Usability Evaluation of the Size of Small Touch Keys for the Smart Phone

스마트 폰 터치스크린에서의 작은 터치 키의 사용성 연구

This paper focuses on small touch key size and spacing that affect the usability of the smart phones. The experiments examined thirty-six different touch key designs, combinations of four touch key sizes (width (mm) ${\times}$height (mm); $4{\times}4$, $4{\times}7$, $7{\times}4$, and $7{\times}7$), and nine spacings (horizontal (mm)${\times}$vertical (mm); $0{\times}0$, $0{\times}1$, $0{\times}3$, $1{\times}0$, $1{\times}1$, $1{\times}3$, $3{\times}0$, $3{\times}1$, and $3{\times}3$). Forty participants volunteered in the experiment. The completion time, error rate, identification discomfort, and control discomfort were measured. The results revealed that the touch key sizes of $7{\times}7$ and $7{\times}4$ provide the best performance in terms of the error rate measure, while the touch key size of $7{\times}7$ provides the best results for other measures. In addition, touch key spacings of $1{\times}1$, $1{\times}3$ and $3{\times}1$ are regarded as the best for all the measures. The results of this study suggest a practical approach for the small touch key design for the smart phones.