5-way nav (the "nevermind, I made a mistake so ignore this" gesture).

Small thing.  When navigating in Outlook one-handed, positioning in the Inbox email list is a pain.  It starts where you left it instead of at the top of the list which is fine, but how do you then get to the top of the list?  When I scroll up it gets to the top and jumps back to the bottom of the list.  This is annoying when trying to navigate one-handed.  Is there a way to do that or can I add it to the wish list?

Thanks for the great topic -

I agree 100% that the folder drop-down in the messaging (and file explorer) are the biggest hassle.  But I also find some hassles with 5-way in the PIMs and in PIE.

Part of that might be that I'm used to the 5-way on older Treos, but basically I would like to see some differentiation between left and right and up and down a la Blazer.

That said - one thing that is *wonderful* is holding down the center button as a stand-in for holding down the stylus on the screen.  Love that.

For me, one handed navigation means I can use the phone and maybe the media player with one hand. the other PDA-esque stuff I can slow down and stylus my way around.

Included in using the phone part of the PPC one-handed is of course that the contacts list and the phone have to be smoothly working together and navigable.

More detailed things like adjusting system settings or setting the time or whatever I don't mind using the stylus for.

The physically perfect device for me would be like the BenQ P50 except a bit slimmer and with WM5 PPC running on it. The small QWERTY keypad + numeric pad is wonderful to have.

the friendliest one handed device I have seen so far was Palm Treo Palm OS based. If you step back to think about how it does that- it is has very little to do with OS or qwerty, but rather with very efficient use of dpad and ESC and "TAB" buttons. I think I would ask for 3 things to make future wm6 devices friendlier -
1. esc button - go back from control or from app to root menu
2. focus tab button- cycle focus between upper bar (d-pad should work there as well)- to application main window - and to menu bar in the lowest part of screen.
3.software input API: giving user possibility to navigate to any element in application window by using d-pad and drill into submenus / lists / buttons by pushing central button/joystick.

From a developer's perspective one handed navigation could be supported in a more consistent way if there was a concept of "visible focus" (e.g. a border highlighting the focused control) as this is the case e.g. on Windows XP.

Over the years of using Pocket PCs I got use to using the stylus, but as the Pocket PC phone became more usable, the need for one handed operation became more apparent. Here are some of my comments regarding Windows Mobile and one handed navigation:

Phone Dialer - I personally do not need a hardware based keypad to use the telephone. I use my thumb with the T-Mobile phone dialer. Microsoft should not force vendors to provide a hardware based keypad. The market should decide. Contrary to some posts, I find the HTC Smart Dialing 2.2 utility quite useful, it does recognize keypad characters and allows me to scroll through contact phone numbers. However there is still room for improvement like using the left D-Pad to backspace when you are using the keypad.

WM5 soft key hardware buttons - It looks like a lot of folks remap the top two hardware buttons for Start and OK. Check out Smartskey on xda-developers, it remaps the soft key hardware buttons tap and hold functionality to Start and OK. The OK functionality also allows you to configure applications to stay open, otherwise it attempts to shut them down.
Pocket IE - The default mode is not very friendly. With the addition of Smartskey and MultiIE the volume button to scroll block at a time and MultiIE keeps the up and down D-Pad for link to link scrolling. You have the best of both worlds and tabbed browsing.

Pocket Outlook - I agree with most comments that the inability to scroll through mailbox folders is limiting, however you can scroll to the last folder accessed, across mail providers by moving backwards or forward from the top or bottom of the folder you are viewing. Helpful but not a complete solution.
Menu Items - I think it is also important for application developers to be aware of where they place items in menus to limit the number of scroll actions. I love the delete being at the top of Pocket Outlook's menu, on the other side of the coin I hate that ActiveSync placed Connect via Bluetooth at the bottom, requiring an extra scroll. Configurable menus would be great.

Task Manager - My biggest complaint is the lack of a one handed Alt-Tab implementation. I agree with the comments made that using the start menu to navigate through active application is flawed. I use Omega One's Battery Pro and with the latest version it would have been nice for them to implement a one handed task switching capability.

I'd have to agree with Steve. The biggest aid I've come accross to one handed navigation is SmartsKey and I would say that would be my choice of solving the issue - have a two-mode button for the soft keys in the same way as the voice command/record button.

I don't want too many buttons on my device (unless hidden like a slide out keyboad etc) as a) it spoils the look of the device and b) it just gives me more things to accidentally press when I'm trying to get the phone out of my pocket.  I'm much more into making the buttons that I do have multifunctional.

I do think it would perhaps be useful to have a last ditch 'virtual mouse' mode for those apps which just don't conform... Perhaps you could add an option to the context menu which is shown when you press and hold the d-pad action button. This menu option would activate the virtual mouse which would show a cursor you could move around and the next press of the action button would simulate a tap at the location of the cursor? This final press could also turn off the virtual mouse mode...

One sort of related gripe I have is the Start menu... I would love to see this laid out more like the tradition Windows start menu with cascading layout. This could also show the Task list and allow you to switch and close tasks (ala SmallMenu Plus).

I really miss the T9 SIP from my HTC Magician now I have a ETEN ppc phone.

It is a lot more anoying to use a stylus on the keyboard SIP, particularly as the screen alignment on my device is not very accurate even with a stylus.

Also, the Send button is next to the Ctrl and Space keys.  I sometimes accidently hit Ctrl instead of Shift, want to turn off the sticky Ctrl key, miss and hit Send half way through my message!  

Changing the right soft key to Cancel Send whilst sending a message gives the user a chance to stop this.  

This is a really neat dicussion, and I am glad that the WM team is looking at it.

In some respects, I believe that many things were already discussed here and so I will endavor not to remention them, however, there are some things that play into one handed use that has not been spoken about. Please understand, I speak mainly from a PalmOS perspective, but have more than my fair share of WM play over the years.

On the today screen:
There is a program on the PalmOS called TMP that allows one to basically navigate via a combination of up/down, left/right, and focus/tap/hold elements. If the today screen could be modified such that one could focus onto a specific plugin via a press+hold of the center button, and then after it is focused onto, it would be selectable to do various tasks (go forward a few events, click on a button for other functionality, etc.). One would then press+hold the center nav to restore the screen to normal use, or to move to another plugin. That would mean a rewriting of some plugins, but if a standard feature, it would pull some people in.

Start menu:
For those devices with a dedicated start menu button, emphasize this usage by allowing a press and hold of that button to move the focus from the start button to the task bar. Then the 5way could be used to select wireless status items, clock, or close a program. Again, some enhancemnts that modify the task bar would have to be rewritten for this, but it would increase the one-handhed use.

Within programs:
Have a standard where all programs are completly one handed within menus and lists. For apps with pages (readers, web, etc), given an ability to focus on the reading area and then allow for specific 5way usability there, but then the option of going to a stylus for going outside of that scroll frame.

Ballons and alert messages:
Should always be navigable one handed, and since WM also has an OK button, shuold also be able to use that for OK, and one of the other buttons to map to a ESC/Cancel feature.

I was "interrupted" with work and dang near lost my train of thought, but this is a great thread that I shall be keeping an eye on for the duration of the day

>My first assumption is that when you say
>“I want one hand navigation”
>what you’re really saying is,
>“I don’t want to have to tap the screen.”

Not necessarily. For me, one hand navigation also applies to touch screens, meaning "I want to use an application or navigate by using my thumb".

As a first step, this means larger buttons. There are good examples for this, such as navigation software, or some industrial HMI's.

But it goes far beyond that, e.g., see the work of Microsoft Research, ftp://ftp.cs.umd.edu/pub/hcil/Reports-Abstracts-Bibliography/2004-37html/AppLensLaunchTile.htm

Stop by the blog and provide your input. From the Windows Mobile Team blog : I&amp;rsquo;ve really enjoyed

I agree that the HP hw6xxx series formfactor works well, I still feel that a jog wheel (or a rubber sealed rocker pad may be better) with the following attributes. a. up/dn navigation b. push = action c. push/hold = activates a context based action menu (eg switch apps or other activities relating to current activity) any device that is a normal PPC form factor does not lend itself to OHN without a great rist of dropping the device. PPCPE form factor does this better because of the dial pad (Gives you something to hold on to lesser risk of dropping deivce.

To be honest the Palm OS Treo has almost perfected this. I think it would be a great idea for you to smuggle in a Treo 650 or 700p for a week and see how they manage it.  

First - every screen element needs to be selectable from the navigator or soft keys. Use a menu button, center button, space key etc... to move from one part, such as the title bar to the main section of the screen.
2nd - Use a Virtual cursor to highlight the selected screen elements.
3rd - Pressing up or down on the the dpad moves to the next screen item within the current navigation area, pressing left or right moves you to the next navigation area.  

I know Solitaire is a just a throw-in app, but I do find it frustrating that there is no way to play it without tapping the screen. I think it serves as a good example of how little thought was really put into a "one-handed" experience when designing WM5 for PPCPE devices.  Using the virtual cursor, like Palm does solves many of the built in issues with apps.

I was drawn to this discussion with the hope that it would be REALLY 'outside the box'.  Voice command is probably the most flexible mobile device interface.  Hard buttons are so 1960's, guys.  Remember the Clint Eastwood movie "Firefox"?  Let's get to work on some mind control devices!

But think about it: the main barrier with the current form factor - and the way the human hand holds it - is that the thumb is too fat.  So change the thumb by outfitting it with a 'finger cot' that enables more precise targeting.  It could even be the next big fashion thing.  

Also, hold your device right now...  Certainly someone must have the vision to be experimenting with a way to utilize input more effectively from the other four fingers?  The index or middle finger can easily wrap around and operate the up/down arrows on a Treo.  

Ever seen a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006GC5D8/103-4087128-9235815">finger exerciser</a>?  Combine this input method on the edge of a device with a system like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenotype">stenotype</a> and you can open a lot of doors.  It doesn't necessarily need the entire alphabet.  A universal set of navigation commands would be a great start.  

Lightly grab one wrist and wiggle the fingers on that hand.  The tendons for each finger are aligned in sequence across the wrist.  Someone please invent a Bluetooth bracelet (or two) to translate subtle finger motion into commands.  

I'm not the first person to think of these things, and that's probably part of the problem.  Microsoft or HTC didn't think of it first, and someone else holds the patent already.  Come on... let's get outside the box already!  I'm sick of seeing all these devices that flip and slide to reveal rows of hard buttons.

And why must a device be rectangular?  Pocket PCs don't have to fit it your pocket anymore than laptops have to fit on your lap.  Jeesh, technology moves so fast but humans adapt soooo slow...

I think it is important to not break two handed navigation when you improve one handed navigation.  I would argue that this is just what WM5 did.  I really dislike that there is now a second level of tapping necessary to get to most functionality now in WM5 applications.  Where we used to have a nice row of buttons on the bottom with the most common used functions, we now get two and only two choices.

Take PocketBible 3 (from Laridian) for an example).  The operations now are split between "View" and "Edit", and the worse yet, the split is totally arbitrary.  Most stuff under them have little to do with editing or viewing.  Worse yet, some applications have adapted having another row of buttons, wasting even more valuable screen real estate, to make up for it.  Take Resco File Explorer as an example.  The second row of buttons used to be turned on and off by a single tap on a button on the menu bar.  Now it takes three taps to do it.

I think you need to realize that there are activities that are inherently more convenient as one hand activities, and others that are more convenient as two handed operations.  Each should be optimized for its appropriate number of hands.

Making a phone call, checking messages, looking up an appointment or phone number, are all things that are likely to be done with the phone in one hand, and a steering wheel, pencil, or computer keyboard in the other.

Other activities like playing games, using a calcualter, writing a long text document, etc., browsing web pages, need to be optimized for two hand use, and for screen real estate usage.  Unless a page is optimized for mobile devices, the WM5 link-to-link tabbing is pretty useless if you're trying to scroll down to the bottom of a page with 50 or more links (try visiting cnn.com sometime).

I realize that philosophically, you don't like the idea of having two "look and feels".  My feeling is that that's just tough.  Different activities require having different ways of interacting with the device.  Having the old WM2003SE row of buttons needn't prelude using the soft keys.  Let them be bound to the first two menu items.  Maybe even let the user decide which interface each program has.  It doesn't take that much effort for developers to provide two menu arrangements.

The problem with Windows Mobile apps is that the experience has not been designed for mobile usage.  Rather, the office apps, designed for a big screen were shrunk.  Pocket Outlook is the worst as that is almost impossible to use in a mobile way and is the mobile app you live in.

Compare Pocket Outlook to the BlackBerry experience.

* All accounts are collapsed from the hierarchy to a message stream. In outlook it is /account/folder.  
* Received and sent items are in the stream
* Messages display the conversation view (esp for SMS and PIN Messaging)

One hand navigation obviously helps but more importantly they have broken out of the hierachical view. I changed from Windows Mobile to RIM because on RIM I saw how much nicer it was to use and experience designed for mobile use.  One handed nav is mandatory.  Clever context menu's should delight the end user as the action they want to do is directly available.

I'm so glad it appears the Windows Mobile team are starting to get it.

I think one handed nav for everything is mandatory.  The only conditions where I would tolerate a two-handed experience are related to "enjoyment" applications or experiences where you are likely to have my full attention (uni-tasking  vs. multi-tasking).

The Blackberry navigation system and what I believe is the single biggest advantage they have  over all devices which is their clickwheel, easily allow me to navigate, select, review and move to next without involving both hands.  It seems that the only time I need my "other hand" is when I type.

Cheers,

Brian

George,

Visit my website (non related to technology!) and leave me your e-mail address on my forum board.  I can assist you with the T9 SIP.

www.aussiechangjiang.com

Regards
Chris.

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Have you&amp;nbsp;ever wanted to give some input into developments on technology you love and use? Well, here is your chance, Microsoft's Mobile Dev&amp;nbsp;Team&amp;nbsp;wants to talk about One Hand Navigation! &amp;quot;I&amp;rsquo;ve really enjoyed

I think some of the issue is discoverability, not missing functionality.

I have an HP ipaq 6515 and I like the way it does dialing. Yes, you can dial on the touchpad OR you can simply use the number pad on the key board - it automatically switches from character to numbers when in Phone mode.

On the "one-hand" approach, the biggest issue I have (which is Hardware related) is not finding the OK shortcut button. I finally found it on my 6515 by hitting the "function" button and then clicking the backspace. Not quite one-handed but at least I can do it all from the keyboard without having to flip up the screen guard.

* definetly fix the Outlook issue
* better 1-handed IE browsing. there needs to be a better way to get to the address bar.
* FWD/BACK on the dpad?
* touch screen button to cycle display mode

actually on the display mode issue, the best solution would be some way to configure each website in your favorites to always open in one-column or normal view.

I really wish the ability to dial a number from a calendar entry was possible.  I know there are people other than me who have daily/weekly teleconferences that have meet-me--lines listed in their appointmenet's "Location" field. Right now, getting the phone to dial that number is very painful with one or two hands.

The Smartphone version does this pretty well.

Personally i don't mind the one-handed navigation is done at the button or on screen. At the end it is still a one handed operation without pulling out the stylus.

However the screen size tells how easy to operate on screen. I have a gigabyte gsmart-i (2.4') and asus a236 (3.5'). I must say at 2.4' the only touchable buttons are the icon, the dialer and the media player. Even the calculator buttons are too small. At 3.5', things are changed with most of the operation can be done by touching (although the screen is sometimes too large for comfortable one-handed operation).

For WM5, It is not quite a perfect one-handed navigation experience. Sometimes pulling the stylus is the only choice. Sometimes can be more friender and natural (maybe simply like navigating icon from upper left to bottom right I have moving my finger and press downs & rights. Why not just hold down right button and it will be eventually there?)

My suggestion:
1. Fix above issues.
2. All built-in software keyboard input must use stylus. Can you add large button input such as T9 SIP?

For me the biggest navigation failure in Windows Mobile 5 is the Media Player Library. YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE BACK BUTTON ONE HANDED!!  You can select items and open them, but you can't go back. The Directional pad's left button has no function in this view, why doesn't it let you navigate back in the library tree?  This to me is the most obvious and idiotic omission for Windows Mobile in terms of one handed usage.

OK, this is what definitely need improvement. The access control to pda functions and the access control to the phone functions must be segregated. I want to protect my data with a password but I hate to be forced to enter my password over and over again just to make a phonecall.

HI,

It would be nice to have international support when your dial.

For accented caracters.

Also it would be nice to search for contacts and for names at the same time when we press the numbers on screen.

In my opinion, 1-handed nav should be assisted by a more advanced rocker / wheel setup. Consider this button layout:

[A] [WWWWWWW] [B]

[A] = Next control. It essentially does Tab.

[B] = Previous control. It does shift+tab

[WWWWWW] would be the pressable wheel.

This would work pretty well at 1-handed navigation if situated on the side of the device. You could access every control, and the wheel could perform context-sensitive selection and scrolling tasks for each control.

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Dear Mike Calligaro,


First I would like to mention that I'm a owner of a Treo650 and former owner of a Treo600. I sincerely do not understand why it is imposible to mimick the good behavior of a Treo600/650.

I know multitasking is one of the big advantages from Windows mobile over the palm device, but the performance hit and usability are serious drawbacks.

try to make the applications work with the 5way navigation button and try to understand that 1 button can incorporate numerous functions in different screens of situation in one screen.

For a better understanding of effeciency of buttons and the use of devices you can also take a peek at B&O Audio/Visual equipement. They are one of the few in this world to make a truly good remote control for all of their devices.

a quick question wich all of my WM-device-customers have:
"Why can't I simply close an application?"
"Why is WM so slow compared to my old agenda?"

solve the problem of one-hand Navigation with the above two questions in mind.

Greetings Chris

I totally agree with Adam Lein - I could handle most of my normal use one-handed except for browsing (specifically going back in the library) in Media Player which was very annoying. If this were just improved I'd have had my near-perfect all in one device with my QTek S100. As it is I've just gone back to smartphone, a main driver being the easy one-hand operation.

WM5 is headed in the right direction. It's better than WM2003SE and better than the UIQ P910 I had before. But there's a long way to go!!

I have to agree with andy (25th Aug):

WMP:
- WMP needs to be sorting, full stop. It's one of the worst one handed applications I've had to use.
- Library needs left dpad to go Back. The DPad should be used more often to allow navigation and big buttons would allow easy access to the standard play/pause/prev/next/stop buttons.
- More on screen info would be useful or maybe show the playlist and current data in separate panels.
- WMP library always starts out browsing Main Memory, which I have never once stored media in.  It takes two screen-taps just to get to Storage Card.  This needs to be fixed at some point. Same for Pictures & Video.
- I told WM to store my stuff on the storage card, so lets not make me navigate there every time I want to view it.

Phone:
- I'd rather it started on Recent Calls when I press the CALL key (like normal mobiles do).
- BIG STEP BACKWARD: someone removed the left/right navigation!! It used to allow you to go through: Speed Dials < Keypad > Recent Calls.
- I think bigger buttons would be better (like when entering the PIN) but SmartDial is also useful. How about a semi-transparent keypad where up/down on the DPad allows you to scroll through the SmartDial list.
- Oh and why is Contacts on the Right Today screen softkey but on the Left in the Phone app??
- Bigger dialler buttons again: The buttons on the right could be removed totally if you made better use of the softkeys (backspace/Contacts) and the DPad (Recent calls, Speed Dial) and CALL (CALL).

Contacts
- Up/Down moves one entry at a time.
- Left/Right moves through the alphabet bar (which could be 'stuck' at the top). Phones with no keyboard/keypad could really benefit from this one. (Modified version of Jeff's idea).
- Hitting CALL button on a contact's number brings up the phone app - BUT doesn't dial the number - WHY?
- Hitting CALL on a contact (as apposed to selecting the contact) should also just dial the default number.

PIE
- Up/Down for scrolling
- Left/Right to scroll through the links (on the current screen - change focus to the top link when the user scrolls up/down).

Today Screen
- How many add-ons are there that add a tabbed shortcut item to the today screen. Maybe it should be standard.
- And why does the Smartphone have a recently used applet and the Pocket PC doesn't!!!!! I really don't understand this one.
- BIG ISSUE: The tabbed shortcut applets I've used didn't allow the use of the dpad to select a shortcut. Please, make it so.

Messaging & File Browser
- How about Left/Right switching between Messages View and Folders View. This would allow for easier message navigation.
   
Others:
- Hold OK to quit. What a great idea! (Forget 'your ideals', how about OURS :-)
- Fix onscreen keyboard!  It becomes persistent once you use it, making us all avoid it like the plague.  I wouldn't have to open the keyboard just to punch one alphanumeric.
- A thumb-board sized keyboard. Users could choose which one they prefer. These keyboard updates would be useful if I move from the K-Jam to a slimmer version like the JAMin.
- So on the TyTN we now have 2 softkeys (Calendar and Contacts), PIE, Messages, Start, OK, CALL (Phone app), END (Back to Today Screen). The last one may not be true but it's perfectly suited to the job - how about it?


Rant:
- ARRRHHH: Why can't I get to the 'Task Manager' easily!!!!!! Ties into the 'Moving between open apps is too difficult' and also the how do I actually Exit an application.
- I have mapped the 2 top buttons to Start and OK and it makes such a difference.
- The TyTN finally has dedicated buttons plus the PIE and Messages buttons. Can't wait!!!
- Yes I want the Smartphone ease of use with the power of the touch screen. When MS finally combines them WM will rock!
- I want a 320*320 screen which gives you the best of the current Portrait/Landscape phones and leaves more space for browsing Internet/Messages. Also means you get normal screen plus the on screen keyboard. I think my real issue here is that it's too difficult to browse the Internet on the small screen but I don't want to carry arount the big PDA type system like the Exec/JASJAR.
- I like the Treo layout but the antenna and the thickness were a BIG put-off. Maybe the 750v sorts this. More real-estate would be the next move (320*320 - Yes like the Palm version).
- Oh and how about actually telling you about missed calls on the Today Screen like the New Messages.
- And if the phone wakes up due to a notification popup, don't make the touch screen accessible until I've pressed a softkey to unlock it. It's amazing how many times this ends up opening applications.
- I don't mind using my thumb on the screen, this should be included in the One-Handed category.
- Numbered options would make better use of hardware keyboard/keypad.
- All buttons should be configurable and allow for Press And Hold options as well.

Matthew says:
- "My Nokia 3650 has an app key, that is about the same as your Windows key. When I push it, I get the list of apps to start. However, if I hold it for a second, I get a popup list of running programs in the order I've last used them" - OH YES - That's the fix!!
- "You've got processors with more power than my first computer (a 486), yet it is almost always slower to respond than the version of Windows that was current when I had that computer." - Very true, why is that the case??
- Gestures!!!


Thanks all - for now!

I am using MDA vario. Dialing using the touchpad is not the biggest issue when the buttons are a bit larger and it response is adjustable to finger navigation. When using your finger instead of a stylus (which can probably be detected, because the touched surface is bigger), it should react a bit different. Besides having the buttons more visible states (down and click) which is anyway a good thing to have, I would suggest that hand operation does not trigger on the on_key_ up event but after a short adjustable timeout when pressing the button (key_down). This way, the finger is allowed to 'rest' a bit on the surface. The delay should be adjustable to match the users personal response times.

Switching between applications is a whole lot different. I installed a tool that gave me the cold-switch back; very usefull for a quick switch. Related to that is my biggest problem with one hand operation; closing programs. This is implemented inconsistent (sometimes the close button is in bottom, sometimes on top) and it should be possible to use hardware buttons for it. Now, they actualy don't close. That can be handy, but also very anoying. Make a button close an app when pressed for a longer time. (again fot this I use another seperate tool).

Mike,

Firstly, thanks for the thread and for taking our suggestions to the WM teams. When you say next release what do you mean? Are we looking at a possible AKU or WM6? WM6 would be a bit harsh :(

Ahmed.