Is the Bar of Soap Tomorrow's Smarterphone?

Barence writes "Researchers at MIT have developed a gadget that knows whether you want to use it as a camera or smartphone, just by the way you're holding it. So, if you hold the device, dubbed the Bar of Soap, out in front of you like a camera it will automatically bring up an LCD viewfinder. However, if you then switch to holding it as you would a mobile phone, it will bring up a touchscreen keypad instead. The Bar of Soap utilises a three-axis accelerometer and 72 surface sensors to track the position of the user's fingers and its position."

Comments

Great

[clarkkent09]

I look forward to the day when I wont have to face the arduous task of pressing the camera button when I want to switch to camera mode. And I am sure I won't look like an idiot twisting and shaking my phone back and forth, trying to get the damn camera on (like with iPhone switching portrait/lansdcape mode) because the feature will work flawlessly every time. Sorry, I tend to be in a sarcastic mood early in the morning. Yes, I know it's 1pm.

Re:Great

[NonUniqueNickname]

At least you won't have to twist and shake like an idiot for very long. Newer camera-phones enter camera mode pretty fast, less than 10 seconds.

Re:Great

[Cillian]

And I wonder how much all this extra tech/sensors adds to the price...... Personally, I'll go for the switch and keep the cash. I mean, sure, shiny stuff is cool, but if that's the best they can think of to do with the tech... *sigh*

Re:Great

[cayenne8]

Hmm...sounds like a PITA.

Have they never seen anyone lay down while they talk on the phone. I'd be pissed if I was laying down, heard the phone ring, picked it up, and when I said hello, I heard the fscking thing taking pictures of my ear.....

Re:Great

[camperdave]

i have heard that accelerometors are only about $2-3 in volume so they are cheap.

So, only about a thousand times as expensive as a switch, then?

Re:Great

[PuckSR]

I agree...

Have you heard about the new computer interface devices called "mice"? They try to interface with a computer via movement of the device across a flat surface rather than just typing in a command. Absolutely useless, and I bet they don't work worth a crap

"There is no evidence that people want to use these things."--John Dvorak(discussing the computer mouse)

Useless and silly technology!

Re:Great

[Chris Burke]

(like with iPhone switching portrait/lansdcape mode)

One of my first experiences with an iPhone was a coworker trying to show me a picture of their son. They'd taken the picture with a different camera, held sideways, so it showed up sideways on the screen. So he rotated the phone. And the iPhone obliged by rotating the picture 90 degrees so that his kid was still sideways.

Needless to say, I was deeply impressed. ;)

what if?

[sl0ppy]

what if i want to take a picture of something in front of me, on my desk, while i am sitting down. i've actually done this a few times, so it's not too much to ask.

hopefully there will be an easy override button i can press?

sometimes gadgets try too hard to be "smart", and end up infuriating the end users.

Re:what if?

[hobbit]

Quite. Not to mention that if you ask a teenager to mime "taking a picture", they'll probably mime holding an object in portrait orientation and pressing a button on the side nearest them. Whereas twenty/thirtysomethings will probably mime pressing a button on the top of something in landscape orientation, and forty-and-up-somethings will probably mime holding something up to their eye.

Joy

[illegalcortex]

Please god, no. I already curse my iPod Touch frequently enough when it decides how to rotate the screen for me. For example, ever try web surfing while lying down? What I wouldn't give for a "lock screen orientation" button.

Re:Joy

[Shakrai]

What I wouldn't give for a "lock screen orientation" button.

If you needed such a button then Steve Jobs would have provided it for you. Clearly you aren't using your iPod in the correct manner ;)

Too smart phone

[nizo]

No matter how smart this phone is, you still shouldn't drop it in the shower.

And what about...

[thesolo]

If you want or need to take a picture/video discreetly? Now you're stuck holding it way out in front of you, giving away the fact that you're filming/taking photos?

I've snapped photos and video before by keeping the phone up against my ear like I was on the phone, but aiming the lens at the subject and tapping the button on the side of the phone. I know other people have done the same to film their local police using a taser on someone. If the cops know you're filming, they're likely to try to take your cell.

Kids don't want to hold a phone like a camera.

[pavon]

My younger brother got a new touchscreen phone the other day and was complaining about how the camera button was in a horrible spot, and was hard to use without pressing other buttons. I picked it up and held it sideways like a camera and none of my fingers came close to touching any buttons, except for the camera button that was under my right index finger right where the shutter button should be.

Me: Seems fine to me.
Him: Why would anyone want to hold it like *that*?

I still can't convince him to to not hold it like you would when taking a picture with a flip-phone.

Most of the newer smartphones can do that already.

[zullnero]

Quite a few that are in production or are set to be released utilize almost the exact same technology to reorient their screens and do a whole lot of other things. It doesn't take much to use that same accelerometers to do the exact same things that the article is talking about. The reason a lot of companies haven't gone quite as far as these researchers have is because enabling that by default is kind of a nuisance in practice. But it wouldn't be a bad option for some if they were used to it and wanted to minimize button/tapping/navigational interaction.