
High-tech hand gestures on the way?
By Jo Best
Published: 14 June 2005 11:15 BST
Boffins at Nokia's labs in Helsinki are experimenting with various futuristic technologies - from RFID bracelets and high definition video capability to using wrist movements as a user interface.
The Finnish phone giant is currently looking into the possible future applications for controversial tracking technology RFID. One scenario, according to Nokia, is an RFID connected device that can be worn as a bracelet and used, for example, as a shopping assistant.
Nokia's RFID vision could see the bracelet phone equipped with location services, alerting a particular shop to the arrival of a high-spending customer, or alerting a shopper when a desired item is in stock.
Wrists are a key feature of Nokia's future vision with the handset maker eyeing up the potential of "multi modal" devices with voice or hand gestures used as a method of user interface, controlling a user's home electronics as well as the phone itself.
Jyri Huopaniemi, head of mobile applications research at Nokia's research centre in Helsinki said: "In the digital era, the home is becoming and turning into an intelligent space. It's a repository for personal digital content."
Huopaniemi added that personalisation was Nokia's most "active research topic" and the company was looking into HD video recording and editing functions for phones, as well as a memory prosthesis - a way of digital recording and storing your entire life.
As well as whizz-bang consumer devices, Nokia is also putting effort into dreaming up the next generation of enterprise apps, including an intuitive lifestyle calendar, which would suggest meeting preferences based on your usual timetable, and using an Ultrawideband connected mobile device to draw on an intelligent whiteboard.
While RFID bracelets may sound a little like something from Dick Tracy, the technology may yet be a reality. Huopaniemi revealed that Nokia's lifeblogs started off as a labs' research project.
However, one of the more interesting potential developments ahead for Nokia is a potential transition from phone maker to PC maker as devices converge.
"Telecoms, consumer electronics, different media are coming together. The device of the future might be combination of both [PC and phone]. Whether the mobile device will replace PC... it's an area of active research," Huopaniemi said. "As for the form factor of the future, we can't really comment - we don't know."
Our client provides high quality and innovative solutions to emerging global market sectors within telecoms, broadcasting and consumer electronics. ...
Huxley Associates are urgently recruiting for C++ Windows based software engineers to work for a leading Electronics and Technology provider the in ...
My client has just celebrated their 41st Birthday, and due to their solid growth and expansion they are now looking for an Electronics Engineer with ...
CIO50 2008
The silicon.com CIO50 2008 profiles the most influential and innovative tech chiefs in the UK across all industries and organisation size, from the biggest FTSE100 companies to high growth dot-com start ups and the public sector. The list was voted on by the UK CIO community and a panel of experts. Find out more in our latest special report.
Stories from the web...
Copyright ©1995-2008 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Top of page
Steve Ranger Editor's Blog: The naked truth about DSL Is it time to rethink broadband pricing?
Natasha Lomas ¿Dónde está el iPhone 3G? Comment: It's clear who calls the shots in this relationship...