Usability Evaluation of the Apple Watch Series 4

Abstract

Smartwatch-markedet bliver stadigt mere værdifuldt for hvert år, takket være den stigende efterspørgsel efter trådløs og sport/fitness udstyr. Derudover er adoptionen af smartwatch es steget med 20% fra 2015 til 2019, året hvor det første Apple Watch smartwatch blev udgivet. Siden da er Apple blevet en af markedslederne i denne branche. På trods af dette er der i øjeblikket et begrænset antal undersøgelser som søger at forstå hvordan folk bruger disse enheder og på baggrund af dette, skabe retningslinjer og principper for disse enheder. Derudover er der et endnu mere begrænset antal undersøgelser, der udføres for specifikke smartwatch-mærker. På grund af den manglende forskning og den personlige interesse i teknologi og usability, har jeg sat mig for at evaluere brugervenligheden for Apple Watch Series 4's fra to perspektiver: Mennesker, der ejer en iPhone og Apple Watch, og de mennesker, der kun ejer en iPhone. Forskningen blev udført i tre faser - selvudfyldte online spørgeskemaer, Usability Testing og semistrukturerede interviews. Brugervenligheden blev evalueret på baggrund af effectiveness, efficiency, tilfredshed og læringsevne. Til dette formål blev der anvendt opgavesucces og Time on Task-metrics, sammen med observation af brugere under brugbarhedstesten og den retroperspektive tænke-højt test. Resultaterne viste, at anvendelse af kun Apple Watch uden iPhone vil have en negativ indflydelse på anvendeligheden af den, og at ejerskabstiden for Apple Watch og iPhone muligvis vil have en positiv indflydelse på anvendeligheden. Desuden oplevede mange deltagere fra begge prøvegrupper både problemer med Force Touch-funktionen på Apple Watch og et problem, hvor de ikke vidste hvordan man slukker for strømreservetilstand, selvom instruktionerne blev vist i det foregående trin. Effektiviteten af Apple Watch er gennemsnitlig, hvor resultaterne er lidt lavere for deltagere, der ikke ejer et Apple Watch. Efficiency varierer og afhænger af den specifikke handling, brugeren udfører. Den overordnede tilfredshed med Apple Watch er positiv blandt begge prøvegrupper, især med tilfredsheden fra Apple Ecosystem, som giver meget lignende oplevelse på tværs af alle Apple-produkter. Læringsevnen er god, hvor folk, der ikke ejer en Apple Watch, er i stand til at lære hvordan man bruger den på relativt kort tid. For yderligere at forbedre brugervenligheden af Apple Watch er der et behov for at uddanne brugerne til, hvordan man bruger Apple Watch til at maksimere deres efficiency og effectiveness samt at se på, hvordan indhold vises ud fra dets betydning. I fremtiden ville det være interessant at gennemføre brugervenlighedsevalueringen på en større prøve for at validere om efficiency forbedres, når Apple Watch og iPhone-ejerskabet er længere.

The smartwatch market is getting increasingly more valuable with each year, thanks to the increasing demand for wireless and sport fitness devices. In addition, the smartwatch adoption had increased by 20% from 2015 to 2019, the year when the first Apple Watch smartwatch was released. Since then, Apple has become one of the market leaders in this industry. Despite this, there is currently a limited amount of researches that seek to understand how people use these devices and based on this, create guidelines and principles for these devices. Moreover, there is an even more limited number of researches being conducted for specific smartwatch brands. Due to the lack of research and the personal interest in technology and usability, I have set to evaluate the usability of Apple Watch Series 4 from two perspectives. People who own an iPhone and Apple Watch, and the people who only own an iPhone. The research was conducted in three phases – self-completed online questionnaires, Usability Testing, and semi-structured interviews. The usability was evaluated based on effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, and learnability. For that purpose, Task success and Time on Task metrics were employed, in addition to observation of users during the Usability Testing and the Retrospective-Think-Aloud. The results showed that using only the Apple Watch without the iPhone will negatively affect the usability of it and that the ownership time of Apple Watch and iPhone might have a positive impact on the usability. Furthermore, most participants from both sample groups experienced issues with Force Touch feature on Apple Watch and the problem where they did not know how to turn off the power reserve mode, even though the instructions were displayed in the step prior. The effectiveness of Apple Watch is average, with results being slightly lower for participants who do not own an Apple Watch. The efficiency varies and is dependent on the specific action the user is doing. The overall satisfaction of Apple Watch is positive among both sample groups, with most notably the satisfaction of the Apple Ecosystem, which gives very similar experience across all Apple products. The learnability is good, with people who do not own an Apple Watch able to learn how to use it in a relatively short period. To further improve the usability of Apple Watch, there is a need for educating the users on how to use the Apple Watch to maximize their effectiveness and efficiency and to take a look at how the content is displayed based on its importance. For future work, it would be interesting to conduct the usability evaluation on a larger sample to validate if the efficiency improves as the Apple Watch and iPhone ownership are longer.

A master thesis from Aalborg University

Usability Evaluation of the Apple Watch Series 4