Is your flight mode turned on, or are you just glad to see me???
This is a great example of bad UI impacting support costs. Unbeknownst to me, my IPAQ 6500 turned on its flight mode. That’s when the radio is turned off, but the device still works as a pda. My IPAQ has a habit of doing things on its own. Unfortunately there’s no obvious UI telling you that flight mode is on. When you try connecting you get an error “Cannot connect: Make sure your phone is turned on or check your connection settings” Bad message. It knows that it can’t connect because flight mode is turned on… Subsequently, after a bunch of support calls to my wireless provider (validating my account, checking the SIM card etc) I finally noticed the problem. There’s a tiny link that reads “turn on flight mode” and “turn off flight mode”. If you blinked you’d miss it. One golden rule of UI design – make sure any STATE change stands out visually. Burying near identical words (on – off) in the middle of a sentence is not evident.
This must have been a big issue for HP – the new 6900 IPAQ has a great big red icon appearing on the main screen alerting you that flight mode is on. Meanwhile, I still have to wrestle with the ghosts that control my device. Maybe they should call the feature Fight Mode.
Tags: Usability, Support, IPAQ, Flight-Mode
Ghost in the Machine!
That explains the painful Sting!