“Instead of BenQ’s mobile phone-type idea, what we’re looking at, folks, is the next generation of mobile device. The one that will change literally everything for quite a lot of people. Every tech editor and gadget fan has been preoccupied for the last year with products like the fabled next generation video Ipod . The gorgeous Onyx concept from Pilotfish and Synaptics treads similar ground. It seems to be all about growing the screen in your pocket.”

Link: The next really big thing (designdirectory.com)

Related:

• Extract of “Designing for Small Screens”
• The next generation of mobile interface technology
• The soul of mobile devices

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“A team from Google Research has developed a prototype system that uses a home computer’s internal microphone to listen to the ambient audio in a room, determine what is being watched on TV and offer web-based supplemental information, services and shopping contextual to each program being watched. It’s strange, but it sounds like it works and people might really like it. There’s no indication yet whether or when this could be available as a service.”

Link: Google Research prototypes ambient audio contextual content (techcrunch.com)

Related:

• What do footnotes sound like?
• Book: Mobile Interaction Design
• The next generation mobile UI

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Link: Mobile user interfaces – its time for a new paradigm (the3gportal.com)

Related:

• Extract of “Designing for Small Screens”
• The iPod is badly designed
• Challenges facing mobile phone UI design

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“Physical interaction Interaction with small-screen devices reveals the conflict of interests between creating the smallest physical size that will give the user unrestricted mobility and flexibility, whilst maintaining dimensions that are defined by the size and the motor functions of the human hand. The balance is not always achieved and some devices are already smaller than the minimum size that can be comfortably operated by an adult hand. There are two fundamental types of physical interaction that can be distinguished: one-handed and two-handed interaction. Some devices can only be operated with two hands, for example, the Game Boy, whilst other devices offer different modes that can be selected alternately. Smart phones, for example allow the user to dial numbers with one hand, but interaction for more complex applications such as using the calendar or accessing the internet is done with two hands.”

Link: Feature: Designing for Small Screens (usabilitynews.com)

Related:

• Multimodal user interface
• The iPod is badly designed
• Windows Mobile design guidelines

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Link: Multimodal Application Design: Or how to create a telephone user experience that doesn’t suck (5.2MB PPT, oreillynet.com)

Related:

• Alternatives to the keyboard interface
• 12 Myths of mobile user interface design
• Zen of Palm

Share on Facebook | Save to del.icio.us | Small Surfaces is published by Gabriel White.