A Cross Cultural Study on Phone Carrying “Where’s the Phone?”

A Cross Cultural Study on Phone Carrying “Where’s the Phone?”

A Cross Cultural Study on Phone Carrying “Where’s the Phone?”

A Cross Cultural Study on Phone Carrying “Where’s the Phone?”

I found this very intresting research paper a Cross Cultural Study on Phone Carrying and Personalisation co-authored by Cui Yanqing and Fumiko Ichikawa which is presented at HCI International 2007 in Beijing.

This essay presents data from a series of Nokia street surveys conducted between 2003 and 2006 that explored where people carry their mobile phones and why?

A Cross Cultural Study on Phone Carrying “Where’s the Phone?”

“Where’s the Phone street surveys set out to document the extent to which people noticed their incoming communication and cross refererence this information to the location where the phone is carried. The mobile phone’s effectiveness as a communication device is partly dependent on its owner noticing incoming communication (though whether someone decides to respond to that communication is another matter entirely) and it was assumed by the authors that the process of deciding to carry an object would correlate with a minimal level of its effective use. Contexts where there was a high likelihood of missing incoming communication presented a design opportunity both in terms of thinking about device redesign and from the perspective of connectivity-related services accessed through that device.

Download this pdf here as powerpoint or pdf (3MB).

Where’s the Phone?

Read as from Jan Chipchase here.

View results of this research paper here

Very Interesting . .

vivek

Sony Ericsson Project Capuchin: Swf2Jar packaging for Flash Lite released.

Swf2Jar packaging for Flash Lite

Via Biskero, Sony Ericsson released the Flash Lite packaging tool swf2jar.

“Swf2Jar 1.0 is an application for packaging a Flash™ file (.swf) into a MIDlet jar. The application supports setting Jad properties for the MIDlet, as well as signing the MIDlet. After packaging, the MIDlet can be transferred to a phone. When running the MIDlet on the phone, the packaged Flash content is automatically played.

Note: The Flash file (.swf) will be visible on the phone screen while the MIDlet is running only if the phone supports Project Capuchin.”

Download here

vivek

Forum Nokia article: The Value of Good Design

 The Value of Good Design
This article gives an explanation to what is good design and why it should be pursued in the first place. The article discusses the very core of design and the value that good design can bring to the end product. The article also takes a look into design today and tomorrow.

There is importance of design and good design which we need to understand. Design is everywhere and anywhere 🙂

Read this article

vivek

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Mobile communication in the developing world – a design challenge

Neil Clavin has written the latest contribution in the ongoing series of emerging markets articles that are on a weekly basis being published Vodafone Receiver’s magazine.
In his paper for receiver Clavin argues that for better design, we must first of all understand different user needs around the world. The prime design challenges he sees are: richer communication, social tools and reconfigurable interfaces.

“Current mobile interfaces and services are not designed for the developing regions of the world – many users have problems reading and writing, some services are not relevant and native languages not always supported. Many users complete only the basic functions of dialling a number or answering an incoming call.” […]

“The current mobile experience is designed for a literate section of the world who can expect interfaces in their native language. Another section of users have problems navigating text-based interfaces and need to reinforce links with the families they have left behind.

For successful mobile experience design we must provide alternative interfaces, social tools and better native language support. The mobile experience for developing regions will be rich with audio-visual communication, genuinely useful social networks and reconfigurable interfaces.

Designing for these user needs creates better experiences also for advanced countries. Simpler audio-visual interfaces will benefit children, elderly people and users with learning difficulties. Social networks will mature from hipster hangouts into tools for achieving meaningful and progressive goals. Touchscreen devices will become cheap enough for anyone to afford and the languages of cosmopolitan populations fully supported.”

Neil Clavin is a design manager for Vodafone Group User Experience. He worked as a user experience designer for BBC New Media & Technology and as a research assistant for Interaction Design at the Royal College of Art, London, before joining the Vodafone User Experience Concept Development Team based in Düsseldorf, Germany. There, he leads concept design for mobile communication, information and entertainment experiences.

Read here

vivek

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My article on Adobe DevNet: Designing for mobile devices using Fireworks CS4 beta

Designing for mobile devices using Fireworks CS4 beta

My another article published on Adobe Devnet “Designing for mobile devices using Fireworks CS4 beta”. This Article is on importance of designing for mobile devices and why its so much important to think on that 🙂

“The visual elements that comprise the user experience on mobile devices are themselves becoming more important as devices become more complex and users become more adept. I believe there is a great opportunity at this time to help shape the future of user interfaces on handheld devices and promote intuitive interaction as a standard. Making something beautiful, as well as functional, will result in an application that is useful and offers a more interesting and compelling experience for consumers.”

“Put simply: small is beautiful. When interface design effortlessly fulfils the purpose of an application while also enhancing its aesthetic, there is a greater chance that the end product will be successful. Users are naturally more drawn towards an application that they view as enjoyable and engaging.”

i2fly-designing for mobile devices

From Pre planning to final application even the smallest design elements is very important to place.

I use Fireworks CS4 beta almost exclusively on every project I create for mobile devices. It is my first choice because I find it to be much more user friendly in terms of creating graphics and exporting files to a wide variety of formats. Additionally, the integration between Fireworks CS4 beta and Adobe Flash is just fantastic. This article provides real-world considerations and tips for creating assets for your mobile development projects using Fireworks CS4 beta.

You can read this article in following below links

Designing for mobile devices using Fireworks CS4

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/fireworks/articles/design_mobile_devices.html
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/devices
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/fireworks/

As usual love to know your feelings. Feel free to post your comments/suggestions/views anything. Curious to know about it 🙂 .

vivek

Adobe helps search engines to handle Flash

logo_flashplayer

An interesting news and often asked questions by many developers that “if they use Adobe’s Flash technology, is Search engines will be able to find text embedded in Flash files(SWF)” But Now YES!

According to Adobe it says “Adobe is providing optimized Adobe Flash Player technology to Google and Yahoo! to enhance search engine indexing of the Flash file format (SWF) and uncover information that is currently undiscoverable by search engines.”

Google has been quickest off the mark, and the Official Google Blog boasts:
Google has been developing a new algorithm for indexing textual content in Flash files of all kinds, from Flash menus, buttons and banners, to self-contained Flash websites. Recently, we’ve improved the performance of this Flash indexing algorithm by integrating Adobe’s Flash Player technology.

Yahoo appears to be a bit slower off the mark as no official press release but as from Adobe “Yahoo! also expects to deliver improved Web search capabilities for SWF applications in a future update to Yahoo! Search. “Yahoo! is committed to supporting webmaster needs with plans to support searchable SWF and is working with Adobe to determine the best possible implementation,” said Sean Suchter, vice president Yahoo! Search Technology Engineering.

It’s very important while designing and developing your content using Flash for web as well as Mobile to optimize it properly for search engines discoverable.

Read here

SWF searchability FAQ

vivek

Porting Flash Lite content to the Apple Iphone:b.Tween

Via Thomas Joos , This week they released Rock Werchter Mobile Guide, a music festival application in Adobe Flash lite. “The cool part is that for the first time in the mobile history we ported our Flash Lite Project to the iphone/ipod touch, taking advantage of all the oppurtunities the iphone UI has to offer. He used b.Tween: an eyeGT FRAMEWORK technology to make this work 🙂Few advantages:

  • The code that uses the framework is compiled to machine code, that means several orders of magnitude faster than the ActionScript equivalent (AS3 in Flash 9 is JIT compiled but we are talking about mobile platforms here where there is no AS3 and no JIT compilation, for the moment at least)
  • Parts of the code that are unused are left out the final compiled application, so size and time to transmit/load are reduced to the minimum
  • Native code can access ANY feature of the hosting platform: wants Bluetooth? Wants to process received SMS? Wants to read the phone book? All possible from native applications not so from a player based one.

Cool, read the complete process to how to Port Flash Lite content to Apple Iphone.

Other blog news

Excellant information as collected from Krvishal, i2fly

vivek

Conversation with Raphael Grignani of Nokia Design about Homegrown

Nokia homegrown

An Intresting interview with Raphael Grignani of Nokia Design about Homegrown project. Must read to know about new design thinking on sustainability.

Rachel Hinman, mobile design strategist at Adaptive Path, has conducted an interview with Raphael Grignani of Nokia Design about “Homegrown”, a long term research project looking at how Nokia can help people make more sustainable choices.

mobile_homegrown_nokia

“With Remade, Andrew Gartrell (Homegrown project lead and Remade father) pushed design beyond skin deep aesthetics. He considered covers, key mats, and displays but also engine, connectors, and other components. We discovered that a typical mobile phone contains around 44 of the 117 elements currently known to science. Andrew’s approach was to de-construct everything and rebuild it from scratch using recycled materials and sustainable technologies — from the inside out.

mobile_homegrown_energy_saving_concept

50% of a phone’s energy demand is backlighting.

mobile_homegrown_people

Energy saving graphics “concept”

Another aspect of Homegrown that is really interesting is the work we did around prototyping. Andrew designed in CAD over 100 versions of Remade and prototyped 36 — which could be considered obsessive — but it was through that constant consideration and iteration that we were able to arrive at something that was great.

mobile_homegrown_unplugged_charger

At present, phone chargers waste 300mW of standby power when left unplugged.

Prototyping allowed us to confront our designs — asking ourselves, “Is this the best we can do? What can we reduce? Have we found the essence? What can we make better or what can we make differently?” We questioned every bit of the concepts throughout the prototyping process. Now we can explain every bit of the design; we can rationalize every aspect of it.”

Read interview

Read press release “Nokia”

vivek

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Adobe Fireworks an upcoming event for designers and Fireworks users, Bangalore, India

adobe fireworks cs4

Via Sarthak,  Adobe Fireworks team Bangalore organizing upcoming event for designers and Fireworks users, it will be exciting event to know the power of Adobe Fireworks CS4 public Beta and its new integration with Adobe Flex, PDF, Flash, Photoshop etc.

Details of the event:

Adobe Fireworks CS4 public Beta bangalore event

Event time: Saturday 12 July 2008.
Time: 10 am to 2 pm
Venue: Adobe Campus, Bangalore

Please send a mail to “fwcs4bta@adobe.com” to confirm your participation.

you can also have a look on Adobe Fireworks Developer Center for new articles.
I will be there, let’s meet 🙂

vivek

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Forum Nokia 2008 Code Camp Competition: Flash lite winners announced

Forum Nokia 2008 Code Camp Competition

Forum Nokia has announced the winners of the 2008 Code Camp Competition. The contest aimed at inspiring Forum Nokia Code Camp attendees to build Web Runtime (WRT) widgets and Flash lite applications.

The Winners are:

Grand Prizes
Flash: CityLite by MSCorp of Coral Springs, Florida. A mobile guide to night life, restaurants, and entertainment venues in Latin American cities.

WRT: Flickret from Mark Caunter of the U.K. A mashup that combines the Flickr photo-sharing application with MapQuest APIs to let users look for and get directions to places of interest.

Europe/Middle East/Africa
Flash: Kuneri Easy Vote from Kuneri of Oulu, Finland. One-button mobile voting lets users vote by mobile phone call, text message, or Web service.
WRT: Flickret from Mark Caunter of the U.K.

Americas
Flash: CityLite by MSCorp.
WRT: Fon11 by Mo’Blast of Berkeley, California. A mobile social-networking utility that lets users share their whereabouts with friends and family and determine if their contacts are nearby.

Asia-Pacific
Flash: WIND from Fieldsystem. This screen saver displays an image of a propeller turning in the wind. If the mobile signal is strong, the propeller spins quickly; if the signal weakens, the propeller spins more slowly. Also, the screen saver’s background scenery changes throughout the day.
WRT: Nutrition from Singapore Polytechnic. This widget is used for calculating your BMI and also calories burned on a daily basis, and it can help the user to check typical food nutrition in order to maintain a healthy life style.

China
WRT: Push To Speak from Beijing Motech Technology. This mobile travel guide to China helps tourists search for restaurants, places of interest, streets and more. Also, when the user clicks a word, the software “speaks” the word in Chinese, a useful feature for asking directions and instructing taxi drivers. The latest version includes information relating to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Congratulation to all winners 🙂

vivek

In Japan, Cellphones Have Become Too Complex to Use

japan mobile life

An interesting short report via Wired that people in Japan feel that phone become too complex with the features they have it. Japan may be in a culture of spec sheets. Where consumers go to electronics stores to buy a cellphone, they frequently line up the specifications side by side to compare them before deciding which one to buy. Some of the famous Japanese mobile companies are NTT DoCoMo, KDDI,  SoftBank and they make 5 % of global mobile phone sales, and rest all of those sales are just domestic.

  • Japanese handsets have become prime examples of feature creep gone mad. In many cases, phones in Japan are far too complex for users to master.
  • “There are tons of buttons, and different combinations or lengths of time yield different results,'” says Koh Aoki, an engineer who lives in Tokyo.
  • Experimenting with different key combinations in search of new features is “good for killing time during a long commute,” Aoki says, “but it’s definitely not elegant.”
  • Japan has long been famous for its advanced cellphones with sci-fi features like location tracking, mobile credit card payment and live TV. These handsets have been the envy of consumers in the United States, where cell technology has trailed an estimated five years or more. But while many phones would do Captain Kirk proud, most of the features are hard to use or not used at all.
  • “Some people care about quality, but first and foremost it’s about the features,” says Nobi Hayashi, a journalist and author of Steve Jobs: The Greatest Creative Director. He estimates that the average person only uses 5 to 10 percent of the functions available on their handsets.

The most important thing for any mobile company whether it is a product or services, is to provide unique user experience to end users.”Cellphones are now a days becomes an integral part of life “People are always using them and holding them, even in the middle of a meal anytime anywhere”.

vivek