Is the gesture-based mobile coming?

BANGALORE: New technologies are taking birth in mobile space everyday with a view to take user experience to new heights. The touch screen technology has already made using the mobile phone a more thrilling experience for the user. So what will be the new dimensions of user experience? Gesture based?

Yes, R&D centers of major mobile manufactures around the wold are working on developing technologies that can understand the human gestures and react to them. Axel Meyer, Head of Design, Nokia Nseries, talks about Nokia's future strategies to improve user experience in this exclusive chat with CIOL's Sharath Kumar. Meyer was in Bangalore in connection with the Nokia N97 launch.

CIOL: Will gestures be used more in future designs?

Axel Meyer: Touch screen technology is just a beginning. We have accelerometers and sensors. The future smart phones may come with new ways of doing things - like gesture-wise as to how to give information, how to open or close something.

CIOL: How long can it take for the gesture based concept to become a reality?

AM: We can actually make the user experience magical if we make the sensors understand more gestures and respond accordingly. We can certainly have handsets that understand human gestures in a better way in the near future.

 CIOL: So what will be the future of touch-screen phones?

AM: They have already become a standard for smart phones. At Nokia, we always try to introduce more natural behavior. The 5800 model (XpressMusic model) is a very good example (of a mass market product). It is a natural path. Just about 15 years ago, a mobile phone was a luxury item.