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I installed update of android 4.2.2 to my tablet. A new feature is "Long-press to toggle Bluetooth or Wi-Fi in the settings pull-down".

So there are some interesting differences between offical rom and third-party roms:

  • third-party:

    • click button: toggle wifi
    • long press button: go to wifi settings

  • offical:

    • click button: go to wifi settings
    • long press button: toggle wifi

I use third-party rom on my phone, the behaviors of them are totally opposite.

Which design is better?

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  • I suspect long-press was used as toggle since tap already meant something, or so that the "tap to check wifi settings" feature is more discoverable (longpress is generally not discoverable)
    – Ben Brocka
    Feb 15, 2013 at 19:28
  • What is that thing on the first button?
    – Reactgular
    Feb 16, 2013 at 2:46
  • 1
    @MathewFoscarini avatar of owner.
    – iMom0
    Feb 16, 2013 at 2:48
  • I would go for the third party options as I spend more time enabling-disabling elements (a click is faster more usage should have more speed) than configuring settings
    – Fernando Lee
    Feb 16, 2013 at 5:33

1 Answer 1

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This is a situation, where the learned behavior is different from the naural one (in the official version). Going one step backward - users should be able to do more common action with less effort. I think more common is switching wifi on or off (to preserve battery) and thus this action should be triggered by just a tap.

In the same time, users who got used to the original behavior may find it better because they have learned it. Changing it to "the better way to do it" (from general ux point of view) might be a bit inconvenient or them.

So, tap to switch, hold for settings is better, but still it's a deadlock :)

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  • Long-hold isn't a commonly understood interaction technique, and so for naive users your solution means they'll have no way to get to the settings screen. Long-hold for common settings would be bad, long-hold to reveal arcane super-settings would be good. Mixing both methods in the same UI (for different things) would of course be worse than bad.
    – Erics
    Feb 18, 2013 at 6:05
  • Well, you are right to some point. There are always going to be naive users who won't know how to perform simple tasks. In the same time, they will still have an option to use the general Settings app for the device. And I don't think naive users will install such an utility from Google Play in the first place - the ones who will will have at least some basic understanding of what it is for, most probably enough to catch how to operate it.
    – Dominik Oslizlo
    Feb 18, 2013 at 7:08

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