A fundamental variable that has become obvious through this project is how we use not just our phones, but our desktops and laptops. With the line between the devices becoming so blurred by phones’ rapid enhancement and devices like netbooks and UMPCs, there still remains a fairly concrete factor in each device. Do you use the device to create content or only consume it? Would you write a novel with a given device, or only read one? Could you mix and produce audio tracks on the device, or only queue up your favorite playlist?
While usage behavior would likely vary wildly for each individual, there is likely a distinct line that defines what we would do with our phones. What then, are the variables that make this distinction? How big the qwerty keys are? Size of the screen? CPU power? Is this usage barrier even superable with today’s technology? To partly answer, let’s look at where the barrier is already crumbling.
In the beginning, camera phones accomplished little more than data capture; at best they showed that some person was somewhere at some time. Creating genuinely valuable content was just not possible with only 1.3 megapixels. Fast forward and we get the Sony Ericsson Idou, its 12.1 megapixel camera might not suffice for the presidential portrait, but it’s good enough for an upside-down friend, a keg and three ‘supportive’ frat brothers. Throw in very basic image adjustments like PhotoGene and you have everything a non-professional photographer would ever need out of a camera.
What other fields are ripe for the picking? How can our phones adapt and grow from mere consumption to actual creation? What tools that we now use for data capture (notepads, voice recording, etc) could be evolved into true data creation? Remember, think in physical terms and sound off below.
February 20, 2009 at 12:05 am
I think your two main physical factors for phones come down to size and feedback (i.e. keyboard). While the iPhone touches probably the largest width/height we would want in a phone it does it at the expense of tactile feedback. If you look at it compared to something like the HTC TouchPro2 you are looking at a world of difference on your speed of typing no matter how much practice is involved.
If you find a way to bring that response into the screen equation you can keep thin devices (or thicker with more power under the hood) you now have the best of both worlds or give yourself the space to have it expand like the TouchPro2 and provide more screen space or something which could have the same effect as multiple screens on a computer, having it closed gives you a screen to do work on but if you need to do serious work you slide it out and have that much more real estate to work with.
I think netbooks have a place now but not in a few years. There should be a way to have a device small enough to fit in the pocket but be able in some way to take notes on in class, be used as a remote and video feed for projector presentations, and be able to do on-the-go spreadsheet and word document editing. It’s still nearly impossible on current phones, Google just recently introduced spreadsheet editing for Google Docs on the iPhone which I think is a welcome sign of things to come. Although the lines blur you will probably never be able to do what you can on a 30″ monitor computer as quickly in a phone’s physical real estate, but you should be able to do the same tasks whether it be simple on-the-go or being more productive when you have 15 minutes downtime waiting in a restaurant for someone to meet you for a lunch meeting.
May 5, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Whilst I think Business consumers would be more interested in the creation aspect than non-business owners (and remember, we need to cater for both), the latter will still want a slice of the pie, especially students. I am sure that Google Docs can be implemented easily in a mobile environment, wether the user is online or not.
The most important aspect to consider when developing creation tools for a mobile platform is versatility. People won’t be expecting to be able to Wordart *shudder*, but they do expect to be able to at least edit text and batch files, and can open most data files (eg, non-executable), such as .pdf, and image formats. There are many Open Source ways of doing this, so I am sure it can be done.
From a marketing point of view, the Mozphone (Mozfon? Mozo? Mofonn (lol)?) should not be sold as a smart phone, but as just a phone. This is to avoid the dissapointing results of the G1, which wasn’t really marketed at anyone. The iPhone was a success, as it aimed for the middle market, especially students, which meant that it got a very wide spread of customers.