Zen gadget design article on Gizmodo

On Gizmodo this week, I wrote a feature that explains why Japanese cell phones, despite their proliferate use and fancy shells, are not very useful.

Japan is the epicenter of Zen, a concept with deep religious roots and a mandate for simplicity of appearance and lifestyle. But when it comes to native gadgetry, Zen is only skin-deep. Japanese cell phones are sleek on the outside, but once you open the clamshell, the interface is a complete mess. While American-made phones are leaning more and more towards simple interfaces and clean design, Japanese gadgets continue to be plagued with feature overload and nightmarish interfaces that are totally impractical.

Read Why Zen Software Design Does Not Come From Japan

Comments

[Joao K]

Zen? What are you talking about?

You really don't know what is zen... you should do a little more research/study about zen before writing some nonsense.

[MeaningOfLife]

Don't know what you're talking about Joao K but her interpretation of Zen should be "harmonious with one self with everything else around you", which in this case, it would be the cellphone and the general user in Japan.

She did give out a few good points regarding lack of innovation due to NTT DoCoMo's monopoly on the telecom market, not giving software engineers a bigger responsibility, and the mindset of just-in-case or why-fix-it-when-it's-not-broken in Japanese and Asian culture which also means they won't take a lot of risk in radical designs.

But as for the layout of this article, do you do it or does someone from Wired take care of it since I have no idea what those pictures were or what were they trying to show?

[Jeff]

MeaningOfLife:

The pictures are seemingly designed to show the randomness and ugliness of Japanese cell phone interfaces.

I have heard this complaint from other Japanese, so it's not just Lisa. However, I also don't see what's so special about the iPhone (or Android) interface. I think if the Japanese don't put enough effort into interfaces, Americans put too much. We now buy things based entirely on how "pretty" the interface is rather than on what those things can actually do. That's just as strange as doing the opposite, if not moreso.

To me, if I can figure out how to do something on a phone, and I can learn to do that thing pretty quickly to the point that I don't have to think about it anymore, then the interface has done its job. An interface's job is to let me do things and not get in the way. That's all. Japanese phones may not do that well enough, but I wouldn't want to see them turn into American-style phones with pretty-but-dumb interfaces either.

[Major]

Jeff:

I agree that features and specifications should speak more loudly than aesthetics.
But Apple and Google are doing more than creating shiny skins, they are making usability improvements that can streamline operation.

I just upgraded to the new Android phone, and if nothing else, the touch screen interface is certainly a time saver compared to past Windows Mobile devices.