Products & Services

Touching on a few items to spark some thinking

By Charlie on 18 September 2009

BOSTON, USA – The Mobile 2.0 conference is coming again and Rudy and gang are itching to showcase some amazing startups. What’s great about this conference is that it’s filled with very energetic entrepreneurs who passionately believe in designing and building stuff for mobile devices.

Of course, the operators are going to be there. And, if we were there, too, we would, like usual, beg that we not gripe about operators and focus on what we CAN do.

Today, we’d like to point to a few interesting things that could easily be part of discussions at Mobile 2.0 – operator customization, apps in under served segments, and just plain cool geekery.

Yeah, read on. You want to see the cool video at the end.

Accustomed to customization
Recently, we commented on how one can really never know what folks might do with a device. A designer has his customer in mind and then someone builds something on top of it that was not part of the plan.

While some days it does feel like operators do that, they are part of the package too, for Nokia, so customization is part and parcel of building and selling mobile devices. There was a bruhaha over customization options for the N900, to which Nokia set the record straight.

Nonetheless, Bill Ray, from the Register, captures the general feeling that (non-manufacturers and non-operators) have with respect to device customization. Our question is, does it have to be so contentious between user interface, software selection, price, and distribution?

Sigh.

Touching back
For us, one cool thing about the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touch screen is that it touches back through vibrations, enough to make things feel real on the screen. Taking this farther, a joint project with Nokia, Tampere University, and the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired, has created a simple app that turns text messages into Braille. On the phone.

By using the vibra in a Braille like pattern, each letter can be felt back on the screen. The video below explains it better.

We’ve highlighted other similar solutions from Nokia, such as the Nokia BT Loopset (Mikko Haho explains it in a video). Bringing solutions to all potential users includes those who one would not expect to use a mobile device due to hearing or visual impairment.

Cool, huh?

Almost touching….
Two really clever and creative guys, Jack Shulze and Timo Arnall, created a Rube Goldberg-like contraption that inspires one in how RFID can be used beyond the boring and mundane Oyster card use. Check it out below.

Nearness from timo on Vimeo. [via AllAboutSymbian]

Does that get you thinking?

Image from A6U571N

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Nuno Pereira Says:
September 18th, 2009 at 9:26 am

I’ll only talk about the “Braille reader”:

Yesterday i came across that article (don’t ask where..) and i was astonished with the idea!

I value those companies that care about EVERYONE, and not only TARGETS, and this is a proof Nokia (and not only) cares. Congratulations to Nokia, Tampere University & the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired.

But there is an issue with the app (i know, beta is beta):

From my point of view (i’m not visually impaired) the system seems to work, but it also seems pretty slow. I don’t understand a bit about Braille, but i guess that if whoever uses this app doesn’t want to take about 10 minutes to read a 100 characters sms.
I’ve owned an E65 for some time (untill i got robbed XD), and one of the apps i loved on it was the “sms reader”: Reads out loud your sms’s (for anybody not familiarized with the app).I’ve used it some times when driving and i can say that if i where visually impaired, i think i could be just fine with it(i know i can be wrong).
I know that Braille reader comes from a diferent concept, and i’m pretty sure that it will be amazing when ready, but still i had to point this out, so that whoever is working on it can try to “speed up” the proccess of reading thru it.

Another thing: Will this app/service allow to write in Braille?
Or if it won’t, will there be any alternative?

Once again, congratulations to all!

ming387 Says:
September 18th, 2009 at 3:09 pm

The reader does not make any sense on a touch device.

For a blind person buttons loaded phones are much better than a touch device.

And like Nuno said, this problem is already solve with nokia’s SMS reader and there’s voice interface setting for the visual impaired on nokia phones.

Nuno Pereira Reply:
September 18th, 2009 at 8:07 pm

Yes, but remember, this is an experimental app.

Let’s support all the people involved on this, c’os in the end, this is a good initiative!

Lloyd Says:
September 18th, 2009 at 9:05 pm

It’s a great idea to develop something for the visually impaired but I do see one major flaw. How is someone that cannot see going to find the app in the menu, much less know to tap the top corner or the bottom middle if they cannot see? Does the application have a voice feature to tell the users where to tap?