Conclusion

This paper discusses every aspect for designing the mobile device in detail and I would like to draw attention of these issues while designing a mobile device or the device that going to be part of mobile computing domain. Without considering these issues we can face many problems as well as the fear of losing particular technology. In this decade people are more mobile now, they want to access their information and services anywhere, anytime regardless of their geographical location.

At this stage we are facing different types of problems and threats to the mobile industry, the two major aspects are the security and the usability issue. Detailed analysis of security issues is very important at least for a mobile wireless device, there are numbers of ways that it can be compromised, but I would like to draw an attention on the usability issues as well. They both need to be carefully planned and designed that the mobile user or target audience get used to it easily, effectively and securely.

This paper provides a brief information and discussion about the issues relating to design of a mobile device. According to my aims and objectives of this paper I have done the detailed research and get the knowledge about it and the factors that need to be consider carefully. This paper also provides the technical discussion about designing issues of mobile computing that will definitely help me and sharpen my skills in this domain. Its also provide us information about how we can improve our designs and the security features in the wireless networks but this paper does not particularly focus on the in-depth detail about the security aspect for example: encryption and the requirements for enhancements of network architecture.

Recommendations

According to my research there are still many issues needs to be considered at design level because mobile computing is an emerging technology and hold a lot of potential in it. But there are some aspects which need thorough consideration as it can play a vital role in the success of this buzz word mobile computing. It is highly recommended to resolve the network issues especially wireless network issues like security, speed and reliability as this might put down many potential users because it is known very well that wireless network is less secure then wired network.

Secondly usability aspects at the application layer also play an important role by designing less complex and easily interpretable applications can save a lot of battery life hence providing more flexibility to the user when using their mobile device. Careful consideration in designing input and output devices like screens and keyboards in a traditional way can also help in attracting users afraid of using new technologies.

Moreover there should be a full scope of expansion as there will be constant updating required to meet the changing and new challenges of the application. There will always be a demand for new and advance features for this a growth scope is very important.

Last but not the least design should cater both technical and non technical needs of the system and also consider every type of user or potential user, because if only limited audiences is targeted application might not get successful, to ensure an application or mobile device will do well it is important to capture the audiences from every walk of life so that the use of particular application or service or device become a norm of life and their use will be taken as a routine activity.

These recommendations are solely based on my research and findings and at this growing stage of wireless network I have realised that design issues if not considered properly and in a timely manner can cause potential damage to the this platform of computing industry as history is witness where badly designed systems and applications has caused serious disasters and led towards huge financial loses, to avoid the mishaps of history it is always a good practice to understand the requirement of system as well as its users so that a connection can be made between the two.

Usability Issues

‘Usability requirements specify the acceptable level of user performance and satisfaction with the system.’

Usability plays a very vital role in making an application user friendly and easy to use or vice versa. Due to the small size of mobile devices there are several changes that need to be accommodated according the need of applications used on it, for example a keyboard might become a touch screen or voice authentication, screen resolution and size will be smaller than a normal laptop screen. For some users it might be difficult to accept as there is a lot of deskilling in IT industry. But usability is one aspect which can make use of new devices very easy by considering its users and the targeted audiences. Usability can overcome several issues which might stop a potential user to get benefits from mobile computing or any new technology. Below are the important aspects needs considerations while designing a mobile computing device.

Form Factor of End User Device

Form factor deals with the size of hand held or mobile device, it is a very important design issue needs very much consideration before designing a new device or even providing an application on an existing device. Size makes a huge difference when it comes to usability as several applications only fail because of their bad design, for instance if the screen is too small to provide the full functionality of an application then alternate can be seek to provide same functionality but with less or simple usability.

Similar issues can thought when it comes to input method, before going into any kind of production or development of such applications it is always a good idea to consider the targeted users either they will accept it or not. People with partial or less vision mite need an alternative to hand help devices as they might not enjoy typing on a tiny keypad and get annoyed, alternatives can always be considered to overcome these issues. At this early stage where mobile computing is buzzing and several famous services like MSN Messenger, eBay, Yahoo and many other known services are showing a huge interest in mobile computing, this is the time to consider this critical issue of either user will be satisfied with the limited functionality or will accept full functionality on limited form factor.

Battery Life

The concept of being mobile means that anyplace anytime, but time can be an issue in this case. As the technology is advancing it also has some implications on the new technologies and battery life is one of them. Now days a simple phone with a built-in camera in it provide maximum of 6-8 hours of talk time or we can also say usage time. If same implies on the mobile or hand held devices how acceptable it will be for the user to rely on it. Below is list of talk time or use time of some famous mobile computing devices.

Name

Talk / Usage Time (Hours)

RIM BlackBerry Curve

10

RIM BlackBerry 8800

9

Samsung UpStage

7

Motorola RAZR V3i

6

HTC Mogul

6

Nokia N95

6

Helio Ocean

5.5

RIM BlackBerry Pearl

5

Sony Ericsson W300i

5

Samsung SGH-i607

5

Table 1: Battery Life Chart

Looking at the figures in table 1 it can be seen that the maximum usage time for a device is 10 hours, will it be good enough for a regular user who is using computing in their business almost 24 hours a day, and once ran out of battery what will be the substitute for it, will user be carrying a spare battery every time, but this is not the solution if for some reason two batteries aren’t enough then what will be the possibility. Without the battery any electrical devices nothing more than a piece of stone, and the high tech application we are seeing in this modern era of computing for how long they can be lithium ion battery.

It needs consideration at design stage because at this applications can be designed to be able to run using minimum amount of battery.

Input Methods

After form factor it is one of the most important aspects needs considering at design stage, as we are aware that every computing device from a notebook to a PDA needs to be provided with some input in order to perform a task. Inputting information or data into a computing device can be done in several ways like touch screen, small keypad, voice recognition etc. if a suitable input method is not considered at design time it can lead the service to a failure, depending on the type of application it should be decided what type of input method will be used. It is quite obvious that different applications has different input needs for instance an accounting software mostly need a numeric pad where as an email device like blackberry might need both, do there will be enough flexibility when deciding the input method. To overcome this issue flexible input types should be provided or a combination of most needed depending on the application and the user as well. (Kent Lyons, 2004)

According to a research done at College of Computing and GVU Center Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, mobile input capabilities can be increased via two complementary methods:

- By increasing a user’s data entry capability with the Twiddler chording keyboard which can be attached with the mobile device and work as a keyboard. This will provide the same feeling and comfort of using a keyboard.

- Through reusing conversational information with a dual purpose speech.

Ruggedness

Just looking back a year when iPod nano first came out users ended up cracking them in their pockets because of its delicate design and volatile body people were so use to the typical iPod that they problems with the durability of iPod nano. Similarly when a mobile device is design the element of toughness will never be ignored for instance if a mobile device is so delicate that it cannot be used on the go then it lost its purpose. At design time it is very important to consider the environment where the device will be used and must comply with it. If device is very delicate and needs more than extra care then user will be more worried about the care and always have a fear of damage.

These devices must be design to tolerate minor drops and falls and must not be very sensitive to the weather.

Health & Safety Issues

Several health and safety issues are related with the use of mobile phones which need consideration at design time. First of all is the risk of using battery assisted power supply which can in very few cases has caused fire, the famous example is of Dell laptops where a whole batch of production had a manufacturing fault in batteries causing a serious explosion. The use of battery material in this case need a lot of consideration as it is usually a pocket device and can cause serious injuries to the user in case of explosion or short circuit. (Paul Hales, 2006)

Due to the small size of hand held mobile devices screen might give eye sight issues in long run plus some other factors like constant use of touch screen or keypad might have some side effects. All these exceptions need consideration at design level because there are many implications which can be imposed in case it does not meet the health and safety standards.

Portable or Fixed

The aspect of being fixed here means that services should only be limited by only allowing them at certain places or where there is big user demand, but as soon as we hear the word mobile, the concept of being fix at a place doesn’t fancy it much. The reason for enabling mobile services is to provide freedom of place and access to information from anywhere and anytime.

The charm of mobile will be lost if it is fixed by providing services only at certain places not flexibly everywhere. A good example is the GPRS services which provide hot spots where users can access there data, but as soon as they are away from the hot spot they are unable to connect.

Both device and network should be portable so that they can be taken anywhere without the fear of having any geographical restrictions at least in one or more neighbouring countries. Imagine if we can only use our mobile phones at certain places instead of every where, we definitely don’t want to limit the benefits we are receiving from it.

Technical Design Issues

Technical aspects or issues are the backbone for any development especially in today’s world as there is a constant change which needs to be observed for any future changes to it. There should always be enough scope for future development or enhancement to the application, and is only possible when scope and industry of the application so that it fulfil the requirements of targeted audiences. In past this was neglected and due to lack of information gathering and less or none compatible usability issues has led to a disaster. Technical design covers a huge range of aspects like network infrastructure; hardware software and multimedia support etc. all these are discussed separately below.

Wireless LAN (Local Area Network) Design Issues

This is the technical back bone of mobile computing because the whole idea of being mobile is based on wireless technology. First network design issue will be the correct number of users or at least a reasonable assumption considering the increase in near as well as far future. Moreover this also needs to be estimated that how many active users there will be at different times.

The reason for this estimate is because wireless networks are usually slower than wired networks although constant efforts are being made to minimise the data lose over the wireless network and is still under consideration. If the estimate is not accurate users can face severe delays during the data transfer process.

Selection of right device or devices is also an important aspect from connectivity point of view; the end device can either be a laptop, a PDA, a mobile or a blackberry. Devices has a very important relationship with networks, to achieve the maximum compatibility device selection will also need to be justified during the design stage.

Access point range should also be considered to provide the full coverage; otherwise end user might face difficulties accessing the services on their mobile devices, this problem is still being faced by many mobile users where there is bad reception or coverage. This should be considered during the design stage that where there is more users there will also be sufficient coverage.

Wide Area Radio Network Design Issues

There are two possibilities (most of the times) when it comes to implementing the radio network design, should a private radio network be built or public shared network be used. Depending on the future scope this needs to be considered very carefully.

Capacity Planning & Response Time Calculations

Data flowing across the network goes through several mediums like wired hubs, wired/wireless networks, cables, satellites etc. and more than once in order to send and receive data across the network and end user. Due to this complexity of data flow it very difficult to come up with actual response time but an accurate estimate can be made keeping all the real situations in time. This will enable the services to be design according to the response time of data across the network and from user’s device to the server or vice versa.

Data Compression Consideration

Due to heavy flow of data across the network it is very likely that, services on a mobile device become very slow or inaccessible, the best technique used to over come this situation is to implement the concept of compression, which reduces the amount of traffic across the network. Data compression is usually done in modems but mobile devices can also be configured to interpret the short of common messages or applications/services using small codes. Compression helps to achieve the best service from the bandwidth. Moreover forms and screens can be stored on the mobile devices, so that minimal amount of traffic should flow across the network.

System Availability Design

System availability is about considering the backup devices in case of a major failure in hardware or software. Wireless networks usually have redundancies which can cause over load of data and might need backing up. There can be a possible down time for the server for which need of a replacement server or hardware should be considered, moreover estimated down time and uptime should also be considered to avoid any unwanted delays.

Security Issues

Securing information is one of the most important aspects need consideration while dealing with data over a network especially wireless network, and this is one reason which put down many potential users to use mobile devices for data sharing. Security should be considered by providing encryption and on-the-air encryption specifically in mobile communication or mobile computing. Since mobile computing takes place through the radio signals, which travels through the open air where they are intercepted by people who are on the move and are difficult to track down.

Common security breaches like criminal elements, interception of credit card authorisations over wireless network etc. should always be considered before implementing the network. This should also be considered at the design stage to allow necessary precautions and disaster planning.

Design Issues In Mobile Computing

INTRODUCTION

Concept of computing now days is anytime anywhere, companies has offices around the world and maintaining a communication bridge which connects them across the world. Data is transferred and travelled across the globe within seconds but in order to maintain the ubiquitous factor of computing the most buzzing word of today is mobile computing and can be seen as the future of the computing industry.

This new breed of computing is still in its early days as different design aspects including technical as well as ergonomic are involved mobile computing. Technical aspects are mostly related to the network issues covering how data will be transferred and what will be the most suitable medium for it travel across the network, where as ergonomic factors involve how can the usability be more effective because of its small size there is a possible threat that it might not be as usable as a standard computing devices.

As there is not just one thing behind the scene of mobile computing several technologies merge together to enable this impressive technology, the reason for highlighting the design issues in this paper is to increase the importance of design elements required while merging the different technologies through the whole process. Designing is the key for compatibility and compatibility leads to the successful merge of technologies. (Abdelsalam A. Helal, 1999)

In this blogger I have made an effort to highlight the important aspects involved in providing high level of compatibility, which is key to the success for every application is today’s computing world.
 
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