review

Hospedia hospital TV – user journey fail

November 13, 2011 in All posts, review

My little boy is needing a few nights in hospital and in order to make it marginally more bearable, I’ve been made to purchase some pay-per-view TV.

Saving the fact that we’re already on the back foot because a) we’re here against our will, and b) the very notion of paying to watch Strictly Come Dancing fills me with hatred, I kinda have to go through this experience or the hospital room is devoid of any kind of entertainment (other than listening to my son fart his way through an unfair regime of laxatives and antibiotics).

Actually, I think I’d prefer that to Strictly. Anyway.

Prelude

Not sure if you’ve ever seen these TV units in hospitals, but they are attached to large swing-arms that can fold away into a corner or expanded out, Rise-Of-The-Robots style, to loom over the head of whichever unsuspecting patient you choose. I’ve avoided them in the past because they look to be a massive rip-off. Are my instincts right? Read on!

p.s: sorry about the cameraphone pic quality.

Step 1: the main menu

Not a great start. It’s lurid, and the messages all kinda jostle for position. Some of them flash on & off. It’s all made worse by the crap screen quality.

Ok, I’m going to be constructive for a mo:

1. Don’t say “press ‘RENT the Telly’ when the button doesn’t ACTUALLY SAY THAT (it says ‘Rent Telly + Films’)
2. Also, ‘Telly’ is fucking awful. Call it ‘TV’ or ‘Televison’. I appreciate this is my own preference, though.
3. Choose lead caps, or don’t. Don’t mix the two.
4. Bloody awful hierarchy in terms of which button is the one to press. ‘Operator’ is the biggest one (and green, which is the ‘go’ signal)

Step 2: ‘RENT the Telly’

Here we are, then – RENTING the Telly:

So yeah, I’ll take that 2hr bundle right there! I know they do vending machines with prepay cards in them, but dammit: I’m in a hurry to see bloody Strictly (apparently).

Step 4: Not being allowed the bundle

Oh:

I didn’t even know I had to credit my account first…thought it was kinda ‘choose what you want, then pay’ kinda arrangement. Silly me. Off we go to ‘other services’

Step 5: other services

Um. Right. So…

Again with the key points:

1. Still no hierarchy – in fact, it’s extra confused this time, with different colourschemes. 3x black menu options (so are they all kinda linked?), 2x blue ones, a couple of light green ones, a couple of dark green…BLEURGH.
2. It’s completely unclear what to do. Clicking ‘TV/Telly’ seems like the right choice…
3. Anyone else find the “We can’t get you out of here, but we can give you FREE CALLS” a bit…well, inappropriate? Just a bit?

Step 6: Confirm who you are

So, I did this screenshot after confirming that I wasn’t Mrs J Beneite (presumably the previous patient). I then went through the awkward motions of entering my name:

Step 7: Choose my overpriced bundle!

Right? So where’s my ’2hrs for £1′ bundle? Oh yes. It’s NOT THERE. But feel free to, y’know, go for one of the more hideously expensive options.

I went and got a £5 prepay card in the end. The last annoying thing? All the way through my delightful 2hr bundle, I was constantly bugged with ‘You have a message!” in the system’s twee little inbox thing.

Conclusions

This dodgy user experience will be affecting their conversion – there’s no doubt in my mind. These units need a lot of work to make them better, key points being:

• Annoyingly complex for someone who may well be recovering from some major medical emergency and just wants to chill out
• Zero thought for message and CTA hierarchy
• Zero thought r.e colour combinations, and how they might look on a terrible quality TV such as this
• Clearly designed by someone in an office who’s never been to hospital
• A massive ripoff

You suck, Hospedia.

Tuff Luv Acer Iconia case: re-review!

November 12, 2011 in All posts, review

So, after posting my review of the Tuff Luv A500 case, their director got in touch with me: it seems I was sent the wrong one by the retailer. Tuff Luv very kindly sent me the proper one to review – so here we go!

In typical fashion the case is, of course, made very well. The materials are great quality and the finish is good. This time, being the proper unit, the Acer A500 fits in it very snugly – no excess movement or slipping. All the controls are accessible, and all the ports & camera are usable whilst the tablet is in the case. These really were the main problems with the other (incorrect) case: the controls were obscured and the tablet moved too much.

There is just one minor niggle. When you open the case to put the tablet in, you have to put it in upside down. Of course, the screen orientation rotates – but it means the on/off switch is at the bottom (used to wake/sleep the tablet), along with the headphone jack slot and the camera. Just seems a bit strange to have gone to all the effort to create such a nice accessory, and then to forget this simple but obvious aspect.

That said, I’m particularly impressed by Tuff Luv’s interest & response to my initial review. Great social engagement like that means that, where before I’d have said “They’re alright…could do better”, I’m now firmly on the promoter side. Nice one!

My new conclusion? Great case. Buy it.

Tuff Luv case for HTC Desire Z

November 7, 2011 in All posts, review

Not wanting to break the habit of a lifetime, I’m on another review rampage – this time, I’m looking at the Tuff Luv HTC Desire Z case.

I’ve tried a couple of cases for the regular HTC Desire (one for 99p from eBay, and another much better quality Tuff Luv one) – but this one is designed specifically for the Desire Z’s flip-out keyboard layout.

How did it get on? To summarise in some neat bullet points!

Pros:

• As with all Tuff Luv goods, the build quality is excellent: the leather is soft but hard-wearing, and the stitching/finish is top notch
• The Desire Z fits really snugly into the case: there’s no movement or slippage
• The plastic interior cover actually helps with typing: the Z is held in via a piece of clear plastic that sits on top of the slideout keyboard – and this plastic cover actually helps with typing as it stops your fingers slipping across buttons
• Good for essential cards & money: this case can also double as a wallet, with space for a couple of cards and a pocket for notes

• Although it takes cards, there’s no room for coins.
• If the phone rings, it’s difficult to answer quickly: it’s quite a job to get into the case quickly if your phone’s ringing
• The case gets in the way of your face: if you do manage to get it open, you can then take the call…but you look like this:

Cowhide moustache, anyone?

So, overall, there’s a pattern emerging. Tuff Luv are great quality manufacturers…but they sometimes lack foresight in terms of practical usage. However, if you’re not bothered about having a temporary cowhide moustache each time your answer the phone – I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I want a Sensation next, so expect a Sensation case review soon.

Battlefield 3: EA have outdone themselves

October 29, 2011 in All posts, review

Apologies for the long post.

There’s something wrong with me.

On one hand, all I want is an easy life: I try & do well, keep everyone happy, and have a laugh at the same time. I like to think I succeed, too – especially in terms of having a laugh.

However, on the other hand, I seem to introduce factors into my life that grate directly against my desire for simplicity. Case in point? Electronic Arts PC games.

I KEEP on letting them in. And when they get in, they then run around like coked-up Grainger Games employees – causing havoc, insulting my family and generally being complete pricks.

The reason I consistently open the door is because I apparently suffer from a sort of…rose-tinted view of the past, where EA released games like Populous, Desert Strike (well, the first two at least), and the original Wing Commander series. The problems started – for me, at least – with the Battlefield series.

The BF series of first-person shooters are, in my view, pretty good in terms of team-play, chaos and general hilarity. Right from the first instalment (BF 1942), it essentially got better and better in terms of gameplay & slick graphics. However.

And it’s a big ‘HOWEVER’.

The technical execution of the BF series is mired in complaints, particularly in terms of connectivity issues, menu UI and general bugs/hacks – all of which fall squarely into the QA (Quality Assurance) category. I personally have been quite lucky in the past: my purchases have had a few quirks and bugs, but nothing major to render the game unplayable. My esteemed friend, colleague and ever-sure Medic Novamethod has, on the other hand, had pretty much every technical issue under the sun. And now, it seems, it’s my turn with the latest version – Battlefield 3.

So, enough of my tiring diatribe. Here’s what’s happened:

1. I wanted to preorder BF3. So I went onto EA’s site, logged in, and was instantly told I had to download ‘Origin’. This, presumably, is the next reincarnation of EA’s short-lived download manager from a few years ago – and a direct competitor to Valve’s Steam platform. Fine. I’d rather not have yet another bit of software to install, but I go ahead and get Origin in place, preorder the game, and wait for the launch date.
   
   
   
2. On the day, I get downloading the game files and install it. We’re nearly there! I can almost taste the cordite.
3. After an apparently hassle-free installation, I double click the BF3 icon on the desktop. It loads Origin, and then loads my browser…eh? I’m taken to a kind of launch screen for BF3. So after being made to install Origin as a content delivery platform, I’m now forced to launch my games through my browser. Right.
4. I click the button to launch Single Player (I’m clearly a loner). I’m then told I must install a browser plugin
   
   
   
5. With no other option, I install the plugin. Finally! Maybe I can play the damn game?
6. I’m loading! Even with an Intel quadcore CPU, 4gb RAM + Radeon 5970…just loading the EA intro takes near to a minute.
7. We’re treated to the trademark EA / DICE bookend animation. As usual, it’s not skippable. It’s not ever skippable, even after seeing it for the first time (when it’s quite interesting), it’s never skippable. The EA brand is drilled into you regardless of whether you want to see it or not.
8. I’m now at the main menu (this has taken nearly 5 minutes). I start customising my controls – at least this bit seems relatively painless, but we’re still treated to some slightly shit UI niggles whereby:
• You can’t scroll up & down the controls list using the mousewheel. There’re a lot of controls, so this just seems sensible?
• When you select a control to edit and bind a new key to it, it doesn’t ‘remember’ where you were in the list: it moves your view to having the newly-bound key at the bottom. This is so minor, but so stupid.
9. I finally start loading the game for my first play. Away we go, annnnd…I’m  plunged into the action, shooting terrorists on a train – and it’s awesome. Bullets fly, graphics are slick, train chairs explode in chunks of fabric and dust. Here’s a door with a SHOTGUN wedged in it: the game prompts me to pick it up. So I press my newly-bound ‘interact’ key…and nothing. Not a sausage. Certainly not a shotgun. It won’t pick it up. I fumble around for 3 full minutes pressing various keys until finally, somehow, I apparently pick it up. Then, at the next stage, I’m told to ‘jump out’ the window. Pressing my jump button just boings me around. Apparently i need to press the mythical ‘interact’ key again. So another 30 seconds of finding whichever button did it for the shotgun. Then I’m told to jump using [SPACE] from carriage to carriage. But my jump key isn’t [SPACE]. It’s RMB (don’t laugh; that’s been my config since Quake). I die, falling from a moving train carriage.
10. So far, so shit. Similar things to the above occur on the next level where I’m meant to pick up a missile launcher…using some key that doesn’t actually exist. The ONLY way I manage to pick it up? By being shot by a sniper whilst STANDING OVER the missile launched, and then the game reloading me – magically carrying the new weapon.
11. I know – sod Single Player: I’m in this for the online bloodshed! YEAH. I go back to the browser, and click the ‘multiplayer’ button. Using the server browser, I find a server. It’s password protected, though…the server browser doesn’t have a ‘password protected’ filter option. I find one WITHOUT a password – here we go!
12. …aaand no. ‘This server’s about to change map’. Ok. I choose another one. Aaaand…no. There was an error. Ok, so I try the first one again ‘cos surely that map must’ve changed? Nope. I try ANOTHER server…and I’m in! Yes!
13. I play for 3 minutes, and then I’m thrown out – another server error.

EA, this is an epically shit user experience. At every turn the user is confronted with stupid choices, being forcibly being made to do things that aren’t natural or intuitive, and then when they finally get into the game, they’re either punished for customising the controls – or plain chucked out of online play.

Quality Assurance dept? Final signoff? What in the hell happened here? MASSIVELY disappointing – although, perhaps, not entirely unexpected. What a great brand association.

In the past, I’ve been focusing on user experiences just on the web and associated channels (like logistics, email comms and offline campaigns). Clearly there’s a dire need for them in the gaming world, because this is utterly awful.

HTC Desire case – another review!

October 28, 2011 in All posts, review

As an owner of two HTC Desires (one is mine, one is my company phone), I’ve basically got an issue whereby I get confused: they’re identical, and I’m forever pulling the wrong one out of my laptop bag.

In order to solve this, I bought a cheap (99p!) cover off eBay. I’ve been using it for a while, but – let’s be frank – you get what you pay for. The leather strap’s all cracked and the stitching’s a bit frayed…but it’s still doing the job and at least keeping it covered from scratches etc.

So, let’s see whether buying a proper a proper leather mobile phone case from a proper retailer makes a difference: the Tuff Luv HTC Desire case.

Now, some of you may recall my review of the Acer Iconia case made by Tuff Luv: the conclusion was one of disappointment, despite the great build quality. I wanted to give them another chance…

…and they’ve delivered!

At first, I must admit I was confused by the layout of the case (i.e how to get my phone into it). I know that sounds desperately stupid, but – next to my other phone’s case – I was confused. It really wasn’t clear which way round it was meant to go (saving, of course, that they clearly show you in the pic above. Doh).

After I’d figured out how to get the phone in the right way (I can’t believe I’m typing that), all is good. The case build quality is, as per other Tuff Luv products, awesome: it’s been with me to & from work for nearly 2 weeks, and where the cheaper case is looking ropey, the Tuff Luv one just keeps on going.

It also comes with a belt clip adaptor if that’s your idea of a good time. I’ve not used it, but it’s easy enough to attach to the case.

Verdict? Recommended

Review: Tuff Luv case for Acer Iconia

October 8, 2011 in All posts, review

As an Acer Iconia owner, I’ve been throughly impressed with the tablet: it’s been largely flawless to use, and since I have Android mobile handsets it syncs nicely with all my contacts and email. It made sense, then, to protect my tablet since I commute a fair way each day. Enter the Tuff Luv case to solve my problems.

This Acer Iconia A500 case is billed as being designed specifically for the Iconia, and it’s very well-made with good quality leather and a suede lining inside the front cover – plus the prerequisite business card holders and slots for…things. It also has a kick-stand on the back, meaning you can prop it up to watch/read/browse etc. All sounding good so far. But this is where it goes slightly awry.

I slot the Iconia in and secure it with the little Velcro strap, and immediately notice a problem: the tablet slides around inside the case quite a lot. It’s also apparent that this case has been designed with other tablets in mind, too, since there’re little cutouts in the surrounding leather for ports and cameras that don’t exist on the Iconia. Excuse the slightly pants camera shot quality:

Doesn't quite fit the bill

This is no big deal, so I plough on. Time for the road test!

I’ve taken the tablet to work each day this week in the case, and its been held securely each time and never fallen out or been damaged. In terms of real world use, this is where the lack of snug fit really starts to show: since the Iconia has controls at the bottom left corner of the screen – and the on/off switch sits in the top right of the tablet – when it slides around, it makes accessing these really fiddly. It doesn’t sound like a massive issue, but the reality is that this hinders basic operation of the tablet functions quite a bit. That said, the main on-screen activities such as typing an browsing etc are done without issue.

Slip-slidin'

All in all, it’s a disappointment – not least because it looks fantastic and is very well-made (truly cannot be faulted in that respect), but in terms of actual daily use it’s just too tricky. Back to the drawing board, then!