Phone Buttons - Numberphile
video description
We also all need to switch to the English (Common) measurement system. Okay, I know most of the people here prefer metric, but I'm an American and am used to the English system. ;) Actually, I find the metric system incredibly useful in physics, meh in chemistry (considering you're always having to convert to Moles anyway, bleh. though mL is useful, and less practical for everyday measurements than the common system. I find that for everyday measurements the common system is divided into more logical portions, especially for volume, inches, and feet specifically. Temperature units I could go either way on, though I will always use Fahrenheit since that's what I'm used to.
Date: 2022-04-08
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Comments and reviews: 9
Ben
The calculator / keyboard layout versus the opposite telephone layout always bothers me. They should be the same. I'd prefer the calculator and keyboard layout.
But it's interesting that they didn't use rows of four columns instead of three, with two extra buttons, or a four by four or four by five arrangement. They could have later added buttons for special functions, which is what has ultimately happened on cell phones with -, #, clear/delete and return/enter.
I still wish smart cell phones had physical buttons for the numbers, so you don't turn off your screen while in the middle of a phone tree menu. (I hate phone tree menus and that power-saving mode) It's a smart phone. It ought to have phone functions as its priority. Bad design.
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The calculator / keyboard layout versus the opposite telephone layout always bothers me. They should be the same. I'd prefer the calculator and keyboard layout.
But it's interesting that they didn't use rows of four columns instead of three, with two extra buttons, or a four by four or four by five arrangement. They could have later added buttons for special functions, which is what has ultimately happened on cell phones with -, #, clear/delete and return/enter.
I still wish smart cell phones had physical buttons for the numbers, so you don't turn off your screen while in the middle of a phone tree menu. (I hate phone tree menus and that power-saving mode) It's a smart phone. It ought to have phone functions as its priority. Bad design.
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Pavl-nka
im so mindblown by this information. What! That's crazy. It's interesting that my hand never like has a problem? It does kinda make sense, with 123-keyboards, you tend to write from the bottom, right, because your hands go up as you're typing; for TV remotes, you usually turn on the TV, that's at the top, and then you do the numbers, so they start at the top too. With cellphones, you usually also have unlock buttons, and power ups and what not on the top, so it make sense for the numbers to start at top too. With calculator, you have 123 on the bottom so you don't have to move your hand too far when you're writing something, so that's very interestiing.
I mean, I guess those aren't the real reasons, but it seems logical to me.
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im so mindblown by this information. What! That's crazy. It's interesting that my hand never like has a problem? It does kinda make sense, with 123-keyboards, you tend to write from the bottom, right, because your hands go up as you're typing; for TV remotes, you usually turn on the TV, that's at the top, and then you do the numbers, so they start at the top too. With cellphones, you usually also have unlock buttons, and power ups and what not on the top, so it make sense for the numbers to start at top too. With calculator, you have 123 on the bottom so you don't have to move your hand too far when you're writing something, so that's very interestiing.
I mean, I guess those aren't the real reasons, but it seems logical to me.
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Jan
It is really difficult to get rid of cultural bias in design. It could be that the optimal solution, as chosen by 55% has to do with our general way of writing (assuming they asked Americans to fill in the grid) as we write from left to right and top to bottom. just like why the rotary design at that time looked like a fast design as it was already the known standard (probably today will get low test scores. The flaw in most 'human factors' designs is not taking into account the presence of a learning phase. To uncover the capability of a design testing trials should be executed on a broather timespan. In a way there is always a trade-off between finding the 'real' optimal design and the easiest design for people to adapt to.
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It is really difficult to get rid of cultural bias in design. It could be that the optimal solution, as chosen by 55% has to do with our general way of writing (assuming they asked Americans to fill in the grid) as we write from left to right and top to bottom. just like why the rotary design at that time looked like a fast design as it was already the known standard (probably today will get low test scores. The flaw in most 'human factors' designs is not taking into account the presence of a learning phase. To uncover the capability of a design testing trials should be executed on a broather timespan. In a way there is always a trade-off between finding the 'real' optimal design and the easiest design for people to adapt to.
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george
I am in my eighth decade and I remember being somewhere in downtown Chicago, and seeing the very first push button phone. They offered everyone a chance to try it out and see how much faster it was. My father was a physician and surgeon and we were very unusual in that we had 2 phones (and the 2 letters and 5 numbers were consecutive. When the first line was busy, the second one would ring. The cords on our phones were very long (maybe 4 or 5 feet) so my father could talk to a patient while he was still at the dinner table or he could go around the corner for privacy. Besides phones being very different, so were doctors.
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I am in my eighth decade and I remember being somewhere in downtown Chicago, and seeing the very first push button phone. They offered everyone a chance to try it out and see how much faster it was. My father was a physician and surgeon and we were very unusual in that we had 2 phones (and the 2 letters and 5 numbers were consecutive. When the first line was busy, the second one would ring. The cords on our phones were very long (maybe 4 or 5 feet) so my father could talk to a patient while he was still at the dinner table or he could go around the corner for privacy. Besides phones being very different, so were doctors.
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Marty
I have an antique radio called the Radiola X from 1923. Micro wave sized, and battery operated, it also has a key start like a car. Decorative wood finish like a piece of furniture. Carefully numerated dials like a scientific instrument.
Recall also that when pocket calculators came into common use in 1971, their plastic cases were not made to resemble wood or metal. Presumably, if such devices had first been made of wood in 1867, that tradition would have been continued with fake wood grain. (Like station wagons in the 1960s having wood grain panel decals recalling wooden body work from the first half of the century)
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I have an antique radio called the Radiola X from 1923. Micro wave sized, and battery operated, it also has a key start like a car. Decorative wood finish like a piece of furniture. Carefully numerated dials like a scientific instrument.
Recall also that when pocket calculators came into common use in 1971, their plastic cases were not made to resemble wood or metal. Presumably, if such devices had first been made of wood in 1867, that tradition would have been continued with fake wood grain. (Like station wagons in the 1960s having wood grain panel decals recalling wooden body work from the first half of the century)
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John
The difference between the calculator and 'phone layouts is the basis for a great office prank; swap the top and bottom row on a phone and watch the user dial the wrong number repeatedly without understanding what is going on! This works (in my opinion) because the user is as familiar with the calculator layout as the 'phone layout and so is able to switch (when using the pranked 'phone) without thinking. Admittedly, I work in engineering where the use of calculators is common, so perhaps there is a limit to the applicability of this prank. try it and see!
reply
The difference between the calculator and 'phone layouts is the basis for a great office prank; swap the top and bottom row on a phone and watch the user dial the wrong number repeatedly without understanding what is going on! This works (in my opinion) because the user is as familiar with the calculator layout as the 'phone layout and so is able to switch (when using the pranked 'phone) without thinking. Admittedly, I work in engineering where the use of calculators is common, so perhaps there is a limit to the applicability of this prank. try it and see!
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-rp-d
Did you know the dial just quickly interrupted the line as many (3, 7 etc) times? My mother showed it to me that I could actually dial by -hanging up- quickly the right amount of times. My mind was blown. There were these locked dials at the office but they weren't a problem for me anymore.
EDIT: in fact, where I'm from, at the beginning keypads just did the same thing, but electronically. It took years before they became tone buttons.
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Did you know the dial just quickly interrupted the line as many (3, 7 etc) times? My mother showed it to me that I could actually dial by -hanging up- quickly the right amount of times. My mind was blown. There were these locked dials at the office but they weren't a problem for me anymore.
EDIT: in fact, where I'm from, at the beginning keypads just did the same thing, but electronically. It took years before they became tone buttons.
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WhereWhatHuh
An additional factor in the four by four grid (The 0-9, -, #, A, B, C, D) was that all necessary combinations could be made using only eight tones: One for each row and one for each column. This provides the 16 necessary dual-tone-multi-freq. codes necessary for dialing plus special functions.
The four buttons in the fourth column were only available to Bell Technicians and Engineers, and had special purposes.
Ah, DTMF.
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An additional factor in the four by four grid (The 0-9, -, #, A, B, C, D) was that all necessary combinations could be made using only eight tones: One for each row and one for each column. This provides the 16 necessary dual-tone-multi-freq. codes necessary for dialing plus special functions.
The four buttons in the fourth column were only available to Bell Technicians and Engineers, and had special purposes.
Ah, DTMF.
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g4tnew
In flint Michigan America, the water is still toxic, after more than a decade, along with most states. Fluoride is still added to water and salt. Antipsychotics and antidepressants are added to all animal feed, and when testing human waste water at treatment plants, there are high levels of these chemicals, but officially no study to determine effect on humans. Also, Iran and North Korea hates America for our freedoms.
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In flint Michigan America, the water is still toxic, after more than a decade, along with most states. Fluoride is still added to water and salt. Antipsychotics and antidepressants are added to all animal feed, and when testing human waste water at treatment plants, there are high levels of these chemicals, but officially no study to determine effect on humans. Also, Iran and North Korea hates America for our freedoms.
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