If when showing off a new feature or device on a gadget to a friend you become embarrassed at how badly you've interrupted the flow of conversation, then the interface isn't yet fast enough.
I've been trying to think about ways to judge products beyond just "looks," "interface," and "battery life" benchmarks. "Conversation integration" is a step in the right direction, I think, if awkwardly phrased.
"Well.. I just cancelled mine. It is outrageously exp..."
"Yes. But can it make toast?..."
""Ephemeral" or "ethereal"?..."
"This is something totally out of the Rudi Gernreich ..."
"Tom is the old guard of the old school, and his work..."
"While I feel that Mr. Wolfe may be over simplifying ..."
"They should make the send button smaller, and add an..."
"Hey my name's Stephen ([email redacted for spam prot..."
"The red one: ..."
""It is useless to resist us." Very Borg. As Umbriel ..."
"The difference is not paper versus screen but the fa..."
"For the record, Tom Wolfe dresses awesomelike..."
"I looked at the originals ate Getty images. They're..."
"Tom is totally right! If only there were some sort o..."
"For the record, Tom Wolfe dresses like this: ..."
"What is it? Simple. It is a machine designed to trai..."
"What's more disturbing is the circumference of her a..."
"Well, you know these tottering old bankers in their ..."
"Quick! Somebody call Amazon, and get them to donate ..."
"#2 Kevin - I've read several novels on a computer sc..."
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Or what about "Conversation Starter" for its social appeal, and "Conversation stopper" for how well its features can be shown off?
It depends on the role of the UI. If the UI is meant to be peripheral that is a good criteria (being able to drive while using the UI is another one). On the other hand if the UI is immersive, it might be best if it utilized all cognitive resources.
How about 'talk-through'?
The showing of a device's features is a lot like selling it -- it's essentially an appeal to this person; a pitch. You could call it a tough sell or easy sell and I think a lot more people would understand what you mean. If I understand what you mean, anyway.
@#4, Mike Overbo: Well, what you're talking is more back-filling than a pitch, with the tacit prefix "I'm not a moron for handing over an obscene sum of money for this gizmo because it does...".
However, it does make me wonder how many product features are designed with a view to the selling process rather than pure usability. For example, I have a Toshiba LCD TV which has a DNIe (some kind of dynamic noise reduction/contrast enhancing filter) button in a prominent position to the left of the zero button. You might imagine that this toggles DNIe on and off, but you'd be wrong: it toggles a split-screen demo of DNIe and nothing else.
Man do I feel embarrassed. One of the last things I want to do is to visibly show off but that's exactly what I do with all the new gadgets I get my hands on. I can't even imagine how I'll be able to stop talking about the jesus phone if I ever get my hands on one...
Imagine you were listening to a radio host tell a story that required a clip. Imagine that clip taking many tens of seconds to play, while the host pauses his story for power on and scroll to menu stuff. .... zzzz tune out ....
I know what you mean.
When I'm showing someone something, I want to be able to be ... punchy as John Stewart.
It would be fantastic if, during lunch, I could say "Hey, did you see that hilarious bit on last night's Daily Show about iraq?" and show it if they showed interest. Or, "hey, did you catch ... news/ American Idol performance/ whatever?" "Did you see what Senator Craig said?"
Did you see what Senator Craig sad .... wait wait ... wait for it. Okay, it's on. Scroll to vidoe, select title, play. "I am not gay. I love my wife..." takes too fracking long, man. Too long. You lose your audience.