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

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.

스마트 폰 터치스크린에서의 작은 터치 키의 사용성 연구