OK, these are hard words, but sometimes I'm really angry about Maemo. But every time I tested another smartphone (Android, Symbian) I wasn't much happier. There are a lot of things I love about Maemo like the openness or the availability of my favorite Linux applications instead of some restricted "Apps".

You might say, please write a bug report. But I think this is not about a specific bug, it's about a general policy, a philosophy, how things should designed. My aim is to supply a bit to the discussion how MeeGo Handset UX should be designed, that everybody (except the competitors) is happy. I hope you see this as a constructive article and not as a "flame" post.

1. The phone application seems not to have priority

The phone application shall be the king, the unquestioned king. All other applications should step back and be quite as long as this crucial part is in the "room".
^ OK, it's a smartphone and I can do a lot of amazing stuff, but it's still a phone. The programs who handling phone calls should have absolute priority in case of memory, CPU and UI. I don't care how much applications are active. If I receive a phone call I want be able to accept or deny it immediately. I won't wait a second. Accepting a call and ending a call are the most crucial tasks on a phone.
It's interesting what a touchscreen can do and where a hardware button is better. I think unless the touchscreen recognition is (exactly, not roughly)as fast as a button event handler, there should be a button on the devices for accepting/ending calls.

2. Such a latency

It's nice when a UI looks good and has fancy animations, but it must perform fast on all planned hardware. Do I asking to much, when I want to listen a Internet radio stream via 3G with my bluetooth headset while I'm checking my emails or browsing online? If the system isn't capable to allow real multitasking it should be restricted by design (see Apple iOS). If you promise something to me, I want use it.

I have no pity for the system if it react really slow on my inputs. On mobile devices you make a lot of typos when you write a text, so direct feedback is crucial. All buttons, dialogs etc. should react immediately, at least the should report that they are working. In Maemo 5 on the N900 I must wait two long seconds after I clicked on a chat account until I get the "Edit Account"-Dialog. In the "Settings" application it sometimes even longer. Another show stopper is the long time the animation between landscape and portrait mode needs. But these seem to be solved in MeeGo.

Form follows function means in this case fanciness follows speed. This should be a dogma.

3. I don't get any feedback from the system

Especially in cases where the latency is high, the user should get feedback from the user interface. But feedback is an old recommendation in the usability scene. The user should every time know how the system state is. Why there isn't a symbol permanently showing me, that Shift or Fn is locked? The message which appears in Maemo 5 isn't enough. We talked about the relationship of form and function. If there is a scroll bar, it should be there permanent. It might hurts some designers hearts, but we talking about an everyday-device, not about art. Beautiful interfaces who respect usability are perfect, but a nice screen layout alone is nothing.

4. The UI is not consistent

Style guides aren't their only because someone had too much time. If applications and especially user interfaces follow a special and every time similar philosophy, then the users know what they can expect. Style guides aren't only guides for developers and designer, they are or better their results are guides for the user.

I don't understand why the QA-Process for Maemo Extras Testing is explicitly excluding the appearance of applications from the evaluation. Apple was criticized for their rigorous policy in other points, but I think their policy for the UI design is just right.

Another example: Why I can't switch from the (I call it) quick contact view to edit. If I access a contact from the address-book it's no problem. Both contact views looks similar, except the first one just isn't full-screen. As a user I don't care, that they might be different widgets.

Not only users need consistency. Developers need them, too. Think about the big jumps from Diablo to Maemo 5 to (in Amsterdam announced) Harmattan, to MeeGo. Is my application running on the next version, too? This might be a big question before you start to develop for a specific platform, nonetheless you have commercial aims or are an open-source developer. If developers can concentrate on their application and UI instead of learning new toolkits and SDKs, then the users will profit, too.

5. Not enough User-centric Design

PR1.2 and PR1.3 (Maemo 5 releases) fixed a lot of stuff people wonder about. We live in the 21th century, so why I can't delete a received mail directly (opened straight from the notification). I still can't navigate from such a mail to the a previous or next mail.

Sometimes I want to call from a different phone or someone asks me for a number. Users want to a address book like in the old days. Sending a contact via bluetooth is nice, but think of different user scenarios, too. Now with PR1.3 we have a zoom, which is great. But it's not easy to access it (Menu -> Zoom). Is there a shortcut? Why isn't it double-tap, something easy and convenient?
In general everything important should be big. Buttons should be used without special motor skills (in German we say "sausage fingers"). Think of bad weather, shaky public transport and 1000 other non ideal situation. But think also about, what is easy to remember. Which structure and layout make sense for the most users.

Because their isn't the average user, think of flexibility and customization. I have set up three mail accounts. I would love to get the mails including attachments from the first one always, from the seconds only via Wi-Fi and checking the third only manually. With Modest (Maemo client for mails) it's not possible. Another example: you cant choose custom alarms for calendar entries. You have a handful of choices from 0 minutes before up to one day, but choosing a custom date seems to be too much.

6. These damn regressions (Still missin' my old phone)

I know, software development is hard work. Sometimes you improve one part and has a regression on another one. I'm talking about big regressions. I should be able to do everything with a N900 (or successor), what I was able to do with an dumb phone (like Nokia 1200 or Sony-Ericsson W810i). All classical scenarios should work on the smartphones. If friends ask me about the N900, I answer them you can do a lot of crazy stuff from Twitter to Terminal, but don't try to do phone calls.

Your opinion

I hope you see my intention and points. I would love to see your comments, either here, in your (micro)blogs or from face to face at the MeeGo-Conference in Dublin.

P.S.: If you write a comment, the Spam prevention ask you, what's my first name is... ;)