Smart Phone Concept: Futuristic Idea

This is the first idea I had regarding the phones features. Exploring how the problem of having to pick up and unlock a phone in order to see notifications could be solved, I came up with the idea of a holographic screen. This would project images above the screen, so that they wouor hover in the air, allowing the user to see them without moving. I thought that this would be too advanced for 5 years from now and so I developed the idea into the projector. This would be much more feasible as technology allowing projections has been out for many years and so it would just be a case of miniatirising it and changing the application.

Smart Phone Concept: Self Assessment

In my opinion, the visual side of the project was the most successful as the use of clear, annotated diagrams helped to convey my ideas and explain each of the functions I chose for the phone. I created a range of ideas and then justified the reasons for each with easily understandable paragraphs. Using colour in the sketches and diagrams helped to portray the intent of my designs as it clearly separated the individual parts. I could improve this however, by typing up the annotations, rather than writing them, as this would make them more ledgible. A working model could also have helped to show off the features of the smart phone. I could have done more research into the technology of today in order to gain a better insight into how this may develop in the future, perhaps giving me ideas of how it could be used.

Smart Phone Concept: Ideas and Development

I then created a brainstorm of my initial ideas regarding the possible functions of the smart phone. This was based on solutions to the problems I discovered as well as existing technology.

I created sketches to bring the ideas to life and help me to focus on how I could implement and develop them.

I chose the wrist mounted "watch" phone idea to develop as I believed it had the most potential to be a useful product but then incorporated the other features into it in order to make it more advanced than the current generation of smart phones.

The phone is roughly 5cm by 4cm, which is significantly smaller than current models. This allows the option for it to be attached to a wrist strap in order for it to be work like a watch. This gives the user easy access as they no longer have to take the phone out of their pocket, also freeing up pockets for other items. The phone is held onto the strap by a system of locking pins which can only be unlocked by the user. This is achieved via a fingerprint recognition system which identifies the owner of the phone. This adds to the security of the device as it makes theft more difficult.

The screen projection feature is my solution to the need to pick up and unlock a phone to see notifications. Instead, the use of voice command allows the contents of the screen to be projected onto a nearby wall in mere seconds. This makes it much less effort to check text messages and emails. A benefit of this is the option to change the size of the projection. A large image will allow videos to be watched comfortably without requiring a phone with a large screen. Once the image size is set, in real time the angle of the projection will be adjusted so that the image remains the same size, even if the distance between the device and the wall changes. Likewise if the angle of the device from the wall changes, the projection will adjust so that the image remains parallel with the correct aspect ratio. The projector is located on the top side of the device so that the function still works when the phone is worn on the wrist.

Access to memory cards will be performed wirelessly, meaning that they do not need to be inserted into the device, or be anywhere closer than 10m from it. This means that they can be left in bags or pockets and so do not get lost as easily. Access to the data will be authorised by the fingerprint recognition system, meaning that someone whos fingerprints do not match the ones assigned to the memory card will not be granted access. The use of cloud network storage systems will allow the device to work seamlessly with a home PC, meaning that file access and transfer can occur from anywhere with an internet connection.

The device will be able to work with home appliances such as cookers, washing machines, fridges and heating sytems in order to manage their operation away from home. For example, if the user wanted to turn the heating on before they got home in order to warm the house up, they could set the time and duration for the boiler to come on and the levels of the thermostats. Energy usage and efficiency would also be presented to the user as well as advice on how to save energy by turning off unused devices. A barcode scanning system implemented in the fridge would record the contents, allowing the user to see what food they had so that they could make a shopping list without physically checking the fridge. Suggestions for meals based on the fridge contents would be created and sent to the user if wanted.

Retina scanning would make quick and easy transactions of money for online shopping. Used in conjunction with the fingerprint recognition system, users could purchase goods online without requiring a debit or credit card. Because each individual has a unique retina and fingerprint then fraud would be near impossible and so the system would be much more secure than the current one. This system would take much less time than inputting card numbers and so the user would feel happier about online shopping, especially on their phone.

Smart Phone Concept for Five Years Time

The aim of this project was to design a concept smart phone for use in five years time (2018), taking into account the relevant development of technology and how it could be applied in the form of functions.

I first began by researching common problems that users currently experience in order to understand what aspects of smart phones could be improved or changed, in favour of better usability and functionality. This storyboard highlights the problems I discovered.

1. The annoyance of having to pick up and unlock a phone in order to see a notification such as a text message or email. As this usually happens frequently, this repetitive task can become annoying, leading to the user not bothering to check the notifications until later on.

2. The difficulty of inputting form data due to the text boxes being too small, for example when purchasing items on the internet. Instead, users will often just wait until they get home to use a PC with a larger screen. It is also difficult to read and input card details when on the move or on public transport. This problem means that many people are put off online shopping whilst away from home.

3. Other people can unlock a user’s phone if it is left somewhere and so access personal content without permission. Password protection of course prevents this, but the act of having to type a password or swipe a pattern can be annoying to a user.

4. The majority of smart phones today are not water proof and so if a user goes swimming, they will have to leave it elsewhere. Not only does this mean they can’t access their phone if they want/need to, but the fact it is not with them increases the chance of it getting stolen.

5. Often when users are away from home, they will realize that they need to turn on a home appliance such as the cooker or the heating at a certain time in order to be ready for when they come home. Unless they can contact someone else who is at home then there is nothing they can do about it.

Annoying Fan: Self Assessment

The aim of this project was to design and create what’s known as an “Interaction Folly”, which is a fundamentally useless object that provides an interaction with a user or the environment in an illogical or counter intuitive way. As they lack a real function, they are often created for entertainment as a practical joke product. This was carried out in teams of two, with fellow student; Andrew Taylor being my partner.

Initially, the concepts we generated were indeed follies, as they didn’t have a useful function, but they lacked the interaction aspect that was key to the project. One of these was a shelf that would tilt under the weight of any object placed on it, meaning that it would immediately fall off. While it was both useless and illogical, an object falling straight off wasn’t really a true interaction and was more of a dysfunctional product. Instead, we then developed the idea of a safe that would only allow the door to be locked if there was no object inside it. Of course, this meant that valuables would be no more secure inside it than they would outside. The interaction was based around an electronic sensor, such as a strain gauge, inside that would detect the weight of an object placed on its floor. Then, through the use of a solenoid or servo motor, it would move the position of the lock so that a key can’t be inserted to lock it.

After realising the potential of an electronic interaction system, we then researched thermistors and how a folly could interact with a change in temperature of the environment. A thermistor is a type of resistor where the resistance is changed greatly with a change in temperature. As a fan is usually designed to counteract a high temperature by blowing air on something to cool it, it was an obvious starting point to develop the folly from by reversing the logic so that it worked in a counter intuitive way. The “Annoying Fan”, as I named it, was designed to blow air when the temperature is already low, making the user feel even colder and then stop blowing air when the temperature increased to a set point or more so that the user would become too hot. I created a cartoon style storyboard to explain how the fan was designed to work, showing the effect that the environment’s temperature had on the fan and how this then affected the user. Rather than showing it as a series of frames, I made it into a simple flow chart which was more effective at conveying the bipolar nature of the fan.

We then built a circuit that made use of a thermistor, a transistor and a relay to control the switching on and off of the fan. The mechanism of which, is explained in the annotated circuit diagram that I posted previously. A problem we had with getting it to work as predicted was that the current flowing into the base was insufficient to saturate the transistor and so it wasn’t working as a switch to energise the relay. This meant that the fan remained running even if the temperature exceeded the set value. This problem was caused by the resistance of the circuit being too low, even when the thermistor had reached its maximum and the variable resistor was set all the way to the top. I solved this by adding another resistor to the circuit which caused the voltage to reach 0.7V at the base when the temperature exceeded the set value.

I then tested the circuit using a soldering iron to heat the thermistor above the set point. Connecting two voltmeters, one to the base and one to the collector (which is also the relay coil) connections of the transistor, I monitored the voltage of each. At room temperature, the base voltage was 0.5V and the collector voltage was 7.19V. As shown in the video, the increase in resistance in the thermistor caused the base voltage and base current to increase. This increase in base current caused the transistor to start to conduct between collector and emitter, and the voltage on the collector started to fall towards the emitter voltage, i.e. 0V. As the base current increased further, the transistor became saturated and at this point, the base-emitter voltage did not increase above 0.714V. The collector voltage is almost the same as the emitter (0.13V in the video). 9V from the battery minus the 4V across the resistor meant that there was then 5V across the relay coil, causing it to switch off. This is heard as a clicking sound in the video. The fan then stopped blowing.

When the heat source was removed, the resistance of the thermistor decreased, causing the reverse process to occur.

Overall, I would say that the practical side to this project was very successful as we created and tested a working prototype of our concept which worked exactly in the way we had designed it to. The video clearly demonstrates the way in which the interaction occurs. It could be improved, however, by using a bigger fan, which would make the blowing action more obvious as well as manufacturing a professional looking housing to make the prototype more like a real, finished product. The video could be improved by filming a staged scenario of someone using the fan, rather than just a laboratory test.

While the concepts we generated were imaginative yet practical, I think that further exploration and development would have helped to make a better product that would have been easier to create and would have been more effective visually. A wider range of ideas to choose from as well as undertaking more research into electrical components, other than thermistors, could have meant that the folly was more technologically advanced and so was more entertaining and impressive for the user/ audience.

Annoying Fan: Basic Storyboard

Annoying Fan: Working Demonstration