Scroll Wheel or One Handed Navigation?

[Jon Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2006/08/31/733411.aspx' target='_blank'>http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/arch.../31/733411.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Over on the Windows Mobile Team Blog they have started a discussion about One Handed Navigation... It was very timely as I was about to post a similar article as now we have Push Email lots of customers have been asking me for a scroll wheel like a Blackberry.... Now when you break it down - the scroll wheel isn't the critical item - it's more that people are looking for single handed navigation and the ability to use the device without having to pull the stylus."</i><br /><br />I had thought about posting a poll over what everyone here wants - a scroll wheel or one handed navigation, until I realized that the overwhelming answer would probably be "Both"! Seriously, I honestly can't see Windows Mobile progressing any further without one-handed nav built-in, and scroll wheels always seem to be a big hit with consumers. So One-handed is a must, but the scroll may just be a nice novelty - what do you think?

[dommasters]

I'd love to see a poll on whether people prefer one-handed navigation to using a stylus. Sadly one-handed use antagonises my RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) that I get in my hands :(

[SteveHoward999]

Of course the answer is both. Mainly becuase we are fickle and we find that sometimes one method is best. Sometimes another is. One program suits one thing over another. Tuesday's a scrollwheel works best for me because I get moody on Tuesdays. Or whatever.

I doubt I'll buy any PDA device without a scroll wheel - it's the best (so far) method for easily flicking pages in the books I read constantly on PDA :-)

[ctmagnus]

Wouldn't they offer the same benefits? On my JAMin, I can navigate the Today screen 99% (the other 1% is updating Spb Weather, which requires a tap-n-hold, which it doesn't yet support through the d-pad) and launching programs and control panel apps is a breeze. OTOH, with a d-pad, you can navigate left-right or up-down, whereas with a scroll wheel, you'd only be able to navigate through items consecutively. So I don't feel that I'm at much of a loss without a scroll wheel. ;)

Edit: D'oh! Except for ebooks! That's where a scroll wheel would excel imo, although the d-pad works plenty fine there as well.

[Silver5]

Why do people want touchscreen devices so badly if they are afraid to TOUCH THE SCREEN? It doesn't make a great deal of sense.

If you want to use a scroll wheel and completely avoid touching the screen you can buy a Blackberry. If you aren't afraid to touch your precious screen you can do things much faster and it won't even break. I know...it's amazing!

[SteveHoward999]

Edit: D'oh! Except for ebooks! That's where a scroll wheel would excel imo, although the d-pad works plenty fine there as well.

It *works* perfectly well, but it is not so comfortable to change pages with the D-pad for hours on end unless your thumb is is a weird place ;-)

[cameron]

Why do people want touchscreen devices so badly if they are afraid to TOUCH THE SCREEN? It doesn't make a great deal of sense.

If you want to use a scroll wheel and completely avoid touching the screen you can buy a Blackberry. If you aren't afraid to touch your precious screen you can do things much faster and it won't even break. I know...it's amazing!

The point isn't whether you use the touchscreen or not. There are plenty of situations - walking for instance - where being able to navigate using just one hand is ideal. Some of us just aren't co-ordinated enough to walk and tap on a 10 pixel x 10 pixel OK button at the same time.

[Phillip Dyson]

I think I would probably vote for both. Its probably because I can't think of an option that suits one-handed navigation better.

Voice is some people's promised land, but I'm far too protective of my personal affairs to have to speak out loud everytime I want to do things. Especially when other people are around.

With my current device I find I use a combination of scroll wheel, d-pad, and touch screen. In that order. I wouldn't want to loose any of them.

Of course this all requires the software support to make it possible. And WM5 goes a long way to enable that.

[TOCA]

How about teaching people to asign funktions to their hardware buttons? It's possible 8O

If some people are to disabled to coordinate the movement of both hands simultaniusly, they should stick to their candybar cellphones :wink:

With SPB Pocket Plus, you can access all your apps, by tapping the screen with your thumb, and with NetFront 3.3 or PIE+ you can move around on webpages, by moving your thumb on the screen, and with a fullscreen keyboard you can even type with your fingers, who needs a stylus 8)

Oh! Forgot all those, who wants tiny little 2" screens, with no place for thumbs :roll: :wink:

[cholcomb]

I have an HTC TyTN and I use both of them. It may be that since the scroll wheel is new to me (been using PocketPC for the last 7 years) that I find my self using it more and more. For example, I use the soft key to pull up contacts but then use the scroll wheel to navigate to the contact I wish to call.

[ADBrown]

I miss having the scroll wheel (or jog dial, or whatever you want to call it) from my older Axims. It adds a usage profile that you just can't get any other way. It's practically essential to reading long documents or web pages that you have some way to scroll down while holding the device in the palm of your hand. The only other way is with the directional pad, which can be uncomfortable to use sometimes.

[nic]

I'm all for a scroll wheel on the side where you press down on it in a "clicking" fasion to navigate menus. I've seen a lot of camcorders with this kind of interface and I think it works really well.

It would also be good for things like "volume" in media player. You could have different function if you pushed it in while turning it like skipping frames while watching a video or switch between vertical scroll and horizontal scrolling while viewing pictures.

It could have many more uses then one handed navigation.

[ccharris1]

I read a book a week on my PocketPC -- currently an iMate JAMIN.

Not since the early HP (Pre Ipaq) have I had the use of a thumb wheel. The jog dial is not as easy to use.

Craig.

[Sven Johannsen]

You know if they put scroll wheels on all the left handers are going to complain it's on the wrong side.

Beyond that I am in favor of scroll wheeels and/or stylus-less (one-handed?) navigation. Way too often when I am driving with my knees and working with my PPC while talking on my BT equipped phone, because it's safer, I have to put down the stylus so I can grab a handful of fries from the seat next to me. Then I have to wipe the grease on my shirt so I can hold the stylus again. Be much better if I didn't have to use that stylus.

Seriously, scroll wheeels, toggles, whatever are cool, but what the heck are you doing that you need to navigate your PPC a lot, presumably giving it some degree of attention, that your other hand is occupied. (we'll not discuss CherrySoft applications).

[SteveHoward999]

You know if they put scroll wheels on all the left handers are going to complain it's on the wrong side.

Don't see why. I use it comfortably with either hand.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Oh! Forgot all those, who wants tiny little 2" screens, with no place for thumbs :roll: :wink:

I've got a 3.6" screen, but I do use the jog-dial quite a bit. To me, it's not a question of whether it's possible to use the device one-handed with just buttons and dials - it's a question of convenience. I do use my thumb on the screen, especially for menus and launching stuff, but the jog dial is really great at flicking through e-book pages, browsing the internet, and going up and down menus.

(we'll not discuss CherrySoft applications).

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Phillip Dyson]

You know if they put scroll wheels on all the left handers are going to complain it's on the wrong side.

Don't see why. I use it comfortably with either hand.

I've found that I can use it comfortably with both hands, but in my right hand I use my thumb. In my left hand, I use my middle finger.

I could depend the size of the device, and the length of the fingers.

[mv]

Im happy with my d-pad and stylus. I read a lot of ebooks, and while sometimes i miss my old hp jornada scroll wheel, i can live without it anyway. 8)

[whydidnt]

Seriously, scroll wheeels, toggles, whatever are cool, but what the heck are you doing that you need to navigate your PPC a lot, presumably giving it some degree of attention, that your other hand is occupied. (we'll not discuss CherrySoft applications).

If you use a device with a built in thumboard, it is much easier to navigate with your thumbs on "something" either a d-pad or scroll wheel. I use both thumbs and it is a pain to have to stop typing, pull the stylus, tap the screen and then resume typing. It's not so much the one handedness, it's that we can use our fingers instead of the stylus without out gunking up the screen or completely missing what we are tying to press with our fat thumb on the screen.

I've actually lost 2 styluses (styli?) on airplanes while attmepting to "type" with the stylus in one hand. Sure enough, dropped the thing and never found it again.

[beedee]

Yes, I do manage my Qtek 9100 almost 100% one-handed. I installed a neat little utility called "Smartskey" which allows me to configure D-pad &amp; buttons just as I like. I can now open the Windows-menu with one press of a button, click the OK-button with a click of another button and scroll up and down almost ANY application with the D-pad, just the way I was used to on my SonyEricsson Smartphone which has a scrollwheel.

Searching addresses, making calls from addresses, browsing through e-mail, reading, forwarding, moving e-mails is a one-handed snap. Can't imagine a Blackberry does this any better!

Additionally I have installed Spb Diary which allows me to do almost everything onehanded on my calendar &amp; tasks in cooperation with Smartskey (except of course making text entries).

Also, there is one HUGE disadvantage of a scrollwheel vs. the D-pad: the scrollwheel is usualla located at the left-side of a device, making it easy to scroll with your thumb, if your device is in your left hand. If you are a leftie like me and hold your devices in the right hand, scrolling with a scrollwhel positioned on the left side is almost impossible. As a leftie I find scrolling with a centrally located D-pad much more comfortable instead.

So lefties of this world: united AGAINST discriminating scrollwheels on the left-side of devices!

[pocketdoc]

I have a Treo 700w and after using standard PPC PDAs for several years, I have become quite used to navigating with one had (D pad) on the Treo. Palm actually did a nice job with this one.

I would have to aggree with haveing both as an option.

I wish someone would make a device like the Treo BUT thinner, AND with a VGA screen AND with a long battery life.

One can dream!

[ctmagnus]

Ok, I just installed Smartskey on my JAMin, and the combination of this with the dedicated softkeys rawks! :rock on dude!:

[isajoo]

STOP COMPLAINING....

SOON all ppc's will have scroll wheels and they will DISCOUNTINUE the TOUCHSCREEN's. :twisted:

just kidding....

but seriously, I have noticed that even the stylus's on ppc's are getting really tiny... i saw a 2" stylus on a ppc phone edition... now dont tell me that is comfortable.

why are they making them sooo small... maybe they want people to STOP picking their noses with it or, is it picking brains. :roll:

scroll wheel would be great, BUT without a touch screen it would NEVER feel the same.

i have a jog dial and i'm left handed, NO PROBLEM using it... also get a app that can change the function of the hardware buttons. IT IS AMAZING.

LONG LIVE THE TOUCH SCREEN!!!! :|

[rhmorrison]

I do a lot of eBook reading in bed and I have to hold the PDA differently (I have a classic hp Jornada 568) in order to use the D-pad with my thumb but I find that my thumb gets very tired after a short time. A 'real' Sony-like scroll wheel (with push for select) would be a god send for reading ebooks and I can think of a number of other programs that would benifit from this type of control.

[isajoo]

so isn't this a scroll wheel?

http://www.pdafrance.com/img/testproduit_pocketpc/e750wifi/img_11012.jpg

[frankenbike]

I'd go one step further than a scroll wheel, and say two scroll wheels.

User configurable of course.

My standard of "ease of use" is: Can I use it with motorcycle gloves on? I use my X30 Axim as a music player when I'm riding on those long-distance-between-cities western US Interstates. I use the scroll wheel for volume. But I can't use the D-Pad or buttons reliably with gloves on. A second wheel, on the other side of the device, would be handy for "next song" or whatever.

For navigation, one could be configured for up/down, one for side/side. Useful especially on a page that's larger than the screen.

Of course, you also want to be able to configure them to not be used, so you don't get accidental navigation while the device is in your pocket.

I could use the touch screen, but I use Mort Player and turn the screen off. This gives me 6 hours of play time on the standard Axim battery. Also, the screen is nigh impossible to see in bright sunlight, which there seems to be an awful lot of on a motorcycle ;)

[tom dunne]

Having "migrated" from the Sony Ericsson P800, the one thing I miss on my O2 Atom is the scroll wheel. I don't think you can appreciate how useful they are until you have actually used one walking down the street or some other situation where it's just not practical to whip out the stylus.

[rhmorrison]

so isn't this a scroll wheel?NO, what you have there is "a three-way scroll button (up, down, activate)" just like I used to have on the hp Jornada 525 and 548 models (which I liked much better than the up/down buttons on the 568). Such a three-way scroll button works fine for reading eBooks but is not nearly as good for other functions such as scrolling or navigating menus where you can roll the scroll wheel one or many clicks with a single motion. A "real" scroll wheel is just that, a wheel that rotates in either direction with a click every N degrees of motion. In addition, pressing the scroll wheel as if it was a button executes the set/select/enter function. Sony has used this very successfully in a number of their PDA's.

[isajoo]

well for reading... the "three-way scroll button" works well, if u hold down the up/down button it goes 1 by 1 down based on d-pad repeat function.

PLUS, i have a 4th button on top of the "three-way scroll button"... SO, if i were surfing a website, I could scoll up/down and also click on a link and also with the 4th button asign any function like back or favourites or anything at all.

[Sven Johannsen]

Also, there is one HUGE disadvantage of a scrollwheel vs. the D-pad: the scrollwheel is usualla located at the left-side of a device, making it easy to scroll with your thumb, if your device is in your left hand. If you are a leftie like me and hold your devices in the right hand, scrolling with a scrollwhel positioned on the left side is almost impossible. As a leftie I find scrolling with a centrally located D-pad much more comfortable instead.

See, what did I tell you. They haven't even done it yet and they are already complaining :wink:

[Sniff]

I don't think anyone mentioned this yet, but in addition to scrolling up, down, push in to execute and a extra "back" button below the wheel, the Sony Ericsson P910i's scroll also allows you to flick down and up on the wheel for an extra dimension of control. This is similar to a side scrolling mouse wheel that lets you go left and right on a web page that's too wide. But on the P910, you push it away from you or pull it up toward you when you are looking at the screen. This really helps with one handed operation.

For those that said to use the touch screen, i already do. But nothing beats the scroll wheel. It's a must have and too bad Sony holds the patent to this (or at least the one mentioned here).

Also, I think the Smartphone works pretty well as a one handed device, I might give the Motorola Q or the Samsung SGH-i320 a try, the ones with the qwerty keyboard, if no manufacturer come out with a scroll wheel for the PPC Phone Edition.

And for the Left handed complainers, go get a Blackberry. I think the scroll wheel is on the right hand side on those.

[k1darkknight]

I had thought about posting a poll over what everyone here wants - a scroll wheel or one handed navigation, until I realized that the overwhelming answer would probably be "Both"!
Hey Jon, which would you rather have, a keyboard or a mouse?

:P

[BoxWave]

"Over on the Windows Mobile Team Blog they have started a discussion about One Handed Navigation... It was very timely as I was about to post a similar article as now we have Push Email lots of customers have been asking me for a scroll wheel like a Blackberry.... Now when you break it down - the scroll wheel isn't the critical item - it's more that people are looking for single handed navigation and the ability to use the device without having to pull the stylus."

I had thought about posting a poll over what everyone here wants - a scroll wheel or one handed navigation, until I realized that the overwhelming answer would probably be "Both"! Seriously, I honestly can't see Windows Mobile progressing any further without one-handed nav built-in, and scroll wheels always seem to be a big hit with consumers. So One-handed is a must, but the scroll may just be a nice novelty - what do you think?

Two big thumbs up for the double.

[BoxWave]

I had thought about posting a poll over what everyone here wants - a scroll wheel or one handed navigation, until I realized that the overwhelming answer would probably be "Both"!
Hey Jon, which would you rather have, a keyboard or a mouse?

:P

He'd like a trackball, and a mouse, and cerebral direct sync... 8O . Okay forgive me, it's late and I'm reading through all these articles :D.