Mobile user experience

In our last post in the series on creating a great mobile user experience, we talked about the importance of systems integration to mobile app usability. Today, let’s look at the actual mobile application’s user interface. What’s the best way to go about designing a mobile app? Here’s a start:

FORGET THE PC

GET THE SYSTEMS INTEGRATION FIGURED OUT

Systems integration is not something you hear much about in conversations about mobile user experience – yet it does have a major impact on the usability and performance of your solution.

In our last User Experience post, we discussed the importance of choosing the right devices to creating a great mobile user experience. The second fundamental step is to:

PICK THE RIGHT APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE

Most mobile applications today are deployed using one of two major mobile architecture styles:

Welcome to our user experience series. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be discussing 6 key steps you’ll need to take to make sure your mobile solutions are easy to learn, effective to use and as fun as the best consumer apps out there. Why should you care? Read this post.

The first thing to know about mobile user experience is that it goes beyond the mobile application itself. There are actually four layers that influence how your mobile app looks, feels and behaves in the hands of your users:

1) Hardware (mobile devices)

For most of you using SMART Mobile Suite applications in the field, their look and feel is something you’ve never given a second thought. They do what they’re supposed to and they don’t crash. What else could you want in your work mobile app? We see your point.