Usability Evaluation of iPhone Built-in Applications

The key factor for any successful smartphone is the efficient design of its applications. Usability is the main aim in any product including smartphone applications. If the applications are highly usable, this will lead to satisfying the majority of users, and consequently will gain their loyalty; an important aspect in any businesses. Nowadays, smartphones had become the most used devices, as they come with a number of useful applications. Among smartphone family members, iPhone is one of the most popular. iPhone has a huge number of loyal users. Each iPhone comes with a set of built-in applications, such as Calendar, Contacts, iBooks, Maps, Notes, Messages, Voice Reader and so on. The aim of this study is to evaluate the usability of a set of iPhone built-in applications. In this study, we have investigated five applications namely Maps, Notes, Messages, Voice Recorder, and iBooks. Experiments have been conducted on human subjects by completing several tasks. Time for completing the task is assessed. Observation and questionnaire survey data collection methods were used. Associated design problems such as visibility, feedback, reliability are discovered. The findings suggest that interfaces design of some functionalities in the named applications require improvements.