There are two problems with my cell phone that have really ticked me off in the past few days. The first one is that somehow my number has been added to a list and I get spam calls every other day. The calls range from my factory warranty on my car running out to me not taking advantage of a great loan offer. Not only is it annoying, but if I try to call back, it says the line has been disconnected. The second one is less annoying but I have a touchscreen phone (that is not the iPhone) and it uses Windows Mobile. The design of it is meant to be used with a stylus meaning a lot of the buttons become difficult to use when touching (it’s not as accurate as it could be).
To fix the first problem, it would be nice if the phone could sync up with a database of phone numbers to block automatically. In a way, it’s like a spam filter based upon where the number is originating from. The more difficult part would be deciding what numbers to filter. I did a quick search online though with the numbers I was getting and there were posts on forums talking about these numbers. I assume it’d be easy to report these numbers and once it reached a certain threshold, it could block those numbers.
For the second problem, the solution seems relatively simple, but could affect the flow of phone design itself. Essentially, the buttons need to be bigger to accommodate fingers. The problem becomes designing it so that you can still access enough information at once that scrolling doesn’t become a huge issue. One way of doing this could be to stagger icons in a honeycomb pattern instead of a grid; more space and less of a chance hitting other icons accidently.
Social technical gaps for the first problem are hinted at above, but essentially how does technology know what number is spam or not. One could imagine a way to try to guess by decoding the message and figuring out if it’s a recorded message by screening more calls, but this might cross some privacy issues.
With the second problem, a gap is understanding what button one would want to press at any time. Design would be key in getting past this with most oft used buttons on one screen but separated apart so they’re not accidently pressed.
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I used to get spam calls too, and I would know right away because the number usually starts with 1800. But if there's a way for a user to filter spam calls like email, that would be great. I'm not sure how this is technically feasible, but if a user could report a spam number through text message, then the carrier company could block this call and not get the call through.
ReplyDeleteHoneycomb design for buttons sounds like a great idea! I'm not sure why they would not implement that shape. I wonder if that shape makes the user interface less aesthetically tasteful. But I'm sure they could make it so only the sensor is shaped like a honeycomb but visually it is a four sided figure.
I like the idea of using a spam-like-blocking feature to get rid of "spam callers." The problem arises when deciding what is the proposed threshold. You could get rid of the idea of using a threshold becuase you can just place your name on the "do not call registry." Then you can reduce the amount of creditors and telemarketers who are the primary sources of "spam callers." However, I am unaware whether this external feature is free.
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