We're pretty far along in the process of scoping and designing our mobile site and iPhone and Android apps at the moment, but the iPad has been a little vexing for us. The mobile-specific stuff has been kind of straight forward so far: we've used them to focus in on a few key experiences (namely, product lookup for comparison shopping and quick information hits, asking questions, adding products to your lists, checking your activity stream) and largely ignored everything else.
But for iPad, the context for usage changes: you're probably not really looking for product info on the go, so the stuff we're really focused on for the mobile versions might not be as well suited to the iPad experience. Granted, I could be wrong and we might well just take those same key experiences and scale them up nicely to the iPad, but I'm just not sure -- so what do you think?
What do you want from gdgt on the iPad?
I think with the extra screen real estate, discussions would be a good addition to the iPad version. I can see myself engaging in the discussions from the iPad much more so than from the iPhone or another mobile device.
I'd like to see the app be more focused on the social side of gdgt. I feel the website puts the gadgets first, which is a good thing, but I think the iPad app would be better for leaving, reading, and responding to comments and news.
Doing research on gadgets, or anything else, is clunky on mobile devices. Maybe multitasking will fix this, but I'll leave the gadget research for my desktop computer or laptop.
Doing research on gadgets, or anything else, is clunky on mobile devices. Maybe multitasking will fix this, but I'll leave the gadget research for my desktop computer or laptop.
I often find myself using gdgt in a browser with multiple tabs open on different devices. While the product comparisons can work well with devices that are obviously similar those that posses fewer similarities become much more difficult to pair up with that system. Furthermore I want to be able to see various user generated content (reviews, questions, discussions) on the products instead of just pure specs. I guess what I am getting at is I would love to see a form of multitasking for my gdgt experience.
The most recent example that comes to mind is the new Twitter iPad app. While tabs are great, the ability to have a more significant visual representation of the pages you are viewing, like in the Twitter app is even better. I think this can be further expanded upon by adding interactive elements between these pages.
For example, today I was comparing the weights of the iPad, Kindle, and Samsung Galaxy Tab and looking at other's experiences using these devices in one hand for reading. If I wanted to start a new discussion about this exact issue I would go to "discuss" and then add in the three devices I already had opened to the discussion by manually typing each in. An iPad app could reduce the amount of input required and jostling of tabs by allowing you to simply click a single button such as "Discuss Open Devices". This button could create a new page with all of the devices added where I could bring up my questions and concerns while still going back to the other devices for reference in their respective pages. Another way of doing this would be to actually drag elements between the pages... but that brings up a whole new set of UI usability issues to worry about.
This is obviously a pretty specific use case and I am not sure how well it extends to the average gdgt user, but I would love to see something like it. Either way multitasking with easy interaction between tasks would be an amazing feature utilizing the iPads unique qualities.
The most recent example that comes to mind is the new Twitter iPad app. While tabs are great, the ability to have a more significant visual representation of the pages you are viewing, like in the Twitter app is even better. I think this can be further expanded upon by adding interactive elements between these pages.
For example, today I was comparing the weights of the iPad, Kindle, and Samsung Galaxy Tab and looking at other's experiences using these devices in one hand for reading. If I wanted to start a new discussion about this exact issue I would go to "discuss" and then add in the three devices I already had opened to the discussion by manually typing each in. An iPad app could reduce the amount of input required and jostling of tabs by allowing you to simply click a single button such as "Discuss Open Devices". This button could create a new page with all of the devices added where I could bring up my questions and concerns while still going back to the other devices for reference in their respective pages. Another way of doing this would be to actually drag elements between the pages... but that brings up a whole new set of UI usability issues to worry about.
This is obviously a pretty specific use case and I am not sure how well it extends to the average gdgt user, but I would love to see something like it. Either way multitasking with easy interaction between tasks would be an amazing feature utilizing the iPads unique qualities.
You can follow what Flipboard did with Twitter and Facebook. Also, a 360 view of the product would be cool ala Elements.
Whatever you do please don't make the font fixed size. I like to lay the ipad on my lap on the train, bump up the font sizes on web pages to read without having to hold the thing in my hands.
So many mobile sites and apps restrict font scaling. Not everyone wants tiny text!
So many mobile sites and apps restrict font scaling. Not everyone wants tiny text!
