The Marlin Mobile Blog

Boston Bruins Stanley Cup Championship Slows Mobile Web Performance for Boston.com

Posted on 14 July 2011 by Adrian Mendoza | No responses

Last month the Boston Bruins won the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup. As excitement grew for Boston fans, so did the time it took to access local content provider Boston.com.

A Marlin Mobile performance analysis showed that Boston.com exhibited huge spikes in slow performance as the game started (8:00 pm EDT) and as the game came to a close (11:00 pm EDT). At each of these points the average time it took for their mobile home page to download was 33 seconds, a huge decrease in performance compared to their typical 5-6 second page download time.

Are you flying blind with the performance of your mobile experience? Request a demo today! Contact us at demo@marlinmobile.com or call 617-763-1167.

Marlin Mobile Tablet Benchmark: Dell Streak outperforms Motorola Xoom by 30%

Posted on 30 April 2011 by Adrian Mendoza | No responses

Key findings

• Dell Streak 7 on T-Mobile running Android 2.2, leads the pack
• Dell Streak performs 30% faster than the new Motorola Xoom running Android 3.0
• The Samsung Galaxy Tab across T-mobile, Sprint, and Verizon appears at the bottom of the benchmark

Marlin Mobile’s newest quarterly benchmark shows that Verizon’s latest entry within the tablet marketplace is not the fastest device. The Motorola Xoom, utilizing Android 3.0, performed 30% slower than its T-Mobile competitor, the Dell Streak 7, running Android 2.2.

What does this mean for the user experience on Android tablets?

Our benchmark demonstrates that Android 3.0 is not improving performance on tablets. The Xoom and Streak both share the NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip as its processor. What separates both devices is the operating system installed. Even though the Android 3.0 is designed to specifically improve the user experience, speed is a factor in how a user perceives the performance of their tablet. We are seeing that the selected components make a substantive difference in the performance equation.

As more Android 3.0 tablets are brought to market, we will more definitively see which factors are the critical performance inhibitors over time. Will Android 3.0 slow down other tablets running the Tegra 2 chip? Is screen size a factor? Clearly the fragmentation issues that plague the Android phone market are also an issue in the Android tablet space.

Marlin Mobile’s Tablet Benchmark measures the performance of Android tablets leveraging the Marlin Mobile test network. The network consists of more than 300 tablets distributed across the United States, which conduct performance tests on the mobile website of a leading content publisher.

How much does processor affect Android devices? Stop by next week for the answer!

Marlin Mobile Android Phone Benchmark: HTC Thunderbolt is the fastest Android phone, but not by much

Posted on 16 April 2011 by Adrian Mendoza | No responses

Key findings

• The fastest Android handset on the market is the HTC Thunderbolt on Verizon.
• The Bottom 5 phones are five to eight times slower than the Top 5 phones.
• The slowest phones are sold largely by T-Mobile and Sprint.

Marlin Mobile’s latest quarterly benchmark shows that the HTC Thunderbolt by Verizon is the fastest Android phone. However, Verizon’s first 4G LTE phone – the highly touted Thunderbolt – is really only a hair faster than its current 3G and 4G competitors. The hype surrounding the Thunderbolt is marketing driven, rather than by actual performance metrics considering the realities of Verizon’s 4G network coverage.

What does all this really mean for user experience?

On the positive side, consumers are finally seeing phones that can come close to their user’s expectations for a web experience of reasonable quality. But as more and more high- end devices emerge, user expectations will continue to climb. The baseline will become a more interactive, engaging, and rich mobile web experience, compared to the “stripped down” mobile web experience users tolerated previously on more primitive phones. Compared to the previous Marlin Mobile benchmark we see much more parity in performance among the Top 5 phones, and we expect that to continue.

On the negative side, carriers are still distributing low-end devices that are hurting both the mobile web experience and consumer confidence. With devices that are five to eight times slower than the leading devices on the market, many customers are suffering from an unnecessarily poor user experience. The Marlin Mobile benchmark displays poor devices still generate mediocre  user experiences on the mobile web, even if those devices are running on LTE or 4G networks.

Marlin Mobile’s Benchmark measured the speed of Android phones using the Marlin Mobile test network. That network leveraged more than 500 phones distributed across 7 states. The Benchmark measured the performance of different Android devices accessing content on the mobile website of a leading content publisher.

What’s the fastest Android tablet on the market today? Tune in next week for the answer!

Five Misconceptions About the Mobile Web

Posted on 4 April 2011 by Adrian Mendoza | 2 responses

As a mobile user experience designer, I am always confronted with the question, “How is the mobile web different?”.  My answer, simply stated, is the mobile web is not the desktop web.  I compiled a list of the most common misconceptions I encounter:

Misconception #1:  The mobile web screen is small, so designing for it must easier. Wrong…Mobile web browsers are far less forgiving than desktop browsers.

Misconception #2:  It is easy to copy and paste mobile apps from platform to platform. Wrong…An iPhone is an iPhone, and a Droid is a Droid – their users are different and so are their habits (i.e. Android users are accustomed a menu button, iPhone users have no idea what that concept even means).

Misconception #3:  It is best to fit everything on to one screen. Wrong…Multiple devices and screen size fragmentation require sites to be fluid.  The design must respond to multiple widths.  A width of 320px won’t cut it anymore.

Misconception #4:  We determine the user experience. Wrong…Your customer does.  Better to take the time to find out what your users want and give them that, rather than dictate it to them.

Misconception #5:  Buttons are still for clicks. Wrong…Design using your finger, a small button does not cut it anymore.

Three Ways to Integrate a QR Code into your Mobile User Experience

Posted on 28 March 2011 by Adrian Mendoza | 2 responses

QR codes are the new Easter egg hunt for the tech savvy mobile nomad.  Just find one, scan it with a QR code reader, and surprise – most of the time the experience falls short.

Here are three quick tips to make sure you get the most out of your QR strategy:

1. A good QR code user experience is about a task and a reward. Make sure the reward is something that excites the users who have gone through your process to get there. Make it engaging and provide an incentive, such as providing a promo or discount for your on-the-go consumer.
2. Make sure the content you provide is mobile optimized. No one carries their desktop to scan a QR code – so make sure your mobile site is designed for the mobile experience.
3. Think critically about the placement of a QR code as an ad. Make sure it is easy enough to find and large enough for people to access.  Ever tried scanning on a moving train?  I have…Let me tell you that it is quite impossible to scan a small one inch by one inch square absorbing that kind of movement.

“Taking it to the Streets: Mobile UI and UX” on March 25th

Posted on 6 March 2011 by Adrian Mendoza | 1 response

It is not too late to register for “Taking it to the Streets: Mobile UI and UX” presented at the BostonCHI Professional Development Seminars 2011 on March 25th in Natick, MA.  Marlin Mobile co-founder Adrian Mendoza will lecture on designing mobile user experiences across multiple mobile platforms.

Register Here for the Course

Read more

Windows Phone 7 Wireframe Stencil for Omnigraffle now Available!

Posted on 15 February 2011 by Adrian Mendoza | 2 responses

Windows Phone 7 Wireframe Stencil for Omnigraffle

Now for Omnigraffle, explore the wonderful world of Windows Phone 7!  We created an overview and wireframing library of this new mobile operating system!  We even added 3 windows themes to choose from:  blue, yellow, and green.  Feel free to explore and create your own Windows Phone 7 app.

Want to learn more about the windows phone 7 interactions? Read more here:
Windows Phone 7 Design Resources

Installation
1. Download Windows Phone 7 – Version 1.0
2. Move it to your ~/Library/Application Support/OmniGraffle/Stencils directory. The ~ represents your user “home” folder.
Version Notes
1.0:  First one

Mobile UI Toolkit Ready for Download

Posted on 4 February 2011 by Adrian Mendoza | 2 responses

Co-Founder Adrian Mendoza presented at the Mobile Boot Camp hosted by UMass Boston.  The event was sponsored by BATEC and CAITE.  He  put together a quick document to help design and storyboard the iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone 7 platforms.  Feel free to copy, cut, and share.

Download the Mobile UI Toolkit

mUX / 8 – Sharing our Toys II: Updates and 2.1!

Posted on 19 January 2011 by Adrian Mendoza | No responses

We added updates to our UX tools.  Check out our UX tools page to download our new Android wireframing template for 2.1.  We included Samsung TouchWiz, HTC Sense UI, and the default Android UI.  Enjoy and please share.

Co-Founder Guest Column in Mobile Marketer Daily

Posted on 27 December 2010 by Justin Souza | No responses

“Why a Mobile App Does Not Make Sense“, a Mobile Marketer Daily column by Marlin Mobile Co-Founder, Adrian Mendoza.  Is a mobile-optimized site a better strategy for your business in the long-term?

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