The Effects of Response Time on User Perception in Smartphone Interaction

Responsiveness is an important factor to be considered in human-computer interfaces. With the advent of touch screen based smartphones and the evolve of more responsive technology, the user-acceptable levels of response time have changed considerably. However, previous studies have focused more on computers than on smartphones. The goal of this study was to explore the relationship between response time and user perception in the context of smartphone interactions. Different response times from 300 to 5400 ms were manipulated for four common task types in three applications, this simulation enables us to collect users’ subjective evaluations and physiological measures including pupil dilation and galvanic skin response. The applicability of Web-Fechner Law is demonstrated when the response time is in milliseconds. Results also showed statistically significant effects from task type and loading animation. Users have lower tolerance when they swipe to switch pages and have greater tolerance on interfaces with a loading animation, which provide the developers with clearer design requirements guidance.