This is not the first time I complain about the user interface of an appliance and wonder why great hardware producers fail so miserably when it comes to the user interface design. I also had a note about the “interface regress” describing how a fine, intuitively clear navigation panel of a small stereo deteriorated to something unusable in the more recent generation of the same device. But in here, it all comes together.
I have been a user of Philips wake-up lights for several years. The first lamp was an HF35-series, with touch buttons on the front panel and physical buttons on the top edge. Currently I possess my second device — Somneo SmartSleep Wake-Up Light HF36-series. Both produce great light and have smooth wake-up function. Yet, I feel that the UI designers (if they ever had a decision power in the device design) have never used prototypes of both in real-life situations.
The HF35 has buttons on the top edge of the lamp to turn the light on and off. You cannot see them from the front, so you should operate them by touch only. However, even after one year of using the lamp, I was still uncertain which button was doing what because they all had the same shape.
The overall functionality was great. I could separately turn off the alarm, get up, and then turn the light off (provided I hit the right button). The light could be turned off immediately or through a dimming (“go-to-sleep”) function. The latter was especially useful because it was giving me enough time to make the bed and leave the room.
Unfortunately, the appliance started to malfunction after about 1.5 years of use. It was still under warranty. The same model was not available from the retailer where I bought it, so I decided to get an upgraded one and purchased the next generation of Philip wake-up light called Somneo. It had an attractive and non-trivial shape, and I hoped that the UI flaws were fixed in that model.
However, much to my surprise, the physical buttons totally disappeared in the new model; there are only soft buttons. The only functions that are available by touch (without looking at the device) are turning the night dimmed light on and turning that dimmed or full light off. For that, one has to simply touch the top part of the lamp. I must admit, this interaction gives me a great experience. But for almost everything else, one has to touch the Home button first in order to enter the menu (!), and only there turning the bright light on — e.g. for reading or as an ambient light — is possible.
Another annoying setting is when the alarm goes off, turning it off also turns off the light. Touching the top of the light does not turn off the alarm but only snoozes it. Therefore, the whole interaction goes like this: I am waking up with “sunrise”, the alarm goes off, I turn it off — but together with the light! — and then I immediately need to turn the light on. Otherwise, what is the point to get the darkness back when you just woke up? And if I don’t turn the light on immediately — while the button for that is visible on the screen — I will have to enter that menu first and then turn on the light.
We all are getting used to the fact that a lot of physical devices have become apps in our phones. And in a lot of cases, this provides a great experience. When flaws are found, they are usually fixed with the apps’ updates. I would not remove physical controls like hard buttons and dials for the appliances. These controls provide the basic settings for our environment. Besides, their firmware cannot be updated by consumers.
I used to turn various lamps around my house on and off without looking at the switches. Why should this clear and established interaction pattern change? And after all, why should there be a Home button in a bedside lamp?!
I never had a chance to try one of the previous models that had simple buttons on the front panel. But, the trend from physical buttons to the menu on the screen looks clearly irrelevant for the lamp’s use case.
I would understand if this metamorphosis made the device cheaper. But Somneo is one of the most expensive wake-up lights on the market! I don’t think I would buy this device for that price if I was able to check all these interactions in the store (which is hardly ever possible) or would be able to understand it from the user manual. The latter is not possible either: the user manual does not even mention that when you turn off the alarm, the light is turned off at the same time.
