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Hail the coming of the iPhone
Unless you live in a cave, you know the iPhone has finally made it to consumer's hands. Hype notwithstanding, this has some implications for process industries.
One of the shortcomings of the iPhone mentioned by reviewers is that it is just too small a screen to be useful for doing anything on the Web. The same applies to other similar products with Web browser function. I'd say the same thing about trying to watch video on an iPod. I can't get excited about watching a movie on something half the size of a business card. The point is that perhaps we have crossed the line where the possibilities of technology simply are no longer useful.
In industrial situations, companies have used cell phones and wireless PDAs as ways to transmit alarms or other text messages about process conditions. You can send a message like "PUMP 10 HAS TRIPPED OVERLOADS" and know what that means as long as the display is big enough to make out the words. But a cell phone screen is not big enough for an HMI where you need to see any amount of information at the same time.
Go back to my entry of June 21 for a related discussion of generational influences on computer use. I'll go way out on a limb here and say the iPhone won't make HMI design any easier for system providers. Younger users are going to expect colorful interactive capabilities in more and more places, and they won't find the graphics on a 10 year old HMI all that engaging.
Hail the coming of the iPhone
June 29, 2007
Unless you live in a cave, you know the iPhone has finally made it to consumer's hands. Hype notwithstanding, this has some implications for process industries.One of the shortcomings of the iPhone mentioned by reviewers is that it is just too small a screen to be useful for doing anything on the Web. The same applies to other similar products with Web browser function. I'd say the same thing about trying to watch video on an iPod. I can't get excited about watching a movie on something half the size of a business card. The point is that perhaps we have crossed the line where the possibilities of technology simply are no longer useful.
In industrial situations, companies have used cell phones and wireless PDAs as ways to transmit alarms or other text messages about process conditions. You can send a message like "PUMP 10 HAS TRIPPED OVERLOADS" and know what that means as long as the display is big enough to make out the words. But a cell phone screen is not big enough for an HMI where you need to see any amount of information at the same time.
Go back to my entry of June 21 for a related discussion of generational influences on computer use. I'll go way out on a limb here and say the iPhone won't make HMI design any easier for system providers. Younger users are going to expect colorful interactive capabilities in more and more places, and they won't find the graphics on a 10 year old HMI all that engaging.
Posted by Peter Welander on June 29, 2007 | Comments (0)
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