A method for searching photos on a mobile phone by using the fisheye view technique

Abstract This study evaluates the use of fisheye view to help search for photos in the thumbnail preview on mobile phones with 2 inch diagonal and 3 inch diagonal screens. The factors varied were the number of thumbnails on a screen (array size) and the delay time between selecting the original thumbnail preview and converting it to a fisheye view. On a 2 inch diagonal screen, both user preference and search performance were better on a 3 × 3 array and 4 × 4 array than on a 5 × 5 array. On a 3 inch diagonal screen, 4 × 3 and 5 × 4 arrays were preferred over a 6 × 5 array, but search performance was not statistically different among the arrays. The fisheye view increased search accuracy and speed in 4 × 4 and 5 × 5 arrays on the 2 inch screen, but not in a 3 × 3 array on a 2 inch screen or in any array on a 3 inch screen. Delay time did not affect performance or preference on a 2 inch screen. It is recommended that 16 (a 4 × 4 array) or fewer images should be displayed on a 2 inch screen, and 20 (a 5 × 4 array) or fewer on a 3 inch screen. The delay time should be 0.6 s–1.0 s when using a 4 × 4 array on a 2 inch screen. These results can also be applied to other mobile personal devices with small screens such as digital cameras and PDAs. Relevance to industry The results suggest an effective way of presenting multiple images on a small screen. Also, evaluation method used in this study can be applied in other small display devices as well.