JavaPhone Design Ideas
Last updated by Roedy Green
©1996-1999 Canadian Mind Products.
When I was a kid growing up in West Vancouver in the 1950s,
phones had no dials. You picked up the phone and said "I'd
like to talk to Robbie Jones please" and the operator
connected you. Modern technology is eventually going to get us
back to the level of convenience we used to enjoy.
Java will make possible intelligent telephones. Here is my
concept of the ideal Java-based phone which I have dubbed the
JavaPhone. So far as I know JavaPhone is not a
registered trademark. I would hope it could remain a generic
term. Some of these ideas have nothing to do with Java, but I
thought we might as well get the mechanical design right while we
were rethinking the common phone.
Software features
- variable fidelity. You pay only for the bandwidth you need.
This means that you can hear every nuance when your lover kisses
you over the phone, but save money with low fidelity when he or
she has to take a bathroom break.
- It has many features first pioneered by the MiniTel system in
France. It replaces the paper white pages and yellow pages for
directory lookup. Customers look up numbers themselves. It
becomes not only a phone, but a cheap compute terminal for the
masses.
- Call blocking for long distance, 900 numbers etc. without the
appropriate password. This lets parents have a little more
control over their kids and businesses control over employees or
walk-in customers. With Java-powered monitoring, more flexible
rules are possible, e.g. allow you to phone a 900 number
consulting service, so long as the bill stays under $50/day.
- You can order fancy features by downloading Java software
into your JavaPhone. It is a fully functional little computer,
capable of running a applets downloaded from the party you call.
You might use it for something as trivial as selecting which
pizza you want off a menu. Downloaded applets are an opportunity
for companies to entertain callers with novelties.
- The BusTel (pronounced buzz-tell) button is white with a red
heart symbol. When you press it, it exchanges electronic business
cards with the other party and displays the information on the
electroluminescent panel. You initially program in the electronic
business card by phoning a service bureau computer that downloads
it. The electronic business card looks very much like an Internet
email header with named fields followed by a colon, e.g. Surname:
GivenName: BusName: HomePhone: WorkPhone: DayPhone: NightPhone:
Fax: Email: Apt: Street1: Street2: City: Postal: Country: Web:
etc. etc. The BusTel/Heart key could also be called the
trust key. You tap it once to exchange business cards. You
tap it twice and key a P.I.N. number to also include charge card
or debit card info.
- You can program the memories, caller id associations and
ringing sound by being talked through the process by a
synthesised voice on a server computer, or for simple tasks by
reading the electroluminescent panel. You can also phone a human
who can talk to you, and patiently extract from you what you want
done, then download the change into your phone. This way even
techopeasants will be able to get full power out of their
JavaPhones.
- Assign phone numbers to individuals, not residences. When the
phone rings, the distinctive sound lets you know who it is for.
Existing call forwarding redirects calls for everyone using that
phone. The JavaPhone service would track individuals.
- Built in phone directory of alphabetical names/numbers This
way you could "dial" by using the up/down arrow keys to
select, or by hitting a 4 digit code short dialing code. This
long list would be backed up by your phone provider and could be
updated using a computer. If you were visiting somebody else's
phone, you could phone your provider and have your list
temporarily downloaded into that JavaPhone.
- Battery backup of information stored in the phone. Service providers
would also store a backup of that information for you so if your phone
forgets, the JavaPhone automatically dials a number and refreshes its local
copy. The number of your service provider would live in EAROM. This encourages
evolution of new services, and spreads money around still further.
"Money is like manure, it's no good unless you spread it
around."
-- Horace Vandergelder in Hello Dolly by Thorton Wilder
and Jerry Herman.
- Various custom features currently only seen in PBX systems
now become possible for the standard residential JavaPhone.
Instead of memorising a zillion arcane codes, you use them by
chasing nested menus on the display. These menus adapt to your
usage so the things you do most commonly are easiest to get
at.
- An RS-232 port (or some more modern equivalent) that squirts
out data in ASCII to an attached computer so that computers can
automate any function you can do by hand from the phone's keypad.
A lawyer could use the information that the JavaPhone provides on
call start/stop and called party for automatically generating
billings of her time. Computers could request caller id or BusTel
information and instantly bring up a customer's record before the
receptionist even answered the phone. It would also allow your
phone to be used as a modem.
- The JavaPhone may run off the usual copper wire to the
telephone company CO (Central Office), or it might run off a coax
cable modem to an ISP. In either case it can do advanced voice
compression and/or encryption. Only both ends need know the
scheme, not the carrier. This will permit more rapid evolution.
For extreme secrecy, you could even go to the one-write XOR
radioactive-decay (from the Americium in an old smoke detector)
generated random number pad CD-ROM or Mexican peasant scheme I
talk about so often, which is mathematically uncrackable.
Display Features
- The more expensive versions of the phone have various sizes
of flat panel colour displays. The basic version uses a blue
electroluminescent display.
- The display has four main functions:
- Displaying menus, phone numbers and other textual data.
- acting as a whiteboard on which you can scribble. Your
combined scribblings are visible to both parties. You can also
think of it as legacy FAX receiver.
- To act as a low-res, slow-update picturephone.
- To act as a GUI display for applets.
- Display of the last number dialed. In case you reach an
unexpected party you can check that you dialled correctly and
avoid the embarrassment of phoning the same wrong number a second
time. It also gives visual feedback as you dial. The panel also
shows a list of numbers recently dialled and the caller id of
last 100 calls. Caller ID accesses a JDBC database to display
names. Various models come with various sizes of display. This is
transparent to the software. Users with small displays just do
more scrolling.
- Call timer and running dollar cost display for long distance.
Businessmen are interested in optimal use of their time.
Home users are primarily interested in the cost of the call. This
also makes it easier to pay someone fairly when they let you make
a long distance call on their phone. Alternatively you could pay
by billing the call to your own number. Such calls are password
validated.
- 900-type service on any phone. A consultant could set up a
telephone tech support service where people call with questions
and get billed just by hitting the heart key a couple of times.
Consultants could afford to take on one-shot phone clients since
billing would be totally automated. The customer could even see
the time and money meter running on his display.
Keypad Features
- Big buttons. This helps avoid misdialing and makes it easy
even for old folks to see the numbers. Buttons are labelled both
with numbers and alpha, with numbers much bigger. Even young
people can benefit from such a phone with faster and more
accurate dialing.
- No overloading of buttons. One button, one function.
- Some months ago I was in Mountain Equipment Co-Op. I saw
these oddly shaped things used to create artificial climbing
walls. They intrigued me no end. It lead me to speculate that
perhaps the keys should have distinctive shapes and textures so
you could even use the phone in the dark or if you are blind. In
any case the distinctive shapes or textures would give subliminal
tactile feedback that you had dialed correctly. Possibly the keys
should have Braille patterns, particularly if various designers
insist on being "creative" with the standard key
layout.
- Red 911 button labelled 911 -- with no confusing symbols. The
911 button should be at the top of the phone set off from the
rest of the buttons.
- A green redial button is labelled "again".
- The "quick" rapid dial select key should be blue,
and placed next to redial. It should have a little lightning bolt
symbol on it. To rapid dial, you hit "quick" then a
digit.
- The violet "setup" configuration menu key should be
set off by itself. It is violet to subliminally discourage people
from accidentally touching it. Most people don't like that
colour.
- Perhaps it is time to add check digits to phone numbers which
are checked locally by the JavaPhone. This helps prevent
misdialing. I have a phobia about phoning people, but I found
that I don't have it when I use the memory feature. I think it
comes from unpleasant confrontations when in past I dialed a
wrong number.
- Unlisted numbers could have a password to make it harder for
telephone solicitors or patient paparazzi to get through by
random dialing. If your number and password leaked out, you would
just need to change your password, (which you could do yourself)
not get a new phone number. I always thought it odd that you must
pay extra to persuade the phone company not to make a million or
so copies of your name, address and phone number (but no postal
code) on slips of paper and deliver them to people who have no
intent of ever telephoning you.
- Optionally, you can dial, then wait for a confirming display
of the name of the caller you are about to call before you
confirm the call and allow ringing to proceed.
- Even local calls should be allowed to be dialed with full
area and country codes to support standard-format computer
databases of phone numbers since there is no way end users or
even portable computers can be expected to know which exchanges
are considered local.
- Yellow button labelled "flash" to provide a timed
hook flash for handling a call waiting.
- Up down arrow keys are used for scrolling the display. The
line in the center of the display is automatically the selected
line.
Sound and Ringer Features
- Adjustable volume would be nice for older folks and the hard
of hearing. It is also useful where background noise is
high.
- choice of 10 interesting "organic" ringing noises
selected by twirling a rotary dial on the bottom of the phone.
This way there would be no confusion which phone is ringing in a
multi-phone situation. These noises would be distinct from the
noises used by convention for phones on TV, movies or VR. You
could also download custom sounds as AU files. You might use the
call of a loon when you are outside, or a waterfall sound when
you are inside.
- Infinitely-variable ringer volume.
- I startle easily. Every time the phone rings I get a nasty
jolt of adrenalin. Something must be done. The ring starts out
quietly and gets gradually louder with each ring. This is less
startling, especially if I am asleep.
- Distinctive ring depending on who the call was for, see
programming features for more details. Rings sounds may also be
coded in other ways -- e.g. emergency, or low priority.
- Do not disturb can direct your calls immediately to an
answering machine on the first ring without making any sound. The
answering machine may be a virtual one provided by your JavaPhone
service provider. If you tend to ramble on and on in your
greeting message, telling everyone all the news about all your
relatives, somebody without time to hear all the juicy details
can "interrupt" you and leave a message. You can of
course leave different greeting messages for different callers so
you don't tell just anyone about what happened when Mabel
×××××××
×××
××××××× ××
××× × ×××××
×××××, (or more tersely: pattern
73723155).
- You can turn off the ringer without unplugging the phone. The
display flashes when there is an incoming call.
Miscellaneous Features
- Your service provider lets you look up numbers given whatever
information you've got e.g. old phone number, street address,
rough area of the city, postal code...
- Available in 10 decorator colours. I'm getting tired of beige
and white.
- desk or wall mount.
- non-tangling, springy cord so you can wander off to the
bathroom with the phone should the need arise.
Designing Techniques
- Have the designers read Donald Norman's "The Design
of Everyday Things".
- Hone the design by using a prototype and log any confusion,
awkwardness or error in using it. These dissatisfaction points
need to be honed.
- Have a fresh supply of "JavaPhone virgins" to use
to test the phone. Give them no instruction on how to use it and
see what features they can discover and use without
fumbling.
- Check that people after a little experience can use the phone
blind-folded.
- Let testers take the phones home and use them in real life
situations. Give them a pad to put next to the phone, and pay
them for every noted irritation they jot down.
- Drop the phones off desks and pour cups of coffee on them.
Jobs
The JavaPhone will create many new entrepreneurial jobs. By this
I mean jobs where you directly work for more than one client, not
jobs that require any great financial daring. For example:
- Receptionist/butler to screen both telephone and physical
callers. With JavaPhone technology, you can work for dozens of
people out of your own home. With the JavaPhone, anyone can
afford a butler or receptionist.
- Operator to help technopeasants, those who are infirm, idly
rich or mentally challenged, deal with the complexities of the
phone system. All they need do is talk to you. They may be
technically adept, but simply prefer the human touch. Your job is
something like a conventional waitress namely to make lonely
people feel better with a little casual contact.
- In comp.lang.java and comp.lang.java.advocacy I discussed the
way you could use GPS positioning, integrating accelerometers,
miniature video cameras and voice activated cell phones to let
you keep track of the whereabouts of your pet Dalmatian Fido, and
to trigger a call if he barked repeatedly or whimpered
excessively to report a potential security threat or injury to
himself. Somebody else has to screen these calls or he will drive
you nuts. To see any of my postings just ask DejaNews who keep a permanent
record of nearly everything anybody says on the net.
Courtesy
I often used to answer a phone call in a spitting rage because
the sudden ring interrupted my train of thought at a crucial
point and I would lose the idea forever. The poor caller had no
idea why I was so curt with them. Stephen Hawking, author of
A Brief History Of Time (ISBN: 0-553-38016-8)
attributes his success at thinking about physics to being unable
to receive phone calls or other interruptions. I think it was
Michael Smith who noted that if you win a Nobel prize, you have
almost no chance of winning another because you will be driven
nuts with phone calls and can't get any work done.
Strangers would not dream of barging into my home and demanding
my attention by banging on a bell. That would be incredibly rude.
Yet they think nothing of doing the same thing with the
telephone. We will find ways to make the JavaPhone behave like a
butler to gently inform me that a caller craves an audience at my
earliest convenience.
People who would not dream of shoving others aside to get to the head
of a queue, think nothing of it if they use the telephone as their instrument.
The moment the imperious telephone rings, the shopkeeper drops all the
real customers to cater to some potential one. This infuriates
the paying customers. Phone callers should wait in line like anyone else,
and perhaps wait until all the real customers are dealt with.
The phone caller should have some way of knowing how long the
queue is, and be able to go off and do something else and have
the her phone ring when her turn in the queue is just about due.
Making people wait on hold, tying up bandwidth all the while, to
listen to low fidelity elevator music is not only nuts, it is
sadistic. Surely we will find ways around these problems with an
all-digital system.
With the traditional telephone, callers cannot appreciate just
how irritated you are with them. You can't get rid of them, even
for a pressing bathroom emergency. They see none of your visual
body language clues and continue to babble on inanely, blissfully
unaware of how dearly you would love to wring their bloody necks.
In thinking about the JavaPhone, I realised I already had an
electronic butler, my plain old answering machine. I finally got
the nerve to disconnect the phones that I have detested all my
life. I don't like calling people on the phone. I don't like
people interrupting me, though sometimes I like the calls when a
face-to-face meeting is impossible.
I don't like emailing people. It is rather presumptious to demand
their attention to my ideas, or to answer my questions, rather
like buttonholing them on the street and demanding a response.
Public posting is not much better. Setting up a web page seems to
be the best solution. I am not forcing myself on anyone then. The
catch is, there is little discussion. Perhaps a solution will
come to be when I am not modeling such a grumpy old man.
Child Mode
Young children love to play with telephones. They can make a
nuisance of themselves calling the operator. The phone should
have a child mode you can enter/leave with a code. In child mode,
the child cannot dial anyone, other than 911 or perhaps grandma,
if she has entered a code saying she is willing to accept calls
from the grandchildren. The children can dial her by hitting 8.
A more elaborate child mode might offer a selection of sounds or
games when you dial different numbers.
The Phone Store
Retail phone stores of the future will have the following
features:
- You pick up the handset to listen to a recorded voice
describing the phone's features. This let you get an idea of how
good the quality of the earphone/loudspeakers is.
- You can speak into the telephone then hear your own voice
played back, so that you can judge the quality of the
microphone/mouthpiece.
- You can try out the various programmable features since the
phone is plugged into a simulated miniature phone system. If you
can't figure out how to use them in the store, you will have even
less chance at home without the salesperson to assist you.
- The demonstrator models are labelled with the date they went
into service. This will give you an idea of how durable each
model is, and how easy it is keep clean.
- There is a computer terminal the public can use. It guides
you through a multiple choice list of questions about how
important various features are to you and your budget range. It
then shows you a list of models that fit your criteria,
highlighting the differences from your ideal specification. It
shows you which are in stock, which can be shipped from
warehouses, and which can be built on special order.