Mobile Phones

All over the Globe the number of users for handheld devices is growing exponentially day-by-day. It is seen that most of the countries have more number of mobile users than the landlines.

In certain continents like Africa the figure is almost double (referring Loudon and Loudon, Managing the Digital Firm, Page 305) reason being the mobile phones and other handheld devices are no longer only the means of anytime anywhere communication but are increasingly becoming multiple use devices due to the convergence of many other technologies especially the Internet and the WAP (Wide Area Protocol) no doubt information technology has become seamlessly integrated onto it.

Also other parallel technologies like GPS GPRS CDMA and GIS (Geographical Information System) have been already incorporated thus making the handheld devices most powerful and versatile assistants for humanity.

Also with the previously nearly dead technologies like RFID(Radio Frequency Identification) becoming alive once again due to compact and cheap microprocessor inventions in the past 40 years there is a need for the cell phone to be preferably used over the traditional PC or laptop for a host of the business activities like supply chain management, production management and control, financial management, sales and marketing management for over all effectiveness in terms of cost and delivery of product and business processes by becoming an effective tool for performing the business tasks of collaborations, business outsourcing and Swarming, tracking and navigation. 1. 1. 2 Project Aim

The aim of this project is to evolve such a prototype of the user interface whose problem in design data cost and operations are at the minimal and is based upon the feedback and participation of diverse user groups so that the ultimate system evolved is not only in line with the user requirements but also is well accepted by the market because the user is one to have recommended it. The researcher is sure that such a simulation will properly address to all the problem areas of individual and business users and will see the benefits delivered in terms of the increased sales for the manufacturer. The figure below depicts the essential requirements of a user interface which can result in an overall enthralling experience for the user. If the developers while developing have a more proactive approach to these needs while developing the user interface, the user would like to interact with the machine more and more. (Diagram from a research journal IT World, source www. it. com)

While the companies like Nokia are already shelling out millions of dollars in design and after developing there latest range of mobile phones, the researcher feels that evolution of the most appropriate model would be the one which minimizes the gap between virtually all the present and future consumers of all the manufacturers and there user interface developers. With the evolution of the languages like VRML, XML and technologies like flash etc that would definitely be possible in the near future. 1. 1. 3 Overview With the number of cell phone users reaching a 2 billion mark, the whole world seems to be bombarded with a plethora of communication devices from mobile phones to I phones to PDA’s.

Every tool of communication business and personal management seems to be available for the customer on the go anywhere everywhere. While much breathtaking technological advancement have taken place in the mobile phone and handheld devices area making almost everything possible now on the mobile phone very few buyers and users actually are using the various features and functionalities provided by the cell phone manufacturers. A research study says that one third of the mobile users just do talking and some massaging on there advanced featured latest Cell Phones capable of integrating approximately 20,000 ad on services onto it over and above the hundreds which it already comes with (source : Loudon and Loudon, Managing the Digital Firm).

Even when they use a bit of the technology they don’t fully use even the basic features, for example, less than 5% of mobile phone users use the integrated camera feature regularly on there mobile phone let alone the features like blue tooth internet surfing, road navigation or RFID, reason being the user interface limitation both at personal and technological level. Unlike the case of a PC which could be used by more than one person, a typical handheld device like the cell phone or a PDA is used almost everywhere by a single user only. Unfortunately, mass customizable options for individual tastes and preferences with respect to the user interface are not available to him.

While the 3rd party service providers have been offering there little bit in terms of ring tone, wallpaper downloads etc so still a major work on this issue needs to be done at the user interface developer level itself. The constraint in the mobile phone technology is the restricted screen area unlike the PC desktop space as a result plenty of information has to be squeezed in that limited area. The users seem to be unaware of the important points of navigation like “where is he presently”, “what to do for reaching the destination” and “how to come back to the place where he started from” as a result the user looses interest in-between and gets discouraged to used the feature the next time as a result the services related to that feature also do less business. Chapter 2 2. 1.

1 Project Objective: The objective of this research is to find and compare the existing user interfaces of the different mobile models available in the market today and evolve a prototype of the most desired future model based upon the combination of the existing models and existing technologies to evolve an interface which is more scalable, reliable and easy to use , fast to access with minimal waiting interruptions and flexible enough to change as per the individual customer preferences at the geographical and demographic level and ubiquitous across different platforms to maximize the Human computer Interaction experience by making it more satisfying, informative and effective. 2. 1. 2 Literature Review

A cell, A bell And a Whistle: From being play-toys of the rich to becoming tools of great necessity. To trickling down to (most of) the urban masses, the mobile phone has taken almost too short a time to get to where it is in every country! There was a time around the mid-90’s when some people actually used to rent cell phones-the bricks of that era-to flash around at momentous occasions and social gatherings. Costing as much as they weighed, these devices were dysfunctional clods compared to what we have today. The tremendous technological improvements in cell phones have been colossal comparable in scale to perhaps the difference between a 133 MHz Pentium 1 processor of yesteryear and a core 2 Duo of today.

Add to this the fact that underlying allied technologies have become phenomenally cheaper and we have the explanation behind the explosive growth of the cellular industry not only locally but worldwide. To the layman what this translates to of course, is better phones at lower prices, in fact with respect to some of the devices I have tested in this survey calling them cell phones is tantamount to an insult. Phone nowadays represent the new era of smart and truly connected devices. Although I initially meant to test mostly PDAs and smart phones, but haven’t forgotten to do a full market research and dig out some of the hottest handsets around for this comprehensive paper. On the basis of my research I have segregated this magical device in two categories:

1) Business oriented devices (include PDA phones) 2). Multimedia oriented devices using GUI PDA phones are the Einstein’s of the handset world and are fondly called smart phones. PDA phone has a better hardware under its hood and is capable of running a greater variety of applications than will a regular smart phone. PDA has a faster processor and more memory equate to greater productivity it also offers some additional connectivity and productivity options. Earlier, the cherished darlings of the rich, PDA phones have now become sufficiently inexpensive to be sought after by lesser mortals like executives and managers, who can utilize their many functions in a productive way.

In fact a PDA phone is also very much within reach of our average urban college –going spoilt brat (with a little money management). Amazingly the number of mobile users in the world is going to touch a 2 billion dollar mark very soon. One of the important reasons for that is the mobile phones of today are not only used as a means of communication but are also used for a variety of other purposes like internet browsing, Mobile commerce, e-business, camera, managing oneself, chatting, SMS Navigation, gaming etc. Nowadays users want to use the cell phones as a replacement to the PC or a laptop which is very difficult to operate and bulky to carry while in the go.

Although the future of handheld communication devices like mobile phones, PDA’s etc seems to be bright but still it seems that much of today’s technologies like the WAP GSM GPRS etc are exploited only to limited extent due to the limitation of a proper user interface. The user often gets lost in the complicated operations offered by the mobile phones today so much so that he gets discouraged and stops the use of those technologies altogether. Therefore this research paper is dedicated to suggestions based upon feedbacks from the users and the designers of the mobile phones through various secondary and primary sources like the questionnaires and in-depth interviews to make interpretations observations and suggestions so that a prototype which promises to enhance the overall user experience gets developed.

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