User Manual Critique For this critique evaluation, I chose to use the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4 (SPH-L720) Users Guide. The criteria I am going to use for this evaluation is audience recognition, development, conciseness, ease of use and document design from the Instruction, User Manual, and SOP Usability Checklist (Gerson 2012).
A user manual is created to help the owner of a product understand, become familiar and troubleshoot the particular product that person has acquired. Samsung has numerous manuals for all of their products that is automatically inserted into every product they sell.You can find the user manual for the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4 at http://support. sprint.
com/global/pdf/user_guides/samsung/galaxy_s_4/galaxy_s_4_by_samsung_ug. pdf Audience Recognition The user manual is easy for the user to navigate through and is easy to understand for anyone who is 13 or older. There are diagrams and pictures for users to better understand things such as inserting the battery and navigating through different screens. One thing that is very beneficial for the reader is a picture of the buttons and what each one does.
This manual does have some technical terms when it comes to navigating through the screens but the pictures make it easier for the reader to be able to follow along. There are also technical terms in the words but the manual is explains what the technical terms means and how to use them, Overall, this manual is great for audiences but it is a very long manual making it great for if you want to know how to do individual things here and there. Development The manual was developed well and things such as hazards, warranties, phone activation, descriptions and accessory information is placed based on where the table of contents says they are.The steps on how to use the phone are put together nicely and were also accurate.
Conciseness Since this manual is very long it naturally has many paragraphs but all of them are short and to the point which makes it easy for the reader to read the necessary information quickly. I believe the reason for the manual being so long is because all of the paragraphs are short and to the point. Ease of Use The user manual has 11 pages just for the table of contents which makes it very easy to navigate through the manual so you can find a specific topic you’re looking for.The manual also has an index and bold headings so the reader can find the sections within the manual with ease. One thing the manual did not have was a glossary but I could not find any reason why there should be one.
Document Design The manual was developed very well and something that would help the reader very well is the fact this manual is in color. The reason why this is a good idea is because it shows the buttons and icons that would be on the phone exactly on the manual. The other advantage of having this manual in color is there are disclaimers such as “important” and “note:” That were color coded in red and green.Conclusion The manual for the Galaxy S4 is a very good manual and provides all the information necessary that the user will find useful. The only major downside I could see is the length of the manual seems to be a bit overwhelming to the reader and even with a table of contents, it can be difficult to find exactly what you need.
With that said, it is a great manual if you’re just looking for specific features or information. References Gerson, (2012). Technical Communication. Process and Product.
7th ed. : Pearson Education
