Mobile Entertainment

It's hard to imagine a motor show without concept cars straight out of a Spielberg sci-fi epic, yet mobile trade shows seem devoid of handsets to make the pulse quicken, make people stop and stare, and ultimately rethink how they might be using a phone a year or two from now.

We have seen many attempts to meld communications with every kind of multimedia capability to create the über handset, usually with limited success. If you’ve ever tried to play a mobile game you’ll recognise a problem with many handset designs – a slip of the thumb and suddenly you’ve exited the application altogether.

Handset design needs to be driven by understanding of real user lifestyles and requirements over good looks. It hinges upon getting the user interface (UI) right. The importance of usability has been driven in no small part by the iPhone - Apple’s device does things differently, with a nod to the needs of the consumer that can only be admired.

However, the iPhone has its issues too. It’s not that good for making calls or handling the levels of data transfer that mobile content demands. The much-touted large touchscreen also has its fair share of problems from both a position of usability and practicality – you wouldn’t watch a TV covered in sticky finger prints, but you’re expected to do so on Apple’s handset and the rush of iClones that are hitting the High Street shelves.

Two years ago we began a process to create a completely usable multimedia handset, specifically designed to make access to mobile content more intuitive. What was clear then, and remains so today in analysis of typical users, is that frustrations exist with complex menu structures driven through the normal key pad, a situation further exacerbated by the increasingly complex nature of ‘smartphones’.

What we called Project Polygon re-imagined the familiar form factor by housing two large screens, one a high-resolution display optimised for mobile TV, gaming and internet, and a second touchscreen to replace the traditional keyboard. With a simple mode toggle switch Polygon could can be held in both portrait for phone or music player use and landscape for optimal TV viewing or web browsing.

Similar thought processes have seeped through into the latest range of commercial devices from the likes of LG, Samsung, Motorola and Sony Ericsson.

But ultimately it’s now quite clear that trying to incorporate every single feature and function into a single handset is not the answer. That’s why we believe two devices acting as one could truly address the communications and the entertainment needs of a modern generation.

We call this concept Couple-IT. Each device would use twin SIMs and software to establish intelligent synchronisation. In this way data, such as contact and diary info, owned content, digital license permissions and preferential links remain coordinated across the two devices.

This is quite different from syncing a handset with a PC or laptop. When on the move, a small device is the cornerstone of a user’s relationship with any mobile network, and this remains the case with Couple-IT.

However, when the user wants the benefits of a larger screen or memory capacity or a good sized QWERTY touchscreen keyboard, they can switch to a small laptop with the same intuitive UI as the handset and, thanks to the mobile network, fully co-ordinated content.

The first true entertainment phone will recognise its market and deliver a holistic solution that embraces what makes mobile special - the ability to allow the user to interact and share the best in entertainment with friends, no matter where they may be.