Here is a very interesting demo of the new HTC Diamond phone’s sensors. In this game, called Teeter, you move a marble by tilting the phone and you need to avoid the holes along the way.
It’s a very impressive demo, but as opposed to the author of the article, I really don’t think that much more can be done with this kind of technology. People are quick to point out that we could write fantastic games or develop great applications with this technology, but the fact that you need to keep the screen visible (and at a reasonable angle) as you tilt the phone severely limits the range of what you can actually do.
Recently, I have also started encountering limitations in what you can do with touches on a phone screen. Touch interaction allows for great-looking devices that are not encumbered by ugly-looking keyboards, but it also takes a toll on user interaction in two ways:
- The widgets need to be much bigger so that fingers can accurately tap them, thereby limiting the amount of information that can be shown on the screen.
- When you tap on a widget, your entire finger will mask a significant portion of the screen, including the very widget you are tapping on.
This last point is particularly interesting because it impacts user interfaces in a lot of subtle ways and it actually makes touch inadequate for a large number of games, for which not seeing the entirety of the screen is simply not an option.
There is no doubt that touch and accelerometers are here to stay, but in my opinion, the most revolutionary applications that we are likely to see in phones in these coming years will come from features that don’t require any user interaction, such as camera, compass and GPS.
#1 by kebernet on June 8, 2008 - 9:40 am
Im not sure, I can imagine a number of games that would be interesting. I think having a Wii-style bowling game on your phone would be interesting. I can see a driving game where you turn the phone like a wheel and the screen keeps the horizon level for you. Accelerometers can also me used for a lot of other things too.
I am surprised no-one has created a “Nike+ on your phone” pedometer yet. Is this as big a deal as GPS? not really, but it is still something that we haven’t really explored yet.
#2 by Thierry-Dimitri Roy on June 8, 2008 - 10:05 am
Apple has a patent about a device where the touch would be behind it:
see: gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple/next-gen-ipod-patent-has-touch-surface-on-back-259271.php
#3 by Muthu Ramadoss on June 8, 2008 - 12:40 pm
I’ll bet on GPS based apps. They are most likely entertaining and useful for the end user.
#4 by lumpynose on June 9, 2008 - 10:24 am
To your list of problems with a touch interface, add the other problem of using a stylus. The stylus gets around the problem of your fat fingers obscuring the screen. But a stylus that fits in the phone, PDA, etc. is just too small to be comfortable. You can buy an aftermarket stylus but then you have to remember to always have it with you.
#5 by Uldis Bojars on June 9, 2008 - 10:53 am
One inconvenience of accelerometer-enabled user interfaces (such as iPhone) is if the actions available to the user differ in portrait and landscape mode.
When the device is fixed in one position (e.g., attached to a belt) the user may not be able to access part of the functionality.
GPS-based apps sound like fun. 🙂
@lumpynose: if a stylus is not your thing, you can as well use fingernail or fingertip to work with many touchscreen devices. i do that with Nokia N800. convenient if you are lazy to retrieve the stylus. 🙂
(though then we are back to square one – the finger hides part of the screen)