I know the whole world of cellphones has really taken off in the last decade -- trust me, I know!! In that time I've lived in both Israel and Italy. Two of the highest per capita users of cell phones. Everyone has a cell phone in these countries...and everyone uses it, constantly, incessantly, whenever they possibly can (my wife's phone is never off, not even during...*ahem*, well, you get the idea). Cells are not just obvious, they're omnipresent - on buses, on sidewalks, in cars, in restaurants, stores, in movies, at work, during dinner, at the beach....
Enter the conundrum of the cellphone company -- if everyone has a cellphone, how does the company continue to make money? There are several obvious answers to this question. (1) advance the technology so the newer models become more reliable (2) convince users that they need the myriad of new features you add (3) convince users that they need more than one, as fashion accessories or whatever.
For the purposes of this blog, I'm interested in discussing (2), the addition of new features. Incidentally, I'm also interested in whether people actually use those features, so please take my poll and tell me what you use.
Now, I'm all for the advancement of technology, surfing the singularity wave to the bold, unknown future, yada, yada. But I would like to know why there is such a lack of imagination in the development of cell phone features. I, for one, will list two features that would be very useful to many people I know. Neither of these features currently exist on any cellphones that I'm aware of (although please send me a comment if you know of some examples).
1) Status notification.
Kind of like the clock in the Weasley living room that tells Mrs. Weasley where everyone is. One of the most annoying things that I can experience is when a cellphone goes off at an...inopportune moment, i.e: in a theatre, in a meeting, during dinner, during *ahem*. If you've seen the bloopers for Shanghai Knights 2 or Rush Hour (1 or 2, I forget) you'll see they even go off during filming of movies! Even worse is the fact that a ringing phone is always answered! What's up with that? If my phone is ringing when I don't want it to be, I turn it off. The call is registered anyway. Yet, it seems to me that 99% of all people will answer the cellphone regardless of when or where it's ringing - and they will proceed to have long, jovial conversations with the caller!
I don't know whether it's some primal urge to answer things that 'cry' and why people don't remember to turn their phones off. But I had the, somewhat heretical perhaps, thought that...maybe people are afraid to turn them off!? Maybe they feel like they are snubbing the caller, if their phone is off. Or maybe they feel the caller will be unduly worried to find no response.
Enter: Status Notification. A very simple idea that would require a minimal of programming, would open up an entirely new avenue in the industry with opportunity for the development of many more cool little screen animations, and would give users that peace-of-mind they so dearly desire when they have to turn off the phone.
I see it working like this:
Joe Cellphone goes into a movie with his sweetheart. He thinks his mom may call while he's in the theatre. It's nothing important but she worries if he doesn't answer. Normally, this would mean he leaves the phone on and, when she calls, inevitably he annoys not only his date, but everyone in the theatre. However, with the handy Status Notification, he presses a few buttons on his phone and relaxes secure that his mom won't worry and he won't bother anyone. Why? What is this wonderful feature and how does it work?
Well, simply put, the user sets an option, like a personal 'where am I' clock. For Joe, he selects the 'movie' option and then the '3 hour' duration. The phone then automatically goes into a dormant mode with the ringer and vibrator off. Anyone who calls Joe during the movie will be automatically sent the reply (perhaps via a cool little, personalized animation) that Joe is currently 'at the movie, which should end in x.y hours. Joe is happy because his romantic date is not disturbed, the movie audience is happy because some jerk with their cellphone didn't disrupt the movie, Joe's mom is happy because she knows where her son is and that he's (most likely) not dead, and the movie owner is happy because they didn't have to spend thousands of dollars on equipment to block cellphone signals.
Now, I hear you asking 'but what if there is an emergency? I've hired a baby sitter and if something happens I want to know and the audience be damned.' Aha! I'm way ahead of you. The status notification needs two other features to truly be useful. First, an emergency override. That is, the caller is sent the cool animation 'Joe is washing his hair, he'll be finished in 3 hours, 20 minutes'. But there is also an option at the bottom 'Is this an emergency call?' YES NO Now, Joes mom, who's fallen and can't get up, can select YES and override the block on Joes phone. For Joe, his phone starts vibrating (because that's what Joe has set in the 'override' option - the default). It could also ring, but that would still be annoying to those around at a sensitive time, and Joe is sensitive enough to notice the vibration.
So, Joe leaves the cinema and answers. But its not his mom, its his ex-girfriend who is pissed because he's seeing someone else and she uses the override to bother him. What does Joe do? He goes into the Status Notification option menus and selects 'ignore list'. This is a list of numbers that Joe will not allow to use the emergency override. Joe adds his ex-girlfriend's number, returns to the cinema and lives happily ever after with his new love.
Ideally, the status notification could be completely integrated into the phone, with its own side buttons for operation, or it could just use the keypad. It should be '2-button activatable' for easy use. One button turns on the notification and one button selects the option. Done and done and no more interuptions. A useful third button could be used to set the duration, so that users don't forget to deactivate the feature. Of course, a more complete option menu would still exist for adjusting settings.
Never would your loved ones have to worry about a busy or off-line phone again (ideally, the emergency option could be used to override another call, also - but you would really have to trust the caller with this. In this case, it may be better to alter the 'ignore list' to an 'accept list' where you put only the numbers you will allow to perform the emergency override).
Imagine the peace in a world that uses the Status Notification!!
Wow, this was almost long and detailed enough to consitute a copyright! If you're a cellphone developer - contact me and we'll talk Smile
2) Voce-activated calling.
Now, I admit, this may exist in some more expensive cases, but I think it is rare enough to warrent an entry.
Simply put, people will use their cellphones, whereever they are. That includes in their vehicle. For busy people, or those whose living revolves around their car, this is almost a must. Now, I know headphones exist and, finally, the wireless ones are becoming cheap and common. However, one thing that still isn't common, but would be very useful for people who *need* to call from their cars, is voice-activated dialing. Even using the headphone, people still need manually dial their phone and, if they are like my wife, they do it in the car regardless of traffic, speed or laws.
Now, I'm positive that voice recognition software is advanced enough to easily work with numbers or simply names. The software should be programmed to match the speech with the ID programmed into the caller list - ultimately it would be up to callers to keep that simple for greater effectiveness (hey, we all know of names that we can't pronounce, how do you expect a computer to do better?). This would make for completely hands-free cellphoning, as you could dial by speaking through the headphone -- thus allowing the users attention to stay on the road (for example).
Well, those are my ideas for now. If I have any more I'll be adding them in a future blog entry. If you have any of your own, I'd be very interested to hear them.
EH Rydberg
