Comments on: The only speed that matters is subjective http://ianfogg.com/2008/11/10/the-only-speed-that-matters-is-subjective/ Strategy and analysis about mobile, smartphones, tablets and connected experiences Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:09:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: The speed of now « Being Connected by Ian Fogg http://ianfogg.com/2008/11/10/the-only-speed-that-matters-is-subjective/#comment-2770 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:23:55 +0000 http://ianfogg.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-2770 [...] speed is rarely enough in those tight moments. And, this is one of those rare situations where subjective speed isn’t [...]

]]> By: Disconnected « Being Connected by Ian Fogg http://ianfogg.com/2008/11/10/the-only-speed-that-matters-is-subjective/#comment-84 Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:04:13 +0000 http://ianfogg.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-84 [...] It worked but the experience felt slow. This matters irrespective of whatever the technical speed tests say (300-600Kbps download when I checked). How fast something feels is what consumers care about. I’ve written about this idea here before in more detail. [...]

]]> By: Michael Stevens http://ianfogg.com/2008/11/10/the-only-speed-that-matters-is-subjective/#comment-26 Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:35:44 +0000 http://ianfogg.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-26 Wasn’t there something in the 1980s where apple tested keyboard shortcuts vs mouse usage, and found that while the keyboard *felt* faster, mouse usage was actually faster?

(although I’m not convinced by the generality of their result)

]]> By: Michael Stevens http://ianfogg.com/2008/11/10/the-only-speed-that-matters-is-subjective/#comment-24 Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:18:32 +0000 http://ianfogg.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-24 The iPhone stock image thing reminds me of a bit in one of Cory Doctorow’s books, where he talks about a PDA-thing that saves a screenshot on shutdown, and displays it on boot.

It’s used as an example of user perception being more important in some ways than the facts (the device in question boots more slowly but is perceived as being faster).

]]> By: RogerBW http://ianfogg.com/2008/11/10/the-only-speed-that-matters-is-subjective/#comment-17 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:52:56 +0000 http://ianfogg.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-17 Other things to consider:

One long wait feels shorter than two short waits of the same total length, because there’s nothing happening to break it up. (So when I boot my EeePC/Debian/Gnome, the delay between logging in and having a working desktop feels more significant than the delay between pressing the power button and logging in.)

The speed with which computers respond to typing is getting slower. Ask any competent touch-typist.

]]> By: ianfogg http://ianfogg.com/2008/11/10/the-only-speed-that-matters-is-subjective/#comment-11 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:23:06 +0000 http://ianfogg.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-11 Erik Naggum’s experiment sounds interesting. I wonder if that was something Apple’s design team had been aware of when they built the iPhone UI.

]]> By: Ingvar http://ianfogg.com/2008/11/10/the-only-speed-that-matters-is-subjective/#comment-9 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:56:53 +0000 http://ianfogg.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-9 Another example was an experiment that Erik Naggum performed. People had been complaining about the speed of Emacs (it used to display the string “Garbage collecting…” periodically, as it uses managed storage) and he provided a “new and updated” version, where the only difference was that is no longer printed that message.

People did indeed perceive it as being faster, because it didn’t tell you it was slow.

]]> By: Nick R http://ianfogg.com/2008/11/10/the-only-speed-that-matters-is-subjective/#comment-6 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:34:18 +0000 http://ianfogg.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-6 Agreed – but see http://daringfireball.net/2008/11/more_notes_on_notes – Gruber @ Daring Fireball on why looking ready when you aren’t is a bad thing – looking fast vs feeling fast.

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