Pfeiffer Report: iPad Mini Delivers the Best User Experience of all 7-inch Tablets
- Staff
- May 24, 2013
Pfeiffer Consulting has recently published the results of a research project, which measuring various aspects of the user experience of digital devices such as tablets and smartphones. The research looked at the Amazon Kindle Fire HD (7-inch), Apple’s iPad mini, the Google Nexus 7, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7-inch).
According to the report, the iPad mini came out top. In terms of user experience, here is what the report had to say:
Key aspects of user experience
Key Aspects of tablet user experience are hardware user experience, cognitive load and user experience friction (UXF). Another essential aspect of the overall tablet user experience is the sophistication of the app store available for a de- vice. (See “Background and Methodology” on page 37 for details.)
The device user experience is the sum or an accumulation of a large number of minor aspects, which, taken individually, may seem unimportant or inconsequential, but taken as a whole will make the difference between a device that is perceived as pleasant to use, and a device that is merely functional.
Whether these differences are perceived as important or not is up to the individual user to decide. But there is no doubt that they exist: all of the aspects we are looking at in this research are clearly perceptible and in many cases quantifiable.
Major Points
- User experience of tablets and smartphones is one of the most important aspects of the overall perceived value of the device.
- Key aspects of the overall user experience are hardware user experience, cognitive load, user experience friction and app store sophistication.
- Pfeiffer Consulting has developed methodologies to quantify key parts of the user experience.
- This report documents a benchmarking project comparing four medium-sized tablets: the Amazon Kindle Fire HD (7-inch), Apple’s iPad mini, the Google Nexus 7, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7-inch).
Key Findings
- There are significant differences between tablets in hardware user experience. This research shows that the iPad mini offers the best hardware user experience, followed by the Nexus 7.
- With a score of 28, the iPad mini has a significant lower cognitive load than other 7-inch tablets in the survey, contributing to greater ease of use and better user experience.
- The User Experience Friction Index calculated from this research ranges from 25 for the iPad mini to 122.50 for the Kindle Fire HD. (Lower numbers indicate a better score.)
- App store sophistication has been quantified in several ways, and shows significant differences between the three major app providers.
