Smartphone equipment has promoted the widespread use of new media communication, and users have changed from being passive to actively receiving information. This has changed people's lifestyles, and has enriched the convenience and entertainment value of knowledge acquisition. However, the new media communication systems can be too complex, and the interface design for users to interact with the new media may not be sufficiently intuitive, which causes interface usability problems. Therefore, this research study focuses on the concept of affordance and the impact of user perception pertinent to smartphone applications on frequency modulation (FM) new media interface design. The experiment is a between-subjects design using one-way ANOVA to examine three different operation modes, namely the Litchi, Himalayas and Archimedes types. The experimental data were obtained through task performance and subjective evaluation. The results indicate that: (1) Visual information presentation methods, such as viewing and deleting, affect user perception. The three operating modes revealed significant differences, with the Himalayas type taking the least amount of task performance time. (2) There were significant differences among the different operation modes, with the Himalayas type the best in terms of the users' subjective evaluation. (3) The overall analysis of task performance and satisfaction consistently showed that the Himalayas type was better than the Litchi and Archimedes types in all aspects. (4) Smartphone user interface applications provide users with cognitive support, objects, functions, and sensory affordance, which enhance the user's interactive experience of FM new media.
Keywords: FM; affordance; interface design; new media; perception; smartphone.