How can one utilize a smart-watch to replace functionalities of a smartphone?
I went ahead and asked two locals around Berkeley for their struggles/ideas to come up with a prototype that I thought would benefit both the young and old audiences.
Part One: Interviewing
Subject #1 - Owner of a local restaurant (middle-aged male)
He's the owner of a local sandwich restaurant in Berkeley. He started the sandwich shop almost two years ago. Since then, he commutes daily (except Sunday) with his wife to Berkeley and together run the business from 11AM-7PM. He usually interacts with his phone when he is not working. During work, his phone is in his pocket majority of the time.
Key takeaways:
Since the sandwich shop would usually be packed during lunch time, I was able to catch him for a short conversation after lunch time to avoid the traffic. I learned that he mainly uses his phone for normal communication via text or call and for reading the news in the morning and at night. During down times at work, he usually takes out his smartphone and catch up on recent news articles from popular news providers. However, he has to first wash his hands or clean it with a cloth before touching his smartphone because of the sauce that he might have from packaging the sandwiches. This leads me to think of having a functionality in the smart-watch to display current news. I also asked him about what other features he uses on his smartphone. He told me that he uses the GPS function extensively when he's traveling or trying to find a place. He likes to put a phone holder in his car just in case when he wants to search for places he has never been to. This leads to me consider another possible application relating to maps that can be put on a smart-watch. The application on the watch can function similarly to Google Maps or any other GPS system, but instead it will be on a watch that can be tied on to the steering wheel of a car. Therefore, users do not have to turn their heads as much in order to see the next direction, which will allow the eyes to take less time off the road. While finishing up our conversation, he was about to close the sandwich shop. This instantly invoked me to think about using a smart-watch to monitor the locks of the shop. The application could have a sensor that tells whether the front lock is locked. When he is wearing the watch and is inside the shop, then nothing will happen. However, if he is outside and the lock is unlocked, that most likely means that he has forgotten to lock the doors, so the application in the smart-watch could notify him.
Subject #2 - Man working out in RSF (middle-aged male)
He is a mechanics at a tech company in San Francisco. Few months ago, he injured his legs and is currently under rehab. Therefore he is a regular member in the RSF. He usually puts his smartphone in his pocket. However, during work he charges his phone on his desk and usually leaves it there until after work.
Key takeaways:
I was able to talk to this hard working man at the RSF while he was rehabbing his legs. I learned that he uses his phone mainly to check emails, Facebook, Twitter, and text messages. During his commute to work via Bart every morning, he likes to go through all the emails he missed the previous day and new emails that came during the night. For a professional that needs to read and respond to many emails a day, I figured it would be beneficial for a smart-watch to display the number of unread inbox (excluding spam) messages in his emails. Another important thing I learned from him was that there are tons of great restaurants around the financial district in San Francisco. Normally he tries out a new place every week with his coworkers during lunch. He mentioned the struggle to locate the restaurant appears almost every single time. Instantly I thought of an application for the smart-watch that could combine Yelp and Google Maps to alleviate the struggles. Another thing I learned from him was that he is an active Yelper. He loves to give ratings to restaurants, but sometimes he doesn't have enough time to do it in the restaurant or he forgets after he gets back to the office. Another application that could help with that issue is to just rate the restaurant with stars, and then the application will remind the user to enter the description later when he is back in the office or when he has time. The subject also enjoys working out, even when he is not rehabbing his legs. He mentioned to me that he usually plays music off Pandora, and sometimes it gets pretty boring. This provoked me to think of music applications that would be better fitted for exercising. There are tons of applications on a smart-watch that can take advantage of the fact that it is worn on the wrist through various types of sensors.
Both subjects seem to express the need to use a navigation system to find places, whether it's for driving or for walking. It would be great to have an application that would locate a place and guide the users with step-by-step voice directions on their watch. This would benefit both drivers and walkers when they want to try out new restaurants around unfamiliar places or locate very hidden places.
Part Two - Designing and Prototyping
Brainstorming Ideas:
1. LockDown - reminds the user that the door is unlocked. This would be great for people who tends to forget to lock their doors.
2. NewsFeeder - shows the title of recent breaking news. This would be great to catch up on the latest news.
3. BayTransit - shows various departure times of Bart, bus, and Caltrain. This would be great for everyday commuters.
4. Yelp-a-go-go - picks a restaurant and shows step-by-step direction with voice. This would be useful for any foodies.
5. Handless - uses motion sensor in the watch to scroll around webpages. This would be great for someone who cannot use their hands during work.
6. Find-Near-Me - notifies the user when there are friends in the nearby area. This would be great for unplanned meet ups.
7. BeatMusic - tracks the heart beats of the user and play music corresponding to the specific beats. This would be great while working out or playing sports.
8. EatWithMe - strategically picks someone from the contact list to eat lunch or dinner with the user. It will use location, previous meetings, preferences (male/female), and schedule of the contacts.
9. AwardCollector - uses the watch as a scanner to collect points and stamps (Five Stars) for free future drinks/food. This eliminates paper stamp cards to save trees.
10. Selfie - uses smart-watch camera to take selfies with friends, especially when the user is playing sports and does not have phone with them.
11. NinjaWatch - shows users their daily schedule.
12. Flashlight - turns on flash light of the smart-watch, or if the watch doesn't have a flash light then turns the screen into a white background and maximizes brightness. This would be great for impromptu adventures at night.
13. Brightening - controls the light switches around the user's house. This would be great when user comes back late at night and can't find the light switches.
14. LiveScores - shows scores of favorite sport teams. This would be great for die-hard sport fans.
15. RateNow - rates the restaurants with just stars and the application will remind the user later to give the descriptions of the rating
16. BoxMe - gives the latest number of unread inbox messages in the user's emails
Prototyping: THE WINNER IS...Yelp-a-go-go!
I decided to choose the Yelp-a-go-go application, which will select a restaurant through Yelp and give step by step instructions to the user on how to arrive at the destination. I chose this because it would target many different groups and could solve many issues in driving as well as walking. When driving, it will decrease the effort of looking away from the road to look at a GPS, because the user can wrap the watch around the steering wheel. When the user is walking, he or she can use the watch to determine how far or where to go without taking out the phone, which will be extremely useful when he or she is walking in dangerous areas.
Description
My prototype has a total of 8 screens, 1 for the application icon and 7 for the application itself. Once the user taps the application icon, it will bring up a screen to locate the user. The user can go forward with tapping anywhere on the screen to enter the next screen, which allows the user to enter the city or zip code of a desired location through voice recognition of the watch. If the application detects the correct city or zip code, then the user can tap anywhere on the screen to switch to the next screen. Similarly, the next screen allows the user will enter a place, restaurant, or a food type through voice recognition. Once the user is done entering the information and is satisfied, the user can tap anywhere on the screen to switch to a list of suggestions sorted in ascending distance. User can scroll up and down with fingers and select the place/restaurant with a tap on the name of the location. It will then bring a map showing the start and end locations. At the bottom of the screen, it shows how far away you are from the destination, how much longer it will take, and what's the next direction to get there. When a change of direction is needed, the application will notify the user with a popup and voice notification. Once the user arrives at the destination, the screen will notify with another pop up and voice notification indicating "Arrived". User can navigate to another location by tapping the screen to go back to screen #3, where the user can pick a new city or zip code for the new location.
In the prototype, the user will have to flip through the screens rather than touching it. The watch is designed to have no button on the sides in order to create a thin screen. It has GPS sensors, speakers, and voice recognition to enable seamless interaction with applications through voice. It also equips with an ultra-sensitive touchscreen which allows user to select applications and options on the screen.
Testing
Feedbacks and Insights
1. One user suggested using finger typing to enter text into the application. He suggested that some users might have strong accents that would be hard for the voice recognition to pick up. However, user can write the letters one by one on the touch screen.
2. Another user suggested to add vibration notification, which would be helpful when the environment is loud. This adds another way for the user to get notified without looking at the watch. For example, a heavy left vibration could signal left turn and a heavy right vibration could signal right turn. A heavy vibration could signal arriving at destination.
3. One of the users suggested to add a current location option, instead of entering the information manually. This option would be great for users trying to find restaurants or places nearby by just using the current location.
4. One of the users suggested to add a screen that shows nearby restaurants on a map. This would give options to the users in a visual way, rather than choosing it from a list of text.
5. Both users said the application was easy to use and understand. The steps are simple, and the application would be a very useful tool.
6. The most important thing is that the application is very simple and readable, which could be an issue for such a small device.
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