The feature I wish my Smart Phone had!

Smart phones are the norm when it comes to mobile devices today. So, what makes these phones smart? Well, the answer differs with people. Big players in this market are bundling the commonly required ‘smart’ features into their devices and making a good deal of business for themselves, as well as giving fresher deals for their customers.

What does a smart phone do actually? According to me, it reduces the number of devices to carry, without reducing the functionalities of all of them. Tons of features are plaguing the smart phone owners by means of advanced hardware enhancements and innovative software apps. All of them are making the smart phone smarter.

In this plethora of sorts, there is bound to be some deficiencies in functionalities, as the craziness of expectations increase. Thanks to the blogging platform, expressing those ‘weird’ needs is now easier. Here I present my idea.

Smart phone mouse
With motion sensing getting refined with every new device, and touch screen almost being a mandate in the smart phone segment, I wish I could use it as a bluetooth mouse. Here is how I wish it worked.

How it should work : The ‘hardware’ part.

• We need to have a small bump like thing stuck to the back of the phone as shown in the pic. Everything else is up to the software app.
• The bump enables us to rest the phone in an area as small as a INR Re. 1/- coin.
• This enables us to tilt the phone in all directions.
• The magnitude and duration of tilt determine the speed of the mouse pointer, and the tilt direction naturally dictates the direction of motion of the mouse pointer.

How it should work : The ‘software’ part.

• The app should work on the host (laptop/notebook/netbook/PC/Mac) as well as the guest (smart phone).
• The touch screen, as a basic requirement, should have touchable areas to capture left-click, right-click and the scroll-wheel motion. Anything else is left to the imagination.
• The info about the tilt direction, duration and magnitude, along with the clicks and scroll-wheel data should be encoded and transmitted via bluetooth just like the current bluetooth mouse present in the market.

Lo and behold! Your smart phone can now work as a computer mouse too. 🙂
I am confident that it can give the Apple’s Mighty Mouse, a run for its money, for the simple reason that the improvements in functionality are moving from hardware to software.

Pros :

• One less device to carry.
• One less wire to entangle yourself with.
• With multi point bluetooth transfer available, u can use A2DP for calls and music, or do the bluetooth file transfer with your mouse smart phone concurrently.
• You will be using your wrist better and I hope this reduces frightening stuff like Repetitive Strain Injury and/or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
• Motion sensing and touch are getting better. So, you may not feel like clicking the mouse when your touch makes things work. 🙂
• All you have to buy extra is the bump for your phone. 🙂

Cons :

• Vendors might not support it as it will reduce their Mouse sales. 😉
• Power consumption may increase marginally.

Photo courtesy : diytrade.com