BlackJacks, Treos, and the Problems with Styli

This past weekend I picked up a Samsung BlackJack to replace my Treo. The BlackJack promised a significantly slimmer form factor, faster connection speeds, and well, better style than the blocky, toy-like Treo. I wasn't disappointed in any of these areas, but the real surprise to me was the fact that I did not miss the Treo's stylus at all. A stylus seems like such a good idea, especially in a mobile device. It would be nearly impossible to construct a true mobile mouse and a decent-sized trackball would require additional physical space on a device, so the combination of a stylus and a touchscreen seems like a great way to allow a mobile device to function like a full-size computer. The problem is that this leads to suboptimal user interface design. The first aspect of this is that device operation becomes a two-handed activity – one hand to hold the device, and the other hand to hold the stylus. This, as BlackBerry users know, is nowhere near as convenient as a side scrollwheel which can be operated by the thumb of the same hand that is holding the device.

The second aspect of this is that the software begins to behave as though this is OK. In other words, menus do not have a well-designed tab order, and some functions are completely inaccessible except through the stylus. The net result is that using the Treo is frustrating, confusing, and worst of all, slow, while using the BlackJack is straightforward and fast.

With all the negative buzz I had heard about Windows Mobile Edition, I was prepared to hate it. However, it seems that Samsung has implemented it reasonably well and the one-handed accessibility of all functions makes the device significantly more usable for email as well as most other mobile applications. I am still waiting to discover more of its quirks over time, but so far it looks very, very good.