Disappointing Naim app with mu-so - terrible usability
Posted by: Tom_W on 10 January 2015
So...I have held off posting my thoughts on the Naim Android app for some time while I tried it out more thoroughly and to avoid kneejerk reactions.A recent purchase of a Mu-so however has spurred me into action.
Having bought a first generation NaimUniti in 2009 I have been engaged in the maturing of the streaming hi-fi field for some time now. Back in early 2010 I was told by Paul Stephenson at Naim that they were working on an Android app, so after 5 years (5 years!!) my expectations were piqued.
There's no nice way to put this: the app is dreadful.
Notwithstanding the fact that high end kit breeds high end expectations, the Naim app has substantial shortcomings compared to many others.
I hope that some of the following observations will be investigated by the app testers and developers and that a rapid program of bug fixes and UX improvements can be implemented.
Muso setup: There is a dead end for the user if you input the incorrect wi-fi password. If you do this, you get a purple light, and the app tells you to try again, but there is no way to do this without restarting whole setup process.
Back button implementation is very broken (as noted by many other users). An example: If you are in the second level of radio (i.e you've chosen a search criteria like Location), pressing the standard Android 'Up' button in the top left should return you to the level hierarchically above you. That would be the iRadio top level page in this example. Instead you get kicked out back to the souce selection home page. You only have to have a look at Android's design guidelines for a simple explanation of how this should work. I quote:"Consistent navigation is an essential component of the overall user experience. Few things frustrate users more than basic navigation that behaves in inconsistent and unexpected ways." I am frustrated.
Poor keyboard implementation: There is a huge lag on key presses, and long press on characters does not select numbers on standard Android keyboard on HTC. The lag made it unusable with Swiftkey.
The search function is very limited. In iRadio top level, you cannot search for stations by name. Users will expect to be able to seach for something (e.g. BBC) and for it to return a result, otherwise what is the search for?
If you are searching using the Search box, when you have entered one or more characters in the search bar you are no longer able to scroll the screen section below that shows the search categories.
This would useful for the user (not to mention a common UI patern), because it enables them to check how the app categorises content, so potentially refining their inputted search strings.
Switching between grid and list view used the same size icons, so in portrait list view on a phone you only see three entries. This is actually LESS than I see in grid mode! This offers no benefit to the user. List view should show more entries than in grid. In list view it is the text information that is important, not the icon.
The app does not remember which screen you were on after resuming from the lock screen or switching from another app. It always defaults to the home screen. Some more intelligent persistency would be good.
When performing a radio station search there is no easy way to remove the keyboard overlay. Even pressing x and clearing the search field does not remove it. This is critical as without removing it there is no way to select the 'Now playing' screen to access the (hard to find) 'Favourites' star. So basically, you search for a station and you can't save it. No wonder there are so many forum posts about this basic user goal.
This issue is compounded by the irrational back and up button behaviour.
The whole app is slow and laggy. This is probably related to its enormous file size. It is over 33 MB. I can have an entire navigation and mapping app for that. And by point of comparison, Bubble UPnP is 9MB, and has way more features.
The app appears only to be a UPnP client. I may be wrong, but I cannot find a way to serve locally stored content to my Mu-so without having a separate UPnP server app.
In fact UPnP just doesn't seem to work in this app (it's just crashed again while writing this).
The iRadio categories are not intuitive for actually finding content. Geographical location has no meaning for internet radio. That's the whole point!
The Mu-so support site has almost no information on using the app, and seeing as this is the way Naim are expecting users to set up and interact with the device, there should be more help.
No software is ever perfect, but in summary, the user experience of interacting with Naim's streaming products is extremely poor, and I don't believe it has been adequately prioritised by Naim. Their hardware is great, but with streaming music systems, customer satisfaction is also hugely influenced by the software they have to use.
Reassessing the information architecture and usability of this app should be top of their agenda.
Come on Naim, sort it out.
My recommendation would be to scrap it and start from scratch with the team being led by a CX expert. Loads of usability testing and review against the app's peer group.
I agree; this would probably result in the app that users expect, but realistically I can't see Naim doing that. User centred software development processes are well established though, you just have to look outside your current domain knowledge if you are a hardware specialist.
@AllenB
I also have an early NaimUniti, so I am familiar with the shonky firmware updating process. Sadly it looks like Naim have stopped supporting early streamers, so I doubt i'll have to worry about installing any improved functionality again.
We don't care what reviewers say because we use our ears and judgement. I suspect Naim care more and I believe that are heading for a duff review at some point because the app is poor and getting left further behind every week.
I'm sure they do care, now that they are moving into the consumer marketplace.
My suggestion is to post our honest evaluation in the respective app stores ratings. These are much more visible to the public than forums, and if the reviews suggest the app is not up to scratch it might spur Naim to act more expediently.
Volume control working perfectly as intended with the Naim App and both my Qute2 and NDS. I had to of course enable system automation for it to work on the NDS, but I've done so. (After talking about it for a year! I had to find a Sarum TA mini headphone to mini headphone patch cable 
) Works right 'out of the box' on the Qute2.