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Motion Controlled Smartphone Previewed

Posted by simoniker on from the wave-friends-off dept.

BoB writes "The folks at MobileBurn have had a chance to play in detail with a new motion controlled smartphone prototype by MyOrigo, called 'mydevice'. Surprisingly, it actually works quite well, and the writer claims it's fun to use, too. Is this the start of a whole range of motion controlled devices?" We covered a previous showing of MyOrigo's device a few months back.

5 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. About the name by Emil+Brink · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm not sure if it's obvious to English-speaking folks, since I'm too lazy (and/or focused; I'm at work) to check with Greek and other languages, but the word "origo" is Swedish for "origin". I guess that makes sense for the device, and can almost smell the marketing-speak about "putting you at the center" or something... ;)

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  2. On the move? by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wonder how well the motion control and mirroring work when you're on the move.

    I can imagine how annoying it would be to have web pages scroll when you don't want them to scroll just because you were walking too quickly or the car or train you were travelling in provided a less than perfect ride.

    Frankly, it seems like a big gimmick to me. UI that doesn't take into account practicality - UI for UI's sake - is doomed to failure.

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    "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
    1. Re:On the move? by MonkeyINAbaG · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Frankly, it seems like a big gimmick to me. UI that doesn't take into account practicality

      I tend to aggree with you.
      This phone got a good asskissing evaluation, but looks like it was tested in an office environment, not the natural habitat of a mobile, or cellular devices.
      Possibly this technology is suited more for a desktop PC, or other non-critical motionless devices.
      I also think this would be difficult to sell to our button-mad consumers, who are the reason for UI anyway.
      I won't be buying one until I have no choice.
  3. iPAQ by perly-king-69 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When Compaq (RIP) were developing the iPAQ they looked at using a similar method of navigation. I remember reading an article in Linux Journal(?) about playing Doom under Linux controlled by shaking the pda around.

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  4. Motion control = games !! ;) by ElGanzoLoco · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That "motion control" feature seems quite cool (i RTFA'd)... I can see a lot of games that could make use of this feature.

    First example that comes to mind: these little car racing games you find on lots of mobile phones now (or on the GBA, colinMc Rae Rally & such...). One could use the phone itself as a car wheel, tilt it left to turn left, tilt it right to turn right, pull it towards you to brake, push it away from you to accelerate... (Would be cool for flight sims too)

    The phone could even "counter-rotate" the image to compensate for the tilting: picture still upright even when you've tilted the device 90 degrees to make a turn. (I'm not sure if I'm being clear enough on this point)
    You could also make a simulation of these wood & plastic games, where you had to navigate a metallic ball through a maze, by just tilting the device...

    Since games are apparently becoming the next big thing for mobile phones (that, and polyphonic ringtones :( ), myOrigo could have a point there (licence technology to Nokia nGage?)

    Remember in 5 years, when myorigo will have outplaced Nintendo & Sony thanks to these features: you heard it here first! ;)

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