Severe lack of feedback on carrier availability

asked 2015-10-03 10:57:55 +0200

kandelabra gravatar image

updated 2015-10-03 12:59:18 +0200

Here is fresh usability test/field observation.

I was in the room of concrete building and I needed to make a call. OK, I took my Jolla out of the pocket and ran phone app. I found a contact and tap "call" control. Nothing happened. Once again and again... What, my Jolla freezes? Do not know how many time one could spend on that efforts, I was rescued but some passerby who gave me a hint.

As you may guess already the was no carrier in that room. But Jolla gave no clue about that.

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Moreover Jolla allowed me to try to perform action that was not available at the moment.

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Please note: this not about fullscreen app or about statusbar. Such things should be more sophisticated than just permanent icon.

Suggestion:

  1. The mobile carrier unavailability should be indicated clearly at least when phone app is active.
  2. Controls of immediate actions (such as make a call) should be not active unless corresponding action is not possible. System must inform users clearly why they are unavailable.

Update:

Tested feedback in Flight mode. All controls are active even in Flight mode. Tiny box on the top of the screen appears when tapping Call control. When tapping Send SMS the composing screen appears, you can compose message and even "send" it - it shows status "Sending..." ...and will show it forever without any clues of the reason of impossibility of sending.

So overall picture is nearly the same as when carrier is lost.

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Comments

Me only? In such circumstance, my Jolla says "Network issue" when trying to make a call.

objectifnul ( 2015-10-03 11:15:00 +0200 )edit

Which way it says that? Popup on the top of the screen or something else? I' add the screenshots. Then that might be a bug.

kandelabra ( 2015-10-03 11:49:21 +0200 )edit

Unfortunately (hehe), the network is excellent here, so I can't show you for the time being. One of these days I'll go to the 3rd basement of my office and make a screenshot.

However yes, the phone allows to try even when there is no network available. The "Network issue" warning only shows up afterwards.

In flight mode, there is a pop-up saying «Impossible in flight mode».

objectifnul ( 2015-10-03 14:40:02 +0200 )edit

Thank you, but I think it will not differ too much from notification in Flight mode - this is similar pop-up with different text, right?

kandelabra ( 2015-10-03 18:07:47 +0200 )edit

As far as I can remember, yes.

I wouldn't consider this as a bug. You may prefer a more obvious warning, but for me it's OK.

objectifnul ( 2015-10-03 19:03:03 +0200 )edit