Google Sky Map (Android application)

In this review, Google Sky Map.   Sky Map turns your Android-powered device into a window on the night sky.

Google Sky Map

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POINT OF VIEW ARTIFACT REVIEW

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PERSONA - Victor's persona, goals, and scenario on Google Drive

Victor Dimitry - “Timing is everything.”

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About Victor

• 35 - Male
• College graduate
• Full-time desk job
• Lives in mid-west
• Amateur Photographer

Typical Mobile Tasks

• Text/SMS
• Tweet
• Facebook
• Web search
• Instagram
• E-mail
• Calls
• Music/Audio books

Reluctantly, Victor broke down and purchased a digital SLR camera to replace his 35mm film camera because the only 1 hour photo in town is closing, and he doesn’t have the patience to wait for normal processing. With his new digital camera, the results are visible within seconds and at zero cost for film developing, Victor has been experimenting with different photographic techniques and one technique he has been anxious to try is a long exposure of the night sky with the camera pointed at the north star. His previous long exposure attempts with the film camera showed the stars streaking but the camera was not pointed at the North star.

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SCENARIO AND GOALS

Victor and Google Sky Map
When Victor heard about Google Sky Map for Android, he downloaded it immediately.

PRIMARY GOALS:

• Find the North Star

SECONDARY GOAL:

• Point his camera at it to take long exposure photographs

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REVIEW CRITERIA

Eight Criteria for Hand-held Evaluation (full version)

1. ORIENTATION CHANGE
2. BACK FUNCTIONALITY
3. DATA RETENTION
4. WEB 3 CLICK-CONVENIENCE vs TASK SUCCESS
5. ENVIRONMENT
6. THUMBABILITY (full version)
7. ACCOUNT INTEGRATION
8. SERVICE INTEGRATION

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RESULTS

1. ORIENTATION CHANGE - Excellent

• Entered data retained: N/A
• Fields positioned logically: N/A

When trying to locate an object in the night sky the view must remain consistent and logical when the device is viewed in positions other than portrait or landscape. For example, portrait/landscape overhead or when viewing upside-down or behind the head. The view of the sky stays level (accurately) with the horizon regardless of the device orientation, but the text labels on the heavenly bodies will reorient when the device orientation changes by 45 degrees.

2. BACK FUNCTIONALITY - Excellent

• Does it go where you think it should? YES
• How many levels deep? 3
• Undo/Hide or Close? Close

The back button operates at the application level closing open dialog boxes and will exit the application without warning.

3. DATA RETENTION - N/A

• Re-type values: N/A
• Re-enter account info: N/A

Data retention is not necessary since the view of the sky is determined by the device location on the planet and the time of day at that location. Google Sky Map acquires your location from the GPS and uses the time of day to calibrate the displayed view.

4. WEB 3 CLICK-CONVENIENCE vs TASK SUCCESS - Excellent

• Mobile 1 or 2 TAPS: ✓
• Information “chunked” into logical screen blocks or sequential steps: ✓
• Logical options available on each screen one tap away: ✓

The tap count is minimal which is excellent. Tapping the sky will briefly display options to show or hide layers for the stars, constellations, planets, and more. The menu button offers additional features such as search and night mode and a tap of the back button dismisses modal dialogs.

5. ENVIRONMENT - Excellent

• Indoor/Outdoor: ✓
• Hot/Cold: ✓
• Day/Night: ✓
• Seated/Standing: ✓ Seated/Standing

The application is designed well for the environment in which it operates.  In addition to the orientation handling, Google Sky Maps offers a "Night Mode" feature which displays the contents of all visible sky layers in red, and dims the overall screen brightness to reduce eye strain when adjusting from the lit display to the night sky.  

6. THUMBABILIY - Excellent (smaller screens)

• Other than typing, the application can be operated with one hand: ✓

The thumability of the application is going to be largely determined by device screen size. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a large screen, so thumbability is a stretch, but on smaller devices like the Nexus One, the Google Sky Map is very thumbable.

7. ACCOUNT INTEGRATION - N/A

• Log required to post to Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: N/A
• Seamless: N/A

Google Sky Maps does not support sharing of any sort, so account integration is not applicable.

8. SERVICE INTEGRATION - Excellent

• Service (GPS/BlueTooth/Wi-Fi) options are launched/activated as needed: ✓
• Seamless: ACTIVATE AND RETURN

The first time the application is launched, if the device auto-location is disabled, a prompt will display allowing it to be activated. Canceling sets the location to Pisa, tapping OK, provides the opportunity to choose wireless networks, GPS satellites or both when determining location. The first time the application is run, the terms and conditions must be agreed to or the application exits.

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SUMMARY

Google Sky Map offers features organized intuitively and the functions are both usable and useful for the usage environment.

Nike+ Running (Android Application)

In this review, Nike+ Running, the Android Application that allows you to Map your runs, track your progress, and post your results to Facebook and twitter.  

Nike+ Running:  Get more from your run

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POINT OF VIEW ARTIFACT REVIEW

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PERSONA - Victor's persona, goals and scenario on Google Drive

Victor Dimitry - “I like breathing.”

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About Victor

• 35 - Male
• College graduate
• Full-time desk job
• Lives in mid-west

Typical Mobile Tasks

• Text/SMS
• Tweet
• Facebook
• Web search
• Instagram
• E-mail
• Calls
• Music/Audio books

Victor was smoker for over 10 years and he was paying the price for his habit both financially and physically.  When he decided to quit, he took up running, which is laughable looking back at the early days since his “runs” consisted of 2 mile walks with short jogs interspersed.  Including stretching, it would take him the better part of an hour to exercise.  At first he was listening to “angry music” to motivate him, but at the end of the runs he was just tired and angry, so he started listening to audiobooks on his Android phone to exercise his mind as well as his lungs.  During the winter months Victor ran on an indoor treadmill and liked the constant pace the machine essentially forced him to run at once he found the sweet spot for his pace.  Victor went back outside when the temperature warmed up, but other than how he felt, he had no measure of his pace until the end of the run.  He was surprised no-one had created a free App that would allow someone to keep track of their runs short of manually keeping a log.

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SCENARIO AND GOALS

Victor and Nike+ Running
When Victor heard about the Nike+ Running app for Android, he downloaded it immediately.  Some of the additional features like sharing the run location and run stats seemed trivial at first but he’d try it out anyway.

PRIMARY GOALS:

• Listen to music or audiobooks while running
• Receive updates on pace
• Log each run and time

SECONDARY GOAL:

• Share run details on Facebook and Twitter

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REVIEW CRITERIA

Eight Criteria for Hand-held Evaluation (full version)

1. ORIENTATION CHANGE
2. BACK FUNCTIONALITY
3. DATA RETENTION
4. WEB 3 CLICK-CONVENIENCE vs TASK SUCCESS
5. ENVIRONMENT
6. THUMBABILITY (full version)
7. ACCOUNT INTEGRATION
8. SERVICE INTEGRATION

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RESULTS

1. ORIENTATION CHANGE - Excellent

• Entered data retained: ✓
• Fields positioned logically: ✓

Primary screens are locked to portrait, but the settings screens reflect orientation change.  The run, may be set as portrait, or landscape for those who may not be holding the device in their hand as the run, i.e. running stroller or attached to arm.

2. BACK FUNCTIONALITY - Excellent

• Does it go where you think it should? YES
• How many levels deep? 1 or 2
• Undo/Hide or Close? Undo/Hide

The back button operates at the screen level which returns to the previous screen or information grouping. When completing a run and sharing the details on Facebook or Twitter, the application sometimes requires several presses of the back button to exit the application.

3. DATA RETENTION - Excellent

• Re-type values: NO
• Re-enter account info: NO

The first time the application is launched, the user must create a Nike+ profile. The run details are available online, and runs may be synced between multiple devices.

Nike+ handles ACCOUNT INTEGRATION with Facebook and Twitter and allows control of how much information to share such as run location on a map.  Account sign-in settings are retained so when the run is complete, the run may be shared with a very short message then tapping post.

4. WEB 3 CLICK-CONVENIENCE vs TASK SUCCESS - Excellent

• Mobile 1 or 2 TAPS: ✓
• Information “chunked” into logical screen blocks or sequential steps: ✓
• Logical options available on each screen one tap away: ✓

The drop down navigation menu, and options menu button in the action bar allows for easy access to everything.  When in run mode, Nike+ Running displays the distance, time, pace or the runners location on a map.  The run may be paused or resumed with a tap but an intentional swipe is required to end the run. This is prevents accidentally pausing or ending a run, but is sometimes tricky with sweaty hands or when wearing gloves.

5. ENVIRONMENT - Excellent

• Indoor/Outdoor: ✓
• Hot/Cold: ✓
• Day/Night: ✓
• Seated/Standing: ✓ Standing

The application is designed well for the environment in which it operates.  The run prep screens are easily readable when standing still and when in motion the run screen displays run progress only or your location on the map with the run progress. The prep screens have a white background with black text and the run screens the inverse, which make the run easy to read at a glance.  

One of Victor's goals involves feedback about distance, time and pace.  Audible run details about the run time, distance, pace, time an/or distance are provided with a Text-to-Speech voice at the intervals defined by the runner.  If an audio program is playing, the volume is lowered slightly while the speaking takes place.

6. THUMBABILIY - Excellent (smaller screens)

• Other than typing, the application can be operated with one hand: ✓

The thumability of the application is going to be largely determined by device screen size. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a large screen, so thumbability is a stretch, but on smaller devices like the Nexus One, the Nike+ Running is very thumbable.

7. ACCOUNT INTEGRATION - Excellent

• Log required to post to Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: ✓ Facebook/Twitter
• Seamless: ✓

The account integration is seamless since the application retains sharing preferences and account credentials.

8. SERVICE INTEGRATION - Excellent

• Service (GPS/BlueTooth/Wi-Fi) options are launched/activated as needed: ✓
• Seamless: ACTIVATE AND RETURN

Pace and location are tracked using the devices GPS.  If the GPS is not active when attempting to start a run, the application notifies the runner and allows them to activate it. Tapping back returns to the application.

Nike+ Running doesn’t support music on the test device, so the track had to be started in an application, then the runner had to return to Nike+ to start the run.

At Audio Feedback settings which provide audible run details about the run time, distance, and pace in time or distance intervals.

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SUMMARY

Nike+ Running met Victor's goals in his usage scenario.  The application has additional features not reviewed because they were not affiliated with Victor's goals.