A Heuristic Evaluation of Samsung’s RU 7100 Smart TV
Using Jakob Nielsen’s 10 principles of interaction design I will be evaluating how well the RU 7100 holds up to these metrics. The reason I have chosen this model over any other potential models is because I have been using it for several months and feel as though I have gained enough experience and time with the TV to properly evaluate the TV and its software. One additional note this evaluation will be with the original TV remote the TV comes with as this TV is not connected to cable TV.
Visibility of System Status
As one could expect when it comes to a TV the main access point for the end user to interface with the TV is the remote. The visibility of system status focuses on how the system displays information about the user interfacing with the system when in use, with this TV’s smart graphical user interface the current object that selected or being hovered has its size enlarged. I believe this is a great way to display this information instead of a system where the currently selected object has a colored boarded around it. This can sometimes be hard to see for users potentially resulting in miss clicking a button.
Match Between System and the Real World
Over the many decades of TV’s from buttons on the TV to navigate to the creation of the remote navigating the menus of TVs have always brought frustration and confusion to users. Samsung’s user interface provides 3 forms of information for each selection when digging in the settings tab of the interface. The first is a circle with an icon to represent the option, followed by currently selected option, with the name of the setting below that. The uniformity and cleanliness of the UI adds to the readability and understanding of the user interacting with the system.
User Control and Freedom
The Television remote allows for user control and freedom over the TV’s user interface in several ways. The first was is the return and exit buttons which each enable backing out of menu’s very easily. Some other buttons on the remote that also grant control and freedom are the 3 buttons that with one press launch Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu.
Consistency and Standards
The RU 7100’s user interface does adhere to internal consistency design philosophies through out all of its menus and sub menus. The menus follow a bottom up expansion path with choices on the horizontal axis. The user interface distinguishes services and channels with blocks with their logos all of which have some color. All setting buttons are strictly black and white occasionally having small colored icons in the settings menu when displaying source inputs. When it comes to external consistency it does not follow others in the industry as TV User interfaces tend to be different from company to company. In my home I also have 2 LG TV’s one of which uses what I have heard referred to as blade like menus which looks wildly different.
Error Prevention
Due to the nature of this system being a television nothing in the TV’s user interface could be done to create a massive error with the TV. Hitting the wrong button while may be annoying after thoroughly checking all the buttons nothing clicked could not easily be changed back to its prior state. No buttons had damaging effects if accidentally clicked by a user at most it would launch an application you did not want to access.
Recognition Rather Than Recall
The RU 7100 has excellent recognition design in the user interface this is due to the choice made to have the built-in apps like Netflix and Hulu be represented by their logos instead of plain text. The human minds excellent ability to recognize common and popular logos easily and quickly allows a user to navigate to the app icon and select it. Above the bar of logos, the user interface also displays 3 things which also all use movie posters or the title of the shows. These three things are 3 Free movies to watch, Home Premiere Movies (due to COVID-19), and lastly Free TV shows. All of these selections are represented with a box or rectangle with the poster or title logo of the show.
Flexibility and Efficiency of Use
The main efficiency that the TV utilizes is the 3 buttons on the remote the quickly send you to the three largest streaming services that have built in apps on the TV. These are Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime video. You could alternately scroll over on the home bar to the desired application however this takes more time than a simple button press. Users can alter the order of applications on the home bar so some could be reached quicker as well if their desired application is not one of the three on the remote.
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
The RU 7100 interface excels in its aesthetic and minimalist design some points that support this I have already mentioned in relation to other topics. However, in relation to this principal the design is by minimalist only showing the user what they want and displaying it simply. 7–10 boxes of applications of programs with the settings tabs hidden off to the left of the home bar. Most users will rarely change the settings on a TV once setup to their specification, so it is not essential to have this be a large part of the home bar. The minimalism also applies to the actual design of the TV and the remote both of which are simple and refined making them easy to understand and use.
Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover From Errors
In the several months I have been using the RU 7100 I have yet to encounter any error messages. However, In the setting area of the home bar there is a e-manual which has extensive guides and troubleshooting support for the user to interact with to solve any potential problems that might come up. Including help with smart features, alternative remotes or devices that could interface with the TV like Roku. On top of the e-manual there is also the instruction booklet and paper manuals that come with the TV when you buy it in case the e-manual could not be reached.
Help and Documentation
As I mentioned in principle 9 the RU 7100 has an extensive help guide built into the settings area of the home bar. In addition, the TV also comes with physical guides to aid users on the setup, installation, and configuration of the TV.
In conclusion, after my analysis of the RU 7100 using Neilson’s 10 heuristics of design interaction principles I can confirm the RU 7100 excels in each category with passing grades.
