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?
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
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.
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://www.anoto.com/
(disclaimer, I used to work for these folks)