Phone type:       Nokia E71

British version of the new Beta site (not available on lower end handset)

Access:

Straight into the site no problem and immediately the One Search nav bar at the very top shows the real driving function of the site.  I do have the opportunity to personalise my location e.g. town or city.  By changing this I can get localised information such as weather.  Quick homepage navigation can be accessed top right through the house icon and next to this is what looks like a mobile device icon.  Not sure what I was going to find when I clicked this, initially thinking that it might allow me to change my device and therefore optimise the layout but no, I got Yahoo Everything, essentially a list of all Yahoo mobile products.  Actually quite useful for fast access if I actually used Yahoo services.

I actually expected to have to register for a Yahoo account to access the entire site but this is only required for messaging functions  and what looks like a Social Network aggregation tool.  I didn’t go ahead and register and I don’t expect many people would because if you don’t have a Yahoo ID you’re directed to sign up from your PC.

Presentation:

With the Yahoo ‘One search’ bar dominating the top of the homepage where a portal would normally have site navigation or 3^rd party banner ad, it’s clear and easy to type into.  Annoyingly when I do try to make a search I’m presented with web results means the sites are not suitable on my device.  I need to scroll down at least 3 pages before I get to the mobile Internet results.

Scrolling down the Homepage looking for new or unique services the cursor places a box around each link so there’s no mistake what I can click on, which is pretty much everything.  The homepage crams everything in with opportunities for further personalisation and encouraging the user to navigate the site particularly the My Interests and Yahoo News section.  Within the sub sections of News the use of small images and text presents a clear list of news items all of which are up to date.  Really like the ease of using the Add Anything to My Interest section for personalising news feeds, a simple search for Rugby gave me a list of suitable sites to link to or get RSS feeds from.

Usability:

Navigation is good, I always knew where I was and how to return to the previous page or the homepage.  Some of the features I would have liked to review on a lower end device to see if the same layout and link highlights were consistent.

The Bottomline:

A good clear site and one that I would return to for news and sport features and if I had time to personalise the My Interest section it would be a useful portal.  I’m not sure whether I’d use the One Search function, I’d probably continue to use the search facility I’ve book marked or provided by my Carrier portal.