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Recently haven’t had any time to post. Those 256x256 Vista-“compatible” icons require plenty of time and attention to details. I can say for sure that with the release of Vista icon designers will have a lot more work per icon. Here are some examples to asses the amount of work.
But I digress.
I think trying to develop something big like new mobile interface paradigm we sometimes forget about other seemingly smaller issues. Like adding a new contact. A common scenario – a couple of old friends meet and want to exchange phone numbers. Usually someone dictates the number while the other is typing it on a phone and then vice versa.
Why not send contact via Bluetooth? First, you have to enable it (process depends on the UI). Then, search for available devices. Then the cumbersome process of pairing the devices… No wonder people prefer to exchange numbers the old way.
I haven’t seen a lot of ideas how to solve this, the most suitable for now being touch (or proximity) based interaction. Besides “touch” concept on this well-known site I like the “throw” one. Couple it with “directional UI” and something interesting can come up from this.
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| The "throw" metaphor does not address the problem of setting up a connection. |
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| tamberg | April 28, 2006 04:18 AM |
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No, it doesn't. It’s just an “intuitive” method of data exchange.
The connection should be “invisible” to user. You place your phone in a certain very close proximity to other phone and connection in set. No dialog boxes, no pairing codes, nothing. It should just work. |
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| Eugeniu Clim | April 28, 2006 07:21 AM |
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The touch idea, whilst interesting and the most natural, is unrealistic and also not very secure. Such a system would either require a major change to the Bluetooth protocol or yet another technology (And that is ignoring the technical impossibility of the solution with current technology) I am sure there are better options.
Another popular way to exchange numbers is for one person to type in their number on the other persons phone and call themselves, thus giving each other their numbers. Whilst not perfect, its quite quick and easy as most of us can type a phone number – esp. our own – quite quickly.
The real issue is all the metadata around the number; e.g. name, address, email etc. This is the information that really takes the time and is exactly why we have Vcards.
For my money I see SMS as a good solution. Its already out there for everyone and could be pretty nice if done well, e.g.
Enter the mobile number of the person your adding
Options -> share my details
Now your mobile will send your vcard to the other persons mobile. Once received the other phone automatically asks its owner if its ok to share and responds with its own vcard. It has a definate sharing aspect and is secure. Show me yours and I show you mine so to speak...
Not much longer than entering a mobile number but has all the benifits of the extra metadata. Also it would be backwards compatible as the worst case is the other person gets a contact card and has to manually respond.
If mobiles were like computers, a simple software update could see such a system implemented, alas mobile makers dont believe in software updates, they believe in just buying a new phone ;)
The other options I like are visualcodes (semacodes or whatever they are called), either on business cards or displayed on a mobile screen. That way you point your camera at the other device to either read directly read the information from the code or use the information in the code to setup a connection to do the data connection. |
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| John Anthony Evans | May 02, 2006 05:46 AM |
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| sorry bout the messed up comment, your engine doesnt like plain text |
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| John Anthony Evans | May 02, 2006 05:47 AM |
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Sorry for that. Now he likes plain text :)
I sometimes use the method of number exchange you describe, but I think of it more as a “hack” than a “feature”. The solutions you describe are realistic, but not elegant. I kind of don’t like the touch concept myself, because you have to actually touch everything with your phone. But the fact that you don’t have to enter the menu or press anything is very appealing. You can’t beat that.
And I agree that entering contact metadata is an even bigger issue. |
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| Eugeniu Clim | May 02, 2006 13:08 PM |
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