[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv6Wv8Nv6sI[/youtube]
The video clip above was made to highlight a new technology that several American researchers are working on that would theoretically allow users to use a smartphone's operating system during phone calls. The idea is based on a projector attached to the smartphone, a projector that displays an image on almost any surface that the user can interact with by simply positioning their finger over an icon, option, etc. The projected image is an almost faithful copy of the image displayed on the smartphone screen, but the interesting part is that the device is able to recognize the user's interaction with the interface.
Smartphones provide large amounts of personal data, functionalities, and apps and make a substantial part of our daily communication. But during phone calls the phone cannot be used much beyond voice communication and does not offer support for synchronous collaboration. This is owed to the fact that first, despite the availability of alternatives, the phone is typically held at one's ear; and second that the small mobile screen is less suited to be used with existing collaboration software. This video presents a novel in-call collaboration system that leverages projector phones as they provide a large display that can be used while holding the phone to the ear to project an interactive interface anytime and anywhere. The system uses a desktop metaphor user interface and provides a private and a shared space, live mirroring of the shared space and user defined access rights to shared content.
Implementing such a system in a smartphone is more than difficult, but the problem is not here, but in the functionality it offers to the user. In general, people do not need to use the interface of the operating system of a smartphone when talking on it, and from my point of view the cost of implementing such a system in a mobile phone is not justified. The idea itself is interesting, many will want to test it, but in everyday life very few will find it useful.
