Sloshing Cellphones Reveal Their Contents

holy_calamity writes "UK researchers have developed software that represents a handset's battery life by using a phone's speaker and vibrator to make a device feel and sound like it contains liquid. You give it a shake to find out how much is left. The same technique can be used to represent new messages by simulating balls rattling around inside a box. It runs on recent Nokias with accelerometers; video from the researchers explains it well." What a bizarrely fun idea.

Comments

A cellphone without an accelerometer...

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Is like a cow without an altimeter.

Apostrophe abuse in summary

[operagost]

Nokia's

An apostrophe does not mean, "Look out! Here comes an S!"

Terror Alert!

[CheeseburgerBrown]

I think this is a good idea -- harnessing already honed human perceptions and using them to relieve some of the bandwidth hogging our visual senses are subjected to. It could be quite intuitive, and save valuable screen real estate.

On the other hand, I guess it means we can't take our mobile phones on airplanes anymore, can we?

Homeland Security Agent: "How much liquid is in that phone?"

You: "None. It's virtual liquid."

Homeland Security Agent: "It sounds like at least a few ounces."

You: "Virtual liquids have neither volume nor weight."

Homeland Security Agent: "Do I look stupid to you?"

You: "Can I take the fifth on that?"

Homeland Security Agent: "That's Mistake Number Two, bub. Quoting from documents concerning the governance or liberties of American citizens is suspicious activity Level Blue. Ever heard of Ron Paul?"

You: "Uh, sure."

Homeland Security Agent: "You're under arrest."

Re:that's just stupid

[Steve Newall]

As a manufacturer of portable data terminals, we always seem to spend an excessive amount of time in attempting to get a better indication of the amount of power left in a battery. Each battery chemistry has it's own set of rules and the rules tend to change as the battery ages.

One of the better methods is to use a coulumb counter that attempts to measure the power put into a battery against the power removed from the battery. See http://www.linear.com/pc/productDetail.jsp?navId=H0,C1,C1003,C1037,C1134,P2354 for a typical device. Even using these, we only seem to be able to approach something that doesn't suck.

One of our devices has a tilt sensor, so I may try to impliment the sloshing sound as well as our normal battery icon on the display.

It's "Blind"ingly Obvious

[EgoWumpus]

I have to imagine that any blind user of a cell phone would think this is awesome. No longer do you have to wade through some exchange with a computer to figure out if you have messages; you just shake your cell phone. And figuring out your charge without any need for visual interaction must be useful, too.

Additionally, though, I don't think there is all that much problem with shaking solid-state electronics. The 'Wiimote syndrome' isn't at issue, because you're not trying to control cartoon characters on the screen - and shaking a rattle, say, is a far more sedate activity than swinging a hammer. Unless you're way, way hyper-aggressive.

Neat for the blind

[lantastik]

My sister-in-law is legally blind and she is always asking how much battery life is left on her phone and how many messages she has. From an accessibility perspective, I think it's a pretty neat idea. Otherwise, it's a useless feature.