I quite often get frustrated that almost all the content I link to on this blog is about mobile phones. This blog is about mobile devices, not just mobile phones. But from all the digging I do, it’s very hard to turn up articles about other kinds of devices.
True, there’s a lot of academic research about issues related to mobility. But I want to find concise punchy content that’s relevant for design practitioners, and rigorous academic detail just doesn’t fit that bill.
So do you know of some great non-phone-related content?
Comments 3
Take a look at Anoto, if you haven’t already. They’re arguably the leader in interactive pen+paper, which enables a whole different kind of mobile computing . . . The current applications just scratch the surface, but it’s a tremendously challenging medium to design well for.
http://partner.anoto.com/cldoc/15829.htm
(disclaimer, I used to work for these folks)
Posted 16 Jan 2007 at 6:50 am ¶Most of the content in my book was about what I deemed a “personal communications device” (PCD), the most relevant example of which is the mobile phone. But there’s no reason why a digital camera could not have a Java environment and Flickr/whatever integration via a web connection.
I believe the PCD is a special case of mobile device: it’s the one that will always be carried with the user. Other devices will not have this situation as a near-universal state. This makes the PCD particularly interesting as a conduit between the user and the world.
Have you looked at the Sidekick? The PSP? The (trite …) iPod? These things are out there.
Posted 16 Jan 2007 at 8:08 am ¶Barbara – Phones are interesting, but there are just so many other devices that used while on the move. Wrist watches, blood sugar meters, keyless entry systems, two-way radios, GPS navigation systems, scuba diving equipment, digital cameras, dictation machines, television remotes; you get the idea.
The phone is an interesting device because it’s becoming a general computing platform, like the desktop PC. So as a hardware and software platform it’s designed to be universal. But this is also something that makes it a less interesting object for the study of design – design for mobile phones is often an exercise in compromise.
There’s some fantastically interesting design for very specific mobile use. These objects tell interesting design stories that aren’t driven by a Bell keypad, five way navigation and softkeys. People are out there designing these objects, but there’s almost nothing written about it.
Gabe
Posted 16 Jan 2007 at 9:46 am ¶Post a Comment