Subjective Evaluation of Prototypes and Task Complexities for Mobile Phone Usability

Different types of prototypes may have different effect on mobile phone interface design processes. Understanding these effects may help designers to evaluate design options in depth. Empirically derived research results may provide a realistic ways for evaluations. Confirming and extending our previous research study, this study investigates the effect of different mobile phone interface prototype types (paper, computer and fully operational device) on task complexities. Task complexity of mobile phone was measured by 5 scale self-evaluation instrument. Results showed that computer based prototype with complex task yielded the highest usability rate. This empirical based paper may help designers to evaluate what types of prototypes are usable for complex and non-complex tasks.