What phone os is the most intuitive?

[Naer]

Like the easiest to add numbers, emails, etc and navigate

 

[IamDavid]

Windows Phone. My mother and grandmother love them. Easy to use, not complicated at all. Tiles make it extremely simple.

 

[Bateluer]

Like the easiest to add numbers, emails, etc and navigate

They're all pretty much on the same level now, with any edge to one or the other being a combination of personal preference or what platform you started with.

I started with Android, so iOS feels cumbersome and slow. Windows Phone 8 is frustrating enough to make me want to through the phone against the wall. Any UI designer in 2014 that thinks its okay to have an infinite vertical or horizontal scroll in 2014 needs to be taken out and shot. WP8/W8 Metro and HTC's Blinkfeed atrocity come to mind.

 

[fr]

iPhone because all the buttons and controls are on the screen or have visual cues. Android has that secret "menu" button you have to press to see some options.

 

[biostud]

They're all pretty much on the same level now, with any edge to one or the other being a combination of personal preference or what platform you started with.

I started with Android, so iOS feels cumbersome and slow. Windows Phone 8 is frustrating enough to make me want to through the phone against the wall. Any UI designer in 2014 that thinks its okay to have an infinite vertical or horizontal scroll in 2014 needs to be taken out and shot. WP8/W8 Metro and HTC's Blinkfeed atrocity come to mind.

It's not infinite, it stops when you don't have any more tiles.

I like it WP8 a lot and have no problem with continuous scroll. What exactly makes you hate it so much?

 

[Zaap]

They're all pretty much on the same level now, with any edge to one or the other being a combination of personal preference or what platform you started with.

Pretty much this.

At this point it's like Mac or PC. Most people could probably use either but will tend to prefer one or the other due largely to personal preference.

 

[Deeko]

Whichever you're used to. The others will all seem a bit unnatural. For someone that's never used a smartphone, I would say windows phone.

 

[norseamd]

how is linux?

any good distributions to use on a unlocked phone?

 

[corkyg]

Intuition will generally vary from person to person. Depends a lot on what you are used to. I am now comfortable with Droid. A change would therefore be non-intuitive for me.

 

[pyjujiop]

Agree on Windows Phone being the simplest to pick up on. Between the two biggest platforms, I find iOS to be easier, but Android to have more capabilities once you learn it.

 

[zerogear]

Windows Phone, definitely.

 

[jacktesterson]

for a brand new smartphone user, I vote Windows Phone.

I prefer Android over iOS and WP8 though - and I use/used all OS's almost daily.


Easiest for newcomer/casual person to use:

1) Windows Phone
2) iOS
3) Android

Most Powerful O/S on Smartphone

1) Android
2) iOS
3) Windows Phone

My Rankings:

1) Android
2) iOS
3) Windows Phone



All 3 are capable of being a daily driver for most. Windows Phone is held back a little with quality of apps.

 

[zerogear]

With iOS tied to iTunes just to transfer information. I strongly prefer Windows Phone for it's drag & drop over iOS

 

[darkewaffle]

I'm very happy with my WP8 phone. My parents finally joined the smartphone era and they have done "ok" with their android phones. Mostly they just use it as a dumphone with a browser and are more confused by usage ideas (what's streaming? what app do I pick? how do I put stuff on my phone from my PC?) than the device itself.

That said, I have really limited experience with Android (and none with iOS) but have found it a bit more convoluted then WP8 personally. Though some of WPs 'sub menus' can get a little daunting, but I think they can solve it simply by grouping/sorting some of them a bit more. Also some of the menus use "tabs" that you move through by swiping left or right but are only indicated by some highlighted/lowlighted text at the top - it works perfectly fine but the lack of a traditional visual cue for a tab means you can sometimes accidentally overlook them.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I too vote for Windows Phone.

iOS is easy once you learn the concepts because its consistent. But you have to be taught the iOS world.

Android is neither easy nor consistent in concepts. It is the Windows of the phone world good and bad. The only exception is a Samsung device in "Easy" mode.

 

[crashtestdummy]

On ease of use, I'd go with Windows Phone. It's biggest advantage is that the complexity of the interface is scalable. When I set up my grandfather's phone, the main screen had nothing but the call, people, email, and browser buttons. He wasn't interested in apps, so I didn't have to make those visible to him. My screen, on the other hand, has over 40 icons. Being able to resize the icons also allows you to make more important apps larger on your screen and less important ones smaller.

 

[Imaginer]

By far, Windows Phone.

The Start screen's (I am calling it that) tiles are contrasting and easy on the eyes to quickly find things when you pull your phone instead of being distracted by graphic elements that add clutter. Live tiles ensure that you do not need to put additional time and effort to drive down to the app for pertinent information (a crux of now, some apps are not timely in live information). These tiles can be sized of importance - even more viable, given how the larger tiles can easily be accessed much quicker on a dime press - not worrying about zeroing in your fingers or thumb.

It is simple that there are two parts of the launcher aspect, the Start screen, and the "all apps" screen with a search icon (hey where have we seen this before?). There is also an upfront search icon on the phones themselves for just finding things.

App customization - that is not as important. I do not expect to do as much as I can versus a device with a much larger screen. What I do expect my phone to do, is being a VERY quick information portal and a VERY quick short communication platform (calls, being a given since it's a phone). I would say that I definitely appreciate it when financial apps now allowed mobile deposits.

The other nice thing upon initially using my HTC 8X, was the quickness of setup - initially and tying of my contacts from my previous phone and also additionally integrate online accounts. The built in mail program is very much viable for quick email receives and sends.

A limitation - IE on Windows Phone is limited to 6 tabs, and the only history would be relying on the hardware back button (which would include other previously accessed screens). There is other browsers, I have not tried them all, but so far out of the box, this is what is to be expected.

Another, would be as of now, a lack of an on phone file browser to traverse through files apps use to an overall user stored files (one would have to go to the apps themselves to access files). This is a double edge sword in terms of security and I see why it is sandboxed as such, but this is a concern with some users. Most apparent is the ConnectMe remote desktop app, anything I transfer over in a remote session, I simply cannot plug my phone in via USB cable and have access to those pulled files (because the seen storage via USB is segregated from the app's storage). This would be a deal breaker for many.

The modern right to left scrolling for additional tabs of some apps are very nice - it doesn't tie the phone's limited screen size and density with constant UI elements - and one has to play around to realize this - of which that is where intuitive comes about (because one can already know to do this just by sliding left to right on the Start screen and All apps screens).

Another confusion at the moment, is that I am much used to the Modern IE on Windows 8 with the Surface Pro - which I find myself at times using IE on my HTC 8X as such. If Microsoft is going to unify some aspects, they have other areas to address alongside their efforts.

The on screen keyboard (this is with relation to the physical screen size) is much nicer on my 8X versus my friend's iPhone 4. I find I have an easier, less stressing time texting on my phone and the 8X has a nicer grip. The displayed auto corrections is viewed in a horizontally presented listing that pares down as you type versus a single bubble on iOS.



I will definitely consider my next smartphone to be of the Windows Phone calibur and would recommend it as a good smartphone to start with in ease of use.

 

[mikegg]

Never used a Windows phone but I've used iOS and Android. iOS is definitely easier to use and my preference.

 

[notposting]

I think low level surface stuff is probably pretty equal.

In general anyone on here is going to figure things out pretty quickly and test the limits.

If you're a regular AARP member, standard Suzie Homemaker, or Bateluer, you will get confused by things and just wait a few weeks before some handsome young thing comes along to help you.

I'm pretty pumped to see WP8.1 -- feature list here

 

[sgrinavi]

I have all three, iOS is the easiest to use, update and install apps. No contest.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I have all three, iOS is the easiest to use, update and install apps. No contest.

Well yeah if you are going as far as updating it and installing apps then iOS is better.

I was assuming we were talking about the level of user that never updates an OS because they don't know what an OS is, and would prefer good built in apps to avoid digging in app stores.

Like a phone for grandma.

Windows Phone kick ass for that because you hook her Facebook and Twitter into whatever that launcher those phones have is called and then *BOOM* a feed of grandkid pictures.

 

[BoberFett]

iPhone because all the buttons and controls are on the screen or have visual cues.

Except for when they're not.

Want to use an emoticon? Oops, better dig back through several levels of settings to add a keyboard. That's intuitive.

I wonder when that person sent that text message. Oh, you mean I have to swipe and hold to see the time?

Apple is not the infallible god of interfaces that some make them out to be. They make some really boneheaded interfaces sometimes.

 

[TuxDave]

I wonder when that person sent that text message. Oh, you mean I have to swipe and hold to see the time?

Woah....

/Neo

 

[Eug]

Not Android.

 

[Deeko]

I think low level surface stuff is probably pretty equal.

In general anyone on here is going to figure things out pretty quickly and test the limits.

If you're a regular AARP member, standard Suzie Homemaker, or Bateluer, you will get confused by things and just wait a few weeks before some handsome young thing comes along to help you.

I'm pretty pumped to see WP8.1 -- feature list here

I laughed.